@tilla13’s Pokémon Hungarian Collection thread dominated the day, delivering a marathon of rare Hungarian Pokémon media including Junior magazine promos, VHS prize inserts, Tazo festival materials, and a Cora hypermarket catalog from 2000.
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The Chicago Field Museum Archeops promo was officially revealed — a stamped reprint of White Flare #51 — already hitting $250+ on eBay within hours of announcement, per @teraz.
@Quuadorconfirmed in the Wailmer collecting thread that a circulating e-Series Sample Wailmer card is a digital hoax, with proof that the image was fabricated just before the Japanese e-series released.
@mrbubblesreceived a Japan mail haul including BW-P promos and the rare Pokémon Card Battle Train promo set — notably the elusive Snivy — after three years of waiting on the same listing.
@tilla13’s Pokémon Hungarian Collection thread continued its marathon run, cataloguing Tazo festivals, Mirinda soft drink promos, VHS/DVD releases, and movie media across more than a dozen consecutive posts.
A new Deoxys display thread sparked an instant rivalry, with @MC.VAULT.BE declaring allegiance against “poopy rayray fans” — drawing a playful rebuttal from @Quuador on behalf of Rayquaza enthusiasts.
@sircharleszardnoted in the Crazy Market thread that the 151 Special Illustration Rare Charizard is now the 4th most graded Pokémon card of all time at PSA, on track to overtake Base Set Charizard.
Standout metric: A single Mew ex with an Oddish cameo cleared $236,543 at auction — $233,000 more than a comparable copy without it
Why Is Everything So Expensive, and Whose Fault Is That, Exactly
I’m here on da scene and da Crazy Market thread is doing what it does — pulling in everyone from the economists to the philosophers to the guy who just wants a $4 pack. This week the conversation graduated from “prices are high” to something more structural. @swoleking laid out a detailed argument that survivorship bias and social media distortion are driving speculative behavior — people chasing “exit velocity” rather than collecting. @tstark20 pushed back slightly on framing but landed in roughly the same place:
Pokemon is the vehicle for this movement, but if Yu-Gi-Oh was the more popular franchise, we’d be seeing all this chaos over there instead.
@CardboardInsanity catalogued three lies new collectors believe — including the claim that the market has beaten the S&P since 2004 (false, per the post; only since 2016, and barely, pre-2020). By midweek the thread had drifted into EX commons selling for $2–5k territory, with @tidaldreams asking in the English Market thread what most people were thinking but not saying out loud.
Hungary Was Always Here
The week’s most quietly remarkable contribution came from @tilla13, who opened a dedicated Hungarian Pokémon collection thread and proceeded to populate it post by post over four days — VHS releases, Junior magazine tie-ins, Tazo festivals, Mirinda bottle cap campaigns, McDonald’s promos, cinema ticket giveaways. It reads like a regional archive being assembled in real time. What made it land harder: @tilla13 had already surfaced in the older Minta watermark thread, identifying the Hungarian TCG promo card that had puzzled collectors for months and explaining its origins from firsthand memory.
The Laserdisc thread, the Mewtwo article thread — @tilla13 turned up in those too, contributing scans. Fifty-two posts, 242 likes. Dis is what sustained documentation looks like.
The Card That Wasn’t (And The One That Very Much Was)
Two authentication stories ran parallel this week, pulling in opposite directions. On the fake end: a claimed Ken Sugimori illustration and signature was called out within minutes — @swolepoke noted missing pen strokes on the Japanese signature, an incorrect English signature, and artwork copied from official sources rather than sketched. Verdict: fake, thoroughly.
On the genuinely surprising end: @Quuador helped close a years-long question for @Komono, confirming that a “Sample” Wailmer e-series card that had circulated online was an internet hoax created just before the Japanese e-series launch — not a real unissued promo. The creator had apparently admitted it in 2023. The forum’s long memory does its best work in moments like these, where a single credible post saves a collector from chasing something that never existed.
JoshsOddCollection’s post was framed as advocacy but functioned as a market report: a Paldean Fates Mew ex in BGS Pristine sold for $236,543 — the distinguishing feature being an Oddish cameo in the artwork. A comparable copy without it had recently sold for $3,300. The thread immediately became a referendum on whether the premium was rational, with @Bellsprout pointing out that a Bellsprout cameo was also present and therefore the math should be split, and @tidaldreams asking whether buyers expect the card to double. Nobody had a satisfying answer. The Crazy Market thread absorbed the residual shock. As a data point about where this hobby currently is, it’s hard to top.
