Let’s recapitulate: The Japanese versions of Flareon Star, Vaporeon Star and Jolteon Star were released twice: One time as part of the PLAY promotional cards, and again as part of the World Champion’s pack.
Now, although the PLAY promo versions have a far higher PSA10 Pop count than the World Champion’s versions (except for Flareon where it’s roughly the same), I can only find the World Champion’s versions on Ebay, be it in current for-sale listings or completed-sale listings.
Where are the PLAY promos? Was there a known event where many of those cards disappeared? Or is this just a coincidence?
I think a lot of collectors are holding them. Due to the special release, collectors will be inclined to hold onto them more so for either investment reasons or just for collectability, I managed to track down the jolteon and vaporeon pretty easy, but the flareon was a lot harder to find, and holds its price more being the middle tier card, I will be holding mine for many years also,you can find the umbreon and espeon but expect to pay $10,000 plus for a psa 10, the vaporeon - flareon will set you back $500-$1500
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That’s interesting to hear. I always thought the World Championship Promos were more popular because of their very limited release window of only 2 weeks (hence the lower pop), so I’m surprised that people would go for the PLAY promos for investment reasons.
Edit: Scratched the part about the Johto Eeveelutions as it was off-topic
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The W.C pack cards are very under appreciated. The holo they have is gorgeous!
Also, technically released 3 times in Japanese as there was an unlimited print run which I believe is shorter ran than 1st edition.
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Yeah I’m not really sure why they’re harder to find, it’s a hard one to judge, I personally got back into collecting a few months back so my knowledge is limited,the players promos was something I started years ago so I went straight back in for that set. I’m sure one of the other collectors that have been in the game for much longer can give you some more info
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PLAY promos are more coveted due to their release. As they are cards that require hard work to earn them, they are seen to be more popular to collectors.
The market is still around for these such cards though, Yajoo Japan, Mercari or eBay tend to have regular listings available for them apart from Flareon.
Flareon, like it’s unlimited counterpart is quite hard to find because it was harder to obtain upon release and collectors see long term value in it, so it’s less likely to pop up on the open market.
If you’re looking for the “rarest” of the 3 releases of these cards, then it would have to be the unlimited print. Vaporeon (Pop 1 PSA 10), Jolteon (Pop 4 PSA 10) and Flareon (Pop 2 PSA 10) are by far the rarest of the trio yet least attractive to pick up.
AT.
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Having followed these cards since the my beginnings as a collector, I think there is a multitude of factors that all add up to these cards being some of the most iconic, sought after and well known Japanese promo cards in the hobby:
-They are Eeveelutions, meaning that they are automatically more desirable than other similar cards (Kind of like Pikachu and Charizard but to a lesser extent). This also means that Eeveelutions collectors want them (and there are a lot of them), adding to the pool of potential buyers which is already really large as PLAY promos are some of the most well known
-Espeon and Umbreon are the only Japanese “exclusive” gold star Eeveelutions so there are no alternatives (minus POP 5 cards but IMO they mostly hold value BECAUSE of their Japanese counterpart as they are less attractive, lacking any holofoil patterns. They are also less “exotic” if I might say so being Japanese cards).World Champions Pack gold stars are already available in all the major languages.
-PLAY promos are some of the most well known Japanese promo cards for people who aren’t really into collecting Japanese cards and promos because of Espeon and Umbreon. This is the result of a few things: unusual distribution methods (there’s never truly been a Players Club equivalent in the West), exclusivity of the top tiers gold stars and most importantly publicity. As a personal anecdote, the major French Pokemon Youtube channels never really talk about Japanese promos and cards besides really special cases (Pikachu World Collections, Full Metal Dialaga, sm12b god packs and most importantly, Espeon and Umbreon gold stars).On the other hand, WCP is “only” EX Power Keepers but in Japanese.
Knowing all of these, I think that the reasons Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon PLAY hold more value than their WCP counterparts is the same Espeon and Umbreon POP 5 hold so much value, they are being pulled up by the top 2 gold stars.I know a lot of collectors who own or expressed the wish to own these cards aren’t particularly versed into Japanese Promos and cards at all and wouldn’t want to invest the time and effort needed to learn about WCP cards. Even then, WCP cards aren’t promos, they are less “special” and simply do not share the same origin as Espeon and Umbreon.
An interesting side effect of these factors is that back in the days Flareon gold star PLAY did not hold much more value compared to Vaporeon and Jolteon, despite being way rarer and harder to obtain. This was also the result of these cards already being available in international prints. Now of course a lot more people are paying attention and the market naturally corrected this discrepancy.
Now that we know that these cards are valued less than their PLAY counterparts and why, what should we make of all this?
