That’s too bad, but the poster looks amazing nevertheless! Thank you for sharing. 
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I really dream that i could one day have more posters like this framed and decorate my home with them, the unique and detailed art like this really is worth highlighting
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On the 14th of April 2010, the Publisher Hachette released the 34th installment of the Germany only DVD-series “Die Welt der Pokémon” (more information here). This series features episodes from the anime, with each installment showcasing a different Pokémon on the front cover. For the 34th release, it was Starmie — and I’m quite happy about it. I’m even more thrilled that I managed to acquire a sealed copy of the DVD, even though I don’t usually like DVDs as collectibles.
The DVD includes three episodes: Get Along, Little Pokémon, The Mystery Menace, and Misty Meets Her Match. The front cover prominently features a large illustration of Starmie, the back displays Starmie in a video screen screenshot, and the DVD itself also features Starmie.
This release is interesting for species collectors, because it features lots of different Pokémon on the front, here is the link to the whole list: click.
Best,
orange
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Was hoping i had missed something in my searches and there was a grimer cover on one of the dvd:s, but the niche pokemon history enthusiast in me is happy that you got lucky with your starlet!
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Recently, I posted about a really cool poster I got my hands on. Posters are a great type of collectible, so it’s always a pleasure to find a truly unique one. I believe the poster released in the Foldable Pokémon Vol. 1 magazine (original title: りったいポケモン 1) from November 1997 is just that.
The background features a section of the Pokédex with drawn illustrations of various Pokémon—one of them, of course, being Starmie (along with Muk and Grimer— @joponnes ). But the most striking part of the poster is the two Pokémon in the foreground: Charmander and Bulbasaur. They’re prominently displayed, and the Pokédex design cleverly follows the shape of their silhouettes. The concept is brilliant, and the way the background and foreground blend is strangely immersive. The colors are vibrant, and the whole poster looks absolutely stunning. I’m very happy to have found a copy in great condition.
Best,
orannge
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A nice find!
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Bandai released the Sealdass sticker card series in 1998. This set features Pokémon stickers, and one of the cards includes Starmie. On the front is a sideways pose of Starmie, and on the back is an upright pose, along with its evolution line. The set as a whole includes all 151 original Pokémon, as well as two special cards: “Flying Pikachu” and “Surfing Pikachu” (according to this spreadsheet).
I really like the design concept with the partially opened Pokéball containing Starmie between its lids. The three additional stickers at the bottom aren’t particularly special, but they’re a nice gimmick that help complete the card—especially since one of them features a silhouette of Starmie as well.
I’m not a huge fan of the card’s font; it feels a bit grainy—but not grainy enough to be intentionally pixelated. I think they could have chosen a better typeface here. However, I really like the water/sky (?) background of the card. Overall, I think the card’s design reveals its charm upon a second glance, once you notice the silhouette of the Pokéball in front of the blue background.
Best,
orannge
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To celebrate the upcoming 30th anniversary of Pokémon, I just decided to expand my collection by adding one Gen10 species as soon as they will be released. 
Maybe Nr. 1121 (Starmie + 1000) or just the one I like the most. 
Best,
orannge
3 Likes
Soooo …
TL;DR
The past few weeks have been busy with work. I also restructured my daily routine a bit to allow myself to sleep longer in the mornings … which means I haven’t been able to post as much as I did in previous weeks. Nevertheless, my identification thread remained very active—mainly thanks to the enormous amount of knowledge and information that @rainbow and @sableguy contributed while identifying my collectibles. I decided to add all of my items there over the next weeks in an unsorted manner, just to get everything catalogued before I make detailed posts about the individual items here.
On January 3rd, I posted about how I got my Starmie cards from Russia and even wrote a little guide on how to get Russian cards (see here). I then sent the raw copies to PGS for grading, got them back, but had to request corrections on two labels because they listed the wrong year. A few days ago, the corrected cards finally arrived back at my place—and I’m thrilled to now have all (at least all to my knowledge) Russian Starmie cards in my collection!
