@launcestoneeveeman time to sell off your place cards and get the rookie fossils (not really)
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Ngl, those are dope
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So happy to realize most of E4 thinks what i think, i dont feel crazy for thinking this way haha…
Signed by Sugimorori
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Not sure if anyone has brought this up, yet, but this just occured to me - the sudden dumping of these valuble cards and the age of Akabane makes sense. He’s at the age where medical problems like cancer and heart problems start to emerge. Maybe the plan of “slowly dripping these out” was messed up by the sudden need for cash. Or…could be for a divorce, legal settlement, retirement, etc. Just my 2 cents on why this dumping may suddenly be happening.
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He went from tea farming to prototype farming 
Jokes aside, wish the man good health!
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But it’s also important to understand within the cultural context today where everything moves so fast. It’s easy to lose the historical context of the thing itself, in what is happening on the macro-social/market level.
Do markets care about historical value? Perhaps, but generally, the potential for profit and opportunity is too tempting for people to pass. I also wonder how many people who hold these things STILL do not value Pokemon as anything more than a fad. Again, with the media cycle and internet trends being so short-term these days, it’s understandable that it skews so many PoVs into the short-term as well.
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I think that if you’re buying right now you have to believe in pokemon at least a little
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Probably. There are always opportunities to make money though, and some might see this as one of them. It’s hard to know.
There are a boatload of people flipping. And flipping high end too. It is hard to gauge actual (non flip) demand. But if the flippers are still here, then that means there are enough collectors still buying so until the flippers go we should be fine
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I think the flipping portion of things is an interesting concept. I personally enjoy buying the cards and then putting them up for sale so I can see if there is someone who will give me a price I can’t turn down.
I keep in mind that I just genuinely don’t care if they don’t sell for years. I figure if someone is willing to throw down I’ll let them as they typically will want the card more than me and pay a premium. In the meantime I get to enjoy the card and easily view it through clicking on the eBay listing.
These prototypes intrigue me as I’m guessing they will go for a pretty penny and be thrown up on eBay for like 100k. To each their own and I don’t mind seeing them up there as it is fun for me to click on the listings. I may be weird in this way, but it has worked well enough for me so far.
Cheers!
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yeah u dont have to actually look at ur collection when its all on ur ebay store so u can see it every day 
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Haha! If only I could bring my whole collection everywhere I went. Then that would be perfect!
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Same here. But also in art, sketches are a lot less important, wanted (and expensive), than the final masterpieces. So I’ll pass on every test prints or whatever non final masterpiece cards.
We need these!
They’re undeniably cool looking, I’ll give them that.
I wonder who has the original files on their computer. Clearly Akabane has tons of these…but who controls the original print files? If I were someone considering purchasing these I’d be more concerned about that than how many of these are out there right now.
Maybe it is because I’m not a millionaire but I can’t comprehend how people are so willing to spend 40 or 50k on these Charizard/Venusaur etc when there very well could be SO MANY of them just waiting for the dust to be blown off them and someone could have the print files and ability to print their own IN THEIR HOUSE.
Big red flags here
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Given the analog nature of Japanese work culture and the technology available in the 90s do you believe that the prototyping process was entirely digital? If so what is the likelihood that those files are in-tact and compatible with modern software and printers?
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I mean, they appear to be relatively hi def (for the time) scans of said analog work, printed on paper and glued to cardboard…the chance those scan files exist still and can be printed again is relatively high in my opinion.
Very little chance. Older files are so easily lost or noncompatible with modern software. I have stuff that wont run without trying to dedicate a partitioned portion to older software and thats only if it isnt corrupted which ive found is usually an eighth of the files due to casual homestorage conditions. If its a key file thats corrupted then usually its even more of a hassle to try retrieving files without losing more data.
Im not a computer specialist but this has been my experience.
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That has been my experience as well. I have two different versions of blender on my desktop right now for this exact reason. Even more so if the files in question are from before the Clinton administration.
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