Not just the foils. If you compared the cards now to the WOTC era cards, notice that the old cards were way thicker and harder to bend. Now just one little mistake and your card has a bad crease.
Has TPCI stopped caring about the way they produce cards?
- Thread starter Brave Vesperia
- Start date
On every single full art Zekrom I've seen so far (Even the ones fresh from the pack.) they all have a DENT in the top left corner. TPCI, you dissapoint me. 
the aura is with me8 said:On every single full art Zekrom I've seen so far (Even the ones fresh from the pack.) they all have a DENT in the top left corner. TPCI, you dissapoint me.
My full art Zekrom was ok, but there was a tiny white spot in the top right corner on the back. This is still unacceptable for a card that has been pulled fresh from the pack with the pack from a sealed booster box.
Yeh my FA Zekrom that I pulled at the Prerelease had a few white specks on the pack, but my Reshiram was ok. It varies pack to pack, I have yet to pull anything I am upset over because of condition though, of course I am a player, not a collector.
sorry to necromance, but I do have some good news.. I had posted about having contacted them about my nin mint full art pulled from a pack, and they actually responded. I an screen cap the email, but here is a copy/ paste
"Dear Carlos Duran Jr,
A solution for your issue has been suggested.
I am sorry for the delay in this response. If you can forward along your address, I can see about sending some replacement packs to you. We are unable to replace specific cards as we do not have singles of all cards.
The following Customer(s) have been CC'ed:
Question Information:
Question #: 15182-***
Date Created: 5/10/2011 3:06:51 PM
To update or check the status of this Question:
Go to: http://support.pokemon.com/link/portal/15182/15227/Ticket/ ***
Log in, and you will be automatically taken to the Question page.
If you have general questions, please direct them to [email protected]."
the *'s are just me blocking out the ticket #'s.
I take this as good news, anyone else contact tpci? Anyone else wanting to contact them now for future issues? They ask for a scan of the ard and a scan of your receipt (my guess is to prove that it's not like a month old card or something)
Screen Cap
"Dear Carlos Duran Jr,
A solution for your issue has been suggested.
I am sorry for the delay in this response. If you can forward along your address, I can see about sending some replacement packs to you. We are unable to replace specific cards as we do not have singles of all cards.
The following Customer(s) have been CC'ed:
Question Information:
Question #: 15182-***
Date Created: 5/10/2011 3:06:51 PM
To update or check the status of this Question:
Go to: http://support.pokemon.com/link/portal/15182/15227/Ticket/ ***
Log in, and you will be automatically taken to the Question page.
If you have general questions, please direct them to [email protected]."
the *'s are just me blocking out the ticket #'s.
I take this as good news, anyone else contact tpci? Anyone else wanting to contact them now for future issues? They ask for a scan of the ard and a scan of your receipt (my guess is to prove that it's not like a month old card or something)
Screen Cap
The support portal on www.pokemon.com
carlitosbob said:
wait what was wrong with your FA that you emailed them about?
uhg getting the promos and what not out of that plastic.....it just ruins the card. i just got the HGSS collection box and when i pulled out the typhlosion it got REALLY bent -_-
yeah it was about the full art. And as far as getting promos out, use an exacto knife to cut around it. It makes it easy and no bends.
edit: the full art had white wear marks on the back along the blue edge. Making it like a marked card (since I use clear sleeves) it also had a line in the front, like a gap in the texture, since the glossy holo area of zekrom itself was fine so it was clearly not a scratch or crease.
edit: the full art had white wear marks on the back along the blue edge. Making it like a marked card (since I use clear sleeves) it also had a line in the front, like a gap in the texture, since the glossy holo area of zekrom itself was fine so it was clearly not a scratch or crease.
it's a common error. Now, if it was missing the whole texture thing, then that would be rare. I also have one of the glossy background full art zekroms. I do like the "fixed" ones better, the grey textured area feels nice.
Since we've heard from TPCI and thus this discussion will keep going to some degree...
Design wise: yes, this is exactly what they're going for. The Pokemon is the focus of the card in the holos, and from the looks of Red Collection is a design choice which is going to stay. Even so, the physical holo used on the US cards for BW is a distinctly different variation on Japan's pinstripe holo. Case in point:
This was a quick photo I took via webcam to compare the JP Zekrom with the ENG Zekrom. They're both being held at the same light source, same angle, and yet I can't get the english holo to show up. Only if I physically warped the card could I successfully do so.
Side by side comparison scan of JP Reshiram and ENG Reshiram, scanned at the same time on the same scanner. My scanner is really good at picking up a lot of even subtle things, but still can't actually pick up the holo. I noticed on some scans here on 'Beach when the prereleases happened the same thing is prominent bar a select few of the holos (Serperior and Klinklang come to mind.)
