FPO - For Position Only Cards Official Guide
Jun 26, 2016 15:22:53 GMT -6
smpratte, churlocker, and 13 more like this
Post by unlimited_spaghetti on Jun 26, 2016 15:22:53 GMT -6
History of the FPO cards
Just introduced to the Pokemon world in 2013 are the For Position Only (FPO) Test cards. Prior to the release of the Expedition E-Reader expansion, WOTC ran some of the rares through the printers and inserted them into unreleased packs for internal use only. The packs had the same artwork as the LEGENDARY Collection packs, as this was the most recent set and Expedition was not out yet, but they were never distributed outside of the design team. As these test packs were being destroyed, a former WOTC employee saved them from the shredder and kept them in his personal collection. He opened a few of the packs and left the rest sealed. They sat in storage for over a decade until he decided to sell off some of the extra stuff he had lying around. When this happened, a whole new collectible was introduced into the Pokemon community. The cards inside are much different from the cards that were eventually released within the Expedition Base Set expansion. Below is a video of the cards inside the packs: Description of FPO cards
Alakazam:
Ampharos:
Arbok:
Blastoise:
Charizard:
Clefable:
Dugtrio:
Manhole:
Below are 600 dpi scans of each of the FPO cards. Within the FPO set you can note many differences from the official releases. In the bottom-left corner of each card is the word "Medium" printed in small, black type. "FOR POSITION ONLY" is obviously printed across the art of the card as well. On the Charizard FPO, "HP" is missing after the "100" value in the top-right corner. While the former two differences relate strictly to the testing stage of the prints, the absence of "HP" could have been an error if it made it to print, similar to past errors with missing values and text.
Alakazam:
Ampharos:
Arbok:
Blastoise:
Charizard:
Clefable:
Dugtrio:
Manhole:
After selling some of the original sets, The Charizard Authority realized that the For Position Only set had an eighth card: the manhole. Originally thought to be curious additions and nothing more, the manhole sports a traditional Pokemon card back making it a novelty in its own right. Upon further examination, the key "For Position Only" white lettering can be found across the card, just as it is present on each of the other Pokemon included in the set. Because the art does not provide a high contrast background, as in the case of the other cards in this set, it is much more difficult to identify the bold, white FPO lettering. This is the reason for The Charizard Authority originally neglecting the card as he marketed the sets.
Count of the cards
Back in 2013, on Pokegym (scroll down the link to see TCA comment with the count): 107
PokeGym link
PokeGym link
Total FPO cards pulled on camera by The Charizard Authority (after PokeGym): 110
Here there are the 6 videos I watched for the count:
Daa906 lucky pack opening: 10
Total FPO cards pulled: 227
(107 pokegym + 110 YouTube+ 10 daa906)
(107 pokegym + 110 YouTube+ 10 daa906)
Charizard = 60
Alakazam = 52
Blastoise = 32
Blastoise = 32
Ampharos = 30
Arbok = 29
Dugtrio = 10
Clefable = 7
Manhole = 7
What happened to the sealed packs?
Thin Packs (5 cards per pack):
-Opened on YouTube by TCA: 18 Packs
-Sold to Collectors: 2 Packs
Thick Packs (10 cards per pack):
-Opened on YouTube by TCA: 2 Pack
-Opened on youTube by daa906: 1 Pack
Rusty sold 2 thin packs to some collectors, so there should be still 10 FPO cards still around.
Final count : 237
(227 pulled + 10 still in sealed booster packs)
(227 pulled + 10 still in sealed booster packs)
What about grading FPOs?
Sadly, PSA and BGS stopped grading these cards in 2015, because FPO cards were not considerated as official cards.They have graded them for a brief period, so there is just a low number of graded FPOs.
PSA had labelled them just like normal Expedition cards but BGS was more accurate putting the right label and description.
Special thanks to TCA Gaming
