E4 Secret Santa 2025 [PICTURE THREAD]

[KabutopsMaster]

I keep trying to write this, but the website keeps glitching on my phone…

Ive been away since 26/12, so i collected my present today from the one and only doge master himself @D3F14NC3

First thing to mention, i was a very jealous person last year when @Sleepingfatboi got a 1/1 doge card, so im super happy to get one myself

Now on to the present. First up were some kabuto/kabutops coins

And there was also some kabutops stickers and a carddass kabuto!

A super cool painted kabuto card that would make the kabutoking jealous!

And i also got this thing, which i have no idea what to call it, but its very cool, even has an aero on it @itsNateyyy

And finally, an overspray error kabutops card that i plan to grade to go with my other error card (does psa recognise this? Or do i need to go to cgc?

[D3F14NC3]

I’m glad your gift arrived safe and sound. I tried to find some unique items which I couldn’t see you already owned. I had a ton of fun finding gifts for you. I’d also like to give a shoutout to @bbobrob who helped me obtain that sticker sheet that has the Aerodactyl on it. I hope you had a great holidays @KabutopsMaster

[banks]

I love the simplicity of your illustrated cards, reminds me of when I tried to make my own tcg as a kid. Great work D3F14NC3!

[Quuador]

I’m not sure if Ethan made a mistake or this was for some reason intended, but today I was surprised to receive not one but two Secret Santa packages from Scott (@pfm) and Scott (@smpratte), coincidentally arriving at exactly the same time.

Because I was still waiting for my Secret Santa package, I hadn’t cleaned up the Christmas decorations in my house yet, since they’re the perfect backdrop for some pictures.

The gift-wrapped ones on the left are from pfm and the booster box and snacks on the right from smpratte:

And here is everything after it was opened:

Thank you both so much!

First of all, the package of smpratte. It’s been a while since I opened up any booster packs, so it was fun to open this box and see what I could pull. Got a FA Supporter and three nice alt arts. The salted pretzel sticks are also quite tasty, and I already ate a bunch of them. (As for the chocolates, I’m sure my family will love them - I know I’m probably in the minority in the world, but I don’t like chocolate, haha. Except for white one, but that isn’t really chocolate to begin with. Thanks a lot regardless, it’s the thought that counts!) I also love the postcard with the Pikachu and sand-sculpture Snorlax.

Next the package of pfm. Some nice E4 merch, like a sticker, magnet, and lanyard. Both Yokohama and Van Gogh Pikachu sleeves. A cool Trophy Shield with Pikachu backdrop (not sure yet which card I’ll display in it. Perhaps my Art Academy Ashley card, the last Pikachu card I added to have a 100% completed English Pikachu sub-collection). An autographed copy of the magazine that covered the prototype scandal. I’ll defintely be reading that later this weekend. A signed Defender card. A Seviper plushy, which I think is homemade by Clara (or you?). And some good ol’ Canadian Maple syrup, which will go nicely with pancakes.

And last, but certainly not least, a CGC-graded Inadvertent Early Release French McDonald’s 2021 Pikachu, which came in English Vivid Voltage packs by accident. This last one is actually perfect, since I’ve stopped collecting foreign Pikachu cards after the 25th Pokémon Day (February 27th, 2021). The English Vivid Voltage set was released on November 30th, 2020, and the McDonald’s Collection 2021 in French on April 14th in France, April 26th in Canada, and June 9th in Belgium. Because of that, I had included this French non-holo early leak in my collection even though the official release was outside of my collection goal, but only as raw card. I’ve been wanting to pick up one of these Early Release CGC-graded ones to replace it, but never got to it. So thanks for saving me the trouble of trying to find one.

Late happy holidays to both of you, and of course everyone else reading this.

Greetz,
Quuador

[bbobrob]

@KabutopsMaster

And i also got this thing, which i have no idea what to call it, but its very cool

I plan to write an article on this line of products this year But they’re little gachapon booklets of stickers by Bandai.

Always love @D3F14NC3’s illustrated cards too. The lines and art are so clean!

[nikhil]

Sorry for the delay in responding! So glad you enjoyed the gift and that it was able to create the same nostalgic feeling of pulling it for the first time! I don’t think i appreciated ex cards as much until I saw how beautiful the holofoil on the border truly looks in person! it’s amazing! Hope you enjoy displaying it and that you had a happy holidays @tstark20!!

[nikhil]

Been a bit behind in opening my secret santa present but @Kanto_Cowboy you did such a fantastic job!!! I’M IN AWEEEE!!!

When i first saw the package it came in a larger box and I was a bit perplexed in what could be in here that would make it become so large? Cards were only so big right??? but I had to hold off on opening it until recently and I’m stunned!

I was careful to open each item and on by one, and very quickly it became clear to me how adorable and thoughtful this package would be. First we start off with this wonderful drawing of kanto cowboy santa holding a christmas tree while delivering their presents.

i’m a huge fan of japanese promos and was greeted by this gorgeous natta wake mankey!! It will be added to my collection right next to my natta wake psyduck!

There were a few more wonderful japanese promos, a super cool gengar lego set that i will be displaying on my desk as well as a teddiursa funko pop and a sylveon christmas ornament! And as I got to the bottom of the package, I realized why it was so large!
Kanto Cowboy commissioned an artist with not one but TWO paintings for me with my three favorite pokemon!!

