It definitely gives me southern island vibes. Atsuko knocked it out of the park like she usually does.
Thereās good Secret Santa gifts. Thereās great Secret Santa gifts. There are exceptional Secret Santa gifts. And then thereās what @swolepoke put together for me this year which I really just canāt even find words to describe! The entire gift was just mind blowing. Unfortunately due to shipping delays it didnāt arrive while I was back at home for the holidays, but I got some help and I was able to watch it all being opened live.
First is this fantastic drawing featuring my favorite Pokemon as jacked-up bodybuilders in true swolepoke fashion! I love seeing these drawings in past Secret Santas so Iām super excited to receive my own!
Next up is this awesome winter Pikachu magnet, so cute!!
I also got this incredible sealed Japanese Rayquaza deck box, I got the Deoxys version over the summer and Iām so happy to add this one to the collection as well! The artwork is just incredible and these deck boxes are some of my favorite products. I think Iāll be keeping this one sealed along with the Deoxys as a set!
This stunning jumbo Shadow Lugia has always been a card I admired, I love that they brought something from a side game into the TCG even if it was a promo. And that 2006 World Championships promo booklet is just pure nostalgia!!
What comes next is truly insane. My main collection is the English and Japanese ex series, and I got several epic graded cards to add on to this goal! From a wonderfully cute Totodile to the beautiful Golden Sky, Silvery Ocean Meganium, these cards are welcome additions to my collection. First Iāll show off this PSA 10 Professor Oakās Setup which is again a giant nostalgia bomb of artwork, such an iconic scene that I love seeing brought to life in a full art!
And last but certainly not least we have an absolutely incredible card that is a massive addition to my collection. Forgive me as I explain to the uninitiated exactly how rare and special this card is. Mint condition Japanese ex series is hard enough to find on its own, print numbers are incredibly low and most cards were used by TCG players at the time. Japanese EX Dragon Frontiers not only has one of the lower print runs out of the entire EX series, but it is plagued by horrible centering problems for holographic and ex cards. As you can see in the 9s above, centering is often significantly off. So even if you do find a card thatās in mint condition otherwise, the centering makes 10s incredibly hard. I learned this firsthand as I pursued and completed all Dragon Frontiers ex cards in a PSA 10. 1st edition cards have the worst centering though, and the vast majority of the 10s I secured for my Japanese ex collection were unlimited. I am confident in saying a 1st edition, PSA 10 Dragon Frontiers ex card is one of the hardest things to acquire. Iāve only come across a few of these in my years of collecting. So a massive thank you again to Jeremy for adding this PSA 10 1st edition Dragonite ex to my collection!
This gift totally knocked it out of the park, thank you so much!!
So you can do more than moderate, eh. Nice score!
@degreen11 excuse the mess doing some home renovations but here is the Chansey art
Thanks to @jdalcour for the Secret Santa goods! You captured some of my Poke favorites. And the graffiti-style card was a unique touch! Hope you had a merry christmas and have a great 2021.
Thank you @trainerjack ! Merry Christmas hope you have an awesome 2021
Also you have a dope drawing style!
No problem and thank you! Iām glad you enjoy. I hope you have a great 2021 as well
Fantastic surprise in the post turned up yesterday from @danakinzero - thank you for the awesome presents and the artwork! (He took a bunch of time to write a letter as well, I took a photo of it but didnāt know if you wanted it shared or not). Really appreciate the thought that went into the drawing and the snowboarding Articuno is brilliant lmao.
Had great fun opening the boosters (have shared the pulls) and especially love the Articuno holo, didnāt have this in my collection! Only downside is unfortunately the girlfriend has now called dibs on the chocolate Happy Christmas!
I received this awesome package last week but was just able to share it today! Thank you @joshius for the amazing Secret Santa gift! This is the first year Iāve ever participated and after receiving this I definitely have to step up my game!
The first item I opened was this neat old Japanese foldable fossil paper craft! I always loved the fossil PokĆ©mon from the games as it was the hardest choice in game by far. As of right now I donāt have any plans to open up this cool product but I guarantee I will enjoy it as it was intended eventually.
Next up and fitting for the season are these Holiday themed ornaments and pins! The ornaments didnāt make it to the tree this year but will definitely have a spot next year! I know Josh collects sealed pins but I had to open this set of Christmas pins and Iāll be finding a place for them
I also received these amazing comics and strategy guides. I have only quickly flipped through them but I canāt wait to really sit down and read them (using google lens). I can tell Iāll enjoy them, specifically the players guide to Diamond and Pearl as when I was younger I really dove into those games and I havenāt revisited them in over a decade.