That’s da week — Meowth out, and youse better keep dem Oddish safe.
@tilla13’s Pokémon Hungarian Collection thread dominated the day with a marathon of consecutive posts cataloguing VHS/DVD releases, McDonald’s promotions spanning 2012–2021, and a Burger King Detective Pikachu tie-in.
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A Greninja SIR pulled from Chaos Rising sparked pointed pushback: @gdark and @lyleberr both challenged the opener’s framing of instantly “making $480,” with @gdark noting “this mindset is what makes me sad about kids these days and pokemon.” Current market value sits around $400–420 before fees.
The QotD on Meowth’s next form produced the standout fan concept from @quibble: “Purrgent — The Scaredy Cat Pokémon,” a skittish evolution that lost its coin and confidence.
@Paulkemonopened a poll on CGC’s label change; old-label defenders cited aesthetic matching with specific card types, while @tstark20 argued the new black label is objectively the strongest design across all grading companies.
@genchirodropped new details on PSA Frankfurt: direct collector submissions open July 15, 2026, covering standard raw Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and sports cards — sealed and autos remain US-only.
@zorlothshared that the long-traveled Latios ex has been sold once again, and separately disclosed winning a Latias ex CGC 9 for $312 — then selling an identical copy for $650 ten hours later.
PSA grading reliability dominated conversation, with two separate threads debating whether centering standards are consistently applied — and whether individual graders are simply doing whatever they want.
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@packymanshared a vendor story for the ages: trying to sell a full 11-card Japanese CD promo set, only for staff to insist Japan has never produced an English card and accuse the poster of scamming.
PSA’s announcement of sweeping service level changes — including a reported 10 million card backlog and the apparent shutdown of all value-tier submissions — dominated Grading discourse and drew historical comparisons to the 2020 middleman crisis.
@smpratte and others reflected on adult collector nostalgia in a new thread on sets, with @smpratte championing Evolutions/CP6 as the sweetest re-entry point, calling it the closest feeling to the original 90s craze.
@koala posted Traditional Chinese alternative art promos for ME05 Pitch Black, including new Miraidon, Bastiodon, Slowbro, and Dhelmise cards, and noted uncertainty about Japanese release paths given the absence of a High Class Pack this year.
@BMOE3366911 shared three new pickups, describing the trio as something overpaid on, something that cost more than rent to grade, and something traded for.
The ongoing PSA grading thread remained the forum’s loudest conversation, with members debating whether shutting down value-tier submissions is a net positive or negative for collectors — and whether CGC can absorb the fallout.
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TPCI news landed in the Crazy Market thread: graded slabs, Pokémon Center items, and cards valued over $1,000 have reportedly been banned from vendor inventory at official events.
@smpratteweighed in on the Pokecolor.inc eBay ban, suggesting it’s likely due to an off-platform website rather than shill bidding — @ddk followed with a pointed remark about a certain competitor’s past security troubles.
@gengarbrigadeopened a new thread detailing a shift from graded slabs to binder copies, specifically selling PSA 9s and replacing them with PSA 6s and 7s for Gengar cards including Gengar LV.X, Gengar Prime, and Gengar VS.
New member @Pidovelaunched a collection thread documenting a Pokédex binder project and cosmos holo binder, with more pictures promised soon.
That’s all for today — Psyduck out, headache pending.
Dates: May 30–31, 2026 | New topics: 6 | New posts: 123
Top contributor: @joponnes with 26 likes across 11 posts — a dominant showing across multiple threads.
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The community’s ongoing Regional Bird Final Form elimination poll series is generating strong engagement, with Toucannon the latest ousted and Staraptor commanding an early stranglehold in Round 4.
The binder vs. graded cards thread saw @smpratte weigh in, noting a preference for cards without creases but indifference to back condition — pragmatic advice that drew several responses.
Standout stat: PSA disclosed a 10-million-card backlog midweek — the single number that touched nearly every conversation on the forum
Ten Million Reasons to Panic (Or Not)
I’m here on da scene and da number everyone’s talkin’ about is ten million — as in, the cards currently sitting in PSA’s queue. The grading turnaround thread that’s been building since mid-May finally hit critical mass when @kookiedowh dropped a link to PSA’s official service-level update, and the forum responded in character: one half panicking, the other half shrugging. @fourthstartcg was among the more measured voices, noting the ingredients are all there for a repeat of the 2020 middleman disaster — bulk minimums, a hot market, and PSA potentially shutting down the submission tiers that middlemen depend on. @Bodega pointed a finger directly at the mystery-box ecosystem, arguing the gambling outfits need floors even more than hits, and are hoovering up bulk submissions to keep their products viable.
