Like the website and want to keep it alive ?
The early Bandai sticker sets: Club, Snack, Battle...
How to not be confused
Introduction
These sticker sets are the first stickers sets ever printed and some of the first ever collectible Pokémon items distributed ! I've seen these become a bit popular, but there's a lot of misinformation. The goal of this little article is to at the least, avoid confusion between the sets. Below, you will find a brief introduction of the 5 sets I will be introducing, not all information will be shared at the moment. In the future I will provide full set lists and additional information.
In order of distribution:
-
Bandai Club - 1996 - Part1: 10 small stickers to collect, they all have the same color and design. These came with little plastic Gameboys and candy. The first Pokémon collectible, true ultimate early set, the TRUE rookie* of Pokémon collecting.
-
Bandai Club - 1996 - Part2: 10 small stickers to collect, different design than part1 and multiple colors. These came with little plastic Gameboys and candy.
-
Bandai Snack - 1996: The first set contains 75 non-holo stickers, 75 holo stickers (2 Pokémon on each sticker). These came with puff snacks (Venusaur and Charizard boxes)
-
Bandai Snack - 1996 - 1997: Same as first set, same Pokémon "pairs", same number of stickers, however different design ! These also came with puff snacks but in the Blastoise artwork box.
-
Bandai Battle - 1996: Only 5 stickers to collect, they look like Pokémon Club, but they share the Pokémon snack 1 design and are longer with small stickers at the bottom and number at the top. These came with candy and plastic toys (Pokeball and mini figure).
​
Below you will find images for each set and how to differentiate them.
*Not to be confused with Carddass 1996 which came out 4 months later.
Design specifities
Bandai Club Part 1
Bandai Club Part 2
Slightly lighter grey color
These parts will always be green for all pokemon
Grey strip at bottom
Darker grey color
These parts can be different color, black, blue, yellow, red, green.
There's a grey border all around the bottom part of the sticker
Caution: These never come two by two as the Snack sticker (see below)
Bandai Snack 1
Some pokemon have exclusive hand drawn artworks. With an exclusive caption also !
Same grey color as Club part 2
Bottom part of the sticker is all the same color
These parts can be different color, black, blue, yellow, red, green.
Caution: These never come as single stickers (as pokemon Club, see above). However you will often find them cut in half. Due to probable design flaw or fragility due to the size of the sticker.
Bandai Snack 2
Some pokemon have exclusive ken sugimori artworks
New color scheme with gradients
Bottom part of the sticker is all the same color
This part can be different color, blue, yellow, red, green.
Background have changed to patterns and swirls
Caution: These never come as single stickers (as pokemon Club, see above). However you will often find them cut in half. Due to probable design flaw or fragility due to the size of the sticker.
Bandai Battle
Same grey color as Club part 2
Yellow Strip at the top + number
These parts can be different color, blue, yellow, orange, green.
Extra bottom part with small stickers to stick on the included toys !
Conclusion
As you can see above, the stickers do look very similar, however there are some major differences between them.
In 1997 they came out with another version of Pokémon club stickers with basically only the bottom part of the sticker (no big image), that came with plastic Pokeballs. Those I will try to cover in the future but they are less confusing than the first earlier sets.
Hopefully this clears any doubts and confusion about these sets and can serve as a reference in the future. My biggest fear for these is that possibly grading companies will make label errors or even grade half a Snack sticker.