Scarlet & Violet – 151 was definitely one of the most significant sets released in 2023. The set consists of cards representing the first 151 Pokémon in the Pokédex.
This set is also highly relevant for misprint collectors as well because it introduced several very unusual errors.
In this post, I wanted to gather a series of particular misprints that, in my opinion, are noteworthy. I deliberately excluded some types of errors that I consider ‘common’ in any set, to focus more on the unusual ones.
German & French bluebinos
Bluebino is a term coined by MTG misprint collectors, referring to a card printed using only 2 (Cyan & Black) of the 4 (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) colours typically used. In the case of Pokémon cards, there’s a third colour used for the silver borders, as these borders are printed separately from the rest of the card.
Generally, this kind of error is exceptionally rare to find on Pokémon cards. I had only seen it on MTG cards before.Below, you can find the French bluebino cards.
Meanwhile, here are the bluebinos cards released in German.
Cards missing Magenta ink
There have also been cards where only 1 colour is missing from the print. In the examples below, the missing colour is magenta.
Italian Illustration rare cards with French opaque layer
In SV 151, another interesting error affected the production of a significant portion of the rare illustrated cards in Italian. As seen in the images below, these cards had the opaque layer applied from their equivalent French counterparts.
The error is particularly noticeable on cards like Tangela, as Italian Pokémon names are identical to English ones, while the French language has localized names for all Pokémon. Specifically, Tangela in French is called “Saquedeneu”.
Water spill obstructions
As you can see from the images, several cards from the set have been affected by a water spill obstruction. Essentially, what happens is that water or liquid used in the printing process ends up on a portion of the plate where ink should adhere, preventing it from sticking and eventually transferring onto the card.
In this specific case, it’s evident how the liquid ended up on the magenta and yellow colour plates.
Connected printer hickey
Then, a particularly unique error emerged, one that I found quite fascinating. A Butterfree and a Seaking are sharing a black printer hickey.
What happened was that dirt somehow got into the printer during the printing process, causing the black ink to fail to adhere properly.
Blastoise EX Obstruction
On the back of a Blastoise EX, what appears to be an obstruction has surfaced. Something made its way into the printer, preventing the ink from adhering correctly to the card.
I’ve seen similar errors in the past, but what’s unique this time is that upon closer inspection of the affected area, you can glimpse a section of the Pokémon logo. This uncertainty makes me not entirely certain about how this error could have occurred.
Repeated Errors
At the moment, there seem to be two recurring errors in this set.
The first is a magenta printer hickey appearing in the bottom left of some Sandslash cards, while the second involves extra black ink appearing in the upper part of some Wartortle copies.
Naturally, this type of post will remain in constant update, as not all errors from this set might have been released on the market, and there could be reprints in the future.
Leave a Reply