Hello there!
I’m Pidove, a Pokémon TCG collector old enough to have been around for the release of Base Set way back when. I had a small, well-loved collection of cards from Base Set through to around Unseen Forces when I was younger, amassed from being bought booster packs and theme decks by family (with pocket money put towards packs too once I started earning it!). I fell off the TCG hard at the tail-end of the ex era, skipping Gen 4’s cards entirely and only dabbling very briefly in Gen 5 through 7’s offerings (with Gen 8 being another hard skip), despite continuing to play each mainline game as it came out.
Like a whooooole lot of people, I got back into collecting after TCG Pocket came out; I held out for a few months, but eventually the siren song of the cardboard was too powerful to resist. The illustration rares were a big draw, but the universal silver borders, for me, have soooo much more eye appeal than yellow did, even on ‘half-art’ (is that what we’re calling them these days?) cards. I also recently dug out what remains of my childhood collection, from which I retained a bunch of my ex era holos (though not a lot else - no idea what happened to most of my pre e-reader WOTC cards…).
So, now that I’m back in the game, here are my current focus collections.
The Pokédex
Completion as of 29/05/26: 360/1,235 (Pokédex includes alternate forms)
The Goal
Using the cards Gen I set down as a foundation, I’m putting together a Pokémon TCG Pokédex from Common, Uncommon, Rare and Holo Rare cards only. Each Pokémon will be from a set released in conjunction with the Generation it was introduced in, thus all cards within a Generation in the Pokédex will share a visually consistent design, making for a collection that celebrates the history and aesthetic evolution of the card game while also being pleasing to the eye.
I’ve got a full ruleset over here if you want to take a look!
(Pokédex pictures to be added at a later date!)
This is a slow burn project, with me picking up a few cards here and there for it every month. I’m especially enjoying scouring card shows for this collection.
SV & ME Unstamped Cosmos Holos
Completion as of 29/05/26: 170/218
The Goal
I’m aiming to collect one English card of every unstamped cosmos holo released in the Scarlet & Violet and Mega Evolution blocks. I really love the dynamism of cosmos holofoil and how it adds a touch of uniqueness to any card it’s applied to. The sparkly borders also look fantastic - always loved them on Gen 3 ex cards too!
I’m only collecting pixel/retro cosmos holos as the HD cosmos holos don’t have nearly the same level of visual appeal for me. This makes Rotom from the Cyclizar ex Box the only cosmos holo from these blocks I won’t be collecting; as far as I can tell, this is the one card that only had a HD cosmos release.
If you want to take a look at the spreadsheet I made to keep track of cosmos holo cards, you can find it over here! Big shoutout to this Elite Fourum thread too for amassing info on the cosmos variations in the Scarlet & Violet block.
(I’ll get some better photos sometime - the curse of cosmos holos is how difficult they are to photograph! A Glaceon and Sylveon are missing from the photos, but I do have them.)
Feeling very close to being all caught up with this collection! Many of the remaining cards don’t seem to have a lot of availability in my region and are probably going to require me importing them from the USA, Canada and Australia.
Outside of my focus goals, I’ve also got a personal binder that I may share some pages from here and there! I’m tempted to start a Play! Pokémon stamped cosmos holo collection too, but I’m trying to hold off on committing until the unstamped collection is caught up…
Thanks for stopping by!
