Rayquaza ☆; Hoenn Legendary Statue - click to expand
Just one card today. This card was a gateway for me in a lot of ways. Seeing this card with silver borders was the starting point for my preference for Japanese cards over English. It was my introduction to everything in between Neo and the Sun & Moon eras - I was initially all about modern full arts after finding the CHR set, but this was the card that led me to go back through every set in Pokellector and find things that I could appreciate in every era. It was my introduction to artist collecting - seeing all the Gold Stars illustrated in Fukuda’s distinct style led me to look through his entire catalog of work in the TCG, which then branched out to recognizing and collecting other artists.
HOWEVER… it’s right up there in the pantheon behind Chorizord as one of the most emblematic cards of the obnoxious hypebeast stonker “oMg SiCk FiRe BrO” culture in the hobby that I find really offputting. It also feels a bit silly to buy any set card in this price range instead of going for something more exclusive. Despite that, I’m happy to have it in my collection now as it is such a distinct marker for my path back into collecting.
tl;dr - shiny sky snake make brain go doot doot
And on to something that you haven’t seen 1000 times - I just got my first resin statue WOO. Hoenn Legendary Pokemon by Crescent Studio. The good news is that this came in a lot sooner than I expected. The bad news is that my display case for it isn’t due in until March '22, so… I guess these guys are gonna hang out on my dining room table until then.
