Metapod · Hidden Fates, what to know.
About the Metapod card
Metapod sits at #2 in Hidden Fates, released in August 2019. Hidden Fates is part of the modern English Pokémon TCG era and uses the standard contemporary card frame and rarity tiers. Illustration by Shibuzoh.. In the games, Metapod evolves from Caterpie, which makes it a late-stage card in the line.
The flavor text on the card reads: "Its shell is filled with a thick liquid. All of the cells throughout its body are being rebuilt in preparation for evolution." Pokédex entries from this era are short and often quirky, written by the original Japanese localization team for a specific stat-block layout that no longer exists in modern cards.
About Metapod in the Pokémon world
Caterpie evolved into a hardened green chrysalis. Famous in the anime for the Ash vs Ash episode where Metapods battled by hardening. Cheap entry-level vintage card. Used by new collectors to learn the difference between Unlimited and Shadowless prints.
Print variants and how to spot them
Hidden Fates shipped in Holofoil and Reverse Holo, plus a special Shiny Vault subset (numbered SV1 through SV94) that runs alongside the standard 69-card set. Shiny Vault cards use alternate-color shiny treatments and pull at lower rates than the standard holos.
Grading and condition
Modern Uncommons grade cleanly. The secondary market for graded modern Uncommons is mostly set-completionist driven; standalone demand is thin. Useful as a first grading submission to learn the process.
If you are buying this card
Raw copies of this card are inexpensive enough that the grading math rarely justifies submission unless you have a clearly pack-fresh example. For set completionists, picking up a clean raw copy and sleeving it is the practical move.
