It's getting increasingly difficult to find joy in this hobby

Collecting
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Rather than answer the original prompt directly, I’d just like to share a list of things that come to mind that I find I truly love about Pokemon card collecting and the hobby in general that have thoroughly increased my enjoyment, and perhaps will for you as well:

  • In person events. It can’t be overstated how great of an experience it is getting to actually meet fellow minded people (especially those from this forum), share cards and see other people’s collections, go talk Pokemon over a beer or tacos, maybe get a cool artist signature, as well as watch tournament play. Everyone should do this at some point if you are at all interested in Pokemon - seriously, even if you are a shy lurker, it’s worth it. I will be at Worlds in Anaheim since I live near the area - reach out if you’re nervous and you want someone to say hi to!
  • Collection threads. I don’t think I ever get sick of seeing cards and collections other people have that they are excited about. The collection and recent purchases sections of this forum are like mind bleach amidst the noise.
  • Events designed in the spirit of giving and sharing (E4 Signature Exchange, Secret Santa, etc.). Never in my life have I felt worse or regretting living with a spirit of giving, and the previously mentioned threads are beautiful examples of that. I can’t wait to finally participate this coming Christmas since I will not be gone due to my work.
  • Smpratte Patreon videos. I feel so plugged into what is on other collector’s or enthusiast’s minds and I love hearing about it from the perspective of someone that has been dealing in this space significantly longer than I have who simply has passion for Pokemon in the purest form. Thank you Scott!
  • Displaying my own collection. We take tons of time and energy to specifically curate cards we love made from goals we designed. Take the time to display them and make it look good! It is so fulfilling and enjoyable to take it all in when presented well; the collage of cards and items is almost artwork in and of itself.
  • Anything with Pokemon interested kids. If collection threads are mind bleach, sharing cards with kids that like Pokemon is bleach for the soul. Almost nothing makes me more excited in this space than sharing cards with kids at the local game store, my nephew, my girlfriend’s nieces and nephews, and watching their eyes glow and imaginations expand with all of the fun of Pokemon, just like I did when I was a kid. They don’t care at all about PSA 10 rates or what the next pull is, they just like the cards for what they are. I cannot wait to share this experience with my future kids one day.

Hope this finds you all well. This forum has been such a blessing in my life and I genuinely look forward to hopping online and seeing what everyone has to say, so thank you all for enriching my life and Pokemon experience. Cheers E4!

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126

I feel that we really have to be more self-centered in our collecting. For whatever reason we do a hobby, do it with a stronger focus on what you want and screw everything else. This is one reason I’m spending less time here.

Now, I’ll admit, this is harder if the money is a problem, but there are also ways to collect on the cheap. Artist, species, and other niche collections makes it easier to simply enjoy. I find.

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I stopped feeling joy in the hobby last year because my financial situation made it difficult to sustain my spending habits. The only TCG products I bought were the Greninja ex box for the promo and One Piece OP 09 because I am big on One Piece right now. The Prismatic Evolutions release at the beginning of the year got me back into the Pokemon side of the hobby. I bought some binder collections and got nothing, so I decided to work on my current collection.

I wanted to take stock of all of the cards that I currently have. I transferred all of my Pokemon collection into new binders. For One Piece I decided to focus on collecting Luffy cards and other characters I like. During that process, I picked out cards to trade in at my LGS. Most of the cards were full art trainers or older cards that were in less than stellar condition. I condensed my collection into cards I truly love and my Yuka Morii collection. As much as I want everything cool I cannot realistically get everything.

My trade-in got me a lot of credit at my LGS that I put towards One Piece and Pokemon singles. There’s still more leftover for some Luffy cards. I have a personal rule to never use trade-in credit to fund packs. It feels like a waste of credit otherwise. My recent tax return helped me buy a goal holo from Holon Phantoms. Just yesterday I opened up two boxes One Piece EB 02 to celebrate a job offer. I pulled two alternate arts I wanted and some Luffy cards for my binder (ideally I want the Luffy manga from the set lol). My next goal is to pick up the illustration contest promos on Pokemon Day and save money as I start my next job. I wanted to reframe my relationship with the hobby to be more financially responsible and focused.