Well first of all, WCP gold stars are some of the most criminally undervalued gold stars in the hobby. Looking at the distribution method and the pop reports (Yes I know and agree these aren’t really representative but they can help us make an educated guess), 1st Edition WCP gold stars are rarer than all other 1st ed gold stars (even 1st ED Clash of the Blue Sky and some unlimited as well). The unlimited WCP gold stars are some of the rarest gold stars, with a combined PSA pop (indifferent of grade) equal to the number of PSA 10 Umbreons…Interestingly, they are very hard to grade higher than a 9 as most exhibit significant silvering.
Despite their scarcity and appeal as gold stars and Eeveelutions, I think they suffer the opposite effect that we see in the PLAY =<30000 points cards. Most collectors want them all and rather have all to be PLAY promos than split between WCP and PLAY. Most gold stars full set collectors would rather not double dip. Most Eeveelutions collectors already have them in their respective language as discussed before.
But I’m confident that in time the market will adapt and place these cards at a much higher value, especially the 10s and the unlimited, just like it did for Flareon PLAY. WCP is a one of a kind set with a really cool history and I hope that one day it gets the recognition it deserves.
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Lot’s of great answers here!
@pokemonpuppy,I was surprised to hear that there are unlimited versions of the WCP Eeveelutions. As far as I know, there was one time span of 2 weeks where people from Japan could order those packs online, so I’m not sure how and why there were 2 print runs? And I agree, the star pattern covering the entire card looks pretty awesome!
@teammagma,I can understand the appeal of cards that have a history behind them, cards that couldn’t simply be bought originally. That goes for Play promos as well as for Fanclub cards. Aside from that, you mentioned Yajoo Japan and Mercari as resources. How difficult is it to buy from those sites? I usually only browse Ebay, don’t know if I’m missing out on a huge market…And I have noticed as well that unlimited versions almost always go for less than 1st Ed, even if there are far fewer unlimited cards in circulation. But that’s how it always has been. We also shouldn’t forget that many people simply decide not to grade unlimited cards because they think they are unpopular, so the Pop count of unlimited cards doesn’t necessarily represent the quantity of the print run.
@pikzi,thanks for the detailed answer! I completely forgot that the Play Eeveelutions don’t just appeal to Gold Star collectors and Eeveelution collectors, but also to Play promo collectors. So that’s an entire group that the WCP cards don’t have behind them. You also said the following: “Interestingly, they are very hard to grade higher than a 9 as most exhibit significant silvering.” Are you referring to the unlimited versions or the WCP Eeveelutions in general? And what exactly is silvering? I’ve never heard the term before.
I’m refering to WCP Gold Stars in general. Silvering is when you can see the holo layer on the borders of the cards. I don’t know if it’s due to border damage or the holo bleeding (probably the former). It’s pretty common in WOTC holos (https://youtu.be/zZ\_7qQC0rPA?t=326). Also some great examples here Reddit - Dive into anything.
Here’s some on a PSA9 1st ED Jolteon
Regarding POP reports, I think your observation probably holds true for low end chase cards and more common cards but not gold stars. There are more graded UED Clash of the Blue Sky gold stars than 1st ED.
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@pikzi ,ah yes, I recognize silvering, just never had a name for it. In fact, I have even seen PSA 10’s of Eeveelution WCP Gold Stars that have some minor silvering. I wonder how many truly flawless copies there are.
As for Pop reports of 1st Editions and Unlimited editions…one could have a debate on principles here. What makes a print run valuable? That it’s the “first” print run, or that it’s the print run with the lower overall population? I also think that there are sets where the unlimited print run is smaller than the 1st Ed. print run. However, that doesn’t automatically make the unlimited print run more valuable. It depends on what the customer deems more important: To have the ‘first’ card or to have one from the smaller card pool. This is purely my assumption, but I believe that most collectors value priority over quantity.
There are a few sites that will allow you to operate on Yahoo Japan, I utilise Noppin frequently and find it to be a great service. They take a percentage of the listing as a fee and allow you to bid up to 3x your current deposit. Buyee is also another site that offers a similar service, but I am unfamiliar with their fees/overall service capabilities to comment.
The same could be said about Mercari, I do not know much about using it, I only have secondhand feedback of it - but this thread could help enlighten you further on the types of services offered for the Japanese market.
I totally agree with you, the Pop count in no way represents the quantity for a print run. In all my time collecting Gold Stars now (4-5 years) , I’ve rarely encountered Unlimited Eeveelutions. My earlier comment was based off of POP report findings but also first hand experience. Either people are holding onto these cards and not selling them, or the print quantity was so low that they will rarely ever pop up on the market.
I would value the unlimited print run over the 1st in this scenario purely based off of how “easy” the 1st edition print run is to obtain. I’ve only ever has 1 Unl. Vaporeon and have not seen any appear since, they are just too rare and thus valuable to me to find - in this case, I would happily pay more for the Unlimited PSA 10 Vaporeon than the 1st edition.
AT.
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