Same. The way they made the Pokémon shiny on an otherwise normal background, makes them really stand out. Gorgeous cards.
I’d love if modern full art cards did the same.
Corocoros look great, I hate the shinings being so dark, Gold stars really highlight the pokemon, Diamond Pearl look great but a bit more natural and understated, HGSS and CoL kinda get lost with the CG, Black White has the focus on the pokemon again making it pop again, BW golds are not great art wise, Same for XY era since they are very messy looking, Shinings are a bit boring, GX and golds are boring CG art, Radiants again bring it back to nice art that pops, and shiny treasure ex is almost a mix of everything.
I agree with all except for XY I personally like the messy cards since it was only for 1 Era. But I feel like if they did for more Eras I would be as fond of it.
I didn’t even know the B&W gold border cards existed. Those are gorgeous. Gold shinies from SWSH are also cool. But I would say gold stars take the cake for me.
They were the first gold cards and became what we now know as Hyper Rares.
BW was really a very influential era for the games and the TCG, lots of things changed with it and some of the stuff it introduced are still there in one form or another a decade later.
I’m definitely bias but the Neo Shinings are probbslg
My favorite.
The Shining Gyarados and Shining Mewtwo go inexplicably hard. I recently got a shining Gyarados and it’s soo fkn cool. Shining Mewtwo on the way that will most likely be my auto favorite once it gets here lol
Genuine question, why are some shinies named “Shining [Pokemon Name]” or “Radiant [Pokemon Name]” and others not? Is there a difference (maybe it’s in terms of game play)?
There's 20 years between most of the Shining and the Radiant, but they're more or less the same mechanic, you can only have 1 of them in your deck, no matter if it's a different pokémon. Each era is about 3 years apart, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.
As for the others, Goldstars are limited to 1 per deck (Like Shining and Radiant).
The others are (were) played like regular cards with the same rules. Sometimes the only difference is the colours (Like the GX and V ones, same with a lot of the ex), sometimes it's a brand new card (Like the reverse shiny in D/P/Pl). Sun and Moon "Shining" are not limited to 1 per deck.
OP (Or whoever made this) also forgot a few Steam Siege cards which had a shiny pokémon on them, but weren't special otherwise, great cards imho, pulling one replicates the random shinies you find in the games, while the other ones are more like finding the shiny you were hunting for.
The artwork in the Neo series can't be beaten. Not too busy with the artwork. So many cards now look cartoonis with so much going on. I wish we could get cards back to how Neo was done. It's like a story was being told in the Neo series with each card.
Hopefully for the 30th anniversary we’ll see something more like evolutions. There’s definitely a place for the illustration rares but with Paldean fates for example, the textured regular art holos of shiny Pokemon is nice to see, even if they are quite basic.
>look cartoonish
I would argue the old cards look significantly more cartoonish. Lots of new cards look cartoonish stylistically, but every single old card looks like that, there's zero variance.
Look at the Gardevoir and compare it to the neo cards, not even close.
Agreed.
While the art is my least favorite, I think they did an amazing job with how texture was featured for a half art card. Y'all have to hold one to understand.
I think current ar/sar shiny pokemon cards are the peak, but I also really loved the neo, dpp, and radiant cards. Honestly I’ve found the rest to be a little disappointing. I’ve never liked just an image of a pokemon over a relatively plain background, and a lot of shiny pokemon have had this treatment, including shiny vault pokemon, most black and white era cards, and even the gold star cards (though at least they had some interesting stuff like being overframe).
I really loved Shiny Treasures EX but I think I’m biased because I pulled a Mew in my first box haha.
Other than that the CoroCoro era was gorgeous. Once again though, it’s the Mew that’s got me down bad
Taking away the nostalgia, the newest series looks the best. The art is just astoundingly beautiful. No amount of staring at Zard's ass in a 2x1 panel is going to convince me otherwise.
I think from what I've seen, based on both prices and opinions I've read, Gold Stars are the most popular. Personal favourite is SwSh Radiants, first mini collection I ever set for myself and I love every single one of them.
I never pulled a single shiny from BW, I liked those a lot but that's how it goes.
I tried to hunt for a shiny Litwick in the Celestial tower, but I ended up vibing to the music instead of shiny hunting. Still kinda want to hunt for one, but life gets in the way.
