Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Elite Trainer Box feedback

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ExoByte said:
Thanks for the feedback all. I'm going to look into what we can do to make the flip die more readable. Quasi-ironically it appears to be because the clear parts are too clear.
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Maybe varying translucent colors as the die color? My poor girlfriend can't see the die from the last trainer kit sometimes in her Scraggy mat because you guys did such a good job at making the die clear LOL. We still use it though of course! I'm excited for the next one, have to love getting sleeves!

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk 2
 
Just my 2 cent. As one of the few who used the deck box, I enjoyed it. In fact it served me well during the time I used it (from when the ETB was released till nationals). The only reason I am not still using it is because I cut the number of decks I had and am now using a double deck.

The counters and dices, I have not been using as I put them into my collection.
Though I am not a big fan of designs on dices if I would be using them.

The energies are nice, but I had no use for them. minus the dark and metal.

The Booklet was my favorite thing about the box. I am a sucker for booklets.

The container it came in, I use for my trainers and loved the design of everything.

Heads up, I have a funny feeling I'll be buying more then one Plasma Blast ETB. I say that not only because I need the sleeves, but I also want to try the dices.
 
Those sleeves look niiiiice. Definitely a great addition. I hope they hold up well enough.

The poison/burn counters are my backup set, only not usually in use because my States/Regionals ones are even cooler. They're really popular at my league, which I am very grateful for, since apparently they're nice enough to actually be kept around instead of getting misplaced.

The damage dice are pretty cool, I like the symbol since it fits in with the rest of the Plasma stuff. I don't like the flip die, but it's mostly just that the colors don't look good IMO. Clear is boring.

The outer box has held up pretty well. A bit of the design got scraped off, and the corners are a little battered, but it's usable. I mostly store extra cards in it.

The size of the cardboard deckbox is an improvement, but it's still too flimsy to be worth using as anything except a separator for cards I leave at home anyway.
 
The ring on the upper side of the box to keep the box from sinking any lower when the box closes does get annoying when the sleeved card at the end would get caught by that cardboard ring. I do have some ways to fix that.

MTG's fat pack boxes are exactly the same, so the way I do it is I place dividers at the ends of the boxes, which would protect the end cards from being damaged by said ring.

There has to be a way to make the box close properly, and at the same time, not raise the bottom half of the box. The worst you can do is to raise the bottom half of the box, and you can't take your cards out unless you dump them all out, especially with sleeved cards where you have to pick the stack up from the sides.
 
EricDent said:
Energy cards: if you are a long time player (or an "Elite" trainer) you should have more than enough energy.
If it was holo-foil or had a cool background it would be better.
I kinda want something with maybe "staple" trainers, or Pokemon that
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I think the best thing they can do with the energy cards is to have unique backgrounds on the energy.
Printing them with foil would probably have a negative impact on the price, but printing regular cards just with new energy designs should be cost effective and will help drive sales if they meet the "cool" factor.
They can be made more cost effective by using the same designs for multiple releases of ETB, but making the ETB the only way to get those energy designs.
 
cabd said:
Or just give us the movie swirly energy (Japan only so far), aka best energy design ever.
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I don't know, the EX: Emerald Energy cards (holo, but would probably look fine non-holo, but would require new designs for :dark:/:metal:) were my favorite and what I would consider the best, but that's neither here nor there.
 
I picked up the Plasma Blast Elite Trainer Box 2 days ago at Target. Just gonna chime in my two cents relating to both boxes.

Value: Unbelievable. The Plasma Blast box retailed for $39.99 at Target, and I can certainly see why. 8 Booaster Packs, 40 Energy, 4 Dividers, 65 Sleeves, 2 Acryllic Markers, 1 Flippable Die, 6 Damage Counter Dice, plus a pretty nice box showing off Plasma Blast. While $40 is a lot to drop at once, the value here is really easy to see. I had a $5 off coupon at Target so even better. :D

Contents:
The deck box/Sleeves: The deck box in the first box was pretty garbage. I throw out the ones I get with theme decks, and I threw that one out too. If you're gonna include a deck box, make it the plastic boxes we get at Pre-Releases, and not the cardboard thing given out in theme decks. The deck box was replaced with the dividers and sleeves for the Plasma Blast Box. Bravo. I can't comment on the quality of the sleeves, as I'm keeping them for collection purposes, but they are the foil kind that was given out at Pre-Releases back in early DP. This worries me a bit, as the quality of those was really spotty, but we'll see if anyone actually uses them to find out.

The dice: Again, I'm not using them because I'm storing them for collection sake, but I love them. I agree with some of the comments brought up about the picture being a distraction when trying to calculate damage, but it makes them exclusive, and that's what the collector in me loves. Same thing applies to the flippable die. I can see where it would be hard to see. Maybe go for a colored transparency instead of flat out clear? I like the color choices too, being from Detroit, the colors match my Tigers. :D

Energy: Pretty useless to most "Elite Trainers" but a nice bonus to entice people starting the game to purchase the set. I'll vouch for the fact I think the Box should either have stamped or marked energy to give them some exclusivity. Holo energy would be nice, but not if it drives the price up any higher.

The packs: Perfect. 8 is plenty enough to entice a purchase, while giving you good odds at getting an EX.