Even though Russian is just one of the 16 languages Pokémon cards were released in, it feels special to me because it was quite hard to obtain them—and quite a challenge to pay for them (because it was not possible to pay for them using PayPal in the beginning). From the first WhatsApp message to Russia to the moment the cards came back graded, the whole process added an exciting chapter to my collecting journey that is now woven into those slabs.
- 2014: XY (regular and reverse holo)
- 2015: Pervobytnaya Duel’ (English: Primal Clash, regular and reverse holo)
- 2016: Turbo Impul’s (English: BREAKthrough, regular and reverse holo)
Note: The Russian set was released on November 23, 2016; the English version came out on November 4, 2015—so the year on the slab technically is incorrect.
So, this chapter finally comes to a happy end—though I’m not particularly thrilled with the artworks that were chosen for release. The XY one is among my all-time favorites, but the other two … let’s just not talk about them. 
Best,
orannge
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Dear fellow collectors,
I just got home after three weeks of camping in nature with nearly no internet or Wi-Fi. This was a much-needed vacation and such a great experience.
During this trip, I decided to stop buying Starmie stuff for the rest of the year—excluding any ongoing transactions.
I’ll use the dark autumn months and long winter evenings to organize my collection further. There may be over a hundred items just lying around!
The time I spent in nature with my stunning girlfriend really showed me that I’d gotten carried away with buying and was spending way too much money in too short a period.
I think I’ve built a really nice Starmie and Dragalge collection by now, and I’m happy to expand it in 2026. For now, I’m taking a step back and will spend more time in nature again.
Thanks to all the super supportive and lovely members here—you’re the best! 
Feel free to contact me via PM anytime.
Best,
orannge
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Sometimes taking a step back can be very healthy for maintaining interest and also longevity in the hobby. Kudos to be able to decide that for yourself as sometimes it is hard to accept. I hope you continue to post with updates as you organize stuff. But if you are also taking a break from posting, please do so as well!
Your presence, posts and passion for your collecting has been refreshing. I wish you a good time in nature with your stunning partner 
Cheers!
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Great decision! I stopped buying seriously more than a year ago and don’t know that I’ll ever start up again. While I love your collection updates, I’m happy you’ve put things into perspective for yourself and your girlfriend. Love can do that type of thing!
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I support this so much and it’s how I’ve been spending most of my time to recharge as of late. At the end of the day, these are objects that could go up in smoke. Connect with what’s important - the rest of your life. Making collecting merely a part of your life and not a primary focus is always a healthy choice. You’ve made an incredible collection and I’ve enjoyed seeing every new piece.
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It is admirable you can reflect on how you’ve been engaging with the hobby and react accordingly. Taking a break is never a bad thing, and I think I’ve fallen into a similar trap as you, where I have a lot of items that need to be organized but, instead of focusing on what I currently have, I just end up accumulating more. I’ve also planned to maybe shrink back a bit near the end of the year to try to spend some time on some other hobbies, which have basically been absent in my life for the last year or so since collecting as taken up so much of my free time.
Anyways, glad to see you’re figuring out and acting on what you think is healthiest for you 
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Always sad to know we’ll be missing a friendly face but i understand the reasons behind it as i know this hobby can badly suck you in, and i sure hope we’ll see you again after your hiatus! Your collection and the detailed posts have been one of my favourite threads after you started it 
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Thank you all for your incredibly empathetic comments and kind words. It truly means a lot to me to read your thoughts, and it strengthens my decision to take a step back.
The hunt for new items plays such an important role in this hobby, and the fear of missing out on opportunities often drives us further and further into compulsive buying.
With the help of eBay, encouraging collectors on e4, and middleman services, there’s a never-ending supply of millions of items—always just one PayPal click away. Yet after they arrive, they often end up stored in a cupboard, and the hunt continues. This seems to be especially common in non-TCG collecting, where many collectors fall into the same cycle.
