Congrats and happy birthday, man! Good work and awesome cards!
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Awesome post! Big congrats on your master degree and happy birthday!!
(The cards are nice , too 
)
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Haha love the gif mate, perfect! Surge is a tough opponent, proud of you
As mes amies kromatic and muk have already said, happy birthday! And congrats on your finishing your master thesis!
Gorgeous cards, the Pika is so beautiful in Japanese. And Rocket is the best, ain’t it? Also, very nice background! Raichu pops so hard in Japanese, and it’s always funny to me how its a neo release in Japan. Love the 9 collection my dude, you know the stuff!
So in all, love your thematic presentation, it was a delight 
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@kromaticlanturn Thanks a lot, man! I love finding all these various mini sets!
@muk Thanks, Tobi! So happy it’s over now and I can focus more on collecting again
@brendantheclayboy Thank you, Brendan! These pop so hard indeed, especially in the sun. I thought I would let them feel the “wild Pokémon” vibes for a little bit in the garden (no card was harmed or sun-bleached in the process ).
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Today, I would like to share with you a few more pages from my japanese old-backs binder - unique artworks from the Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Chikorita and Totodile Intro Packs.
Putting these pages together has been the right mixture of fun and challenge and I am really proud of this accomplishment after two years of chasing these cards.
I could have probably finished the sets a lot faster but one of the priorities was keeping the costs justifiable for myself so that I can look at the cards without any stressful flashbacks in the back of my mind. Seeing these cards finally together makes me really happy!
Squirtle - My favourite card is the Arcanine which reminds me of the Team Rocket set vibe (Dark Flareon in particular).
Bulbasaur - I like that Raichu a lot, such a unique style by Baba.
Chikorita - I will go with Geodude for this set, Himeno never disappoints. I think (one can never be sure) she is my favourite artist overall.
Totodile - I love the colour palette on that Marill card!
Part of the unique artwork from the Totodile set is also the Lucky Stadium card, illustrated by Imakuni. This card has a special place in my Lucky Stadium collection.
Aaand I know what you are thinking now. Where is that Meowth card from the Bulbasaur set? Rest assured, it has a special place in my collection as well! Let me introduce you to my only binder page dedicated to a single Pokémon species.
And if you were wondering, here is my inspiration why I chose Meowth. Fido, this is E4. E4, this is 
Fido the Philosopher:
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Awesome stuff man! The Baba Raichu is a banger for sure. Abra and Marill from the Totodile Deck are favorites of mine, too.
Great collection and great cat. Keep 'em coming!
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Came for the cards, stayed for Fido
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I LOVE YOU.
(And major congrats and compliments on the gorgeous, divine sets of exquisite glamour - PS. One day you’ll see my Persian set to compliment your beautiful Meowth collection 
)
That’s it boys, if it wasn’t painfully clear already, we have another kindred spirit on our hands!
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Agreed. As soon as I saw the Baba Raichu love, I was like, “okay, Martin is the shit.”
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@muk , Thank you! I needed to use some of the japanese sites with Google translator for the first time, as there was often nothing “buyable” on ebay Added challenge for sure!
@livindavido , Never seen a cat sitting like this to be honest haha. We have other two little buddies but they sit completely normal. Only Fido sits like a boss.
@brendantheclayboy , THANK YOUUU! Can’t wait for the Persian set of yours! I absolutely think there are not enough cat Pokémon haha. Oh how I wish they went ahead with the Tigrette/Electiger idea back then
@kromaticlanturn , Heck yeah! This art raises so many questions How did he get there? Who is he looking at? Does he know Fido, since he sits exactly like him? I WANT TO KNOW
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GameBoy Promos
After almost a year, I’m excited to bring my collection thread back to life and share the already hinted completion of my PSA 9 GameBoy Promo set!