I will be hanging these up in my office and my pokemon collection section thank you so much for such a wonderful christmas present and surprise! Secret Santa has been one of my favorite aspects of the fourum and it is always so fun to see what people buy each other after sharing their interests.

Hope you had a great rest of your holidays and happy new year @Kanto_Cowboy

[pfm]

I cut and glued the Seviper, Clara stitched it

[Kanto_Cowboy]

Glad you liked it! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

[Vertemes]

@DeekBoy was my first secret Santa and can confirm he NEVER misses, still have my deekboy photo, drawing, and 3d printed rayquaza.

[cardstockpile]

Shout out to @jawsh98 for the wonderful present!

Starting with this unique Tomy pop up card that I had never seen before!

Next were the beautiful sealed Mischievous Pichu & Metamong promo cards!

And of course my two favorite Pokémon:

Japanese Gengar from the Old Maid set

Japanese Scyther Jungle PSA 9

And my favorite part of the gift was the Korean Dark Phantasma booster box

It has been quite some time since I’ve opened a booster box and it was an absolute blast!

Thank you so much Jawsh for the lovely and thoughtful gift!

[SagleCards]

I returned from holiday travels to an amazing secret santa present from @tcgmaine!! Plus—when I checked my mailbox, there was a bonus letter with two additional cards inside!

@tcgmaine completely knocked it out of the park. I gave a pretty broad request, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I received! I love each of the e-reader cards, but I think my favorite of the English ones would be the Geodude. I’ve always seen that one at card shows and wanted to grab it, but never pulled the trigger. Very happy to be able to add that to my binder! In fact, I did not have any of these cards, and they will all be great additions.

And the Mcdonalds Wooper—I definitely was not expecting that one! That is a huge Wooper card to check off of my list, and I really appreciate the generous gift.

I actually somehow had never seen the wooper card in the bonus envelope, so it was a double surprise. Thank you again (including for the great drawing on the Rattata)!!

[Mr.Garrison]

Such a cool git and amazing illustration @D3F14NC3 i love the the subtle details you put in your art.

[Mr.Garrison]

ereader art is top notch! @tcgmaine the ‘can’t draw’ got me. The struggle is real brother

[tcgmaine]

So glad you liked everything and that it made it to you safely! Wooper has some great cards and I had fun diving into your various interests (some of which overlap with mine!)

[tcgmaine]

I’m glad someone understands.

[Taigataipan]

Yesterday I received notice of arrival for package which didn’t seem to have sender’s name, when I picked it up this afternoon I instantly recognized name because recently we exchanged some messages about other stuff.

My Secret Santa this year was @haytertcg and I’d say they did great job. At first the package seemed small but it contained great selection of stuff to go through.

Most important things first, the letter including a drawing! Thanks for the compliments and no worries, Santa Mew looks great and the gift was perfectly on time. Eventually it will join hall of fame folder with previous cards/artworks.

Let’s move to gifts. 2025 ended with Alolan Exeggutor SIR pull and 2026 begins watching another one in Paradise Dragona booster packs, can’t escape it even if I wanted. Gym promo packs were totally new sight in hands, 151 Ditto possibly being inside is a huge plus!

Usually people go crazy about biggest & hardest packages during holiday season, in my case the first small one caused unexpected reaction: first thing I see is colorless gen 3 non holo with a strange stamp, at this point I had to say aloud “you have to be joking me “. I take out rest of the wrapping and find EX Legend Maker Skitty and the Kraze Club promo, amazing addition for binder set.

The Asia exclusive Team Rocket’s Zapdos and Pokemon Center Team Rocket’s Tyranitar were nice find as well, the amount of great looking cosmos variants made lately is just outstanding.

Heaviest package was only one where my initial guess was correct, a chocolate bar. Looking forward to deplete it in following weeks.

Finally a Phantasmal Flames 3 pack blister, most likely first Spanish sealed item I’ve ever held.

Again big thanks, really enjoyed the all the items you included in gift. I most certainly hope we meet again one way or another when Secret Santa 2026 sign up begins.

[haytertcg]

You are very welcome! Sorry for the delay, I could only find the skitty in the UK and took a while to get into my hands.

I can admit now, I never had any destined rivals singles to sell you. The messages I sent were just to figure out what you still needed from your WTB thread . Have a happy new year!

[fungimungi]

@octaane I just saw this! I’m glad you enjoyed the gifts! I loved browsing through the vending artwork.

[Ruley711]

Been away for a while so coming home to this package from @parkermrparker was such a treat!!

Starting off he got me a booster box of shiny treasure ex. I’ve never opened a Japanese booster box before, just loose parks here and there so this was an absolute blast to open. I have a dachshund mix dog so my favourite pull has to be the baby shiny Dachsbun, but a blast to rip all together!

Additionally, got some Japanese Togepi’s and Jirachi to help me get on my way to expanding my species collection to Japanese on top of English. This is perfect!

Also some very fun non TCG Togepis that will be going right into the Togepi binder as well!!

And last but not least, my absolute favourite part of the gift and the part that will be displayed on my office bookshelves are this awesome pikachu in a Jirachi costume and homemade (!!) ceramic Togepi. Incredibly cool

Thank you so much Parker, the amount of effort and attention to detail you put into this gift is truly appreciated. I loved every single part of it.