Such a beautiful and unique set. Congrats on completing it!
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Dang it really is the best set ahaha. Also I never realized that one artist did the pokemon for every trainer. Awesome collection 
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Such a good set and I agree each Trainer having their own artist is an awesome touch
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Well done @pigeonsyndicate! Inspiring stuff!
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At long last, I have finally gotten these graded cards that have been being held by my mother in the states! I bought most of these before the insanity in 2020. The vast majority of grades came back at what I expected or better. Only exceptions are the Play Lugia ex, Play Ho-oh ex, PLay _____'s Kyogre, and Lugia Ex Unseen Forces. This is everything that is staying with me for a good long while.
Start off with the Mascot of my profile and my single most favorite card in this entire lot of graded stuff.
Just to round out the Mac cards while I’m at it. Didn’t get chikorita, PIkachu, or squirtle graded. Chikorita will come in the future, and squritle and Pikachu I don’t yet have gradeable copies.
Finish off E series with Steelix, Gengar, and Charizard
Next is my personal favorite card, Red/Green Zapdos and friends.
Not yet in possession of a Grade worthy Moltres, but it will someday be added here. I might have a master ball, gotta check again.
Somehow managed to find these over here in Japan, definitely happy I did.
Next up are the PLAY Promo Hoenn Legendaries + Mew, definitely happy with Ray and Groudon, Kyogre was a little furstraing, but I’ll find another copy eventually.
Up Next are probably my favorite cards in this post, I drastically overpaid for these cards at the time, they’ve probably evened out now. I expected high marks for these, and they regrettably didn’t achieve, but they both still have excellent Swirl/Orb in em, and I love em nonetheless. Click here if you wanna see their swirls and more
Then to continue with some other Ex Cards from this order.
These next couple are not to be forgotten, but I didn’t have any other groups to mix them in with.
Last but not least, some random assorted WoTC Era stuff (I got a 9.5 Light Arcanine, but I like the swirl better on the 9, so I’m keeping the 9 instead haha!)
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Hot damn, boy! Those are some juicy cards! Congrats on the grades, especially the 9.5s (which I subconscioulsy always count as PSA 10 equivalents).
Speaking of which, why did you choose to go with instead of PSA?
Edit: oof, looks like your beautiful post was the last one on the page. Let me quote it here so people don’t accidentally miss it 
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WOW. WOWOWOWW.
I’d be so happy with that return. Dude your sensibilities are so similar to mine, it shows over and over again!
My dopamine levels almost jutted over levels of safety. Congrats on some gems! Love that you lead with the Wob and the Slowpoke.
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@muk, Thanks for adding it to this page haha! never thought to do that for someone, I’ll remember it next time I happen to be in a similar situation on someone else’s page!
And in regards to CGC, it was the timing of it all mostly. When I subbed, PSA had either just shut down, or had shortly prior to my submission. However, I don’t personally like the dent aspect of PSA grading. I think if a dent is small enough and doesn’t take away form the overall appeal of a card, it shouldn’t auto knock the grade to a 6. So I had previously planned to submit my Masaki cards through CGC for that reason, as well as a few other cards here and there that I thought would grade poorly at PSA for no really significant reason. Cards that I feel could get 9/9.5 on every category if not for a single tiny corner dent or some tiny pin hole dent on the edge of a card that no one will ever notice. I’m actually quite impressed with the quality of the grading overall. Maybe for some of the e series, they could’ve been stricter with the centering, but that’s whatever. Out of the 250 cards I subbed, only 2 came back 10’s. One Kanazawa which I didn’t photograph here as it’s not staying with me, and one Red’s Pikachu 270/SM-P that has already sold. The red’s was notable because it was flawless 10/10/10/10. Probably more of an answer than you needed, but that’s more or less the gist of it. At this point, I might still stick with CGC, But maybe for stuff that I’d rather turn around more quickly, go with PSA. I feel CGC just needs a little more legitimacy for it to become less stigmatized when compared with the giant that has been PSA.
@brendantheclayboy, haha thanks! hope you didn’t need any medical attention. 
And yeah, I couldn’t go any other way than leading with those two. Pure gems of cards, not just in condition. I am looking for that slowpoke with a swirl in the forehead, right between the eyes. If you or anyone else ever sees one, lemme know!
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@pigeonsyndicate, insane return!!! Impressive grades from CGC too, they’re quite tough most of the time.
Mind selling me one of your 8.5 Red/Green Zapdos? 
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Thanks! Yeah, after reviewing conditions on cards upon getting the return, I can’t really argue with any of their grades. Even the ones I disliked. Just means I wasn’t thorough enough.
As for zapdos, maybe someday, but for now it’s locked away in my grip!
I think this swirls thread got buried a little. Man that ho-oh is absolutely insane, definitely all time favorite swirl for me! I’m pumped!!
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Haha yeah, like that thread I spent a ton of time on too 
oh well, I’ve got a link to it on my front page as well. I’m glad someone finally enjoyed them though! The ho oh one is definitely epic! I wish it were a tiny bit stronger though, the foil on that card is unusually weak. Must be the red background or something maybe?