My first card from the set was the Dragonite which I got in the summer of 2019 shortly after coming back to the hobby. When I saw it on ebay, I immediately fell in love with the artwork. After getting that card, I thought hey, why not just complete the whole set? 
Second addition to the GB family was the Mewtwo which I won at an auction in 2020. It will always remind me of the crazy times of that year. Dark Venusaur was a card that I overpaid for quite a bit but in the end, I was happy to have that ticked off of my list. I would say Dark Fearow was the most scarce one overall, I just still need to find a proper appreciation for this card.
In late 2021, between the time I got Venusaur and before I got Dark Ivysaur, I started debating with myself whether it made sense to continue pursuing the set in PSA 9. With the increased prices, overpaying for some previous cards and the most expensive card still to be acquired, I was on the verge of settling just for a binder set. I thought about keeping the Dragonite and Meowth and selling the rest.
But then, I decided to give it a few months break and just see what happens along the way. And after 17 months of leaving this goal aside, I finally got that iconic Lugia in April this year! It’s a great feeling and one of my bigger goals has finally been completed.
Here is the chronological list of my additions:
- Dragonite - Sep, 2019
- Mewtwo - May, 2020
- Dark Venusaur - Feb, 2021
- Dark Fearow - Feb, 2021
- Meowth - Oct, 2021
- Venusaur - Nov, 2021
- Dark Ivysaur - Dec, 2021
- Lugia - Apr, 2023
Meowth is my personal grail from the set that I value the most. This card raw is just all over ebay but getting one in mint condition, that’s quite a feat! Especially for a reasonable price and within the EU. When I saw muk’s post about this card, it felt so relatable!
I know I have posted this picture before but I just couldn’t resist posting it again: El jefe Fido himself with his favourite card (most probably) from the set.
And this is my actual GameBoy Advance that I got from a friend back in 2001 during our family trip in the USA. As a kid, I always saw pictures of these consoles in Pokémon magazines but never really had one. I was dreaming and talking about it every day until I was given one on the last day of our trip. As you can imagine, I was beyond myself with joy!
The first game I picked up was Spongebob which was an absolute 10/10 gem. Later on, I got the quad racing which was also a great game and I remember playing this one with my dad in the summer. These were the only games I had and yes - as much as Pokémon is tied to my childhood, I have never had or played the actual games 
Maybe it’s about time to finally catch up!
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They’re looking fantastic together! Well done
Good timing with the Lugia aswell, I think they’ve come down quite a bit from their peak (haven’t really checked recently tho).
Great post!
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A wonderful post to find, herr Martin! Excellent display, excellent layout, superb outlining of the acquisitions! It goes completely without saying, but these are unanimously known as they greatest cards in pokemon, so this is quite the goal completed! I think they are also some of the most slabbable cards (as trophies) one might come across to boot.
Not only do I love seeing Fidi Fido (hope he is well btw), but meowth is the banger, agreed, and indeed a ridiculously condition-rare card, so it oddly feels the most satisfying out of the entire lot, not doubt, despite it being “the cheapest”. But my first love with them was also dragonite. It’s weird, my favorite now is fearow (kizuki masterpiece), but top 3 will always include meowth and dragonite. But ugh that mewtwo, too!
It’s very great too see a long-spanned goal be completed. The most perfect set. And man, you too? Gotta pick up some blue, some silver, and give them a play. And I mean asap. You’ll thank yourself later. I promise.
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Many thanks for your nice words @muk @brendantheclayboy I am happy this set has been completed after so many years and now I can move to my other, equally exciting goals 
Fidi is doing great 
Hope your Meowth crew is doing well too, Brendan! Btw, “Fido” is the normal name and “Fidi” is like a “little Fido”. I noticed I have been using both of them and it might indeed seem a bit confusing hehe.
I will make sure to finally grab some of the games soon and give them a play. I wonder who my starter Pokémon is going to be. Probably Bulbasaur. I really liked his personality in the anime.