Thanks for reading I know I rambled a bit. I wish everyone a positive relationship with Pokemon.

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128

Can’t find prismatic
Gets sad
Looks at rayquaza
Buys rayquaza (optional)
Happy

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I no longer go to card shows or LGS’s in my City because it’s too insane. People behaving like animals, being crammed into rooms unable to look at anything because of all the mayhem. I miss going out on a weekend to look for cards.
It’s also extremely difficult to find cards to grade or sealed product to open/collect, that’s a little bit annoying.

But I am absolutely loving doing things like buying shrouded fable ETB’s from Pokemon Center then selling them a month later for almost double to feed my gold star collection XD

I really dislike the entitled attitude that has become extremely prevalent. Settle down about prismatic. It’s not even a month old, damn.

Still finding joy in collecting vintage cards, and appreciating what I have.

Things are constantly changing, take the good with the bad, let the spinning wheel fly.

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My enjoyment directly negatively correlates with the amount of Pokemon content I’m exposed to.

Between social media posts and some of the lower quality posts on here, it just feels exhausting. Opening modern product feels even less accessible than it used to, if you can even get your hands on any.

It really is a shame because a lot of the artwork they’ve put out recently is incredible, which I’m sure is in part driving this insane investor bro mentality. I’m just going to keep buying the new cards that I like in Japanese as long as they stay relatively affordable.

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This is true, and a very valid point…but I think even the Pokemon Company has gotten “lost in the sauce” if you will, what with all the different rarities, pull rates, etc…I pay attention to the modern market but I couldn’t tell you with 100% confidence what sets certain cards belong to in the SV era compared to pretty much anything pre-SWSH.

The other thing I see is that there’s too much market pressure (manipulation if people want to really go there, but that’s another topic entirely) to prop up almost every card in every set…it’s not just the “SIRs” and “alt arts” but eventually we get the “IRs” and your plain holos that get rotated into the “market pump/hypebeast of the week” cycle where all of a sudden people are just continually hammering social media with “OMG THIS CARD IS SUPER UNDERRATED RIGHT NOW CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S ONLY $3.50 IN PSA 10!!!111!” Like what cards AREN’T actually underrated these days? What card doesn’t have “good artwork?” What junk slabs aren’t going to go STONKS?

Let’s not even get into sealed product, where people are having such a hard time getting Surging Sparks or Prismatic at/near msrp that Shrouded Fable has been hyped up to the point of also selling out everywhere…the market is way past the “we know it’s not rational” point and has been in the “pure chaos” phase for some time now. People legitimately believe hoarding an ETB here or there is a good long-term money-making strategy when there are far easier ways to make more money in a shorter period of time, but those people can’t be bothered to put that same energy into other markets/investment strategies because they can’t mask their addiction to the social media validation or gambling aspect tied to Pokemon cards these days.

Like I said before…modern is just a shitshow and, for me…“Moonbreon” might be the defining card of the last few years but there really hasn’t been many other standouts even close to it and I struggle to associate many other cards from these last two major eras (SWSH and SV) as being truly set/era/TCG-defining (for English at least).

Modern is just too much noise and not enough signal and too many people IMO are invested in modern purely because “it has nowhere to go but up because father time is undefeated and i’m already priced out of vintage even though i’m paying $150 per Prismatic ETB” instead of “because there’s so many actual incredible cards in these modern sets that people won’t appreciate until later.” That kind of sentiment in a market where TPCI is printing billions and billions of cards and POP reports of Gem Mint cards are in the tens of thousands is crazy to me.

I am marching into my late-30s so perhaps my perception of modern is admittedly warped and skewed in many ways…but I can’t shake the feeling that so many cards are just engaged in flavor-of-the-month popularity contests and that people get too caught up in this ever-increasingly instant-gratification-driven world we live in. IMO those same people will be just as quick to drop most of these hyped cards the moment a new set releases or TPCI introduces another gimmick that takes all the attention because the passion and love for the cards isn’t actually there; rather, it’s a love for the dopamine rush of whatever “the new hotness” is.