The actual foil the US has is terrible for BW, and the previous Galaxy foils started getting quite bad from Arceus onwards. They smell bad (I just got my sense of smell back after serious sinusitis and the new BW cards really smell wrong to me, somewhat vinegary, which is usually a sign of decay or cheap inks used), and the way they're set/printed on is awkward. I do praise them for their Reverse Holo fix, though. You can finally sleeve those without them scratching to pieces. Still overly eye-blinding, though, when compared to the short lived Mirror holo done in Japan for LEGEND era, however.
But yeah, TPCI have never been great on quality of cards. I did a full retrospective on it a while back with diagnostic photos of card interiors etc as well as holo lustre and card finish. Really should do a newer write up on it sometime to show people the comparison. It's just really interesting that the quality is so poor when you pay so much for the product (speaking as an Australian here whom has to deal with $7AUD single boosters.)
One more just for prettiness and fun:
ogeray said:
Design wise: yes, this is exactly what they're going for. The Pokemon is the focus of the card in the holos, and from the looks of Red Collection is a design choice which is going to stay. Even so, the physical holo used on the US cards for BW is a distinctly different variation on Japan's pinstripe holo. Case in point:
This was a quick photo I took via webcam to compare the JP Zekrom with the ENG Zekrom. They're both being held at the same light source, same angle, and yet I can't get the english holo to show up. Only if I physically warped the card could I successfully do so.
Side by side comparison scan of JP Reshiram and ENG Reshiram, scanned at the same time on the same scanner. My scanner is really good at picking up a lot of even subtle things, but still can't actually pick up the holo. I noticed on some scans here on 'Beach when the prereleases happened the same thing is prominent bar a select few of the holos (Serperior and Klinklang come to mind.)
The actual foil the US has is terrible for BW, and the previous Galaxy foils started getting quite bad from Arceus onwards. They smell bad (I just got my sense of smell back after serious sinusitis and the new BW cards really smell wrong to me, somewhat vinegary, which is usually a sign of decay or cheap inks used), and the way they're set/printed on is awkward. I do praise them for their Reverse Holo fix, though. You can finally sleeve those without them scratching to pieces. Still overly eye-blinding, though, when compared to the short lived Mirror holo done in Japan for LEGEND era, however.
But yeah, TPCI have never been great on quality of cards. I did a full retrospective on it a while back with diagnostic photos of card interiors etc as well as holo lustre and card finish. Really should do a newer write up on it sometime to show people the comparison. It's just really interesting that the quality is so poor when you pay so much for the product (speaking as an Australian here whom has to deal with $7AUD single boosters.)
One more just for prettiness and fun:
The curving can be easily fixed with weight and cold storage (just a general cool area) for a few days/up to a week usually. Even some of the older JP holos had that issue, around the Rocket through the Neo series due to the weight of the foil, but again easily fixed with a bit of weight.
One weird thing I noticed about the holos in the B&W set is actually the BACK of the card. If you feel the back of a holo B&W card versus any other card, you can tell that the back side feels... grainier, maybe? It's just not as smooth. It's definitely distinct enough to tell a holo vs. a non-holo just by feel. While I've felt some B&W holos that have the smoother backs, most of the ones I've felt have had that texture difference.
@ viper.fox, I always love when you post pictures of cards. it makes my day. personally, I really liked the old old holo used back in the base set days (I think it went away in base set 2, then came back for legendary, but went away again) but those would scratch very easily. so, comparing that way, the quality has improved a little (barely). but Japan has Always had better card quality overall, even in the gym heroes days (my only experience with imported boosters)
viper, what's your opinion on using an exacto knife on american B/W cards to expose the holo on the card borders so they match the japanese cards? if done slowly enough (about 7 minutes per short edge and 12 pwe long edge) it looks good IMO.
viper, what's your opinion on using an exacto knife on american B/W cards to expose the holo on the card borders so they match the japanese cards? if done slowly enough (about 7 minutes per short edge and 12 pwe long edge) it looks good IMO.
I hope that they fix these holo, they should go with something that doesn't warp the card. The older sets didn't have this problem, they need to do whatever they were doing back then. Where I live we get the effects of the Holos warping the worst because of the climate, so some holo straight from Black and White packs, are so warped that they aren't legal in tournament, because if you sleeve it into a deck it is considered a marked sleeve because it can't lay flat. That is ridiculous, I am sorry. I don't even see why they switched the holo, it looks awful anyways, the older ones were much more appealing to the eye.
Oh and about the weight thing, that is good to know, but still as a competitive player, I don't always have a week to flatten out my cards before a tournament, playtesting time and whatever, it shouldn't have to come to that.
Oh and about the weight thing, that is good to know, but still as a competitive player, I don't always have a week to flatten out my cards before a tournament, playtesting time and whatever, it shouldn't have to come to that.
Vulpix Yolk said:
see:
viper.fox said:
I traded for a RH Combee that was so curved that it was a whole inch above the table when face down. (the owner had it in his tin, in the trunk of his car, for who knows how long) keeping it in the back of the binder got rid of almost all the curving. and I don't even have that many cards in my binder.