Have you been eyeing the Iono’s Bellibolt ex SAR from Battle Partners [SV9]? It’s a hot card right now, and sadly, that means fakes are everywhere. Let’s walk through how to spot a genuine one, step by step.

Here’s How to Identify a Real vs Fake Iono’s Bellibolt ex SAR?

1. Texture

With regard to the Iono’s Bellibolt ex card in particular, it’s the card’s texture which is often the biggest tell when determining if a copy is fake. Most discrepancies are related to the texture of specific elements of the card.

There are four specific areas of the card where these discrepancies are most commonly found. These four areas are on Iono’s right eye, Bellibolt’s belly-button dynamo, the evolution box showing that Iono’s Bellibolt ex evolves from Iono’s Tadbulb, and the holographic sparkle on the part of the card’s holofoil over Iono’s right sleeve.

When examining the texture of the Iono’s Bellibolt ex card, a key detail in the upper left corner of the real card’s front must be noted, The Tadbulb illustration should have no ink bleeds, and the contrast between light and dark colors ought to be crisp and well-defined. Additionally, a transparent coating is applied to the printed surface, giving it a smooth texture to the touch.

In contrast, the gray-colored area around Tadbulb on a fake card has an embossed and stamped foil effect, resulting in a rough texture to the touch. Additionally, the ink used in the fake Iono’s Bellibolt ex card on Tadbulb illustration differs, making the colors appear more fluorescent with noticeable ink bleeding.

Although the textural discrepancies on Iono’s right eye and the Tadbulb image may be hard to discern with the naked eye, they can be more easily spotted with the aid of a phone camera.

Another key texture difference between the real and fake Iono’s Bellibolt ex card is shown above. Although we used a microscope to inspect the card’s texture for authentication, we believe this difference can also be noticeable to the naked eye or through a phone camera. The textural difference between the real and fake Iono’s Bellibolt ex cards is made apparent and thus serves as a major identification factor.

2. Text

As far as the Iono’s Bellibolt ex card’s text is concerned, the most common issue with fake copies of the card is the text of the word “Ability”. The real card features sharp and clear outlines for the “Ability” text with no visible ink dots. In contrast, the fake card has noticeable ink dots, smudged “Ability” text, and blurred character outlines, resulting in a less crisp appearance.

3. Border

The main problem with the border of fake copies of the SAR Iono’s Bellibolt ex card is the same one which shows up on most other fake cards with errant borders. Upon examining the card’s back edge under a microscope, it can be seen that on a real card, the ink dots gradually fade as they extend outward, whereas on a fake card, the ink dots remain consistently visible all the way to the edge.

4. Construction

As we’ve mentioned before, a genuine Pokémon TCG card is made of two thin cardboard pieces with a single black layer in between. However, many fake copies of the Iono’s Bellibolt ex card can be detected by their inclusion of an additional layer between the cardboard pieces, thus increasing the total thickness of the card. This difference in thickness between the real and fake cards is evident in our authentication process, as shown in the image above.

The addition of an extra layer between the cardboard pieces also impacts the weight of the fake card. As shown above, a real Iono’s Bellibolt ex card without the extra layer, weighs only 1.7g. In contrast, the fake card, due to this added layer, weighs 0.5g more than the real one.

5. Infrared Camera Analysis

By using an infrared camera, we discovered additional differences between the real and fake Iono’s Bellibolt ex cards. These include the following:

When viewed under an infrared camera, certain features on the front of the card, such as Bellibolt’s smile and belly, are not visible on a real Iono’s Bellibolt ex card. However, on a fake copy of the card, these details appear clearly.

In addition to the differences on the front of the real and fake Iono’s Bellibolt ex cards, there is also a significant distinction on the back. As shown in the images above, the back of the real card clearly displays the iconic Pokémon lettering, Poké Ball, and border outline. However, this is not the case for the fake card when placed under an IR camera. When viewed through an infrared lens, the fake card appears mostly white, with only a faint outline of the Poké Ball visible.

Here’s SNKRDUNK’s authentication video to see the above checks in action.

To conclude, do keep in mind that many of the points we raised here to identify real vs fake SAR Iono’s Bellibolt ex cards can also be applied to other cards to determine their authenticity. While other cards will undoubtedly not look the same as this one, the types of discrepancies involved such as textural, construction, and text-related issues will nevertheless crop up on fake copies of any Pokémon TCG card.

That being said: stay with us. Soon, we’ll be bringing you one of those special cases—an example of one of the very few cards to which the usual authentication “rules” don’t apply.

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