It’s Detective Pikachu weekend! The utterly insane looking new live-action Pokémon movie starring Ryan Reynolds as a talking, deer-stalker wearing Pikachu, and Justice Smith as former Pokemon trainer Tim Goodman, hits cinemas this weekend, and Pokémon fans are incredibly excited to see it (if my nine-year-old son is anything to go by). To celebrate the release, Asmodee UK sent my son four Pokémon card box sets, so let’s dive in!
Note for Parents: Baffled by choices when it comes to Pokémon card sets? Check out my guide to the best sets to buy.
Pikachu and Eevee Pokéball Collection
As a non-collector, this felt like by far the best value of the four sets we were sent. This box contains:
- One Oversize Card-Storage Pokéball
- One Pikachu and Eevee Model
- Five Pokémon Card Booster Packs
- One Foil Pikachu Promo Card
- One Foil Eevee Promo Card
- One Online TCG Code
The Pokéball isn’t as convenient for storing your cards as a traditional deck box, but kids will love it and it will comfortably fit all the cards from the set inside it with some space for growth. Combined with the completely adorable Pikachu and Eevee model, this is a box set designed for display more than the other three we were sent. That appeals more to me as a casual Pokémon fan, but probably less to dedicated card collectors.
My son loved the model and Pokéball but wasn’t quite as excited by this box as some of the others because it contained no guaranteed GX cards. As it happened, he pulled a GX from one of the booster packs but, as with all booster packs, there’s no assurance that will happen.
If you’ve got a Pokémon card fan in your family and grandparents who want to buy them a box set, I would recommend this one, simply because it’s easier for non-Pokémon fans to understand the contents (storage box, cute figurine, etc) than the value of a giant replica trading card.
Melmetal-GX Box
The first of three GX boxes we were sent, this set features Melmetal and (to a lesser degree) Meltan. These mythical Pokémon were recently the center of attention in Pokemon Go with dedicated special research and the ability to acquire additional Meltans by linking your Pokemon Go game to a copy of Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Let’s Go, Eevee! on Nintendo Switch.
This box set contains:
- One Oversize Melmetal-GX Card
- One Foil Meltan Promo Card
- One Foil Melmetal-GX Promo Card
- Four Pokémon Card Booster Packs
- One Online TCG Code
This box set ended up being my son’s favorite of the four. Partly because Melmetal is one of his favorite Pokemon, partly because it gave him two booster packs from the recent Team Up expansion, but mostly because it gave him a Rainbow Rare Xerneas GX card which had him literally dancing around my living room for several minutes. As someone who doesn’t play or collect Pokémon cards, all I can say is that this is a very pretty card, but my son was absolutely overjoyed to find it.
This box contains two Team Up booster packs, one Forbidden Light pack, and one Fates Collide pack.
Towering Splash-GX Box
Unlike the other two GX boxes we were sent, Towering Splash doesn’t focus on one specific Pokémon. Instead, this box features a Tag Team, a new feature to the Pokémon TCG which sees pairs of Pokémon teaming up together on special cards as part of the Team Up expansion. Towering Splash combines Magikarp and Wailord together to create a combo with the highest HP of any card in the Pokémon TCG, a whopping 300 HP.
The box contains:
- One Oversize Foil Tag Team Magikarp and Wailord GX Card
- One Foil Tag Team Magikarp and Wailord GX Promo card
- Four Pokémon Card Booster Packs
- One Online TCG Code
Despite Tag Team cards being part of the Team Up expansion, this set doesn’t include any Team Up booster packs; instead, it contains two Lost Thunder packs, one Celestial Storm pack, and one Steam Siege pack. This feels like a bit of a letdown for a Tag Team themed box given that the Melmetal box did contain Team Up boosters.
This was the box set that gave us the least impressive card pulls with no additional GX cards, just one Avalugg Reverse Holo, but that was enough to keep my son happy and he received plenty of cards that he will be able to trade at school.
Eevee GX Box
Our final box set was the Eevee GX Box. This box contains:
- One Oversize Foil Eevee GX Card
- One Foil Eevee GX Promo Card
- Four Pokémon Card Booster Packs
- One Online TCG Code
This ended up being the most successful box of the four in terms of booster pack pulls. From the four booster packs (made up of two Lost Thunder packs, one Celestial Storm pack, and one Evolutions pack) my son pulled a holographic Mewtwo, a Lugia GX, and an Ultra-Rare Faba Full Art Holo, which he was incredibly excited by.
This box set does contain one booster pack (Evolutions) that is much older than the others, and so the cards from this pack look very different from all the others we pulled, which does seem kind of odd to include in a box set like this where I would expect all the cards to be from the same era.
Pokémon Card Box Sets: Verdict
As with the majority of Pokémon card boxes, I’m left debating the value of the sets. All the GX boxes we were sent contain four booster packs and retail at around the $20 mark, however, buying a solo booster pack at around $4 means you’re paying an additional $4 for the promo GX card and oversize GX card alone. Where you could buy an entire extra booster pack, you’re getting one card and one decorative item. Of course, the argument is that here you are guaranteed a good GX card, whereas with a booster pack you could easily pull ten bad cards that you already have. For fans of the specific featured Pokémon, or those looking to build a collection of specific rare cards, this is probably worth it, but for those looking to simply boost the numbers in their initial collection, the money could probably be better spent on an extra booster pack.
The exception to this is the Pikachu and Eevee Pokéball Collection. This costs the same as a GX box (slightly more if you’re in the UK, like me) but gives you a fifth booster pack, plus a storage container and a model instead of the GX card and oversize card. As a non-collector, this feels like a much better deal, but as the only set here with no guaranteed GX’s, collectors are liable to disagree with me.
Going back to the oversize cards again, these serve pretty much no purpose except as decorations which allow you to fully appreciate the card artwork at a larger scale. We’re currently in the process of decorating my son’s room and plan to frame these cards on his wall, so I’ll share how that goes in a few weeks time.
My son absolutely loved opening these box sets, and at $20 for a decently sized set with plenty to open, they’ll make great presents for any Pokémon card fan.
GeekMom received these Pokémon card sets for review purposes.
