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| Ultimate Exhibit exclusive versions of the Part 20 reversible prisms |
In October of 1994 Bandai released the extremely hyped Carddass part 20. They were featured prominently at the Ultimate Exhibit event. Part 20 was a major moment in Carddass history as it introduced the first two reversible prism cards (the back of the card was made of peeleable paper which would reveal another prism on the back).
These special Part 20 reversible prisms were found in special vending machines for part 20 that were exclusive to the event. They were also available as part of full part collections that were offered for sale (also only at the event).
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| The back of unpeeled versions of the cards |
For the very lucky these were also obtainable as part of a special gold Ingot case (pictured in the Daizenshuu perfect file volume 1) which collected all first 20 parts of Carddass. This was rewarded through a questionnaire. Only 1 was awarded per event per day, so with 5 locations going on for 5 days, only 25 were given. I believe they were again obtainable the following year at the Ultimate Exhibit of 1995 as part of a 24 part Carddass black box. As these two exclusive cards were also obtainable as a reward presented to lucky winners at the event, they can also be considered gift cards.
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| Reverse side of the two exclusive prisms once peeled |
What made these Ultimate Exhibit versions of these two cards different was that they were made of a “card type” prism pattern (or hard prism, please read Retroballz's excellent page on this subject). The standard versions featured “seal type” prism patterns (soft prisms). Bandai later introduced reversible prism cards as a standard from part 23 onwards, and they would use the “card type” found in the versions shown here.
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| Top: Ultimate Exhibit version. Bottom: Standard versions |
The first card features Son Goku in SS3 for the first time in the Carddass series. The second card features Son Gohan wielding the Z sword. The design and illustrations used are great.
Of course this version is much rarer and harder to find than the standard version. Although it is not known how many were made, under 10 000 sounds like a reasonable estimate.
These two cards were highlights of the Part 20 of Carddass, and these special versions featured at the exhibit remains very popular with collectors to this day!
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| Reverse side comparison between the Ultimate Exhibit (top) and standard version (bottom) |
