Pokemon TCG collector discovers “wild” Charizard ex misprint
The Pokemon CompanyA Pokemon TCG collector asked the community for help after they stumbled across a rare Charizard ex that had odd splotches scattered across the card’s backdrop.
In the Pokemon TCG landscape, fans have an interesting relationship with card misprints. Misprints can either ruin a rare card or make them much more valuable to collectors.
One trainer was briefly stumped after pulling a Special Illustration Rare Charizard ex from the Pokemon 151 expansion after they discovered it may be a misprint.
The collector, who goes by the username ‘TooTall2tall’ on Reddit, made a post on the Pokemon Misprints subreddit that asked: “The Holo on my Charizard has spots. Is this a misprint?”
The OP included two photos of the card in which viewers can see numerous gray spots scattered across the bright backdrop.
Members of the TCG community deemed the card a misprint, and one that was seemingly a recurring issue on this particular card.
“Man that’s wild,” said one fan.
“Have the same effect on mine. Not as severe and mostly localized to the right side,” another said.
A different trainer explained that they’ve “seen CGC grade similar things as insufficient ink but I think that’s more of an umbrella term under the circumstances. I’m not sure what causes these.”
Some thought it looked like ink splatter, while others guessed it was an issue with the holographic layering.
Considering this Special Illustration Rare Charizard ex is one of the most expensive cards from Pokemon 151, it is a bit of a shame that this one was damaged.
Still, some fans in the comments tried to give the misprint a more positive spin.
“Misprint, a cool one too because it looks like extra smoke from the volcano,” said one collector.
The owner of the card noted that this new perspective made them appreciate the misprint a bit more.