Metapod 1st Edition Base Set: The Line Left Unfinished
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
1st Edition · Base Set 1999 · Metapod #54/102
Metapod is the cocoon stage of the line Base Set left unfinished: Caterpie made the set, Metapod made the set, and Butterfree was held back until Jungle — so for half a year this card was the end of its own evolution line.
This page covers the 1st Edition printing specifically — the stamped, shadowless-stock version from the original January 1999 run. If you are unsure which of the Base Set Metapod printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $22 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $36 | 8.4% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $59 | 20.3% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $87 | 38.5% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $510 | 26.2% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 6.7% |
Prices and population shares: the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, PSA only, September 2026. Shares are of all PSA-graded copies of this card, so they sum to 100% with the grade-6-and-below row. Grading cost basis $59.99 (PSA Standard). Comps move — verify current sold prices before transacting.
Live Now on eBay: 1st Edition Metapod
What the card is actually being offered for right now. Every listing below is filtered to the genuine 1st Edition card — no repacks, mystery slabs, card skins, or multi-card lots. These are asking prices, not sold comps, so treat them as the top of the market rather than what copies are changing hands for. Buying through these links supports the site at no extra cost to you.
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Which One Do You Have? The 3-Second Test
Most people who say “I have a 1st Edition Metapod” don’t. Retail packs in 1999–2000 were overwhelmingly Unlimited printing — and that’s fine, it’s the same iconic card. The fast check, in order:
- Right edge of the art box: a dark drop shadow = Unlimited or 4th Print. No shadow = keep going.
- Left of the art box: a black “Edition 1” stamp = 1st Edition. No stamp + no shadow = Shadowless.
- Bottom copyright line: ©1999-2000 = 4th Print. The font weight is the tiebreaker — thin text means an early print.
Metapod is a Stage 1 Grass with 70 HP, illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Check centring first, then the evolution box, where this printing’s faults concentrate.
The four printings of Base Set each have their own price and history: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
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PSA 8 prices from PriceCharting sold-comp data, September 2026. Unlimited and 4th Print look nearly identical — the copyright year is the difference. Each printing is its own card with its own price and history; see every printing: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
About This Card and Set
Metapod is card 54/102 of the English Base Set, one of the set’s thirty-two Commons, illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Wizards of the Coast released the set on 9 January 1999, and Base Set is the one main expansion printed with no set symbol at all, leaving the card number as the only set marker.
What makes this particular common a landmark is the line it belongs to. Base Set included Caterpie (#45) and Metapod, but withheld Butterfree entirely; the cocoon’s final evolution did not reach English print until Jungle, in June 1999. Clefable, Dodrio, Dragonite, Gengar, Pidgeot and Sandslash were held back the same way, leaving several evolution lines deliberately unfinished. For its first half-year in print, #54 was the end of Metapod’s line rather than a middle step.
The species also carries a slice of Pokémania. Episode four of the anime, “Challenge of the Samurai,” stages a Metapod-versus-Metapod standoff in the Viridian Forest in which neither trainer can do anything but order hardening — a scene that became one of the franchise’s most quoted running jokes. Ash’s Metapod evolves into Butterfree in that same episode. The card was reused in Base Set 2 (#81/130) and Legendary Collection (#54/110), where the rarity rose from Common to Uncommon, and again in XY Evolutions (#4/108).
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 26.2% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 6.7% come back grade 6 or below, and the rest land in between — which is what set the price ladder above. The odds column is the number that matters, because high-grade supply is what the market actually pays for.
Metapod’s graded population is mid-sized and its Gem Mint rate is 26.2% — one of the better ratios in the batch, on a raw cost near $22.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Metapod (1999) | ~674 | ~2,572 | 26.2% |
| Charizard ex #199, S&V 151 (2023) | 29,679 | 102,490 | ~29% |
PriceCharting population data, September 2026. The modern row is a combined PSA + CGC count; the 1999 row is PSA, the way it is normally quoted.
For scale, a comparable modern chase card converts to a gem grade at roughly 29%. Modern cards grade far better than vintage ones — not because they are better cards, but because a 1999 card was printed before grading was mainstream and then spent two decades in a binder.
Source: the PSA-only figures behind the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, September 2026. Two caveats stay attached to every population figure on this site. Graded counts are submission tallies, not unique cards — resubmissions inflate the total. And the census is a floor, not a final number.
Known Error Cards
Metapod #54 carries a genuine text-order error: its stat block reads “HP 70” where “70 HP” belongs. Critically, this is not a 1st Edition exclusive — Bulbapedia and the Elite Fourum error listings place it on both the 1st Edition and the unstamped Shadowless printings, so every copy from the card’s earliest two waves carries it. Unlimited copies and every later reprint read “70 HP” correctly. PSA’s error guide lists no Metapod entry.
Because it affects the whole early run rather than a handful of sheets, it is a design error rather than a scarce misprint, and it commands no premium over any other 1st Edition copy. 1st Edition commons such as this also turn up with stamp anomalies — thick, thin and faint gray stamps, smudged front stamps, and more rarely inverted stamp transfers on the card back.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Metapod is collected for its place in one of the set’s deliberate incompletions:
- The unfinished line. Base Set shipped Caterpie and Metapod but withheld Butterfree until Jungle in June 1999.
- A famous anime standoff. The Metapod-versus-Metapod hardening battle in “Challenge of the Samurai” became a running joke.
- A genuine early-print error. The “HP 70” transposition sits on the 1st Edition and Shadowless runs.
The line’s first stage is the Caterpie review; the Base Set hub covers the run.
The Artist: Ken Sugimori
Ken Sugimori is one of the illustrators who defined the look of the original English Pokémon TCG, and Metapod is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Metapod is the quiet card that records a decision: Base Set shipped the cocoon and left the butterfly out.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Metapod real or fake?
The 1999 Base Set cards are the most counterfeited in the hobby, and for a raw copy worth real money you cannot settle it from a photo. The checks that catch most fakes: the light test (a genuine card is essentially opaque — a faint dark core line between the layers; cheap fakes glow through), the stamp rule (a real 1st Edition stamp is crisp and sits under the ink, and counterfeiters add stamps to Unlimited cards — read it with the drop shadow and the 1995-99 copyright line, never alone), and the back (fakes perfect the front and neglect the Poké Ball, the blue tone and the repeated text). Above a few hundred dollars, a raw copy should get professional pre-authentication. The full fake-detection walkthrough covers all of it.
Should I grade this card?
At $22 raw and a 26.2% gem rate, Metapod is one of the better grading ratios in the batch — the absolute numbers are just small. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.