Pokemon’s Financial Graveyard

General
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Over this last couple years the hobby has turned into too much of a money game. It’s almost as though the dollar has surpassed Pikachu as the Pokemon mascot. To some degree the dollar has always played a part. Maybe somewhere between Abra and Ponyta. In my opinion that is where it belonged. Nowadays though, you can hardly get through a thread or article or video without the new mascot raising its ugly head and eating up all that crosses its path.
Money is a great thing as far as how it can help the hobby. The danger comes in when it’s used to drain the Serenity River. This is happening way too much.

Some blame the so called “wise guys”.
The financial graveyards are packed with people who were certain of an outcome. No collector has made more in this hobby than I have but not a single one of my items had a predetermined result. I mean, this isn’t Back To The Future lol. None of the wise guys have a crystal ball. Yes, they’ve done well cause their collectibles have gone up in value (which is true of the stupidest guy on the site which could be me;). When that happens it really makes you seem brilliant. The truth is, it’s 90% dumb luck and 10% working hard at a hobby you love.

15 years ago keeping this game alive was on the backs of only a couple of us. The wise guys fell by the wayside cause their interest was born out of a passion for profit, seizing an opportunity, not for the love of the game.

I’ve often voiced my opinion on collecting what you love even if you feel it’s value potential sucks (ie: Japanese cards hihi)
Now I also love Japanese cards. Heck, I’ve graded a thousand more this month which will never hit eBay. If they are a horrible investment I doesn’t matter. I just like them.
Back in 1998 I graded over 8000 Japanese promos in a business venture. After that, business had nothing to do with it.

One of the reasons I like this site is because most here are true collectors and their love for their collections come first. Hopefully you can make some money too but that’ll take a lot of luck and a little hard work.

Good luck with your journey and may it always be for the right reason.

Gary from Porn Stars…errrr Pawn Stars (though I would do pretty well with the former too;)

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Spoken like a true collector. Making money can be fun… collecting can be fun. But only one provides a lasting fulfillment. A LOT of the burnout I saw… and even animosity for the hobby from 2002 onward was a result of intermingling of the two. The same thing happen with Baseball cards from the ‘80-90s.

When I got into the hobby I had no illusions at the time that the cards would eventually be a profitable to trade/sell (relatively speaking).

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There’s two sides to this. Obviously Gary, if there’s no interest in the cards you’re not going to have a hobby. I’d also argue that the money side has a lot to do with the interest. I remember you once said if you’re showing off your collection to people outside the hobby it’s easier to get them to understand when you talk about the financial side. I 100% agree with this, as I’ve done this many times. There’s just not much you can do to garner interest in people when there isn’t genuine interest there; however, the artificial interest in the money side can lead to genuine interest on the hobby side.

To me it’s an entry point, I don’t care how you get here. I care how long you plan on staying. Do you plan on buying a bunch of cards, holding a sell all sale in a couple months? Good luck to you in your future endeavors. Do you plan on buying a few things, seeing they’ll increase in value and along the way continue to learn and develop your own interest in the hobby, grab some things that you don’t plan on selling off. Great, welcome to efour.

Side note: if you want to know which person is which. The easiest way to do it, ask to see their binder collection. It’s not 100%, but I find people that don’t have a binder collection aren’t going to stay around long.

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Which is why I said, “money is a great thing as far as how it can help the hobby”.

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Bruh, not all of us have or had the amount of cash you do. While you were dropping $100k+ in 1998 on a whimsical investment adventure, the rest of us were lucky to get a pack or two a week (or maybe even a box for our birthday, if the stars aligned).

So while those ‘wise guys’ you talk about were hustling on the side in order to afford the hobby they enjoyed, you were dropping whatever you wanted to, whenever you wanted to, because you could. You’ve spoken at length about how you have so much product, hell, a case or two of 1st edition base in some self storage location a different state - it’s almost like you have no grasp of what money really means to those of us who don’t have tons of it.

I think I can safely say that 99.9% of us here don’t have access to the reserves that you do. So when you speak from your pedestal about how some of us shouldn’t view this as a money game, while also having millions of dollars worth of product, some of the most expensive cards in the hobby, many multiples of cards that many members have steeled themselves up to never being able to afford but will always dream of, it’s about the most ridiculous bullshit I can think of.

Saying that someone isn’t a ‘true collector’ because they have to consider the money aspect of the hobby tightly coupled with the love of the cards is garbage and untrue. Worse, it creates an unnecessary line in the sand between people that are all here to enjoy the same thing: Pokemon cards.

When I look at my collection, for a select few cards I see the beauty first and the numbers second. For many other cards, it’s the other way around. It’s the only way I’ve been able to get the collection I have, and will always be something I have to consider if I want my collection to grow further.

The reason you see so few of those ‘wise guys’ around is probably more sobering than what you claim. Likely, they couldn’t keep up with the hustle. Maybe they got a job, pursued a different career, started a family - things that preoccupied them, both time-wise and money-wise, to the point where they could no longer go after the hobby they loved and spent so much time with. Even worse, they had to see posters like you, whose major purchases are rounding errors compared to your net worth, dropping massive stacks of cash on cards they could never dream of and know that to afford a card even 1/10th of that value they’d have to struggle for 6+ months. How demoralizing. And then after all that effort they get shit on by you as being ‘not a true collector’.

