I have wondered the same thing for awhile. And of all Pokemon to put in every set Magneton? Really??? The Magnemite from Neo Discovery kills any Magneton in my opinion.
The reason is that very few electric types existed in the beginning. We also got several versions of raichu, zapdos, elctrode and jolteon from the early sets. And then by the second generation magnemite/magneton were upgraded to metal/electric type, and even fewer metal pokemon existed, giving an additional reason for printing them.
Ahh ok. I see the logic there but im talking specifically about holos. Those other cards had sets with either non holo versions without a holo variant, or there are just fewer total holos of those pokemon. Like electrode for example, non holo in base set, rocket set, gym set etc and was non existant in neo. magneton was a holo in every single set it was in if in not mistaken. And the magnemite tops it all off. Someone must really like magnets over at wotc. Not saying anything negative about it, just pointing out that it seemed to be heavily favoured as a holo card for whatever reason
The magnemite i really do actually like, I must admit. I dig The random unevolved pokemon that were thrown in as holos in some sets. Like houndour in discovery, erikas dragonair… and so on
Magnetons are a hard grade as well which leans towards troll like behaviour lol
But yeah. I have always wondered the same thing. The funny thing is, aside from Dark Magneton (which is only popular due to its difficulty to grade), Magneton is always one of the least popular holos in any set that it’s in.
I’ve always felt Fossil Magneton in particular made the least sense. There isn’t even a Magnemite in the set, and what is so prehistoric about a bunch of magnets? Lol.
Yeah but theres only a few kabutops holos in those sets really. At least kabutops is appealing and a cool pokemon. Which is more than we can say about its counterpart omastar which u would think should have gotten the same treatment but nope, Not a single holo for him. It makes sense though to make more room for magnetons right lol
I dunno what their explanation for that in lol perhaps cuz theyre made out of metals that are mined from the ground But would that make it a fossil pokemon now? on that note though, how is ditto prehistoric when it was literally created by humans lol and how old is mr fuji?! Lol
Also, the novel thing Neo Discovery introduced was to provide a card version of the second type of previously printed pokemon. Hence, Kaputops printed as water type, Omastar as fighting type, Poliwrath as fighting type (to accomodate politoed was water type), and magnemite as metal type. And houndour as both dark and fire type. I fondly remember thinking that seeing kabutops as water type and poliwrath as fighting type was really cool. This may not seem like something special now, but back then it was a big deal.
I personally like some of the illustrations of magnetons especially team rocket and gym heroes. The holo in team rocket is a lot but what I think makes it stand out is the rocket grunt silhouette in the background laughing and magneton about to fuck him up and gym heroes the colors for the holo look attractive and with the electricity circulating them.
But would that make it a fossil pokemon now? 
on that note though, how is ditto prehistoric when it was literally created by humans lol and how old is mr fuji?! Lol
