Straight forward enough question, and also kind of a twist on the “What do you collect?”-type questions.
For me, Shadowless Base Set cards are at the top of my list. I had a ton of shadowless cards back in 1999, and even back then I thought that they were ugly and much preferred the updated look on the later prints. Even knowing that the shadowless (and 1st edition) varieties are worth more, I still have no interest because I just don’t like the aesthetics. That super thin HP text is just disGUSTING (imo).
I also finally broke down today and purchased a complete Base Set 2 after years of regarding the two WOTC-era reprint sets as mutants not worthy of acknowledgement. This is actually a change because back in the day I loved Base 2 and viewed it as a way to get cards I missed originally, but as an adult that “2” symbol made me roll my eyes so hard.
Many of the varieties of reverse holo treatments we’ve had over the years fit here too. Especially the blindingly ugly ones used on the opening EX-era sets i.e. Ruby/Sapphire, Sandstorm, Dragon. My eyes hurt at the mere mental image of those.
What a difficult question! I like to collect every Pokémon card that’s made (in every language).
Back in the day I hated Legendary Collection, because we had seen those cards before and a pack contained more than 1 of the same card.
The Reverse cards were in my eyes disgusting and looked like all the other cheap cards/stickers that you could buy back then.
Now years later I like that set! Just because it’s a difficult set to collect and they are nostalgic in a way.
If I have to make a choice it would have to be the Unlimited Japanese sets (not including WEB).
When I have a complete Japanese set, I don’t bother to collect the Unlimited set (mostly because of finance reasons).
The same thing goes for Reverse Holo sets in other languages then English.
That’s interesting because I love the Shadowless colours over the Unlimited colours. Onions I suppose.
I have no interest whatsoever in the DPP era of Pokemon, there is 1 card I have sought after to collect. Besides that 1 card the sets are awful to me. I am sure there may be a few more cards from that era I’d like, but I dislike what I know of the series so much I won’t really look. It also doesn’t help that the Gen 4 games were my least favourite.
Reverse Holos in general have no interest to me. I admit some of them do look cool, but I am not really a set collector in the first place so the prospect of collecting what is essentially the same set again, and a variety of card that is MUCH harder to find. Nope.png.exe.com/nope
I mainly look for Espeons and foreign language cards…
I do however sometimes gamble on joblots to find 'surprises ’
and also purchase 1st editions /shadowless/unlimited
Unless it’s an espeon the newer cards don’t really appeal to me as much
Plus I’d never get my gold star Espeon If I was after all sets etc
Has to be reverse holos generally, although I have this strange hate-love relationship with Legendary Collection stuff: I absolutely hated them when I was kid, not as cool like normal holos + every time I buyed booster packs the reverse holo was Weedle, Kakuna etc. bad card. -.- Gyarados is still the only rare I managed to pull as reverse, still have it in my binder.
Now I wouldn’t mind If I’d find complete reverse set for good price.
Such an undervalued set. I love the ken sugimori artworks on a lot of the cards. But I get how these sets are less appealing as a whole compared to ex or original series.
Lets take a minute and talk about how effing stupid Jumbo cards are.
First, these rarely have unique art. And when they do, it’s sub par at best. Next, random ones are lenticular. What the hell? No consistency in size. Thicker and floppy and gross. And let’s analyze this conceptually. This is the most gimmicky thing ever. “What if we take a regular card, and just sort of make it bigger? ” No. Let’s not. And you can’t even store them without being obnoxious about it.
I loathe jumbos. I will never buy one. They’re a cheap excuse for novelty and a gross reality of the collecting world.
For me I have no interest in cards after the e Series,they just look alien to me as I stopped collecting when neo came out and just started again this year.Also I have no time for english cards with PSA 9 or 10 1st edition cards of pokemon I like being the exception,fossil Articno for example(I like the shadowless holos in PSA 9_10 as well)
I think japanese cards are much better quality and have more of a retro feel to them so I hope to get all the japanese sets from base no rarity to E5 and as many japanese promos from that era as well:-)
@milhouse I feel the same way. I have zero interest in Diamond and Pearl sets. Unless it’s the SRS or Tyranitars. I only collect the SRS just because they are secret. Platinum only peaks my interest slightly.
Besides Diamond and pearl I’d say the next sets that don’t interest me are EX ruby and sapphire, magma vs aqua, sandstorm. I don’t collect hidden legends but I like the foil pattern on the regis.
Hmmm…I agree with Milhouse too. I love the shadowless series. It’s the rarest of all pokemon sets and finding them in unused condition is super tough.
I understand the attraction but my least favorite are all post Wizards releases;) Pokemon sort of lost its innocence then and it took awhile for the great game to recover…which it did:)
Well I loathe World Championship edition theme deck cards. They have an ugly border, are tournament illegal, and I find the copy of the players signatures silly. They are worthless to me.
Others that I don’t care for are Base 2/Legendary set/1st vs unlimited versions of cards. To me Base 2 Electabuzz is the same card as Base Electabuzz. Also I don’t care much for reverse holo cards unless its a favorite pokemon. If I have every card from a set except for reverse holo versions, it is still a complete set to me. On the flip side, if I have every card in a set, yet am missing 1 card but have the reverse holo version of that 1 card, then to me that is an uncomplete set.
Exceptions are the Legendary set reverse holos, and 1st vs. unlimited versions of Charizard or UR/SR cards. I care about and like them, but don’t feel its needed for complete collections.
I would like to say anything OTHER than Gyarados related cards, but actually that’s not true. What some of you might not know is that I have a side collection of the following Pokemon: Mewtwo, Scyther, Scizor, Alakazam, Nidoking, and Volcarona, and Magikarp. I WOULD collect Lucario cards too, but most of the art I think, PERSONALLY, is garbage and so far have had little to no interest in collecting them. I should show you guys some time.
Then there are cards I know I would LOVE to get, such as the Psychic Ninetails or the Neo rendition of Espeon which showcase some incredibly beautiful art. If I were to EVER complete my TCG and WoTC Gyarados card collection, I would probably go after the cards that align to my personal aesthetic choice.
Everything else? Yeah, really no interest. If I ever had the money and means and collected everything else, I MIGHT to after the complete set of everything from Base to Neo, but purely for nostalgia.
I honestly think the XY holo pattern is worse. I barely even notice the treatment because it’s so light and unimpressive. In direct light I thought the line holo was really bright and colorful in comparison, and they got better with it after the original underwhelming opening sets.
Speaking of BW, I collected the sets as they came out because I collect sets and still keep up with new releases too, but the Plasma-based expansions were SO lame. Hated the blue Plasma borders, hated how every single Team Plasma Pokemon was done in CGI, hated the Pokemon selection. The BW series in general was pretty sucky overall actually – I could write a 10,000 word discourse on the Pokemon selection alone – and I much preferred the DP era and now the XY era overall. If I didn’t try to collect “everything” artwork-wise, those would be atop the ignore list.
Pretty much anything that isn’t from the old WOTC sets. Black and White cards especially. Ugliest things ever. They look cheap and tacky. E-series because I have no idea about them (never heard of them as a kid, not interested now!). I remember Team Rocket cards being the last I collected as a kid. Now it’s all EX and full art stuff - not my bag. I still have loads of these XY cards, just because I bought them for the nostalgia of buying pokemon cards!
