Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, sun & moon, Sword & Shield

A Holographic History Of The Pokémon TCG: Full Art Trainers

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. In this next installment of A Holographic History of the Pokémon TCG, let's take a look at the way that Full Art Trainer Supporter Cards have changed over the eras.

Like Full Art Pokémon cards, Full Art Trainer Supporters are textured, rarer variants of cards in the set. They feature human characters from the franchise including Gym Leaders, rivals, trainer classes, villains, and more. Over the course of the eras, stretching from the Black & White era to the current Sword & Shield era, Full Art Trainer Supporters have been a staple of the Pokémon TCG and are often highly coveted. They have also changed in some ways over the eras. Let's take a look.

• Black & White and XY era: The first selection of Full Art Trainer Supporters featured a ridged border to the righthand side of the card that reminds me a bit of e-series Pokémon. Like Full Art Pokémon cards of this time, these cards were quite heavy with deeply etched texture.

• Sun & Moon era: As you can see with this Guzma, the Sun & Moon era lost the ridged border which gives these even more of a "Full Art" look. The card weight is much lighter with a finer texture.

• Sword & Shield era: The same trend continues. The Sword & Shield era Full Art Trainer Supporters have even lighter weight and finer, wavier texture. You can even see that the design of the top border has become sleeker.

Generally, Full Art Trainer Supporters featuring female characters become major chase cards. The Full Art Marnie from Sword & Shield base is one of the top chase cards of the current era and the Full Art Lillie from Sun & Moon – Ultra Prism is one of the highest valued and most enduring chase cards from the Alolan era.

The Sword & Shield era introduced Rainbow Rare Trainer Supporters to the Pokémon TCG which we will cover in a future installment.

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