waynegg
CotD Editor<br>Forum Moderator
Everyone in the Pokemon community knows of all that TPCi has done over the course of the last year or so for players. First, they listened to the concerns of Claydol being rotated at a time when it was direly needed and chose to have no rotation for a year for the format to catch up. When it was decided that foreign language cards could no longer be used in decks, they again listened giving first a moratorium period of a year for the players to prepare and then followed it up with a higher premium card insertion rate into packs so players would have a higher probability of being able to pull the "good" cards needed for a deck. Most recently they've heard the concerns of the players over fears of a broken format and have taken the approach of dealing with it proactively instead of turning a deaf ear and a blind eye to the situation. Much praise has been bestowed on them for all of these actions.
While everyone in the community may have not taken note, the same positive changes in the area collectors are most concerned with are also happening.
For the longest, all of the promos pumped out were nothing more than reprints from sets. The pop sets were all reprints. The tins were all reprints. Everything was a reprint for the most part. Then, suddenly, unique promos began to pop up, and though this was met with luke warm indifference from players it was a surprising and warmly appreciated switch from those of us who collect. They have shown up in tins, packs, and even in sets as once again very rare pulls (which is just fine because for the most part they have little playability). While we may not have every card printed in Japan most of them are being printed in English now in one form or another. This was a fantastic start!
There are more exclusive cards being created now as well. This has been a gradual, almost imperceptible integration. Every year though there are more and more. Mostly they are exclusive to countries, such as the Burger King promos in the US, the Snowflake promos from Canada, and the Darkrai card movie insert in the UK. However some,such as the new design Victory Medal we all enjoyed at Autumn Battle Roads, are more widespread but limited in numbers produced. I'm sure more are to come and I for one can't wait to see what they have in store for us come Spring Battle Roads.
Then, and I am both shocked and overwhelming floored by this one, they went and changed the holo stock for at least the reverse holos with the release of Black and White to what appears to be a slightly thicker and softer plastic. For ages, if you looked at a reverse holo wrong the face of the card would be littered with tiny scratches. While the hard surface looked extremely nice, it was near impossible to keep it looking that way; if a card was played, even carefully in sleeves it was ruined.
That, however, is no longer the case. Today at the prerelease I attended, five of my local friends also participated and they all pulled cards I needed for the reverse holo part of my collection. They all offered to forgo using them in the tournament as they knew I would want them and also knew that playing them would buff them up beyond being worth putting into my set (they know I'm a bit particular on collection pieces). I graciously declined their offer telling them I would be able to pick them up later. After the tournament though, most of the cards still appeared to be pack fresh. I compared them with cards from previous sets closely and immediately noticed the difference. Though the quality of the RH coating has been discussed many times previously, I for one never thought something this menial would ever really be addressed. I was proven wrong today.
It takes a very special company and group of dedicated people within that company to take the time and to strive to meet, if not exceed, every demand their widely varied customer base puts on them. I didn't want TPCi to think that this change has gone by unnoticed or unnoted- because it hasn't. I'm very grateful. Thanks!
While everyone in the community may have not taken note, the same positive changes in the area collectors are most concerned with are also happening.
For the longest, all of the promos pumped out were nothing more than reprints from sets. The pop sets were all reprints. The tins were all reprints. Everything was a reprint for the most part. Then, suddenly, unique promos began to pop up, and though this was met with luke warm indifference from players it was a surprising and warmly appreciated switch from those of us who collect. They have shown up in tins, packs, and even in sets as once again very rare pulls (which is just fine because for the most part they have little playability). While we may not have every card printed in Japan most of them are being printed in English now in one form or another. This was a fantastic start!
There are more exclusive cards being created now as well. This has been a gradual, almost imperceptible integration. Every year though there are more and more. Mostly they are exclusive to countries, such as the Burger King promos in the US, the Snowflake promos from Canada, and the Darkrai card movie insert in the UK. However some,such as the new design Victory Medal we all enjoyed at Autumn Battle Roads, are more widespread but limited in numbers produced. I'm sure more are to come and I for one can't wait to see what they have in store for us come Spring Battle Roads.
Then, and I am both shocked and overwhelming floored by this one, they went and changed the holo stock for at least the reverse holos with the release of Black and White to what appears to be a slightly thicker and softer plastic. For ages, if you looked at a reverse holo wrong the face of the card would be littered with tiny scratches. While the hard surface looked extremely nice, it was near impossible to keep it looking that way; if a card was played, even carefully in sleeves it was ruined.
That, however, is no longer the case. Today at the prerelease I attended, five of my local friends also participated and they all pulled cards I needed for the reverse holo part of my collection. They all offered to forgo using them in the tournament as they knew I would want them and also knew that playing them would buff them up beyond being worth putting into my set (they know I'm a bit particular on collection pieces). I graciously declined their offer telling them I would be able to pick them up later. After the tournament though, most of the cards still appeared to be pack fresh. I compared them with cards from previous sets closely and immediately noticed the difference. Though the quality of the RH coating has been discussed many times previously, I for one never thought something this menial would ever really be addressed. I was proven wrong today.
It takes a very special company and group of dedicated people within that company to take the time and to strive to meet, if not exceed, every demand their widely varied customer base puts on them. I didn't want TPCi to think that this change has gone by unnoticed or unnoted- because it hasn't. I'm very grateful. Thanks!
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