By realizing that the thrill of the hunt and the joy of discovering new and unique items fuel this problematic behavior, the right step seems to be reducing exposure—focusing on organizing what one has and perhaps even exploring other hobbies to recharge and recalibrate.
So, cheers to you all, and thank you again.
Best,
orannge
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Hi everyone, 
I am still around and doing fine. Clung to my goal to not buy any new stuff. Will do for another couple of months.
I found this amazing free tool to organize my collection in the upcoming dark months:
See this example of my collection:
I hope you all are doing fine and may this great software help you to - sort it out. 
Best,
orannge
4 Likes
Hello dear fellow collectors,
I just wanted to give you a quick update on the current status.
TLDR: So far, everything is going great.
Long Version
At the moment, I’m still in the process of cataloging my collection using seatable.io, which I already mentioned in my last post. I’m genuinely impressed by its range of features; the database management is excellent, and above all, the ability to integrate plugins is wonderful.
With a single click, you can turn the database into data sheets or have access to a super clear gallery, as you can see in the images below (the desktop version of the gallery looks even better).
However, while creating the database, I’m becoming increasingly aware of how much time a complete inventory requires. This also shows me again that I actually bought too much items in too short a time. Not that this is inherently a problem when collecting, but for me, collecting only becomes truly enjoyable when it has a kind of museum quality. And that includes, alongside a broad scope of the collection, proper presentation as well as a precise database in the background.
Therefore, before I actively start collecting again, I will definitely first complete the database and, as far as financially sensible, work on the preservational aspect. Of course, I’ll still buy something here and there if the opportunity or the price is too tempting, but the current focus is clearly on quality development of my existing collection.
Personally, through this deceleration and the distance from a constant FOMO, I have created and also utilized much more free time: I visited Paris and the Eiffel Tower for the first time, spent lots of time in the woods camping, together with my girlfriend I leased a large garden near the forest where I can chop and burn wood in a campfire, we attended some really great balfolk dance festivals and also went to more cultural events again. Furthermore, I have more time again to listen to records and to read (currently with great enthusiasm, everything in the German fantasy world: Das Schwarze Auge).
All in all, collecting and managing the collection is really fun and, thanks to seatable.io, also feels productive. I realize that through excessive buying, I had lost sight of many beautiful things that are just as wonderful. In this context, I believe collecting has now moved to the right place, where it should remain in the future: A beautiful part among many other beautiful parts.
I am aware that I am writing from a rather privileged situation. For many people, collecting and other hobbies are sheer luxuries; often, the money is just enough to make ends meet or to do only the bare necessities for themselves. In such cases, it is all the more important not to lose focus on what is truly important: health, family, friends, well-being and work. Here, as with all dependencies, it is best to completely let go of things that cost too much time or money. Because as super beautiful as our hobby is, it has a high addiction factor, which can quickly become overshadowing - due to the amounts of positive feedback one receives from this wonderful community here.
Best regards to all,
orannge
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It’s great to hear that you’ve gained some new perspective while taking a step back Some others are also making these insights with the ongoing “No Buy” October thread. I definitely feel that slight “addiction” factor you mention, as it’s fun to just always be browsing and potentially buying and finding stuff (I think even more so with non-TCG, as there’s always neat things to discover). I noticed that this year also, that I think I was spending too much time looking and buying, so I hope to take a break in the new year to do the same as you: organize and appreciate what I already have. I have other hobbies that I want to spend more time on and articles on E4 that I’d like to write, so I hope to make some time for those activities while I take a break.
Anyways, great to hear things are working out well for you Think you’ll have a lot of fun documenting what you already have gathered!
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I am happy for you that you have found growth through this stepping back period. I have felt similarly with hobbies of mine that began to overshadow other parts of my life, so I emphasize with you.
As always, I am happy to help in identifying if desired. Have fun organizing.
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