Up next is this cute cosplay Pikachu postcard that Iāll add to my small but growing postcard collection.
@joshius gifted me 6 packs that I instantly ripped into I was able to pull two ultra rares and some great reverses so I cant complain! The Oricorio is actually quite a playable card right now and the Nihilego has a fun gimmick that I may make an expanded deck of one day
Apparently, just in case I didnt pull anything good, Josh sent me a stack of ultra rares and secret rares! These make up for all of the bad pulls I had from my latest modern openings this past year . The gold food tin and the Kabu have such awesome sparkle to them and Iām really glad I can add these to my collection. He also included some amazing cards from the best Pokemon Illustrator Tomokazu Komiya
. Both the slowpoke and the moomoo milk were better conditions of my previous copies so I was super happy to replace them! And the signature slowpoke is incredible
.
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Finally we arrive on the amazing art by Josh and Jamie. I love these so much they are both āso cuteā, Iām incredibly happy to have them! These are the first entries to my hand drawn PokĆ©mon collection and I cant wait to add more.
As if everything above wasnāt miles above what I could have ever expected, here come my favorite additions to my PokĆ©mon collection. This Clefairy pin and Aquapolis Grimer keychain are sooooooo good. Iāve already attached the Grimer to my keys and I cant wait to find a spot for the Komiya Clefairy pin.
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Iām really blown away and this was one incredible Christmas gift. Thank you @joshius
big shoutout to @casual for the amazing secret santa gift! the komiya golduck pin is so cool and the choice of cards with great art was really nice. the shirt that you made is so cool! love it so much ive been wearing it all day. i was wondering where the artwork was then i realised the shirt is the art! really clever! im going to save the pack to open with my step daughter on the weekend, really excited, i havent opened a pack in months.
thanks again!
Really glad to hear that, happy it fits! Iāve been learning embroidery so I figured this would be a great project!
SO glad you like everything! I was very nervous it being my first SS and the shipping time was excruciating. The Pikachu drawing was done by my six year old who insisted she be able to add a picture lol
My gift is here. I was actually picking another package when post office clerk asked āwould I like to have this letter from USA as well? It has been sitting here quite a while.ā Odd as hell because I still havenāt seen any notice of arrival in mailbox, Iām still happy when this Christmas gift arrived perfectly before my birthday.
Inside the letter I found one Darkness Ablaze pack, two Vivid Voltage packs, awesome Lugia/Blastoise drawing and Neo Genesis Kingdra/Feraligatr cards ( certainly great choice because most of my favourite Pokemons have something to do with water ).
Unfortunately I donāt recognize the name of the sender from previous Secret Santa events/other transactions so youāll have to reveal yourself here at some point. Thanks for gifts!

This is an extremely overdue Secret Santa show off. I want to thank @brendantheclayboy for a very special first Secret Santa gift.
I apologize for the poor lighting in the pictures-I was in my old apartment when I received the gift. Unfortunately, they do not do the gifts as much justice as I had hoped.
The package came with several gifts that were all neatly wrapped:
Here is the AMAZING watercolor I got. @brendandtheclayboy is a very talented artist AND he captured some of my favorite pokemon:
One highlight was the graded Espeon, which is a very welcome addition to my graded umbreon/espeon collection:
I donāt want to overwhelm people with pictures, but here is a picture of everything else I got. However, I want to note that I got an awesome Kyogre card from the XY Primal Clash packs and the singles that @brendantheclayboy bought for me were so on point. They even included a full art Umbreon Ex!! This gift was so much fun!
So so happy you enjoyed everything @deltazero! I was glad to pull your name out of the hat, your favorite Monās were something I looked forward to catering to
This was an immense pleasure participating in E4 Secret Santa. I will be doing it forever.
I am honored that I was a fun person to shop for.
I, too, will be participating in E4 Secret Santa for as long as I can.
Still no secret santa for me
fyi if youāre from the us: customs held my package for 22 days
Thanks to @nevyn for the thoughtful gifts! They took the time to check out my instagram and posts to figure out that I loved Uncut Sheets & they actually got me one!!! Wow!
There was also some nice foreign chocolate included that is not in the picture (It was 100% completed too quickly )
Love Darkrai so the drawing rocked, and the cards (especially the Jirachi!) are going to stay in my binder forever.
Thank you so much
Hi @casual
Iām glad you liked the gifts It was really fun to put together the package and Iām relieved it arrived safely
(Delayed) Merry Christmas!