'Vivid Voltage,' November's English Set!

Skeleton Liar

サーナ~
Member
Honestly my interest in it was out the window when I learned that the set in general, rather than the Alt. Art Tag Teams that actually have some form of collectible appeal to it, it was Celebrating all these BELOVED Gym Leaders from the Galar Region! with a bunch of Pokemon-V I couldn't care less about, along with all these products based on characters I couldn't care less about. Amazing Rares would've been an okay substitute for that but it definitely wasn't likely they'd have been in at all.

I'm gonna just get an ETB for that Full Art Charizard. Might even get the single of it if it's cheap enough.
I think Champions Path could have been a great idea with the focus being on the Gym Leaders and their Pokemon. Think of the Gen 1 Gym sets or the VS set--or even any card art that includes a Gym leader. At least to me, it's neat to see! However, I went on about this when Champions Path was revealed, but this time around, the set's theme is more about the products/packaging (collect gym badges), rather than the cards in the set. With that disconnect, and no mention of any sort of sub-set, and now with confirmation of Amazing Rares being in Vivid Voltage, I fail to see the point of this set... As much as I want to get the Gardevoir and Alcremie cards, it no longer feels like a fun gamble when the rest of the set is uninteresting; singles is the way to go for me.

Yeah, I'm contemplating if I should, at the very most, get the ETB and call it a day, or not bother entirely. I'm leaning towards not bothering. But for you, depending on the price of the full art, it might be better to get the ETB itself since it also comes with the box, sleeves, and dice. But if the full art is cheap enough, those other things might be cheap too. I bought everything but the packs for the Team Up ETB on eBay for $10.
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
think Champions Path could have been a great idea with the focus being on the Gym Leaders and their Pokemon. Think of the Gen 1 Gym sets or the VS set--or even any card art that includes a Gym leader. At least to me, it's neat to see! However, I went on about this when Champions Path was revealed, but this time around, the set's theme is more about the products/packaging (collect gym badges), rather than the cards in the set. With that disconnect, and no mention of any sort of sub-set, and now with confirmation of Amazing Rares being in Vivid Voltage, I fail to see the point of this set... As much as I want to get the Gardevoir and Alcremie cards, it no longer feels like a fun gamble when the rest of the set is uninteresting; singles is the way to go for me.
Yeah, I think that’s what it boils down to. It’s such a loosely put together thing based on the gym leaders rather than actually feeling like something for them akin to the sets you mentioned. Or something like the SP Pokémon from Platinum. I love cards like that, the VS series is one of my favorite parts of the e series even though we sadly never got it. Even something like what we got with the ones based off...Whatever that set was called from last year with all the characters and their Pokémon in it that got into Cosmic Eclipse would have made for something a bit more thematically sound. It really just feels like the only purpose is to have the obligatory Holiday special set like we’ve had since 2017, but they really just kinda rushed it together. Who knows, they might even put that Rainbow Vmax Zard in just to have a chase card to sell more products, just to have SOMETHING out of it. I would hope I get lucky and pull it in the one thing I might buy out of it, because I’m sure not getting much of the set if at all. If they did Tag All Stars I’d be more inclined on buying their stock out, a lot like I did with Hidden Fates-itd be much more focused and I think they could have made a good selling special set out of it, with the prospect of all those Gold ones.

If it ends up being that the full art is cheap enough, I’m going for that on its own. I would be more inclined to go for the rest of the stuff if they didn’t start shaping ETBs all weird and ruining the dice with those numbers and bland colors (that’s more of a personal gripe though). The only thing that would slightly sell me is a possible tiny chance at the RR Zard if it’s included in the set, since even if I don’t like rainbows it’s still a valuable Charizard that I’d want just for the collection, and it’d be my one shot at getting it. But even then there’s a lot of stuff I could buy for that money that I’d probably enjoy a lot more, lol.
 

Skeleton Liar

サーナ~
Member
Yeah, I think that’s what it boils down to. It’s such a loosely put together thing based on the gym leaders rather than actually feeling like something for them akin to the sets you mentioned. Or something like the SP Pokémon from Platinum. I love cards like that, the VS series is one of my favorite parts of the e series even though we sadly never got it. Even something like what we got with the ones based off...Whatever that set was called from last year with all the characters and their Pokémon in it that got into Cosmic Eclipse would have made for something a bit more thematically sound. It really just feels like the only purpose is to have the obligatory Holiday special set like we’ve had since 2017, but they really just kinda rushed it together. Who knows, they might even put that Rainbow Vmax Zard in just to have a chase card to sell more products, just to have SOMETHING out of it. I would hope I get lucky and pull it in the one thing I might buy out of it, because I’m sure not getting much of the set if at all. If they did Tag All Stars I’d be more inclined on buying their stock out, a lot like I did with Hidden Fates-itd be much more focused and I think they could have made a good selling special set out of it, with the prospect of all those Gold ones.

If it ends up being that the full art is cheap enough, I’m going for that on its own. I would be more inclined to go for the rest of the stuff if they didn’t start shaping ETBs all weird and ruining the dice with those numbers and bland colors (that’s more of a personal gripe though). The only thing that would slightly sell me is a possible tiny chance at the RR Zard if it’s included in the set, since even if I don’t like rainbows it’s still a valuable Charizard that I’d want just for the collection, and it’d be my one shot at getting it. But even then there’s a lot of stuff I could buy for that money that I’d probably enjoy a lot more, lol.
I think a lot of us were hoping for those leftover cards to be in this set. But there's been no mention of them or the rainbow rare Charizard VMAX. Me personally, I figured that once Amazing Rares were announced, that would be the theme of our holiday set, similar to Shining Legends.

