Posted in: Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG

A Holographic History Of The Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon Era Waves

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 back at the pattern that defined the Sun & Moon era: the holofoil with a wavey pattern.

At first glance, I thought that the Pokémon TCG had kept their XY-era pattern-less foil with horizontal rainbow lines going for Sun & Moon. However, the truth was much more interesting. When you move these cards around in the light, the pattern becomes clear, and it actually seems to tie thematically to Sun & Moon's region of focus: Alola. The pattern is a series of wavey lines that almost look like psychedelic water stains. However, when moving the card around, the pattern moves like waves crashing on a beach shore. It's a subtle but underrated pattern.

The thing about this pattern, which isn't the case for more in-your-face Pokémon TCG holo patterns like Black & White's horizontal lines and the previous eras' galaxy foil, is that it works much better on some cards than others. For example, look at the difference between the first card in this article and the second. The Uxie lights up vibrantly because there is a lot of space for the actual foil, while the Charizard card sees the Pokémon take up most of the card, leaving little room for the holographic waves to… you know, wave.

While that inconsistency makes this pattern fail to rank among my favorites, I like how it translates a region-based theme into a fun visual. Next time, we'll cover the style that replaced this as the main Pokémon TCG holographic style with the start of the Sword & Shield era: the vertical bar pattern, which is still the active current holographic pattern.

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