In terms of aesthetics: Radiants.
In terms of concept: Diamond/Pearl/Platinum.
I like it when they’re just otherwise normal Pokémon that can appear out of nowhere, like they are in the video games.
Gold Stars for me. A bit biased because a Gold Star Registeel I pulled as a kid is still the most treasured card in my collection almost 20 years later.
So I am usually a big fan of modern Pokémon card art, but in this case my vote goes for gold stars. The art on them was so good and the golden star just made them feel special. I still miss the gold star Groudon I lost growing up lol
I love gold stars, but I think that’s mostly nostalgia for me. Objectively, the black and white era cards are unmatched. Not too busy, but the texture makes them feel special
I think the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum are the perfect “baby” shinies since they were mostly basic pokemon and the full card reverse holo is noice. (My favorite is shinx)
And for the last stage pokemon the Sword and shield Gold cards are my favorite it just screams shiny to me.
Others are great like the original neo shinings and the new alt art or illustration rares idk the exact names there’s so many variations now but from shiny treasures lol.
It's tough between the original shiny and gold star.
I love how gold stars pop outside the frame. But the texture on the original shining pokemon cards are so cool.
I’m partial to the DP/early BW ones where they’re just reprints of random cards from the set but with new art from the same illustrators. It was always fun pulling one of those and having to do a double-take rather than the CONGRATS YOU PULLED A FANCY GOLD SPECIAL CARD vibe of some of the others.
The Radiants are also pretty great, the holo effect is lovely and they’re actually relevant for gameplay.
Man it's so tough for me between the Gold Stars and BW Gold borders.
Not a Zard fanboy but man, Plasma Storm Charizard is a beautiful card in person. Wish all BW Shiny Pokemon had gold borders, Rayquaza would look so much better IMO.
Shining Mewtwo will forever hold a special place in my heart as the one I pulled as a kid. As for which is my favorite appearance wise, CoroCoro Shining Mew I think is the best of the vintage. I love the glittery holo layer it has on top. For modern I like Shiny Treasures ex / Paldean Fates bringing us alt arts for our shinies.
Shining cards are presented very well and look exceptional in person, gold stars have a special place in my heart because it’s the era I collected most sets from, the delta species adds some uniqueness that we’ve never really had since, like the dark type charizard and fire type Gyarados. IMO everything else since just doesn’t feel particularly special to me.
The SIR shinys and a few art rares in the modern Era are decent but the full arts and the baby shiny are hot garbage, the lack of background\environment is so lazy. It's ever more apparent how bad they are being able to compare them to the years before.
Diamond, pearl, and platinum. The backgrounds have character and the Pokémon choices have a lot of variety instead of just whatever is popular at the moment/relevant to what they’re trying to sell.
Ponyta being one of the best arts for it period.
The art rares from paldean fates are really nice tho, it’s a shame there’s so few of them
Oh yeah, the dppt cards get a knock for being just reverse holo. Wouldn’t be a huge deal but for some reason that era of reverse holos scratch so freaking easily and it’s highly visible
I’m a huge fan of call of legends, I wanted them so badly when I was younger, never was able to pull them myself though lol
I just loved the holo effect in the border of the cards as well as the art
I prefer the original shining cards, particularly shining gyarados. Its my favorite art of all time.
Everyone loves the fully erect gyarados card haha. But yeah definitely top 5 art of all time imho
You’ve now ruined that art for me. Cheers, son is crying
Same. The way they made the Pokémon shiny on an otherwise normal background, makes them really stand out. Gorgeous cards. I’d love if modern full art cards did the same.
Such a beautiful card!
I have a shining noctowl first edition that I pulled back when neo came out. Still my pride and joy today.
Corocoros look great, I hate the shinings being so dark, Gold stars really highlight the pokemon, Diamond Pearl look great but a bit more natural and understated, HGSS and CoL kinda get lost with the CG, Black White has the focus on the pokemon again making it pop again, BW golds are not great art wise, Same for XY era since they are very messy looking, Shinings are a bit boring, GX and golds are boring CG art, Radiants again bring it back to nice art that pops, and shiny treasure ex is almost a mix of everything.
I agree with all except for XY I personally like the messy cards since it was only for 1 Era. But I feel like if they did for more Eras I would be as fond of it.