Already excited about the next updates in your wonderful collection threads. Can’t wait to see what both of you have been working on lately Oh, and a really cool last addition, Tobi! That Ho-oh and Karen’s Umbreon look stunning!
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Banned and altered artworks
Today, I would like to share with you my collection of banned and altered artworks. I find this part of the TCG super interesting! It seems that it’s been 11 years since the last banned artwork (Magmortar) so let’s see if any more pop up in the coming years. I hope not, since it would make it impossible to display all of them at once in the 12-pocket binder haha!
As for the altered artworks, the Neo holos stand out to me the most. I still don’t fully understand why they decided to remove the holo treatment on the English side but I love the non-holos nevertheless.
Butterfree… In Jungle, they robbed her of the star rarity and in Neo Discovery of the holo treatment. Glad it finally got justice in Expedition a few sets later!
I really like the Starmie card. There is just something about having a purple Pokémon on a purple background with a purple card layout. And the mighty Kingdra. Beautiful.
I wonder how well-known the Base set Vulpix and Neo Discovery Ruin Wall variants are. I just found out about those on E4 last year!
And below are some of my graded Japanese cards that are different from their English counterparts. Still not sure where JR Eevee belongs in my collection but for now, I consider it to be a Japanese card too. And I really like the Articuno, so much better as a holo!
As for the Venusaur, I also like to treat it as a different variant, since the Japanese release has the holo foil only in the upper half of the background, whereas the English release has its background fully covered. An interesting touch!
Happy to know what your favourite banned or altered artwork is!
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Wow, those are some nice cards with stellar presentation! I think it’s cool that you included the (inferior) English non-holo or censored versions, which makes the Japanese ones shine even brighter.
Although I really, really love the history and the looks of the banned cards, I’ve only ever come around to collect two of them - Naked Misty and Grimer. I guess Naked Misty used to be my favorite of them all, but since Kagemaru Himeno herself officially stated on a public panel that Grimer was indeed intentionally drawn to look up that girls skirt, this one takes the cake for me. You can’t make this shit up.
Sabrina’s Gengar with the gravestones is also super cool, I plan on getting that one eventually. The swastika Ninja Trick as well, I guess, just because 
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Wonderful presentation Martin! You are a wiz at that. Love the uniqueness of it. The Kingdra has always slapped harder than anything slaps.
But I bow in reverence to the godliness of Staryu.
And hey the whole PC nature of America is at least not without one positive occurrence. We got another Komiya artwork =D
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Your collection is awesome. Love the organization, layouts, and photographs. You’ve clearly put alot of thought and effort into this. Beautiful cards and cat! Glad I’m along for the ride, and look forward to more updates!
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@muk Thanks, Tobi! That’s hilarious, I did not know that Himeno actually confirmed that. But given the nature of anime, one cannot be really too surprised haha. The whole combination of the banned artworks is just incredible - gambling, guns, b**bs, swastika, cow torso and a middle finger. What a unique subset of cards! 
@brendantheclayboy Thanks, Brendan! The Kingdra is indeed a beast. Surely not a coincidence it got its own crystal card soon after. All of the Neo unique holos are a chef’s kiss. I’m actually glad they did not make them in English so that we can collect them twice. And yeah, it’s not every day we get a non-japanese exclusive Komiya artwork. I know it got later reprinted in the VS (and e-starter deck) but in terms of the original sets, it’s pretty unique. God bless the American PC!
@Rattlesnake Thanks, Rattle! I indeed try to put some effort into the presentation, since the acquisition is oftentimes a lengthy road. Making them stand out is the least I can do for them =) Glad you like Fido the cat! I’ve read your comment to him and he seemed very pleased. I’m sure he’ll be happy to pose in some of the upcoming pictures again
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Awesome collection! I need to get back into these posts out of a hiatus. I always enjoy seeing what people collection/passion is. Beautiful cards and a few I haven’t seen before or forgot about (Light Machamp).
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