To give an overview of how my collection goals have changed over the years:
- September/August 2015: I started buying all regular sized English TCG Pikachu cards below 50 USD that were in stock on TrollAndToad, the start of my Pikachu collection.
- December 2015: I started buying and collecting Pikachu TCG cards in all languages and variations. That’s also when I came across justinator’s Pikachu collection who had ~550 of the ~650 known Pikachu TCG cards at the time, which was a real inspiration for me. (And in February 2016 I joined the forum.)
- August 2016: I came across two cheap Jumbo Pikachu TCG cards that I bought on impulse, and decided to collect all Jumbo Pikachu as well, which I completed a month later in October 2016.
It was the perfect time to start, since all except for one were available on eBay at the time, and the last one became my first order from Yahoo Japan through a middleman service. - In October/November 2016 I decided to also collect Seviper in all languages and variations, my favorite Pokémon.
- In December 2016 my first Extended Artwork Base Pikachu arrived from Lunumbra. I also decided to collect the new Pokémon Mimikyu in all languages and variations, after seeing it in the anime.
- In January 2017 I surpassed Justin and I had (a.f.a.i.k.) the largest Pikachu TCG collection in the world, up until the start of 2018 after Tom surpassed me.
- In September 2017 I also decided to collect all WotC #21 Moltres languages and variations, in raw, sealed, and graded (English/Japanese for PSA and English for BGS only).
- In March 2018 my 1000th Pikachu arrived. Nothing too special: a Japanese 207/SM-P Pikachu, but defintely special for me.
- In June 2018 I started collecting English and Japanese exclusive Full Art Supporter cards, which was completed except for one card a month later in July 2018.
- In December 2018 I bought that last card as well to fully complete that collection, the PSA-10 085/SM-P The Masked Royal, which apart from my first car was my most expensive purchase ever at the time.
- In February 2019 when the Team Up set was released I decided to stop collecting Mimikyu, since that set contained 10 FA Supporters; 4 Pikachu; and 6 Mimikyu, multiplied by (at the time) 10 active languages.
- In May 2019 I collected and posted my National Index collecting including all Forms & Shiny Pokémon, which I have continued for a few weeks afterwards after which I stopped this collection goal again.
- In September-November 2019 I was collecting one of each Yu-Gi-Oh rarity, and also made an article for it
- In October 2020 I completed my Seviper collecting by adding the Japanese unlimited WCP Seviper, the last card I was missing. A.f.a.i.k. I owned the first and only completed single Pokémon collection in all available languages/variations at the time (although it’s no longer complete right now due to recent releases I still have to get; and I also know of at least two other people who completed their single Pokémon collections in all languages/variations).
- In November 2020 I started my ‘Pikachu around the World’ collection series, starting with the first alphabetical language Chinese. In this series I went over my ENTIRE Pikachu collection, one language/category at a time. At the time, the final extended/altered Base Set Pikachu arrived as well. And although I’m still putting other artists I came across in a list, I haven’t contacted any of them after this last one arrived three years ago.
- From February 27th, 2021 (25th Pokémon Day) onward I decided to only collect all English Pikachu, and one of each Japanese-exclusive artwork, for new releases, since it was too expensive to continue with all languages. The only exception are the Base Set artwork variations, for which I still get all languages.
- In September 2021 I started and completed my XY BREAKthrough 124/162 Swablu collection, my second favorite TCG artwork after the Moltres #21 WotC promo.
- In October 2021 I completed my Ancient Mew PSA-10 sixtet, as well as another small (14-card) collection: the first card released in each TCG language
- In April 2022 I completed writing my ‘Pikachu around the World’ collection series. All the parts can be found in the main post of my collection thread.
- Since about the start of 2022 I’ve been collecting Seviper non-TCG stuff, like figures, plushies, stickers, posters, etc. Which is currently, together with new English Pikachu and FA Supporters and Seviper TCG cards in all languages, my main active collection.
As for a summary of my current collections and their states:
- Pikachu: I own 1775 unique Pikachu TCG cards; with 15 more incoming; and 95 additional altered/extended cards. I’m currently missing just 10 (out of 1433) Pikachu cards released prior to February 27th, 2021 to ‘complete’ my collection goal.
- Seviper: My Seviper collection is almost complete in all languages and variations, except for recent Thai/Indonesian/Simplified Chinese cards, which my middlemen are trying to find for me.
- Full Art Supporters and Character Rares: 100% complete, except for some incoming cards from the latest English sets.
- Moltres WotC #21 promo artwork: 100% completed in raw and sealed after I found the sealed Swedish ones earlier this year. For the graded part I’m only looking for a GRAAD-9+ Italian; Platin-9+ German; and English corrected illustrator for CGA-9+ and Ace-9+.
- Ancient Mew PSA-10 sixtet: Completed.
- Swablu BREAKthrough 124/162 artwork: 100% completed.
- First card released in each (of the 15) TCG languages: 100% completed.
- Seviper non-TCG: Ongoing. Currently missing four figures; and quite a few stickers and non-TCG cards and such. But I do have a lot of products/items already, which I’ll show in my collection thread over time (one day…).
National Index Collection including forms / Shiny Pokémon:
Yu-Gi-Oh rarity collection:
Mimikyu collection:
All three of these I’ve stopped, and probably won’t pick up anymore. Mimikyu I’ve stopped soon after the Team Up set was released in February 2019; the National Index collection I had completed up to the Sun & Moon era, and stopped just before the Sword & Shield era started at the start of 2020; the Yu-Gi-Oh rarity collection was complete except for one rarity exclusively used on Trophy cards, and some misprinted rarities, but I’ve stopped it around mid-2020. I do buy new rarities every now and then, but it’s a fairly inactive collection…
In general: I currently own 14,580 unique non-duplicated Pokémon TCG cards; one sealed booster box; four sealed Decks; and eight sealed booster packs, with roughly 10k more duplicated cards I have yet to sell…
Greetz,
Quuador