Howdy!
It’s been a long while since I updated this post. I had slowed down my collecting a bit due to school and then exams, but this summer I decided to stop procrastinating and get a few cards of my collection graded. I always have striven to have a collection that is carefully curated to fit my own personal style. Unique promos, holos, and other cards that have some significance or intrinsic happiness associated with them.
This June I sent Charlie @funmonkey54 a pile, and I mean PILE of cards to get graded through the Ludkins USA PSA submissions. I picked cards that I knew would not only grade well, but stay in my collection, locked up for good 
Funny enough, out of the 34 cards graded, only 3 received sub-10 grades. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a perfectionist.
Without further ado, let’s talk cardboard (kidding, I know @mkpokecc has that trademarked).
First we have Audrey’s Masquerain and Kathryn’s Surskit, both PSA 10. Of the cards graded, I was glad to see that both of these graded so fine. The Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys movie was definitely one of my favourites growing up. It had it’s “alien invasion”-esque appeal, with the trainers clamoring for safety in LaRousse City. Coupled with some of my favourite pokemon and nostalgia, this film still rests as a classic in my heart to-date.
Surskit and Masquerain are some of the few Hoenn pokemon that I would consider “favourite”. Like most collectors, I dropped off of the scene for a bit during Gen 3 just because I was so used to the original 2 seasons, that I decided to skip this generation from TCG and video games. That being said, my one childhood friend had Ruby, so on occasion he would talk about all these pokemon. Then when Gen 4 came out, I got back into the groove of things playing both the video games and collecting the TCG. The only issue was Canadian television. It was lagging behind. So I played a game of catch-up watching the Hoenn television shows, and learning about all the different gym leaders, pokemon etc. From the moment I set eyes upon Surskit, I knew that it would be a contender for one of my favourite pokemon. (Please note: When I say favourite pokemon, I typically choose around 2-6 per gen for team-making purposes and for easy categorization).
Next, I have the Uniqlo Pikachu set, incomplete. (Please see my wants post here) I think it was around this time last year when I was browsing on Virbank for some different pieces to add into my collection. I stumbled across a post wherein someone had the 4 promos in a screw-down case. The only issue – They shipped solely to brethren in the United Kingdom, and not to any other countries. [Will make a discussion post tonight about this issue!].
Luckily, throughout the years of pokemon, I’ve made some remarkable friends around the globe and one of them was willing to middleman it for me. When it arrived, she was excited to let me know that the cards were in near perfect condition. The only exception, if you could guess was the 96/XY-P. I took my chances getting it graded with Ludkins anyways, hoping that PSA would overlook the one bleep on the edge, but alas I am now with an incomplete set.
It’s funny though… I now find myself at a point in this collection where I am ecstatic because now I have a purpose to keep my eyes peeled on ebay, forums, etc. to find this one card. It won’t be a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’ in locating this card.
For those people who are unaware, back in 2014, Uniqlo had a promotion wherein customers at Uniqlo stores would receive one of the four cards when purchasing a t-shirt, making their population finite.
This set I was EXTREMELY satisfied to get great grades for. This is the Easter Promo set that came out earlier this year. When customers purchased any 5 booster packs from the Pokemon Center, they were given an egg with a silver booster pack attached. Inside that packet was one of four promo cards.
SMy friend who runs Sunyshore thankfully agreed to picking me up some packs with commission so that way I had my chance at opening some of the promos up myself. I ended up getting 2 booster boxes of SM2, I believe, so all in all I had a fair shot at getting every promo. Yes I know, I could easily go onto Y!J and get the promos there at the time, but I still like the fun in collecting cards and opening them up when I get the chance.
When sending these to Ludkins, I was fearful because I only chose the best of each of the nonholos, due to the fact that I wasn’t willing on dumping a ton of money into grading these “lesser” promos to the obvious Pikachu. If I recall correctly, it was the Mareanie that I was most worried about due to how it was cut, but they all got great grades and are stuck in my collection.
Finally, I am proud to say that I have a complete 2010 Illustration Zorua/Zoroark Set! I finally got off my butt and had them graded from that collection addition way back when. As I stated above, only 3 of the 34 cards in my submission received sub-10 grades. From the set, I got 1x PSA 9 and the rest 10s. You can imagine my face when I found out the results.
Thankfully @garyis2000 came in clutch, with a deal for a certain efour member I saw he had the Zorua I needed in a 10, and he was more than willing to help a fellow collector out.
I think from writing this collection addition out, I’ve realized something really important. It isn’t necessarily about the cards, but moreso about the people who you collect with. If it weren’t for all the friends I’ve made throughout the years, some of these cards would not have been obtained by me alone, nor brought into my collection. People make this hobby what it is. If we all stuck to our silos and didn’t interact with one another it would be a boring time. Thanks all for sticking it out through this wall of text, and I look forward to reading the responses!