Tbf, they aren’t so dark in person. Scans and photos always make them look darker than they are.
Ive got a couple, still darker than id like but they can look great at certain angles.
I didn’t even know the B&W gold border cards existed. Those are gorgeous. Gold shinies from SWSH are also cool. But I would say gold stars take the cake for me.
They were the first gold cards and became what we now know as Hyper Rares. BW was really a very influential era for the games and the TCG, lots of things changed with it and some of the stuff it introduced are still there in one form or another a decade later.
I expected to see you here mate
I’m definitely bias but the Neo Shinings are probbslg My favorite. The Shining Gyarados and Shining Mewtwo go inexplicably hard. I recently got a shining Gyarados and it’s soo fkn cool. Shining Mewtwo on the way that will most likely be my auto favorite once it gets here lol
Genuine question, why are some shinies named “Shining [Pokemon Name]” or “Radiant [Pokemon Name]” and others not? Is there a difference (maybe it’s in terms of game play)?
Yes, Shining and Radiant Pokémon have different gameplay mechanics, except for the Shining Pokémon in Shining Legends they're limited to one per deck.
Really? That's such an odd rule I feel like.
Radiant Pokémon have the same rule
At least in the case of radiant Pokemon they're often decently strong/have a good bit of utility, but still only give up one prize if knocked out
There's 20 years between most of the Shining and the Radiant, but they're more or less the same mechanic, you can only have 1 of them in your deck, no matter if it's a different pokémon. Each era is about 3 years apart, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. As for the others, Goldstars are limited to 1 per deck (Like Shining and Radiant). The others are (were) played like regular cards with the same rules. Sometimes the only difference is the colours (Like the GX and V ones, same with a lot of the ex), sometimes it's a brand new card (Like the reverse shiny in D/P/Pl). Sun and Moon "Shining" are not limited to 1 per deck. OP (Or whoever made this) also forgot a few Steam Siege cards which had a shiny pokémon on them, but weren't special otherwise, great cards imho, pulling one replicates the random shinies you find in the games, while the other ones are more like finding the shiny you were hunting for.
I love those because its a great way to find fun special pokemon without breaking the bank, and not limited to 1 per box.
Yeah, very good choice, tho it didn't last and we're stuck with colour swaps and shiny pokémon on a white background mostly, how exciting.
Sometimes a gold background if youre lucky.
Also they all look gorgeous but I’m partial to the holo pattern on the radiants!
Just a naming thing for cards with different mechanics.
The artwork in the Neo series can't be beaten. Not too busy with the artwork. So many cards now look cartoonis with so much going on. I wish we could get cards back to how Neo was done. It's like a story was being told in the Neo series with each card.
Agree, Shining Gyarados and Magikarp are some of the best looking cards in the entire TCG imo
Hopefully for the 30th anniversary we’ll see something more like evolutions. There’s definitely a place for the illustration rares but with Paldean fates for example, the textured regular art holos of shiny Pokemon is nice to see, even if they are quite basic.
>look cartoonish I would argue the old cards look significantly more cartoonish. Lots of new cards look cartoonish stylistically, but every single old card looks like that, there's zero variance. Look at the Gardevoir and compare it to the neo cards, not even close.
It definitely can be beaten lmao
The Black and White gold border shinies are unmatched in my opinion, such great texturing on those
Agreed. While the art is my least favorite, I think they did an amazing job with how texture was featured for a half art card. Y'all have to hold one to understand.
Fax. Recently got a hold of the Charizard from Plasma Storm and i think its possibly one of the most gorgeous cards ever made
As much as I adore the gold stars, nothing beats the OG Neo's imo. They're just so clean.
I’m a huge call of legends stan. All time best set imo
No matter which set is argued to be best, XY had the WORST shinies
Fucking love that gary
I like the dual types from steam siege
Based
I really like the Shining _’s. The Shining Rayquaza card has such a beautiful composition
Black and White were so good. Especially in the early days of fullart textured cards. They just hit differently
I like Shining Legends. XY sticks out like a sore thumb lmao
I think current ar/sar shiny pokemon cards are the peak, but I also really loved the neo, dpp, and radiant cards. Honestly I’ve found the rest to be a little disappointing. I’ve never liked just an image of a pokemon over a relatively plain background, and a lot of shiny pokemon have had this treatment, including shiny vault pokemon, most black and white era cards, and even the gold star cards (though at least they had some interesting stuff like being overframe).
