Rockets Moltres ex
Quick take
- Closes the numbered run of Team Rocket Returns at 100/109, the holo-ex chase tier of 2004
- A Legendary bird reworked into a Darkness-type with the Dark Lift Poke-BODY and Fire Dance attack
- Ryo Ueda artwork on a vintage holo pattern that is tough to find clean and centered
- Reissued in 2025's Destined Rivals, which renewed collector attention on the original print
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in EX Team Rocket Returns
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 100/109 · $283.75 — the only variant this card was printed in (no reverse holo or special pattern), so a master set needs just this one copy.
The storyA Team Rocket twist on a Legendary bird, sitting near the top of the set
Rocket's Moltres ex closes out the numbered run of Team Rocket Returns at 100/109. That high slot in an EX-era set is collector shorthand for a holo ex, the chase tier of 2004 before the Gold Stars take over the final cards. The design leans hard into the set's concept. Moltres is a Fire-type in the games, but here Team Rocket has corrupted it into a Darkness-type Pokemon, complete with the Dark Lift Poke-BODY and a Fire Dance attack that pulls Energy back out of the discard pile.
“Closes the numbered run of Team Rocket Returns at 100/109, the holo-ex chase tier of 2004”
The card carries weight as a Legendary bird, which always moves with collectors, and it wears the Team Rocket storyline that gives this set its identity. Ryo Ueda's artwork and a vintage holo pattern that is hard to keep clean push it onto a lot of EX-era want lists. The 2025 Destined Rivals set later revived the same character as Team Rocket's Moltres ex, which has kept the name in circulation and sent some fresh attention back toward this original.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Raw near-mint copies sit in solid vintage-holo territory, well above bulk but reachable for a patient buyer. The real money lives in the grades. A PSA 9 carries a meaningful step up. A PSA 10 is a different animal, pushing into four-to-five-figure vintage territory because clean gem copies barely exist.
Prices have followed the broader vintage EX-era pattern, a long slow climb as 2004 sealed product dries up and the graded population stays thin. The 2025 Destined Rivals reissue of the same character put the name back in front of collectors, which tends to help the original over time rather than hurt it.
Treat it like a blue-chip vintage holo, not a quick flip. The ceiling is in graded gem copies, and those are scarce enough that condition is the whole story. Raw copies are easier to find and move slower. If you want the upside, the cleaner the card, the better the case.
Steep. The jump from raw to PSA 9 is significant, and PSA 10 multiplies again because the era's holo and edges rarely survive untouched. Grading is where most of this card's value gets unlocked.
This is a standard Rare Holo ex from a 2004 EX-era set, not a Gold Star. Team Rocket Returns is best known for its Gold Star cards, the alternate-color shiny Pokemon that occupy the very last slots of the set. Those were pulled at roughly one per two booster boxes, around 1 in 72 packs. Holo ex cards like this Moltres came at a friendlier rate than the Gold Stars but were still the premium hits of a pack. The bigger constraint today is not the original pull odds. It's condition. Two decades on, clean copies of this fragile holo are the real bottleneck.
Within Team Rocket Returns, the Gold Stars are the headline rarities, with cards like Rocket's Persian, Charizard and others sitting in the 101-109 range. Among the holo ex cards, a high-number Legendary bird like this Moltres is one of the more wanted, a tier below the Gold Stars but comfortably above the set's commons and uncommons.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Ryo Ueda illustrated a number of cards across the EX era of the early-to-mid 2000s, including several of the Team Rocket-branded Pokemon. The work from this period leans on dramatic full-bleed energy rather than the softer painterly style of some contemporaries.
Moltres is shown mid-flight, wings spread and ablaze, the fire reading darker and more menacing than the usual bright Fire-type treatment. The smoky background sells the Team Rocket corruption angle and frames the bird as a weapon rather than a wild Legendary.
It's a Rare Holo ex from 2004, so the foil runs across the full card face in the EX-era pattern. That holo is reflective and scratch-prone, and the dark background makes any whitening or surface scuff jump out, which is part of why high grades are tough to land.
The Dark-type reimagining is the hook. A Legendary Fire bird recast as a Team Rocket Pokemon is the kind of thematic twist the set was built on, and Ueda commits to it instead of recoloring a stock pose.
BackgroundAbout Rockets Moltres ex
Moltres is one of the three Legendary birds introduced in Generation I, alongside Articuno and Zapdos. It has stayed a fan favorite for decades through the games, anime, and TCG. The Team Rocket framing here is specific to this set's storyline, in which the organization captures and corrupts well-known Pokemon, flipping a Fire-type Legendary into a Darkness-type under their control.
- ›Generation I Legendary bird with long-standing recognition
- ›The Team Rocket corruption angle gives it a distinct identity
- ›Fire-bird design that reads well in dramatic card art
- ›Cross-set staying power, reinforced by the 2025 Destined Rivals reissue
- ›Team Rocket Returns (2004), card 100/109, as a Rare Holo ex
- ›Reissued in concept as Team Rocket's Moltres ex in 2025's Destined Rivals
Own it wellCollector guide
Condition is everything here. The dark, full-face holo shows whitening on the edges and corners immediately, and surface scratches catch the light against the black background. Centering on EX-era cards is often off, so check it before paying a premium. Most raw copies in the wild have at least minor edge wear.
Worth grading if the card is genuinely clean, since the raw-to-PSA-10 spread is large. Inspect edges, corners, surface and centering under good light first. A copy with visible whitening or scratches is more honest as a raw display piece than a grading gamble. Read the grading guide →
Sleeve and toploader at minimum, and a semi-rigid holder or graded slab for any copy you care about. Keep it out of direct light and away from humidity. The foil and dark borders are exactly the kind of surface that degrades if you let it rattle around. See the storage guide →
Decide upfront whether you want a graded copy or a raw one. For raw, buy on clear well-lit photos of all four corners and the surface, and assume any flaw you can see is worse in hand. For serious money, buy it already slabbed by PSA, BGS or CGC. This is a frequently faked era, so prefer reputable sellers and graded copies as the spend goes up. See the singles buying guide →
For EX-era holo ex cards, run the standard vintage checks. Do a light test for the thin black core layer that genuine cards have between the printed layers. Look at the surface texture, since real holo foil has a specific reflective grain that reprints flatten out. Check the back swirl gradient and color against a known-real card, and weigh it if you can. For anything in the higher price tiers, a graded slab from PSA, BGS or CGC is the safest way to buy.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Collectors treat this as a desirable EX-era holo ex rather than a top-five set chase. The Gold Stars get the headlines, but a Dark-typed Legendary bird near the top of the numbered run keeps a steady following, especially among people building the full Team Rocket Returns set.
- ›High-grade PSA 10 examples are scarce and trade in four-to-five-figure vintage territory. Raw and mid-grade copies are far more common and sit much lower.
The 2025 Destined Rivals reissue of Team Rocket's Moltres ex stirred fresh chatter and sent some collectors back to look at this original 2004 card. General sentiment is that it's a clean, thematic vintage piece that's getting harder to find in good shape.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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Plan your Other EX Team Rocket Returns master set
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