That’s what modern represents to me; it’s just all about the “new hotness.” (PS - I think Tera type Pokemon are terrible and crystallized Pokemon with crystals on their heads look awful and Prismatic is an overall mid set. Now get off my lawn)!

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It will certainly become more difficult for the average person as chase cards continue to saturate, I manage to keep up by actively memorising them for making and updating E4 threads :sweat_smile:

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Just wanted to say this has been one of the best threads I’ve read on E4, maybe of all time :scroll::goat:. It’s so nice to see the genuine love people have for the hobby still, despite everything else that has been going on with certain aspects of it all the past while, for better or for worse.

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I was just searching through some Pokémon TCG flavor texts for another thread, but the Togekiss one kinda sums up the feeling of most in this thread pretty well:

These Pokémon are never seen anywhere near conflict or turmoil. In recent times, they’ve hardly been seen at all.

Greetz,
Quuador

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I slowed down a bit but I still check E4 incase there’s any new cards I may wanna check out, & any interesting posts.

For anyone who’s getting a bit tired of the cards, feel free to send it my way, that way that’ll free up some space & take the weight off your shoulders. I’ll take care of them no worries. & I’LL even pay for the shipping.

Don’t flood my inbox, I’ll respond as quick as I can with the address. Be patient y’all. Relax.

:mailbox_with_mail:!!!

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I used to be a non-materialistic person. At the end of the Summer of 2023, I realized I really couldn’t justify that statemement and it hasn’t been true since probably 2018+ when my collection exploded. I decided to quit posting anything in October of 23 and have realized there have been other facets of my life I’ve been ignoring. I’ve bought maybe 2 or 3 things in the past year. 2023 was the peak for me when I was able to get signatured items from my top 3 favorite artists and had a blast with members from E4 when we attended the Himeno event.

It’s 2025 and I live in the US. I’ll avoid going into depth about our current political situation and my thoughts on it. But for me, I feel even less inclined to keep up with it given everything that’s happening. It’s hard enough to keep up with things I inherently enjoy given my mental health on top of it all as well. That being said, I am doing better overall but collecting hasn’t been a priority for me - I’ve even toyed with the idea of selling about 75% of my collection and slimming down but I don’t care enough to put any effort into that. I feel like I’m basically “done” with collecting outside of some future Gyarados tcg cards.

All that being said, I still look at the forums often and enjoy scrolling through people’s collections. It was wonderful to see some of the latest updates from @Quuador and @joponnes especially. I commend @pfm highly about his work exposing the prototype scam despite his own loss. So seeing community support like that has also been uplifting. It just doesn’t change how I’ve felt about my own collection.

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Well there are plenty of people in this country who are filled with optimism and would be glad to buy your cards.

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I’ve been pretty much inactive in the community/collecting since around covid, slowly returning and observing the current state of the hobby, this is my general feeling.

giphy

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It depends on which room you walk in. We’re having a great time next door

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I miss you still and hope for another meet up one day
Maybe Worlds next year as I likely won’t make this year

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I really don’t care about anything other than buying stuff I feel good about. I don’t watch PKM content, I don’t read market threads, I don’t buy hyped products. I just surf buyee, read collection threads, chat with awesome folks on e4, admire my little purple starfish, try to learn more about niche items and this way find a very pleasant contrast to my hectic day job.

If you don’t love the hobby, change YOUR approach. At least that is something you have an impact on. :blush:

Best,
orannge

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I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the members who have been around the longest tend to have the most split feelings. And it probably depends on if you see Pokemon cards as more of a hobby or a job.

If you got involved in Pokemon card collecting… let’s say pre-2019, you really had to like the cards. There could be a financial component but honestly the core reason everyone was there was simply because they enjoyed the cards. You can look back at e4 conversations at the time, when the topic of flippers/investors was brought up, it was generally understood that even people who were heavy sellers still really enjoyed the cards at their core.