Not everyone was stressed. @bash2112 offered what might be the week’s most grounded take: “What’s a few months to someone who loves this hobby and has been around it since they were a kid.” CGC quietly raised their own turnaround times to 120 days for bulk and 65 for economy — barely mentioned, easily missed. @smpratte logged on to report that PSA’s card-entry search was taking over a minute per card to load, punctuated only by a skull emoji. The infrastructure is straining. The hobby is not slowing down.
The Backdoor Set Nobody Was Supposed to See
The collectorscache Art Academy listing landed Monday morning and quietly became the most substantive market conversation of the week. @Dyl flagged it immediately: a freshly graded complete English Art Academy set, no PSA 9s or 10s in the lot, almost certainly sourced from a TPCi employee rather than any of the contest winners. What made the thread stick wasn’t the price — it was the policy question underneath it. @fourthstartcglaid out the history clearly: PSA had previously refused to grade AA cards unless provenance from a winner could be demonstrated, citing “authenticity” that included distribution chain. @churlocker pushed back hard on that original logic — graders should assess the card in front of them, not speculate on custody chains — and expressed relief that PSA appeared to have reversed course.
@pokemonunboxing contributed photo evidence from three winners confirming each received only a single box — not two as some had assumed — which tightens the math on how many legitimate copies can possibly exist for any given card. @Dyl noted that for certain cards, like the Primal Kyogre, the winner has claimed not to have opened their box at all, meaning most known copies are almost certainly employee extras. @thsigma summarized the policy reversal in four money-face emojis. Sometimes that’s enough.
TL;DR is: Pokémon market will cool down, we don’t know when
@candle asked if it was AI-generated. @packyman said it was. @johto99pushed back wearily, noting that structured writing is increasingly dismissed as AI by default. The thread then drifted through genuinely interesting territory — @RoyalOak made a Lindy argument for Pokémon’s staying power, @exiliart challenged the “30 years of hard data” framing by pointing out the market only really moved post-Pokémon GO — before collapsing into a tangent about communism that the forum wisely did not pursue. @smpratte’s contribution was characteristically blunt:
The biggest bubble is the constant bubble blowing babies saying everything is a bubble.
The grading skepticism theme resurfaced separately in unpopular opinions, where @sonicsmashdown called grading a vehicle for manufactured demand, and @smpratteresponded at length defending grading as a practical necessity born before financial speculation entered the hobby. Two threads, same argument, same week — the forum is clearly working something out.
A Binder Built in Public
The week’s quietest throughline was @gengarbrigade, who showed up in the purchases thread early in the week with a grid of Gengar cards — PSA 6-7 copies, bought raw or graded, destined for a binder rather than a display shelf. The framing was deliberate:
I told myself, it’s either now or never due to Gengar tax.
By Thursday, @gengarbrigade had opened their own thread on the philosophy behind it — cracking slabs, moving away from grade-chasing, accepting that the Gengar market had run away from some windows they wished they’d taken. @smpratte and @ddk both weighed in on the binder-copy strategy, with @ddkflagging low-grade CGC slabs as often better value than raw for condition-conscious binder collectors. @mrbubbles had spotted the pattern first, asking for a full collection showcase. The answer: next week. That’s a thread worth watching.
Hungary, Hataya, and the Long Hunt
Not every story this week was about market dynamics. @tilla13 spent the better part of the week methodically documenting Hungarian Pokémon releases — McDonald’s and Burger King promos, VHS and DVD releases, cassette and CD soundtracks, sticker albums — in a thread that became something closer to an archive than a showcase. Post after post, era after era, all catalogued. The forum received it warmly, with @mrbubbles offering a genuine welcome and flagging a movie poster as unexpectedly cool.
Elsewhere, @joponnesclosed a months-long chase in the purchases thread — the last Hataya card needed to complete a binder page, arriving after one lost-in-mail attempt and a two-month delay on the second. “Last card I was missing from Hataya now that I accepted that they probably aren’t making any new cards,” the post read. No fanfare, no price, just relief. That’s the hobby.
Ya see, dis week had it all — ten million slabs in limbo, backdoor cards, bubble fights, and one guy quietly buildin’ the Gengar binder of his dreams. Meowth, dat’s right.
Dates: May 31–June 1, 2026 | New topics: 6 | New posts: 126
Top contributor: @joponnes with 59 likes across 13 posts — a truly dominant spread across the forum.