Man... despite there being an image of Vivid Voltage's ETB in this article, I totally forgot that they changed the shape of the box. Why'd they do that? So yeah, I wouldn't blame you for just going for the single then.
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
I think a lot of us were hoping for those leftover cards to be in this set. But there's been no mention of them or the rainbow rare Charizard VMAX. Me personally, I figured that once Amazing Rares were announced, that would be the theme of our holiday set, similar to Shining Legends.

Man... despite there being an image of Vivid Voltage's ETB in this article, I totally forgot that they changed the shape of the box. Why'd they do that? So yeah, I wouldn't blame you for just going for the single then.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with Amazing Rares personally. They seem like a one-off thing, which could’ve warranted them being in as the focus much like the shinies-the set they were in does draw a lot of parallels to Shining Legends after all.

I legitimately have no clue why they changed it. It doesn’t look good at all, they perfected the system once 2018 hit-the higher base part of the box, and the sleeker looking top side. Now it just looks...Janky? I dunno, it’s too much detail for something that doesn’t need it. And the dice...I’m so salty about those still. After collecting them for four years and then getting consistently better throughout their life until they made them all boring and numbered. The sleeves would be nice since I use those for cheaper holos and stuff, but I can always just get packs of them for cheap anyways.
 

Ilexon

Aspiring Trainer
Member
The Celebi art is definitely my favourite but that gigantamax orbeetle one is pretty funny
 

ShinxieDim

bbbbbbbbbbbbbb
Member
Neato. An unprecedented amount of filler cards, unfortunately, but what else is new?

Duraludon, Eelektross and Xerneas are my top collecting priorities
 

Tytus

Expanded Best Format
Member
They couldn't even wait 4 sets before they introduced their new gimmick. SMH my head pokemon. On the less pessimistic flip side of things I'm very excited about a lot of cards in this new set. Opal seems to really interest me. I wonder how many decks it will see play in?
 

ShinxieDim

bbbbbbbbbbbbbb
Member
They couldn't even wait 4 sets before they introduced their new gimmick. SMH my head pokemon.

I'm pretty sure this is a one-off gimmick, like Team Flare Gears. There weren't any Amazing rares in Shocking Volt Tackle, and it seems unlikely that any will appear in Shiny Star V.
 

Snowy Lilacs

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I'm pretty sure this is a one-off gimmick, like Team Flare Gears. There weren't any Amazing rares in Shocking Volt Tackle, and it seems unlikely that any will appear in Shiny Star V.


Actually I kinda hope they put the Amazing Rares in with Shiny Star V, I think those would look epic as shit. Just cause you hate them, doesn't meant everyone else does.
 

The Fish

0.o
Member
Card Art-wise this set is absolutely fantastic.
Joltik, Woobat, Oshawott, Cramorant, Wailord, Genesect, Duskull, Duraludon, Beedrill, the trainer-featuring trio, Flareon, Elektross, Banette, Pincurchin, Trumbeak, Metagross, Zapdos, Lugia... I could go on and on and on. Though Woobat is my absolute favourite. And don't even get me started on the pure magnificence of the Opal and Allister full arts.

Weirdly the amazing rares seem very hit or miss for me. For Celebi and Zamazenta the line weight is strangely thick, but with Jirachi it's very smooth. I definitely hope they do more in the future, because right now the Prism Pokemon seem way cooler (though the amazing rares are textured so hey you win some you lose some).

One thing I do love that they're finally doing again is featuring different art styles for the Vs. We saw this in SWSH base with Lapras and Snorlax, though it tailed off later down the line (Scizor V and Milotic V are really the only awesome ones I can remember). Now we finally get a stunning Talonflame, which ISN'T done in the generic 3D rendered action figure style. I really hope they push this more and more because it adds so much needed variety to the ultra rares.
 

Alex Leblanc

Aspiring Trainer
Member
They couldn't even wait 4 sets before they introduced their new gimmick. SMH my head pokemon. On the less pessimistic flip side of things I'm very excited about a lot of cards in this new set. Opal seems to really interest me. I wonder how many decks it will see play in?
They also did this with Shining Legends which was our SM3.5 or something like that so it's not the first time they introduced something new in the first year.
 

ShinxieDim

bbbbbbbbbbbbbb
Member
Actually I kinda hope they put the Amazing Rares in with Shiny Star V, I think those would look epic as shit. Just cause you hate them, doesn't meant everyone else does.


I never said I hated them, I actually quite like them. But we're probably not going to get any more
 

johnwick

Aspiring Trainer
Member
They also did this with Shining Legends which was our SM3.5 or something like that so it's not the first time they introduced something new in the first year.

Shining Legends is a Holiday set, so it doesn't count. Mic drop

Irs natural for Pokemon to introduce new mechanics every 4 sets, as I mentioned before, in their MAIN set NOT holiday set lmao

But since this seems like a one off thing, it's safe to assume we'll get our true new game feature in SWSH5.
 
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