1995 Fleer Ultra X-Men Non-Sport Forum

i am trying to determine the diffeence between the hunters and stalkers apocalypse gold and rainbow versions. i noticed on this database the rainbow version is darker, is this the correct determination? or is this just a scan issue? searching through ebay they all just look the same. honestly it just appears that people have completed their rainbow sets with a gold version of apocalypse. please help.

https://www.tcdb.com/Forum.cfm/Page/S/ID/74999/?MODE=VIEW&ThreadID=20787&C=1

Not sure if it helps, but I also found this note:

The "rainbow" version of the PowerBlast cards was distributed in Hobby 
packs; the "silver" version in Jumbo packs; and the "gold" version in Wal-Mart boxes.  

i noticed the post, in addition, i understand the table of distribution. my request for clarification is what are the exact differences between the gold and rainbow hunter and stalker apocalypse cards because they literally look the same in comparision with all the pictures i have viewed.

I noticed the same problem with this set with browsing the uploaded images here.  Perhaps the person who uploaded the pictures have misidentified them and added the wrong parallel card.  I just did a check on ebay and found what clearly looks like a "silver" version.  The gold is the most obvious, the silver is clearly just like the gold but the background area is silver instead.  The rainbow is more of a blue color, just whatever the default background color was.  I pulled a few of the pictures off ebay, the easy ones to see are Deadpool for example, Magneto is probably the most difficult to tell because the foil area is small.  Here's a picture.  
https://ibb.co/3cfkmL6

I just went back through the images uploaded here, and it appears the gold and silver subsets are correct, but the rainbow section has some gold cards incorrectly pictured as the rainbows.  
https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/75431/cid/5345270?PageIndex=1
 

right, even on ebay when looking for the rainbow apocalypse card it still looks like the gold version. this is where i am having trouble. i have purchased 5 rainbow versions and 5 gold versions of apocalypse from different sellers and they all look the same.

There is one more way you can tell and I just figured it out since I have a few rainbow and a few gold cards... on the rainbow cards the character's name, Hunters & Stalkers, and Fleer Ultra emblem are all in gold foil font.  On the GOLD cards that text is in a Copper color.  Odd choice huh?  That is truly bad odds if you bought 10 cards and all 10 of them ended up the same.. here's a picture showing the difference.. I circled the bottom Rainbow cards in Gold, and the top Gold cards in Copper.  

https://imgur.com/m2vWK1A

omg ty for clearing that up. legit that is the difference between. i can assure you the apocalypse gold and rainbow look exactly alike aside from the difference in color in the lettering.

I just updated the Release Notes on all three sets so people can tell the difference. It looks like Silver also has gold foil?

If you see any scans that appear to be wrong, submit an IR on the card and we'll get the images removed.

correct, silver also has gold lettering

Here is my analysis.  Eight of them are relatively easy.  The earlier mention of copper lettering on the gold variety is useful throughout.

1. For Cable, Deadpool, Random, Sabretooth, and Wolverine the upper background (maybe left, maybe right) is clearly gold, silver, or other.

2. Archangel has gold fading upward to reddish gold on the upper background for rainbow.  The copper foil for the name is distinguishable on the gold variety.

3. For Magneto look at the fold in the background that covers the upper part of M and A.  It is clearly gold, blue-green, or silver.

4. For Bishop, see the background immediately to the right of gun.

5. Apocalypse silver is easy: the background for the name, the area just below the name, and just above the head are all silver.

6. Between the gold and rainbow I depend on the gold/copper color of the lettering, especially for "HUNTERS & STALKERS". Copper lettering means the gold variety.  Other than that, the gold background on the gold variety looks lighter than that on the rainbow to me.