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The grading debate is raging across multiple threads simultaneously, with unpopular opinions, the Crazy Market thread, and a new PSA grievance post all converging on questions of grading’s legitimacy, market speculation, and collector harm.
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@smpratte delivered a widely-liked counterpoint in the unpopular opinions thread, arguing grading exists out of practical necessity — authentication and condition standards — separate from the financial speculation layered on top of it.
@swoleking posted a detailed reality-check in the Crazy Market thread, pushing back hard on claims that slabs could 100x over 20 years: “ONLY 25.6% per year, for 20 years, compounded, without retracing… is pure fantasy.”
The community rallied around @malin in a new PSA help thread, where a submission from 2023 has apparently been liquidated under PSA’s delinquent payment clause — a difficult read.
A first-time poster, @Rockryn, is seeking a valuation on an unpeeled CoroCoro Pikachu/Jigglypuff sheet surfaced after the Logan Paul documentary; a comparable reportedly sold for $10k last year.
Sign-ups for the E4 Signature Exchange 2026 closed June 1, with packages due by July 15 — @niece opted out due to travel but pledged a forum donation.
Collection updates
@joponnes completed the Hataya binder page with a long-awaited final card — twice lost in the mail before finally arriving.
@packyman picked up multiple shadowless variants with differing holo colors, yellow borders, and UV reactions, questioning whether the variations track to early deck, long crimp, or short crimp origins.
@joponnes updated Jopo’s Collection Thread with completed Bandai Carddass Series 1–2 sets — described as among the first Pokémon card products ever produced.
Dates: June 1–2, 2026 | New topics: 10 | New posts: 210
Top contributor: @koala with 93 likes across 12 posts — dominant across multiple major threads.
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The Pokémon 30th Anniversary sets — M6a (JP) and 30C (TPCi) — dropped simultaneously, generating the overwhelming majority of the day’s activity and debate.
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The new FUR Mewtwo ex and Mew ex by debut artist YOSHIROTTEN proved divisive; @fourthstartcgquipped the set introduced the “FU Rare,” while @bigtechbill offered a thoughtful defense of the futuristic aesthetic’s 30-year thematic resonance.
@CoconutLaCroixcompiled all 30 confirmed reprints from the anniversary website, sparking discussion over stamp placement — including the thorny question of where stamps land on Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND pieces.
@malin’s PSA submission dispute thread continued, with the poster describing years of unanswered attempts to resolve a lost submission — community members debated civil fraud statutes.
The Regional Bird poll entered Round 6 with Staraptor eliminated; final four are Pidgeot, Noctowl, Talonflame, and Corviknight.
@rapidash shared a Fire Horse Master Set update, recently acquiring a large lot of non-English cards and amending a spreadsheet to include 4th print Spanish Base Set variants.
Psy… psy psy… that’s all the news that’s fit to headache over. Reporter Psyduck, signing off.
Dates: June 2–3, 2026 | New topics: 6 | New posts: 212
Top contributor: @koala with 42 likes across 6 posts, active across multiple major threads.
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The 30th Anniversary sets continued to dominate, with heated debate over CGI render quality, card selection, and what it truly means to celebrate 30 years of the TCG.
PSA’s backlog situation deepened further, with @sircharleszard citing an estimated 2.5 million additional cards added before the shutdown cutoff.
@poke.soupopened a charming thread seeking cards featuring children’s toys and nursery imagery, prompting warm community recommendations across multiple sets.
The 30th Anniversary set discussion got meatier, with @koala cataloguing confirmed Pokémon across “Day Out” and “Night Out” themes including Psyduck (reporter remains professionally neutral).
Market integrity took center stage as @charizardespana’s call to normalize proof of private sales ignited a broad debate about unverified comps, IG hype, and what “private” actually means — with a same-day qotd spinoff topic materializing overnight.
The private sale debate spawned its own #qotd:@lyleberr formalized @ascendedbidoof’s viral quip into a full Question of the Day — “Is a private sale really private if you immediately announce it publicly?”
The Steals n’ Deals thread launched in #My-Collection, surfacing finds including a Portuguese Lapras with a mismatched listing title (@pokemonargentina) and a bulk lot containing near-full Viz Video lenticular VHS promos (@stagger12).
@Vertemesaccepted @Dyl’s offer to front a graded Gold Star Rayquaza purchase at cost, stepping back from a prior impulsive bid with what @DarthEevee aptly dubbed “post-Dyl clarity.”
@Professor_Brokeshared a fresh haul in the most recent purchases thread — progress toward Expedition: zero; progress toward an ungradeable pile: infinite.
Efour Digest — May 22–23, 2026
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