Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Brilliant Stars, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, VMAX Climax

A Holographic History Of The Pokémon TCG: Character Super Rares

Over the years, the Pokémon TCG has featured many different patterns used on their holographic cards. Some patterns lasted for years, while others had short stays, making them markers for their short time in the franchise. This once-weekly series covered the history of these card styles, and I'm happy to say that so many new card types are coming to the hobby that we can now dive back in for a look at some 2022 arrivals. In this next installment of A Holographic History of the Pokémon TCG, let's take a look at a twist on Character Cards (or Character Rares) that combines elements of V and VMAX cards: Character Super Rares.

Character Super Rares arrived in Japan first, as is customary. They were released in a massive subset of the December 2021 high-class set VMAX Climax which included a wealth of Character Cards as well as these new Character Super Rares. These cards were released internationally for English-language readers starting with February 2022's Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars which was the first set to have the Trainer Gallery subset which now continues through all Sword & Shield-branded sets in 2022.

Character Super Rares are simple. They begin with the same concept of Character Cards which depict a Pokémon and their trainer on a basic Pokémon card, which is depicted on a Full Art card without texture. This concept is then combined with either the Pokémon-V card type seen above with Garchomp V Character Super Rare from Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance or Pokémon-VMAX seen below with Mimikyu VMAX Character Super Rare from Sword & Shield – Brilliant Stars.

These cards have a light etched texture on the foil similar to Full Arts but not as deeply grooved. These are often confused with Alternate Arts but are an entirely different card type. Note how Character Super Rare Vs don't use the silver border that Full Art Vs or Alternate Art Vs do. These use the same style as a traditional, non-Full Art Pokémon V with the only difference being the light texture unique to this card, the presence of a Trainer, and the more illustrative art style.

These cards have been enriching the Sword & Shield era greatly in 2022, as the Trainer Gallery subset cards can be pulled in the reverse holo slot.

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