The box: Sturdy, durable, made out of a nice material. I personally don't use it since I have a different card box I use, but it's a great place to store your deck, counters, extra sleeves, and a toy or two if you carry charms around with you at tournaments. No complaints whatsoever.

I think that about covers it. TLDR: I love these things. They are great for both newcomers and veteran players, give a great value for your money, and are just all around cool. I really wish you guys could put one out for every set. We'd be getting a TON of boxes over the year, but I really think these are a great product.
 
It would be pretty neat if every once in a while, one of these includes a Pokémon Dice Bag for all of our new fancy dice. I think it'd be awesome to see a cool Xerneas Yveltal dice bag.
 
I just got my shipment of ETBs from my distributor. I didn't buy the first round, so this is my first real experience with the product.

I love the contents, but I think the inner packaging is awful. The idea that a $40 product has its collectible contents just bouncing around inside is really disappointing. It's a shame then when you open up such a sharp looking item, the contents are jumbled up inside. It looks unprofessional and I think it undermines the presentation of the product as a whole.

It also makes these really dangerous to ship. If a customer spends $40 on a product they probably assume it's going to arrive unharmed. However, I can't control the fact that the packs are shifting during transit.

I didn't encounter damaged cards, but certainly there could be a consumer perception that the cards will be damaged.
 
Widdi said:
My only qualm with the box itself is the ridge on in the inner part of the upper box. It can catch card sleeves or cards bending and tearing them.

Everything else is awesome. I even like the cardboard deck box.

That being said I would really love to see some bigger Pokemon themed storage boxes. Those ones ultra-pro put out that are roughly the size of two ETBs stuck side by side would be a amazing addition to my collection.
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It's just a cardboard insert in the box top. You can pull it out, but it makes the box top sit kind of funny.

For me, the cardboard deck box is perfect for carrying around my (currently) small volume of trade fodder. The dice are a nice addition to my collection, as are the burn and poison markers. The Trainer Box itself is of good quality and holds five sleeved decks quite nicely, with room for a few tech cards slipped in here and there.

I've had good pull rates from all the boxes I've gotten, as well.

All in all, a good purchase, and I'm hoping the Genesect box will be just as good.

TheDancingPeanut said:
I just got my shipment of ETBs from my distributor. I didn't buy the first round, so this is my first real experience with the product.

I love the contents, but I think the inner packaging is awful. The idea that a $40 product has its collectible contents just bouncing around inside is really disappointing. It's a shame then when you open up such a sharp looking item, the contents are jumbled up inside. It looks unprofessional and I think it undermines the presentation of the product as a whole.

It also makes these really dangerous to ship. If a customer spends $40 on a product they probably assume it's going to arrive unharmed. However, I can't control the fact that the packs are shifting during transit.

I didn't encounter damaged cards, but certainly there could be a consumer perception that the cards will be damaged.
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Just remember that Magic: The Gathering has been running this exact same concept with their $40 Fat Pack boxes for years now. And they actually give you LESS in their boxes than Pokemon does. I can see where the average consumer may find this product to be a risky purchase due to the factors you've described, but For those of us who have seen this sort of thing for years already, it's just another efficient way of buying packs and gear.
 
ExoByte said:
Thanks for the feedback all. I'm going to look into what we can do to make the flip die more readable. Quasi-ironically it appears to be because the clear parts are too clear.
Click to expand...

Quick note, looks like we should be able to alter the flip die's opacity for the Feb release.
 
This box is a great improvement on the last. I would honestly buy one of these for every set. The die needs a bit of work, but other than that i really like the product as a whole.
 
Might as well follow up since I've now bought two of the new ETB:

  • As expected, the sleeves are a cool addition. Haven't used 'em yet, but they look good.
  • I like the orange damage dice. Not sure yet about the randomizer. Glad to hear the opacity'll be a bit different in the next one
  • One of the two of my boxes came without dividers, which was a bit disappointing since I'm already using the other four. The flip side is that the dividers are an awesome addition, and I'm already using all of the ones I got :thumb:
  • I still don't like the burn marker art. I'm still apparently alone in that. I'll hand the burn/poison off to my kids and they'll be happy with 'em.
  • I fully intend to reuse the outside box, just as I did with the ETB I bought a few months back. It's nice and sturdy, and fits a reasonable number of cards.

All in all, I'd say it was definitely worth the $80 I spent, even before I consider my pulls (which were drastically better than either booster box I bought).
 
These things are awesome. Great value for what the pack inside and very happy about the improvements made since the plasma storm ETB.
The one and only thing id really like to see (along with many others) is some nice energy cards. Doesnt have to be holo, just need to be better looking. Could even be the same ones that came in the base BW set or new art in general. I think that would push this product over the edge.
Overall still very pleased. 8 packs is a great number, and the addition of sleeves is very attractive and healthy for the game in the sense that new players and kids are encouraged to protect their cards.
 
This is the best product Pokémon has EVER produced.

Kudos to the team who put this together.

The Energy, Dice, Status, are definitely needed.

The sleeves are top quality, and really look sharp. We have broken several of these boxes into pieces, and have no trouble selling the sleeves by themselves.

The amount of packs, the price point (which for me is $35 and not $40) is spot on.

I really hope the sleeves become a tradition and we get a ton of these.

PLEASE tell me we are continuing these for the November release - the ULTIMATE Pokémon TCG Christmas gift.

The sleeves were a complete hit.

See you all soon.

Vince
 
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