Usually the first “rookie” cards tend to hold and gain much more value than reprints and later variations.
I saw a young kid on Instagram showing off his original Charizard from base.
1st will always be first.
I’m sure they will want the starter Pokémon and legendaries if generations before.
I collect modern legendaries and have no nostalgia towards it. They are just amazing
@zorloth and @miraclegro , you both nailed how I feel on the ball. WotC prices have gotten to the point where I would much rather spend my money on cards and sets that bring me the greatest enjoyment - my emotional investment isn’t with the early sets, and I find Base/Jungle to be boring for the most part. One of the first purchases I made after realizing I wanted to complete every set was purchase a near complete Base, complete Jungle and near complete 1st ed Fossil. I worked on completing that 1st ed Fossil and while I would like to eventually complete it, I just can’t justify spending money on it right now. I’ve picked up other random WotC holos here and there and have a bunch of duplicates to sell off too, but rising prices for vintage WotC and high-end exes made me shift my focus and my funds to the sets I enjoy most. I still plan on collecting all those other sets, but only once I complete my current goals and I find myself in a better financial situation later in life.
I don’t doubt others feel this way too, and that number will only grow as time goes on.
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Yup! When a complete raw, PSA 8-quality 1st Edition Jungle or Fossil set cost just ~$1500 to put together, I basically figured “why not?” Now that those same sets are probably more like $4k each, I feel much more inclined to put that $4k into cards I actually care about. I like Jungle/Fossil, but I don’t love them. They’re classic and highly important to the history of the TCG, but that’s all that they are to me. If they go back down to $1500 for a NM/M set, I’ll re-collect them.
But the EX Series I’m collecting regardless of what it costs. It could go down to zero or go through the roof and I would still feel compelled to collect it. I think nostalgia is going to ultimately be the main factor in what people collect. People my age (~21 to ~25 range) don’t feel the same nostalgic connection to Base/Jungle/Fossil. If more people my age get into the hobby (very few have, thus far), I firmly believe that they will collect what they grew up with. And that would be, more than likely, the EX Series. I’m sure they’d (like me) be interested in collecting early WotC if the prices were low enough. But with the current prices, new collectors who didn’t grow up with early WotC likely won’t gravitate to it (in my opinion).
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I feel that WOTC will always be relevant. The place of beginning is inherently special.
That’s exactly how I feel about the BW series 
no matter their value, I will still collect them. I don’t see too many new collectors saying that with WotC as time goes on. If we assume a bullish stance on the market, then I think over time as WotC prices climb higher and higher the new collectors 5-10 years from now will feel like they are standing at the base of a wall when comparing the costs of their childhood sets to the costs of WotC sets.
Obviously this is all speculative, and there’s no question that WotC is king and always will be for the length of Pokemon’s popularity, simply due to the sheer amount of people already interested and invested in it. But I think there will be a direct correlation between the rising cost of WotC and the importance of nostalgia when deciding what to collect. To say that a majority of new collectors over the next 25 years will always go right to WotC is a bold assumption indeed. They might reach the wall, but if the wall is too high I doubt many will climb. You and I both are proof of that.
The argument that pack-openers and big YouTubers are introducing the younger generation to WotC makes sense too, until you consider that there are hundreds of people attempting to do this and we only see a handful of the successful ones, and each pack opened under the excuse of “the young generation needs to experience WotC” actually makes it HARDER for them to experience WotC when they become adults in 5-10 years, because each pack opened makes all other sealed packs rarer and all contents of the pack are likely sent right to PSA or BGS by the video creator, and then are locked away or eventually sold to someone who locks it away. And to keep introducing new viewers to the older sets, these big channels must keep opening vintage product. What happens when supply runs dry? Will big channels rely on showing the big ticket cards they own (even moreso than they do now), or will they move into the next available era to provide vintage pack openings? Its hard to say, but the current cycle only seems to serve those who are holding the cards or packs being shown off, and won’t actually help the younger generation get into WotC when they mature. For many, WotC will become a “look, don’t touch” type of situation.
Eventually as these cards fall into the hands of collectors with no intention of selling, the market will dry up. Unlimited prints will probably be fine for some time, but high-grade 1st ed will become a very exclusive club sooner than we think. Once that happens, we will see the trickle down into unlimited, and anyone not on the boat when it sets sail will be left to either swim after it, or give up. I, for one, don’t plan on giving up. But my other collection goals must be completed first 
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This is the main idea behind my thinking of the post. While yes the original is always the original, prices are going to be so high that future generations may just decide to go after sets they have a connection to that are much cheaper. I agree there will always be big investors or others with no attachment to Pokemon with big money to spend, and those ppl will definitely go for the big items in WOTC. But as these younger generations who grew up with Pokemon (what I assume will be the bulk of the consumer base) decide to come back into the hobby, they may just be looking to collect what they grew up with when comparing price to whats actually valuable to them specifically. I guess only time will tell and we will have to wait to see how this plays out in the future.
Thanks for all the comments and different perspectives!
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The one thing that we don’t know yet is whether there will be tons of Pokemon card collectors that grew up with post-WotC cards. I’m one, but I don’t know if there are going to be nearly as many as the WotC people who have returned/will return to the hobby. My guess is that post-WotC generations will always be somewhat niche. It also remains to be seen whether or not WotC people branch out or if they only stick with WotC.
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The sets I grew up with were the early EX era and I distinctly remember a friend of mine had a nice gold star mudkip. My parents never bought me ANY pokemon cards but I consistently played the games til the 3DS came out. With this in mind, when I finally have my own money, I went a collected Base - Jungle - Fossil Unlimited and bits of 1st ed Team rocket and Skyridge because I looked back and liked the sets. Right now I more or less collect holiday sets because they are more likely to retain value and always have home run cards. I think as long as pokemon is alive, people will look to value and WOTC has a ton of it.
I grew up opening packs from team rocket returns and onward. My enjoyment of wotc actually came from a binder my older cousin gave me when I was younger. I knew the cards were old and worth money and it always interested me. But I love Diamond and Pearl more than anything else in this hobby.
Before coming back to Pokemon I was heavily into muscle cars for a little over a decade. At best the vehicles I dreamed of owning rolled off the assembly line 21 years before I was brought into this world. 20k will buy you something that is barely passable as show worthy, and you’ll probably be calling AAA quite frequently.
The popular stuff will always be popular, each generation will pass the torch off to the next. I had(and still have) tons of friends my age and younger in that scene. However like a '69 Camero or Charger are timeless classics…a 1976 Chrysler Cordoba is not. You can draw comparisons to that, and this hobby.
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I think so, just maybe not so much how it is now. Non mint unlimited base/jungle/fossil cards are so available to acquire that investors tend to ignore them. That is perfect for keeping new players engaged and interested because they see these cards in the display case of every store and in the jewel spot of every binder. The accessible price means they can set realistic goals even after all of the graded 1st editions are in the hands of rich old men.
In regards to affecting the price (I’ve saw some fear a crash because of this), what today’s kids think of WOTC cards in 20-30 years time isn’t going to make or break the value of our vintage cards.
In 20-30 years time the people that will have the most money will be those that grew up with WOTC and are nearing retirement age/mid-life crisis where I believe the demand vs supply and prices will be at a peak.
Personally I do think there will be some interest from future generations though in the same way that we can have interest in Black Lotus/Mickey Mantle that were made before we were born. Take away the nostalgia and I do still much prefer the vintage card artwork and holo patterns
I grew up opening Base, Jungle, Fossil but I get a lot more excitement collecting sets with cards I’ve never seen before. Is that weird? I also have found something to love from every era and set. Including Steam Siege! 