Great story…and excellent goal my friend. Something tells me you’ll get there:)
Yes, I am glad we have grown since then. I loved that time period, so many memories. Actually, I literally said in my head, “where are the collectors at?” And thought maybe I should just ask and see what happens. The amount of collectors has grown immensely since then.
Haha good times indeed 
everything regarding trophies seemed much more "underground in a sense. But I do like the freedom and the fact that this site is dedicated to collecting more so than the gym…so in that sense I don’t miss it:-P
I think the thing I miss most about that thread compared to this forum was the amount of non-collectors who would sometimes come in just to be amazed and get educated on some cards.
-gets ready to type a novel-
There are tons of people who got me into collecting and paved the road for me…
My Brothers - Although they don’t really have the same collecting drive as me, when we were younger we would open packs together and always be in awe at what the other got… I remember when I was in the hospital in 2002, I opened a Neo Pack and got… Celebi…
At the time, I didn’t know who/what Celebi was, because I was in the hospital for a week or so with my appendix, but my brothers were like ZOMG NO WAY!
My Parents - My parents definitely helped out by purchasing packs here and there… One of my fondest memories is when I went into a boring SPORTS store in the mall, because my dad said “Hey I know they sell cards here from when I brought you packs in the hospital” so he got me 2 packs… I got a SHINING CHARIZARD AND SHINING TYRANITAR
My Friends - Growing up, I had TONS of friends who were interested in Pokemon and we would trade… Let’s just say, at the time, I wanted a complete pokedex of cards… and I would rip myself off to get cards… Such as I recall once trading probably 100 cards and $3 for a nonholo rare sunny castform… Though I’m proud to say, I have 1-493 in my cardex! (I gave up for B&W as I am trying to get master sets)
My Cousins - Like my friends, I had 2 cousins who I would trade with!
Then I came to a crossroad… I needed some of the Rotoms from Rising Rivals. I bought ALL the packs I could from stores in the area, when enough was enough and I was told no more buying packs for a while… (The only reason I knew RR had Rotoms was because my cousin and I went shopping and I got the Heat Rotom, I knew nothing about statistics, and assumed if I bought a few more packs I’d get them all)…
So I asked my dad…
Can I order these 4 cards online?
He replied with…
No, but you can probably find somewhere online that is a forum or something for trading cards…
THEN IT HIT ME LIKE A POKEBALL TO THE HEAD… I discovered… POKEGYM
From there, I traded tee79 for the deoxys forms I needed, and pokemonforever for the rotoms…
But, trading was so fun, why did it have to end?
So I read, and traded, and read more about cards, and traded more cards…
“Hey this is fun! I’m trading boring old commons and uncommons like Cyrus’ something or ever for rare holo cards! THIS IS EXCITING!”
Then I was hooked…
There were many people on pokegym that inspired me to start collecting…
Then somehow or another I decided one day to start collecting Japanese Cards.
I always admired the Japanese VS Set…
So I traded with a few people on the gym for a few cards…
That wasn’t enough… I needed more! WHERE WOULD I FIND MORE?
-click-
There was a PM from a member…
-opens-
UPCCC? What is that? What do you mean there are people there that sell cards?
From there I found here and a lot of people are paving roads for me…
Everyone’s posts offer so much in terms of knowledge…
and Scott with all that he does, especially offering to grade cards for me, from time to time (EVEN THOUGH STUPID PSA IS TAKING FOREVER SINCE IT IS BACKLOGGED! -kidding, I don’t mind if it takes a while-) it has brought me to a whole new level…
Then, I saw it…
POKEMON CENTER OSAKA JUMBO…
BUT…
I WAS TOO LATE TT^TT
Then I searched the web, and came across pkmncollectors…
Then I joined there…
More people inspired me…
Then recently I joined pokebeach…
Not so much inspiring, but still…
If I could, I’d list everyone that to me is important in my small bubble of pokemon collecting…
But to keep this short-ish, I’d just say I have TONS of friends on various sites who encourage and aid in collecting…
Whether it be…
Buying from me…
Trading to me…
or Selling to me…
They help my collection one way or another…
I hope I helped pave the way for some of the veteran collectors. I ran the Tokyo-based “pocketmonsters.com” website way back in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s. At that time, when other dealers were charging hundreds of dollars for Japanese promos and holofoils, we were offering them for as little as $5 each.
I remember selling the Japanese “Birthday Pikachu” cards for $20 each, then discovering that folks were selling them on eBay for $250!
Thanks for the post 
wish I was collecting cards at the time.
Here’s a fun picture (from 1999, I believe) of a room in my old home, before we moved our merchandise into an actual warehouse. Those are cases of the original Pokemon cards (series 1 through 6), plus a few loose boxes of the Southern Island sets. There were 10 boxes in each case.
I would also love to obtain one of those, they are very cool indeed!
Are you guys talking about the empty brown cardboard boxes themselves? Or the empty colorful boxes that actually contained the card packs? I’ve got a few (probably less than a half-dozen) of the brown boxes, and more than a few of the colorful boxes.
Thank you for sharing