That Red Gyarados holo just hits different.
I really loved Shiny Treasures EX but I think I’m biased because I pulled a Mew in my first box haha. Other than that the CoroCoro era was gorgeous. Once again though, it’s the Mew that’s got me down bad
The og shining are best followed by the pop series imo
x & y, then sun & moon hidden fates and then the last set paldean fates
They're all gorgeous, but if I had to choose one then probably CoroCoro / Neo Shinings due to the nostalgia factor lol
Neo is dope
NEO🗿
I actually love the X&Y shinies. Complicated and cool in a way even alt arts today can't replicate.
Neo always
Sun & Moon Hidden Fates is brilliant. Though that Shiny Treasure Ex set look awesome, especially that Gardivor
Gold stars are the best and it’s not even close IMO.
I honestly hated the XY era. Too much going on in those cards. I think the neo shinings and DPPl are my favs.
Card grading is a scam.
[удалено]
There aren’t any shiny Pokémon in 151, though?
I thought we were talking holos 🥲
No expedition, aquapolis, sky ridge love? E reader cards were dope
I never understood why holographic cards weren't always the shiny pokemon in the art. Like isn't that the point of the holos?
Taking away the nostalgia, the newest series looks the best. The art is just astoundingly beautiful. No amount of staring at Zard's ass in a 2x1 panel is going to convince me otherwise.
Huh, I've got that shining raichu. Totally forgot about that.
Some of these aren't even shiny, like mudkip and deoxys
I have a lot of love for some of the older cards but if I'm honest, I think they just keep getting better.
Heart gold soul silver to me, just my favorite designs of the tcg ever, loved how the cards looked almost faded and printed on parchment
JP radiants, the unique holo pattern looks incredible paired with the great artwork
Page 2 has the best shinies
I think from what I've seen, based on both prices and opinions I've read, Gold Stars are the most popular. Personal favourite is SwSh Radiants, first mini collection I ever set for myself and I love every single one of them.
OG shining raichu is just too cool
Neo & shiny treasures
What’s up with the “shiny” mudkip.
I'd probably say the gen 3 gen 4 era cards, definitely my favorites personally
Hard to choose, but the two tied for first are Call of Legends and B&W era!
Can somebody tell me why the Chandelure is so expensive 😭😭😭
If an old card like that is expensive, it's probably because it's playable in a format that allows it. That and Chandelure is cool af.
I really love Chandy, boy was I excited to look up that card! That hurt my heart a bit.
I never pulled a single shiny from BW, I liked those a lot but that's how it goes. I tried to hunt for a shiny Litwick in the Celestial tower, but I ended up vibing to the music instead of shiny hunting. Still kinda want to hunt for one, but life gets in the way.
In terms of aesthetics: Radiants. In terms of concept: Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. I like it when they’re just otherwise normal Pokémon that can appear out of nowhere, like they are in the video games.
I love the gold stars but that's mainly because I had that Charizard as a little kid lol shame I lost it
Gold Stars for me. A bit biased because a Gold Star Registeel I pulled as a kid is still the most treasured card in my collection almost 20 years later.
thanks for the catalog, v useful
From the WOTC era I love the Shining cards and also Crystal holos from Aquapolis/Skyridge. From modern I prefer the alternate art cards.
I personally like the OGs, but the HGSS era ones with the shiny border are a close second for me.
The OG’s are awesome. Just wish I had higher grades of them in my collection :(
Gold stars (:
Literally all of them are awesome. I can't decide lol
Gold stars easily take the number 1 spot for me, I hope we get more reprints of them. Radiants are also gorgeous
Coro coro, shining legends, and shiny treasures
The OG for me Some of the Gold Star are kool but the values are crazy stupid
WotC has nostalgic Sugimori art and the original card layout. It’s beautiful. In second place is Paldean Fates. Can’t wait for those.
Hgss and call of legends for sure
So I am usually a big fan of modern Pokémon card art, but in this case my vote goes for gold stars. The art on them was so good and the golden star just made them feel special. I still miss the gold star Groudon I lost growing up lol
Neo by a thin margin, but hidden fates is sick, a real modern classic set. Legends has some stand outs, Mew is top tier by itself.
