This is the 2013 Korean League Zone Empoleon promo! There is a 2012 version with the stamp in Korean instead of English as well. I’ve only seen one other copy pop up for sale, which I missed last year due to having to “be an adult” and “pay for a busted pipe”, but I can’t say I haven’t been kicking myself since then because they’re so rare. Upon seeing this one come up for sale, I knew I couldn’t miss it again.
I’m very happy to add this one to the binder, as this was a card I never thought I’d see in person. The Korean mirror holos are always so shiny too, more so than the other language mirrors I have in my collection.
Wow, congratulations! I also really like this depiction of Empoleon. It really looks very royal and powerful. The card with the stamp is so very clean! Great pickup. Thanks for sharing.
I don’t normally go hunting for errors, but I do like to pick them up when I find them (and when they’re cheap lol). I got pinged by another species collector about these, and I couldn’t resist picking them up!
Quick disclaimer that I’m only keeping the Piplup and Shroomish for myself- the Turtwig and Starly are on their way to a certain Torterra collector as we speak, but I did want a photo of all of them together first!
This is my second error from Brilliant Stars, which I think is fun. I’ve decided to also put the Shroomish in my binder next to the Piplup since it’s technically a Piplup card now as well, and I love connecting miscuts.
Just catching up with the collection thread now—congrats on finishing Traditional Chinese! And the League Zone Empoleon promo looks great. Always feels good to pick up a truly rare card like that! What’s the story behind the distribution?
And it’s already a somewhat old subject now, but I also like seeing the spreadsheet screenshot with the updates
Thanks so much, I appreciate it!! I’m really excited to see what this year will bring as well.
Unfortunately I don’t have a ton of info on the League Zone promo. I do know this version was distributed in 2013 League Play in South Korea alongside some other promos with the same stamp. I’d be very interested to learn anything else about them!
I’ll keep updating spreadsheet photos once I get a few more cards in- glad to hear others like it too!
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve had any new additions to share here. A lot has happened irl over the past few months which has left collecting by the wayside for the time being, but this package has been in transit since January (to my middleman and then later to me), so I’m very happy to finally have these in hand.
A few random Spanish pickups, as well as the Friends in Sinnoh professor program stamped promo. The top 8/champion/staff Professor Program promos aren’t part of my main collection goals at the moment, but I’ve included the regular participation promos since they’re under the $500 threshold I set for myself.
That also means that English is one card away from being 100% complete! Funnily enough, that last card is the Friends in Hisui Professor promo, but I’m being patient until I can score a good deal on one.
Hope everyone has been doing well, and happy collecting!
Slowly but surely chipping away at the cheaper cards when I can find them. I prefer finding sellers with multiple cards I need to save on international shipping costs, since $4-7 shipping per $1-2 card adds up!
I’ve also found a few more variants since the last update I didn’t know about:
With the new finds, I’m still up to over 75% now! When I started collecting all languages, it seemed like a daunting task, but that all-complete mark is seeming more achievable with every card that comes in. I still have a long way to go, but yall wonderful people here (and especially my fellow species collectors) have made this journey so fun for me. Happy collecting, everyone!
Listen I’m just saying… if anyone wants to trade me a copy for a piece of my art, I’ll give you anything you want
The real answer is that the Friends in Hisui Professor Program promo is still coming down a bit, hovering around $170 over on CardMarket. My ideal is to find one for $150ish, shipping included, so I can be patient, haha. If they start going up again, I may just have to bite the bullet sooner or later though.
This past year, I took stock of my collection goals, and decided I wanted to go for quantity over price for now. Any cards over $500 got chucked into this alternate tracker:
that I’ll be saving for the very last (unless an insane deal comes up or something). Recently, I’ve discovered that I tend to find more joy in 100 $1 cards than 1 $100 card (but don’t get me wrong, I love the expensive ones too, even if my wallet does not haha).
So I technically have more English to chase after the “last one”, but it won’t be until I’ve gotten the majority of everything else first.
Thank you so much! It’s been a long journey so far, and I hope to continue collecting Piplups (and Prinplups and Empoleons) for many, many more years down the road.