I think when real money got involved, a lot shifted. Instead of it being about the cards, it became about what the cards could do for you. Not only did the hobby change but the people around it did too. And it’s probably hard for newer people to understand that because they arrived after the landscape had already changed. But there was a distinct shift that happened around 2020 where people you knew and talked to suddenly were only interested in interactions that were self-beneficial. It was like suddenly this wasn’t a hobby anymore and instead the goal was how to become the best LLC or influencer. And that’s not inherently a problem - many people like the attention and competition - but it’s just so far removed from why I like cards in the first place. I already have a job, this is where I want to spend my free time.

A consequence of this self-interested shift was that people were less interesting to engage with and also now they assume the worst in everything you do, even when it generally makes everyone’s engagement with the hobby better. For example, when I spent a really long time writing the plugin to better integrate the forum with the discord, I was seriously accused by many of trying to sell user data or see what servers other people were on - I haven’t actually invested any significant time into that plugin since because of the reaction. I’m sure if you know the history of the forum, you know the issues that happened when we tried to upgrade from 2003 software to a modern framework. I used to help out at autograph events, and worked with Alec to incorporate feedback and improvements. Yet it was just last week we were accused of intentionally providing bad markers so that staff would get relatively better autographs? Or like when I broke the prototype news, while we took on higher server costs becase of the traffic, some guy made an ig story about donating money to myself/e4 but never messaged me, so I guess that was just a free self-promotion tactic.

Of course there’s a degree of self-interest in everything I mentioned above but in reality the primary beneficiary is the “community” at large. The alternative is not running e4, keeping the autographs as private events, not telling anyone about the prototypes. I actually think this hobby has a terrible incentive system of over-rewarding drama and negativity and the long-term cost is that there is little benefit to doing anything beyond what’s self-serving. I think that’s why there so much appetite for Coop’s content because even the most simple selfless acts are just not a part of this hobby in 2025 so it’s refreshing to watch. And even then, while coop manages to pull a karmic judo of transforming a selfless act into donations on his channel, it ultimately leads to a cycle of positivity that runs counter to the 2025 culture and I fully support it.

But yeah, I think if you have not been around long enough to see the changes, or have transformed this hobby into a job (ie. adapted well) or you have the luxury of not having any exposure to the general “community” then I can see how you still manage to find plenty of joy. But I think the sunk cost fallacy is the primary reason I still engage at all today.

Sorry for the rambling and complaining. All that and I still didn’t even touch on how the culture of gambling and instant gratification is basically the primary entry point today and the long term consequences of that. Maybe next time.

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Modern gives me headaches. I care more about the semi-weekly reveals and looking at online scans of art rares than I do actually opening packs. I’ll open every few months and the results are never really “great”. I already mentioned it earlier, but the way in which TPCI (and to a lesser degree TPC) continue to structure sets is really disappointing and arguably causes the most damage to this hobby over anything else.

I also agree that ive noticed the (negative) trends we see where everyone has something to gain from the hobby. It seems everyone wants to focus on min-maxing everything and thats just not my vibe at all

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You are kinder than me. I think the blight of everyone trying to monetise their hobby is a bad thing long term and leads to the negativity. They are chasing the next thing, artificially pushing cards or agendas and can’t see the harm it causes.

Everyone looks at the influencer lifestyle and wants a piece. The reality is that nearly every one of them is already wealthy so doesn’t need this job or has a house of cards of debt behind them.

Saying all that the few that make it via hard work should be getting praised to the high heavens. It’s the same with reality tv, streaming, etc. It looks so easy anyone can do it but you can’t.

It all feels very propped up. An example I have seen recently - I have no doubt TAG grading will be a good addition to the grading companies but it feels so shilled. So many influencers fawning over them smells of market manipulation.

It’s dangerous.

If it wasn’t for your work then the big push for prototypes to go up in value would still be going on.

The hobby is being exploited which is bad for us all. The Prismatic Umbreon is already a £1k+ card? Really?

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