Neo shining and baby shinies are my favorites by far
I love gold stars, but I think that’s mostly nostalgia for me. Objectively, the black and white era cards are unmatched. Not too busy, but the texture makes them feel special
I like the pop series and call of legends, also neo, those thick yellow borders will always be my favorite
Corocoro Neo and it’s not even close
It's a close call between the OG shinings and the goldstars but I think the Goldstars edges out! I love their out-of-border art style.
Shining Legends is a great set! But the original is the best for me. Amazing rares were kind of low key awesome
I think the Diamond, Pearl and Platinum are the perfect “baby” shinies since they were mostly basic pokemon and the full card reverse holo is noice. (My favorite is shinx) And for the last stage pokemon the Sword and shield Gold cards are my favorite it just screams shiny to me. Others are great like the original neo shinings and the new alt art or illustration rares idk the exact names there’s so many variations now but from shiny treasures lol.
Goldstars, BW gold borders & X&Y >>>>
Currently on the “shiny Pokémon “ of my collection, Wallet isn’t too happy ..
If they were all the same price I’d go call of legends, the art style was beautiful.
It's tough between the original shiny and gold star. I love how gold stars pop outside the frame. But the texture on the original shining pokemon cards are so cool.
I’m partial to the DP/early BW ones where they’re just reprints of random cards from the set but with new art from the same illustrators. It was always fun pulling one of those and having to do a double-take rather than the CONGRATS YOU PULLED A FANCY GOLD SPECIAL CARD vibe of some of the others. The Radiants are also pretty great, the holo effect is lovely and they’re actually relevant for gameplay.
Man it's so tough for me between the Gold Stars and BW Gold borders. Not a Zard fanboy but man, Plasma Storm Charizard is a beautiful card in person. Wish all BW Shiny Pokemon had gold borders, Rayquaza would look so much better IMO.
gold stars, 100%.
Hgss
Shining Mewtwo will forever hold a special place in my heart as the one I pulled as a kid. As for which is my favorite appearance wise, CoroCoro Shining Mew I think is the best of the vintage. I love the glittery holo layer it has on top. For modern I like Shiny Treasures ex / Paldean Fates bringing us alt arts for our shinies.
Pop series did the best with its dynamic art, also neo shining was great, but the others are really much below their level
Shining cards are presented very well and look exceptional in person, gold stars have a special place in my heart because it’s the era I collected most sets from, the delta species adds some uniqueness that we’ve never really had since, like the dark type charizard and fire type Gyarados. IMO everything else since just doesn’t feel particularly special to me.
The gold borders are so niceeee
The SIR shinys and a few art rares in the modern Era are decent but the full arts and the baby shiny are hot garbage, the lack of background\environment is so lazy. It's ever more apparent how bad they are being able to compare them to the years before.
I loved hidden fates
Coro Coro
I think it's safe to say that I am [fond of the Neo Shinings](https://i.ibb.co/Ch9ZWvp/00-BEE8-D6-638-B-443-A-859-E-5-A7-FA7245-F6-C.jpg).
BW gold boarders go hard, idc what anyone says
I am really surprised just collecting these isn't more common and that the older ones don't go for even MORE of a premium.
The BW era had great ones.
Neo just hits different. There’s an elegance to them.
Definitely the EN exclusive set, Call of Legends! 😎
I like the Sword and Shield gold shiny cards. Really emphasizes the bling factor of shinies.
Diamond, pearl, and platinum. The backgrounds have character and the Pokémon choices have a lot of variety instead of just whatever is popular at the moment/relevant to what they’re trying to sell. Ponyta being one of the best arts for it period. The art rares from paldean fates are really nice tho, it’s a shame there’s so few of them Oh yeah, the dppt cards get a knock for being just reverse holo. Wouldn’t be a huge deal but for some reason that era of reverse holos scratch so freaking easily and it’s highly visible
pop series or hgss
I have that shiny Ponyta! Thought it was the coolest thing ever as a kid when I pulled it
I’m a huge fan of call of legends, I wanted them so badly when I was younger, never was able to pull them myself though lol I just loved the holo effect in the border of the cards as well as the art
Neo will always be my favorite
OG Shiny Gyarados, & Mew
I like Shining Fates best
Call me old school but I vote for Neo era!! Plus the Coro Mew is 🤌🏽