Iill say it like this, I had a lot of fun between brilliant stars and twilight masquarade.
I haven’t bothered since Surging sparks dropped on even buying an ancillary box.
I felt the one “sealed” collection that would be an easy thing to do, was PC ETBs. Nobody cared about them until more recently. So I think unless they print more of what I keep missing, I might give up on that once casual goal and sell it all. The amount of time the Fusion Strike PC ETBs were up for was actual nuts.
I’m sitting on some sealed stuff I wanted to open for the 30th anniversary , that I never expected to become so expensive for no discernable reason so quickly.
In other words, I do not bother with anything. The newest sets are out of since november 2024.
My latest date of things being this was was the end of May. I think my Pessimistic outlook wasn’t pessimistic enough. My optimistic outlook was It would clear up by the start of march.
To summarize the following, I’m pretty annoyed with Pokemon Center drops and don’t really think they are worth the time/effort associated with getting them, but I might continue to try if it’s an item I really want.
I have a friend who messages me about Pokemon Center drops, and he’s generally able to get them, but I’ve never had any luck. The other day I tried to get the Black/White ETBs, which I actually did really want, but I ended up just frustrated and mad at the whole process.
I basically was able to get into Pokemon Center 6-8 times across a 5-hour period of time, but I was never once able to complete the purchase due to, as I believe it, issues on their end - I tried guest checkout, tried my account, tried 4 different credit cards, but I just couldn’t seem to get the order processed. I had all the green checkmarks and the ETBs showing the ability to pre-order, but I would always have an error when clicking “Place Order.” Eventually, it was just time to give up, and I might just ignore any drops in the future.
I think part of growing up is drawing a hardline and saying “I’m too old for this”. Not too old for enjoying what I grew up with, but too old for the new iterations. Because the iterations are endless. Call of Duty. Star Wars. Pokémon. Superheroes. It will not end. And you either enjoy it indefinitely, get bored, or draw a hard line in the sand and say “this is when it ended for me”.
I don’t buy much new product, but I’ve always tried and buy 2 ETB’s of the newest sets. One to open and enjoy, and the second to have to display. I’ll try and jump on PC on release day. If I get it, Awesome. if not, oh well.
The only Pokémon Center exclusive ETB’s I’ve seem to have missed out on were 2 of the newest. Journey Together and Destined Rivals.
God I feel so bad right now… I bought aPrismatic Surprise Box from FB marketplace a few days ago and gave it to my nephew last night to open when they were visiting and my nephew had to experience first-hand resealed product :*(
I can’t be bothered with retail products anymore. Mostly because I never feel good after opening them. It’s kind of like when a buddy says “let’s do shots”. It might sound fun in the moment but in the back of your mind you know it’s not going to end well
I did buy 3 packs of Journey Together which I have seen at retail 6 or 7 times. It’s fun to open packs but ultimately unfruitful and absolutely not worth dealing with scalpers and “market prices”. Everyone else can have fun with that paying $13 for Prismatic to pull a bunch of bulk. Just don’t ever complain about product being hard to find if you’d ever buy from a reseller.
My optimistic outlook was It would clear up by the start of march.
