Hey Everyone,
Here is a fun poll question: Do you think Pokemon should bring back the 1st Edition Stamp?
Feel free to vote and/or share your opinion in the thread!
6 Likes
Bringing the stamp back would only result in one thing, hoarding of sealed product. I know a few people owning 6+ cases of roaring skies due to the roaring skies reprint (or rerelease depending on how you see it) and 10+ cases of Evolutions, and they are not even 1st edition.
I would be curious to see what would happen to the market if Pokemon decides to release limited print 1st edition cards. I know I would be on the front line with everyone else to own a few cases of the first 3 sets of release if I can. However I feel that the 1st edition stamp is what makes WOTC WOTC and it should be that way.
4 Likes
This, lmao. 1st edition would also turn the subsequent âunlimited cardsâ into trash in terms of value and sales would definitely decrease â pokemon inc. would hate that.
2 Likes
@chok That is a good point! However I think people truly underestimate how much product is printed in a print run. Outside of 1st/shadowless base, you can still consistently buy 1st edition WOTC boxes.
2 Likes
I think that having a subset of âunlimitedâ cards become trash in terms of value is a better situation than having ALL cards from a given set be trash in value, which is the current status quo. Also total sales would be almost unaffected, since the mother at the Walmart, who presumably makes up the vast majority of sales, does not care about 1st ed or unlimited when buying packs for their kids.
5 Likes
That is true but with the re-introduction of the 1st edition cards, many people who donât collect sealed product would get into them as they have previously âmissed the boatâ for 1st edition WOTC. Even though the print run would be huge, Iâm pretty sure the demand for these would be even greater.
Considering the state of distributors and the control they are exerting over product and pricing, I would worry that they would hoard first edition product to gouge everyone.
6 Likes
Complete speculation, but I see it being a tricky situation where you canât be sure if 1st ed variants will even rise in value, as a 1st ed. print nowadays is probably going to have a wide distribution given Pokemonâs popularity. For example, if Shining Legends were released in a 1st Ed. format where only cards within the 1st print run were stamped, I donât think that prices would be much higher than what they fetch right now. Furthermore, if a 1st ed. release does see a lot of activity in terms of purchases, etc. TPCI will certainly notice this and want to capitalize on that, releasing more 1st ed. product and saturating the market with 1st ed. product while establishing a new norm of only releasing 1st ed. (neutralizing any value a 1st ed. stamp would bring).
Just look at examples like Jungle, Fossil, etc. â and this was back when Pokemon was half of what it is today.
I also donât want to add another layer of gimmick on top of what already is a progression going from holo rares â EXs â Full-Arts â Hyper Rares, etc⌠only to slap a 1st ed. on top of everything
1 Like
Iâm all for 1st edition cards to be back, but this is another thing to consider: what about reverse holos? Do they do reverse holos still for both 1st and unlimited? Do they get rid of it? Itâs just another factor to consider.
Mjisaacs
1 Like
Havenât really thought this through but what if you printed a 1st run with stamp then randomly inserted them as chase cards inside all packs? HmmmmâŚ
4 Likes
That would be interesting, but might not work since a given pack is either filled with 1st run or not 1st run cards (using another label could be just as effective like with the artistâs signature or something idk).
Also keep in mind that there already are chase cards (Hyper Rares, Secret Rares, etc.) that are randomly inserted â it would probably come down to how hard it is to pull as usual.
I would love to see limited printing 1st edition boxes again!!! I would actually start getting involved with modern product. If pokemon could figure out a way to make this work, for both them and us collectors, it would be BAD ASS
I am not sure if there would be a huge differential in price. I think value will be based more on the popularity of the set.
For example, who is going to pay a premium for 1st edition Crimson Invasion? Now a 1st Edition Evolutions, different story.
The 1st Edition differential for WOTC is potent because it was brief and the original era. Its a nice concise challenge. Modern will act differently.
Oh and distributors will definitely control the prices. They already do with ultra prism.
4 Likes
I think its too late to go back to 1st ed stamps. The current distribution models are ripe for abuse and people understand theres value in these cards now unlike back in the WoTC days. Someone is going to abuse something for profit.
7 Likes
I already picture several people hoarding pallets of this stuff⌠lol
I have mixed thoughts on this. I used to think they should bring it back, but it would really make Unlimited cards worthless and unappealing to most collectors similar to what weâre seeing with most WOTC product even to this day. I guess itâs something they could do from time to time or for special occasions(25th anniversary and such).
Also how do you price these? Distributors would probably sell booster boxes at 50%+ premium so how much would the average customer pay from a store⌠like $150? I donât trust these guys. Theyâre already lying to their clients about limited print runs these days.
1 Like
I think that having the first edition stamp come back would be really cool. However, I also believe that in the beginning it would also pique the interest of people who normally donât care about Pokemon to try and buy up everything they can to either hoard or resell at largely inflated prices. For me, I feel like it could become pretty frustrating quickly.
If 1st editions did happen though, I wouldnât mind seeing a new first edition stamp logo. I would like to see the WOTC symbol stay with WOTC cards. Of course, not having this symbol might also kill it for some people.
Iâd like to see them come back, but I fear that consumers wouldnât get much of an opportunity to buy it. Distributors would definitely hold back and sit on product, then the same thing would happen at the store level. Publically available boxes would sell out instantly (depending on how large the 1st edition run is I guess) and the prices would be pushed up because of so much product being held back for investment. People know 1st edition = money, far more would be hoarded in todayâs era compared to the early days.
2 Likes
Also would want 1st ed back, but sadly this would probably happenâŚ
People romanticize 1st edition too much. People have a horrible misconception of what â1st editionâ in todayâs day and age would mean. As others have mentioned the distribution channels would take advantage of it and do shadier things than they already do. Pokemon would only do it to make more money, which is obvious and which also isnât inherently a bad thing, but this would lead to the same BS that goes on in Japanese. We would have loads of new sets coming out where the 1st edition printing was larger than the unlimited printing. We would also have some sets where unlimited print runs were never printed at all.
Please Pokemon just keep saying no to 1st edition.
4 Likes
I think that bring back 1st edition stamp would be a cool idea, but as explained before, there will be probably some abuses.
Nevertheless, I prefer that collectors abuse of the 1st edition stamp in some extent, instead of distributors.
If only some hard core collectors / investors try to hoard this, itâs okay for me as I consider this as a part of the hobby.
In the end, if distributors donât abuse consumers, 1st edition stamp may be a good thing for the hobby, as it will increase interest for the hobby and maybe also increase the interest for WOTC era (imagine kids from today who are proud to get some 1st edition, maybe they will try to get some 1st edition WOTC era cards after (harder to find), as a logical continuation in their collector mentality.