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The only thing I’m worried about is the fact that cards are only as valuable as #1) the seller you get it from, #2) pokemon’s popularity rank (mascots like pikachu or zard), and #3) whether it is graded by psa or another company… Which gives intrinsic power to a 3rd party company.

Maybe there is no other way to judge and hold value to pokemon cards unless you just want to collect for fun.

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@hypernova There’s a lot to unpack here that I’m too short on time at the moment to do so unfortunately. There was no line drawn in the sand. I had said that the general viewpoint Gary gave was that of a true collector.

Don’t compare your collection with others. When I bought many of my cards I presumed I’d take a loss, which I was Ok with. Nobody here looks down on you. The most enjoyment I’ve had was when I had goals to meet. Now I take pleasure in helping others meet their goals while still missing several cards myself… so it brings me joy that others enjoy the hobby. That’s why many of us warn against certain fallacies of the hobby, hence the wise guy analogy.

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You know what. Putting words into other people’s mouths to try to make a point is very childish.
Where did I say these things?
Where did I say the wise guys were hobbyists.
Where did I say a ‘true collector’ doesn’t have to consider money?

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Very well said. You get it.
I’m surprised there’s anyone who doesn’t. I guess I’m not the “stupidest” one on E4 lol.

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And by doing this you are a real collector :blush:

I do think i understand where you are coming from. I can’t totally fit in your shoes since i have a bit more wealth- But we also got to realize that the 'oldschool’guys have been seeing an influx of “so-called” collectors/flippers/trolls mixed with some real/new collectors in these last two years. A lot of these people only try to make money off cards and have no emotional attachment to it whatsoever- that’s the real downside of collectibles you like financially booming/growing- and that’s the point Gary is trying to make (or atleast; that’s the way i interpret these ramblings :wink:

Your way of doing it is all about (essentialy) trading cards with money as a middleman. I Respect that a lot and I’m sure the “Big Guys” here share the same feeling [especially since you seem to be tight moneywise, but still want to collect] Problem is that these days Pokémon seems to attract a lot of people who just want fast profits (Just look at most of the WTBthreads lately) and since both parties use/talk a lot about the moneyside of glittering cardboard it might seem like an attack to the ‘normal’ life collector without the wealth to buy any of the ‘big’ WOTC cards.

I’m willing to bet that none of the ‘pokeGods’ here is looking down or trying to offend other true Pokémon collectors with less wealth.

In my point of view if you have collecting goals and are passionate about the hobby you deserve all the PokémonLuck in the word. I enjoy the threads like “best pull ever” or “I’m new in the hobby, look at my awesome SM+ pulls” just as much as the ‘professional’ SMpratte/NotZelda/QuadorrrEct. posts.

In the end Pokémon is all about love and friendship, pretty sure you can find that on E4 with your passion for the cards :blush:

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The point was to emphasize that doing any hobby for pure profit isn’t good. Not sure how a thoughtful topic turned into needlessly criticizing Gary for his success in life…

Being a collector is based on value, not money. Money only represents how much you can buy, not how much you value something. That is what Gary was emphasizing.

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And by success in life, we all know that means the number of Charizards you own :wink:

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As Scott would say, it’s not binary. Many people have to be concerned with the monetary value of their cards because they can’t afford to spend $1000 on a card that’s going to drop to $5. Even if you love a card and plan to never sell, it’s nice to see the card retain some value. I think Gary is criticizing those who are here for pure profit, but that’s very few of us.

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So do you guys wanna enter my mini raffle or what?

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Gary if you were dropping $100k in 1998 on Pokemon then that’s fking awesome

Hypernova stop causing so much drama

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In a world where everything is commoditized the line between collector and profiteer is pretty blurry, this obviously applies to any franchise/investment though.

Its definitely sad to see any hobby end up being driven predominantly by profit, but that’s the world we live in, striking a balance is key and as Gary said the love of your hobby really has to be the thing behind the wheel driving you forward.

There are lots of things I collect because I personally really enjoy them; the artwork, sense of completion, so many factors, and I will often buy things I’m less interested in to make profit: such as buying cards to grade and then selling on, but that in turn is fuelled by my desire to collect the cards I really want, therefore the drive for profit exists to invest further in the hobby. I’m quite happy with this format and understand that so many others do their own similar and varied things.

Most of the people I’ve seen drop out of the hobby are those that are driven by profit, often to the point of obsession, constantly disappointed by what they can’t obtain or afford and then subsequently burn out, in addition to investors who don’t have any knowledge beyond the 1st Edition Zard and have no love for the hobby, they usually flip and jump ship too.

I guess what I’m really saying is, if you don’t genuinely love the hobby and appreciate it beyond monetary value, you’re probably not gonna fair very well.

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Is there a way to block him? I can’t stand his (shit) posts.

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Should I make this my signature for 8 months?

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