Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection – is it Worth It?
We’ve been fans of the previous Ultra Premium collection boxes from Pokemon, especially the Celebrations Ultra Premium and the Charizard Ultra Premium. Other than the fact I liked Celebrations as a pack better, the case could be made that the Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection box is even better than that epic and expensive box.
The Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection is a masterclass in delivery, showing itself and collectors the respect they deserve thanks to impeccable presentation, high quality products, and a Mew Gold Metal Card that shows just how beautiful a trading card can be when it is set in metal.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
5/5 Stars
First Impressions Upon Opening the Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection Box
Honestly, it’s not every day that a Pokemon product gets so many things so right. I suppose they kind of had to. After all, we weren’t the only ones utterly hyped up about this product. Pokemon 151 got a lot of attention thanks to its gorgeous special illustration cards, as well as the nostalgic appeal of hunting all 151 Pokemon all over again for the first time in many, many years.
From the moment you open the box, and you see that well organized, wide open container, and those three beautiful promotional cards looking right at you, it’s clear that this is going to be a winner.
Obviously, someone who cares about Pokemon, and cares about the collectors came up with this product’s design. It almost seems to be saying: I know you’ve been excited for this one, so here it all is.
The way the booster packs are all scrunched together on the sides gives off the impression of bulk – I felt like there were way more cards right away than I remember there being in the other Ultra Premium packs.
As opposed to everything being hidden away in cumbersome drawers, in this collection it’s all right there before your eyes in one wholesome glance.
Of course, presentation alone isn’t enough. The products themselves also have to deliver. Did these?
The Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection Box Ditches Sleeves for a Box
One of the first things I noticed besides the beautiful presentation of the rare Mew and Mewtwo cards and the bulkiness of those fat stacks of Pokemon 151 boosters was that there was a box, but no sleeves.
I instantly felt releaved. It’s like someone finally gave Pokemon the memo that their card sleeves are awful so go with something else. And the box it comes with feels great. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a perfectly fine functioning box that you could probably take to a competitive tournament. And that’s great!
A useable deck box that looks nice beats Pokemon company card sleeves any day.
The Playmat is a Huge Step up from the Charizard Ultra Premium Box’s Playmat
Speaking of quality, we loved the playmat. It took a little bit to get it to unfurl, and if you pay attention closely it still isn’t fully unfurled in the photos. But that probably will go away after some use. The playmat itself felt terrific, and unlike the disappointing Charizard VMAX playmat from the last Ultra Premium Collection, this playmat is full size and totally feels like something you could take to a tournament with you.
Enough About the Product – What About the Pulls?
The pulls were the only thing dissapointing about the box. But we won’t hold that against the Ultra Premium Box itself because what pulls you get will always vary. You can see what we got below, but keep in mind your own experience will likely be quite different.
Is the Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection a Good Value?
Time for the real talk – is the Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection actually worth it? Well, let’s crunch some numbers and come to an answer.
Right now, the market price online and the suggested retail price are pretty much synced up. If you are looking to buy this product brand new, it’s gonna cost you around $120.
Is that a good value?
Like with everything in life, it depends on the person. But from a market standpoint, here’s the value of what you are getting, versus what you are spending.
16 Booster packs at $6 a piece (the current market rate) brings you to $96 (not counting tax.
The Mew ex Promo (053) will cost you nearly $15 right now if you were to buy it online. So that puts you at $111 already.
The Gold Metal Mew will probably cost you around $9.
The Mewtwo Promo will run you around $10.
And then there’s the playmat and the box which I would put around a $10 value on.
So all together (and this is a very rough estimate), you’re looking at around $140 just at face value. That doesn’t take into consideration the rare cards you could pull in those packs, which could quickly add value.
So yeah. This is a pretty easy call. The Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection is easily worth the price you pay.
The Mew Metal Card is a Fantastic Collector’s Item
While some of these items are likely to go down in value overtime, it’s unlikely they’d dip TOO much. Especially the Mew Metal Card. After all, Mew is one of a select few cards to ever be printed in Metal. And so far, it’s the most gorgeous metal card of them all (see below).
It’s hard to explain it, but this card just feels right. It’s like a Pokemon card only enhanced, doing things with reflection and lighting and a visible feel that paper can’t achieve.
One of the biggest complaints about the famous Celebrations Ultra Premium Collection was how many of the metal cards came damaged. So I took careful look at the Mew Metal card after opening it to see what the damage was.
There almost wasn’t anything, other than a very small imperfection on the edge of my card.
And while we are looking at the back of the Mew Metal Card, might as well take in the full view – it looks splendid, and again has that real Pokemon card feel only enhanced by metal.
Final Verdict on the Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection Box
The Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection is a masterclass in delivery, showing itself and collectors the respect they deserve thanks to impeccable presentation, high quality products, and a Mew Gold Metal Card that demonstrates just how beautiful a trading card can be when it is made and enhanced in metal.
The product is easily worth the value, and with 16 booster packs to open on top of the gorgeous Mew Promo cards, I really started to get that excited feeling of hoping to pull a super rare Charizard like it was 1999.