IT’S FINALLY FINISHED! I have been working on this goal since I arrived in Japan more or less, so about 2 years now, and have finally just today, finished it at long last. This is a heck of a post for New Years! I wish picture quality were better, but this is the best I could manage. Only card that isn’t pictured should be the expedition Gengar. Eventually I will buy the Japanese Version, but for now, I’m content with having my English version, it is just sadly located in America still. I purposefully did not get any of the Crystals. Those are currently out of my price range, but eventually they will be added to my list. I’d rather finish my collection of every shiny card variant.
The number of cards in here that are some of my favorite arts is insane, so I’m not gonna waste space to explain my thoughts below the photos, they’re all exquisite and I think everyone on this forum recognizes that.
Without Further Ado, here they are!
Gengar will soon be featured on my Swirl Collection thread as well. Absolutely perfect placement!
Moltres is also a strong swirl placement. I actually bought another moltres to replace this one in my E series binder…But the other one had an amazing swirl too haha!
From Here down it is mostly duplicates except for Cloyster and Fearow. Or it is the beginnings of other collections, like the Mewtwo/Pikachu and the T Promos.
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This is quite an achievement! Congrats to you, @pigeonsyndicate! It was very nice to hear that your collection journey for these matches up with your time in the country. Must also be incredibly satisfying to finish on New Year’s Day!
Although my own E-Series collection is now dwindling, I thoroughly enjoyed the three English sets as I got back into the TCG roughly half a year before Expedition was released in the US. It was a fun and exciting time for me. Seeing the pictures of your collection reminds me of those days and may even be planting the seeds of a future return!
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WOOOW! Dude we really are working at the same things! Haha.
Huge congratulations to you man! Amazing achievement. Truly. There probably is none greater. The sheer vastness of such a goal realized here must not be topp-able. Really happy for you. Love that you got them promos in there. I tackled all the promos first, so my set cards (though in english) are at a slow gain. Eventually, but god is it nice to see these together in your thread. Overall best set artwork consistency ever made by Pokemon ever.
Couldn’t be more pleased with a new years addition, @pigeonsyndicate!
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@taizokai, Thanks for the kind words! It is nice to have these reminders of my time here(even though I’m still here). That’s why I’m not too worried about have mixed collections actually. I prefer to have the memories attached to different sections. Like my Gold stars will be 1/3 English, 2/3 Japanese. It was not planned to finish one New Years, but it is definitely nice that it did. In a way, I wish the last card I got was a bit more exciting the Expedition Vileplume hahaha! I had just been getting tired of waiting for the right deal on the last three I needed and just caved a few days ago.
Are you selling your stuff off, or just haven’t been adding to your current stuff? I hope it’s the latter. It would definitely be sad to let go of these cards. I hope it ignites some passion in that field though, these cards are too beautiful to ignore.
@brendantheclayboy, Thanks Brendan, I always love getting your comments. Yeah, we have very similar tastes and time lines it seems. I’ve got another big one that should hopefully be finished soon. Not sure if you’re doing it too, but I’ll keep it secret for now. It’s gonna be missing a $1000+ card because I was dumb and didn’t buy it when it was 200… 
Best of luck with the English versions, that is a doozy price wise. I would probably be half complete if I was working off English pricing. Not sure of your condition requirements either, but I’m usually okay with like MP as long as it looks good in the binder. Then I slowly upgrade over time. Still waiting to fix my HP Articuno.
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Really excited to see it man! I have an idea, but I’ll wait to see it. Unfortunately I’m insane and get NM to mint cards, having changed that a little before joining E4, and it has been hard on the ‘ole bank (esp english e series sets as you know very well). I was tired of upgrading, wanted each time I bought to be the final time, for the sake of time, haha!
Don’t beat yourself up, you’re not dumb! We all have had this happen the last 2 years. Too many times I couldn’t count. Especially promos. So so many that went from $5, 10, 20, to $20, 40, 80+. It’ll just take more time is all. Plus your copies look phenomenal from where I’m standing! Here’s to a good year for your collection, and a good one in Japan!
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Definitely! That, to me, is collecting. And no worries, @pigeonsyndicate —I have caved plenty. Could certainly do worse than Vileplume, too! Since it’s one of my favorite Pokémon, I’d think it was a particularly auspicious end to the hunt AND start to the year! Haha.
The former. I’ll save most of my thoughts for another time, but I can at least say the majority of my collection is permanent and that I only part with cards I’m comfortable with for the purpose of finishing other subcollections. It’s always been like this. I traded away a decent amount back in the day to build, or help others build, various binders and decks. Kept my core E-Series favorites, though. I even got one I was always after last year! Speaking of which, after checking out your terrific collection pics a couple more times, I added a few to the list. Looks like a seed was sown and is already sprouting!
There’s always more to say, once I get going… Very much looking forward to many more great posts and exchanges in the coming year!
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What a progress. those e-series are so awesome
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Ex Battle Card E-reader Booster BoxesYesterday was a heck of a day in Akihabara. Found a couple massive gems in the rough. Finding these brought my day that had started out really terribly, and made it an amazing day in a matter of seconds. I don’t see boxes of these very often, if at all. If anyone has any knowledge as to their actual rarity, feel free to enlighten me here. But here they are along with my complete enough to post set of one of the series. I don’t know if it’s series 1 or series 2 though. The boxes are series 2, however.
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