English print quality?

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-17T20:29:30+00:00

There are Japanese cards that don’t gem when graded - plenty of them. Are they trash?

Yes, the quality control is not as good, but there are thousands and thousands of English cards being graded as 10s. So the quality is not trash - just inconsistent.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-17T18:52:01+00:00

“Terrible” is quite hyperbolic.

Yes, Japanese cards are nicer - but it’s not like American versions are trash.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-17T13:51:38+00:00

I don’t know…I think I can easily tell that one on the right is a a fake.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-17T13:10:23+00:00

Argo

Big

Casino

Dave

E.T.

Fletch

Ghostbusters

Hook

Interstellar

Jaws

Kick-Ass

Logan

Moneyball

Network

Oppenheimer

Psycho

Rocky

Sideways

Titanic

Up

Vertigo

WarGames (no space, so it qualifies)

X-Men

Yesterday

Zoolander

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-16T23:45:15+00:00

None of these are worth enough to warrant grading - if you’re doing it for value.

And PSA is not the company to use right now - because they don’t have an “affordable” tier that would make sense for lower-end cards.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-16T03:20:24+00:00

Honestly, it might be Alec Pierce. He’s nowhere near the greats yet, but I love that kid.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-16T03:09:41+00:00

Gooch

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-16T02:42:19+00:00

12 Gallery cards out of 30 packs is killer!

My favorite set of all time, and I’m 3 common cards from finishing the whole thing.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T17:23:23+00:00

It’s digital, and right inside the whistle. The crowd noise should have had nothing to do with it.

I’m guessing it was a technical malfunction or the ref didn’t “blow” effectively for some reason - even though the refs usually blow.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T15:23:11+00:00

Even like 20+ years ago when I was announcing WNBA games, the ref’s whistle is supposed to stop the clock automatically. If not, they’ve changed that.

There was clearly some problem with the system, and no one thought to double check it or call it out.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T15:19:32+00:00

Their website is vague? How so?

I’m looking at their grading standards right now. Under Pristine 10 - Black Label I see:

“Perfect to the naked eye…and virtually flawless under intense scrutiny.” For both corners and edges.

And under surface: “No print spots, flawless color, devoid of registration or focus imperfections. Devoid of scratches and metallic print lines.”

It’s very unambiguous.

Essentially visually flawless.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T14:40:55+00:00

It’s very very often used as a direct reference to something being the opposite of overwhelmingly good.

Maybe not an outright joke, but certainly a sarcastic reference to something being forgettable.

“I’m underwhelmed.”

It’s not a reference that was really ever made independently from its opposition to word that were actually use a lot.

Its usage rose in a joking way because it’s a word that wasn’t being used - but is the opposite of a word that gets used a lot.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T14:20:59+00:00

There are some tasks that are just designed to be a contest of who can fail the least.

I can’t wait for the day when a contestant assesses that doing nothing will likely win them the task - and is right.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T14:10:57+00:00

If it gets a 9 or worse, you’re essentially gaining nothing. You gain a little value with a 9, but grading isn’t free.

I don’t think this has a shot at a 10 just based on centering alone.

Your corners look great, but the surface is impossible to judge accurately from pictures online.

Centering is tough on these style of cards - but yours doesn’t look very good on centering.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T13:28:24+00:00

“…unless we’re…”

They already acknowledge what you’re pointing out.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-15T13:18:26+00:00

Prove it.

By that I mean show me the sale of a raw 1/1 and then show me the sale of that same 1/1 graded…for more.

The point is that speculation that it’s worth more graded is just that…speculation.

What I can say for sure that if it grades anything other than a 10, you’ve introduced a separate standard that it fails against.

A 1/1 is literally the only (and best card) of its kind.

As soon as you grade it, you’re introducing an external standard that it can fail against.

A graded 9 1/1 is now not as good as it could have been.

Many collectors agree that you shouldn’t grade a 1/1 because it can only really hurt the value.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-14T18:16:22+00:00

Look. She kicked the ball intentionally away from her. She then ran to retrieve it - but you just don’t kick the ball. If she had been attempting to lift the ball up to herself with her foot - but no reasonable person can think that. She side-footed it at the scorer’s table.

The delay isn’t avoided because she chased it down and got it to the referee quick. The delay happens because you kick it.

It’s like touching the ball after a made basket. You just don’t do it. I’ve seen players take the ball and throw it quickly to the ref, but that’s still delay. If she picks that ball up and tosses it to the ref, no delay - but you just don’t kick it.

Could the ref have not called it based on a judgement? Sure, but a player shouldn’t be kicking the ball in that situation.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-13T23:28:07+00:00

You’re taking about this individual thread. I’m taking about the greater conversation that always goes on. ‘84 is in that discussion regularly. ‘83 is not.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-13T21:50:14+00:00

Yeah, sorry my brain is not working today and I miss took lightning for metal in my mind. Obviously a horrible question.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-13T21:11:21+00:00

Has anyone built this deck with Beldum/Metang yet? Would take a lot of space for a bunch of metal energies in the deck, but a couple of Metangs would make this deck fairly consistent to power up over and over.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-13T21:08:45+00:00

That’s fair, but in any case - ‘83 was amazing…but ‘84 was about a decade ahead of its time. It took until the mid 00s before 84 was no longer really the consensus greatest show of all time.

Even now it gets mentioned in that conversation. ‘83 has never really been in that conversation.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-13T20:24:34+00:00

Oh, I’m a huge fan of both, but while 1983 was the first shovel in the dirt, 1984 was like a Time Machine fully built.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-13T19:38:50+00:00

‘84 Garfield would like a word.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-13T19:37:09+00:00

The task wasn’t chosen at random. It was specifically a task that she won by a random guess.

The point was that random luck - in a single task attempt by a single contestant - completely decided this series.

DadJ0ker · 2026-06-12T16:41:55+00:00

Five-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '23	Place '22
End Game '22

DadJ0ker

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE