Hello!
Been collecting for awhile now, but only really started giving it more attention with the covid boom. My goals have moved around but aside from some Japanese trophies, I feel that I’ve collected most of my favourites and started to slow down. My collection has stayed almost exactly the same over the past two odd years, but held off from making this post till some bulk submissions were ready. Hoping to structure this post to document my journey with collecting Pokémon, so long post ahead but I hope you enjoy the pictures!
I’ve blurred out some cert numbers as they’re slabs that I rather not have snooped around/have sold.
Cards
I first started collecting simply due to the art/designs. Even the sprites were cool, so I printed out a folder full of Gen 2/3 sprites when I was around 7, long before I could buy anything of my own. Would’ve liked to include a picture but I can’t seem to find it anymore.
From there, I had a fun annual tradition of splurging my savings at the nearest Pokemon Center, grabbing packs/plushies/cutlery/files etc. Grew up visiting the Shiodome branch mostly, but it’s closed now.
Art
I’ve sold the vast majority of my more “valuable” cards (>$100) as I’m at a stage in life with some large financial goals outside of Pokémon. I’ve since shifted the focus of my remaining collection back onto card art and particularly (un)commons, which I feel to be a treasure trove of brilliant examples.
Hajime Kusajima is hands down my favorite Pokemon artist. With Ninetales as my absolute favorite, a good half of my top 10 card arts are also illustrated by him.
Both the Ninetales (centering) and Milotic (corner chipping) were also 2 of my longest chases in 1st edition 10s due to their terrible print quality. Their unlimited runs were more forgiving.
This silly wooper by Tomokazu Komiya- scans don’t do the holo justice!
Aya Kusube does a fantastic job
Might be able to tell by now that PCG/delta species era cards are a favorite.
Misc non-holos. Crystal Onix? Poor Omanyte and a Nidoran in a Halo Requiem setting.
The very best Scizor art.
On the note of Unlimited Legend reverses- Umbreon and an all-time top 5 card art: Tokiya’s L2 Metagross.
All absolutely minty clean! Just waiting for a signing opportunity…
Kawayoo’s style is also somewhat similar and I really enjoy his BW arts, as well as the work he did on the English HGSS packs.
Alongside Kusajima’s Ninetales at the top is the 2008 Dragonair (my profile pic!) by Suwama Chiaki. I love the serenity and cherry blossoms, as well as the skyline in this Swellow which has a gorgeous soft glow to it.
Was able to visit her one Christmas to gift a small present that I drew, inspired by her Dragonair.
Chase
I was later drawn to more popular cards and first dabbled in grading with these. I was able to acquire a good number of them prior to 2019/20 so they weren’t quite as expensive, but I still made the mistake of accumulating some painful upcharges in a single submission and decided to grade slowly from there.
Spot the difference:
I’m fond of the splash of red/blue and overall design of the text box. It feels more unique (contemporary?) than many other designs, holographic or not.
Fresh out the binder
Swirls/Orbs
Some cards have that nice spot where a swirl can “add” to it. Since you aren’t prioritising condition, they can often be a cheap chase. Here are my top few!
Getting into swirls/errors
Swirl collecting had always been a side quest to kill time, but funnily enough has become a decent proportion of my collection. I initially started browsing online marketplace sites to find rarer cards (UED L2/3, mint DPT shinies etc) which only really popped up every few months. This coincided with finding my first hand swirl Mewtwo, which along with some other swirls were a lot more common and gave the occasional dopamine boost to keep up with the search.
However I wouldn’t pay any premium just because a card has a swirl, and can only really appreciate it if it “adds” to the illustration.
Terastal who?
Another cool language exclusive Umbreon
The “saturn” holographic pattern above can appear on English cards (2007 Manaphy #4 etc) but not on any of the XY promos as far as I’m aware of, just their Portuguese prints. Also, a few Korean BW holos have a blue cosmos finish which I find infinitely better than their Japanese counterparts.
Hypnotising (in the eye)
The eye space doesn’t capture the full swirl nicely, but it has a nice effect when you see it spin around in real life.
Attacking
A bit tough to see, but worth the zoom:
And one of the most popular swirl cards, the hand swirl Mewtwo ex.
It was honestly a nightmare trying to picture everything together nicely and I couldn’t manage it, so here they are grouped by their releases:
1st Edition:
Unlimited:
English
The very first 3 copies are my favourite:
- 1st Edition- Has a small holo shift + bleed (just about all of them have a bleed though)
- Unlimited- It’s difficult to have a “perfect swirl” as a swirl moves depending on the angle, and the palm space isn’t enough for the entire thing. One that originates dead center of the palm as a result will have some portion of the tail cut off. Here is one that is slightly off such that a swirl is almost fully visible at the right angle.
- English- Might just be me but some copies look “shinier”- this being one of them.
They occasionally have an orb as well, but a centered Pokeball would be really cool. Here’s my placeholder till then:
Some other swirl ideas
Any card with a swirl sized spot of holo/art makes for a good swirl candidate!
Errors
Just like the Mewtwo ex, there are a few sheets of these really tiny shifts from the same ADV set. Here’s a regular copy with the same holo pattern for reference:
Increasing degrees of microshifts on the same card:
Most of the shifts you’re gonna see are tiny like the Hitmonchan/Mightyena. But there are some shifted down (Electabuzz) or as high as to touch the energy symbol by the HP.
Some older Japanese sets (Jungle/Neo Destiny etc) have much crazier shifts but the ex-era borders are a little more special/nostalgic to me. A much more common modern error with some similarity are these texture shifts:
Holo bleeds are a common find among Japanese old backs, especially the 96/97’ sets. The ideal copies have insufficient ink/are even missing their white layer. Some small ones (shines through a little of the text area):
Some crazier errors (missing layers/drastic holo shifts/additional ink etc) can be especially sought after and pricey, but there are always some neat ones you can pick up without spending too much. Despite until recently being under $10 for a raw pair, these feature a neat and repeated merged white layer of sorts.
Note about the error
Although the above two feature a merged white layer, here’s an example of a “swapped/incorrect” holo (only the 016 copy is an error, 017 here is just for reference):
You can see the white layer and Sceptile’s 017 outline on the 016 copy. Also pretty interesting to note that the cards are dated 3 years apart in this language.
Some fun modern English cards with missing/additional ink (normal on the left):
Sentimental
Not the rarest or most expensive by any means, but certainly some of the most valuable to me.
- Ditto- From family
- Loudred- From my partner (pulled from a vending machine pack)
- Grass energy- Closest friend made through the hobby
- Crobat- A friend made while queueing at a convention
Partner luck
Out of all 4 loose packs from entirely different sets ever opened- we’ve somehow hit 3 ARs and 1 TG. Here were our latest pulls.
Modern
Modern cards feature some of the very best arts with AR/SARs, but I have stuck almost exclusively to vintage/mid era releases. I returned to the hobby with the intention of filling in some childhood collection goals, and these newer releases felt like an expensive floodgate if I ever did start.
This changed recently when my parents (who avidly play Pokemon GO) happened to chance upon some packs at a Pokemon Center late last year. It was meant as a present for me to open, but encouraged me to source even more to open as a family. Roughly 1,250 packs of Inferno X (and hundreds of others) later:
Lots of hits, but these were the best: 6x M Charizard SAR, 1x M Charizard MUR, 1x Shiny Charizard SAR and 1x Gengar SAR. Crazy experience and probably the start of a family ripping hobby.
Autos (Mitsuhiro Arita)
Been fortunate to meet several artists, but really want to focus on just one. As much as he illustrates some absolutely lovely/iconic TCG art (CP5 Celebi/Trophy Pikas), my favourites lie on other items as you’ll see in a bit. However it’s easiest to authenticate and encapsulate cards, so here are my top 2, personalised to me.
Clear Files
Continuing on from Arita’s art, some of the best are exclusive to postcards/files/notebooks. These are a small few, with many other stunning ones drawn by him.
Among non-card art however, this takes a top spot for me. No clue who it’s illustrated by (not Arita), but I love traditional brush styled work. It also comes on a postcard and envelope.
Non-Arita. The “Look upon the Stars” file not only has a neat silver lining for constellations, but the series has a cool umbrella too.
For file collectors
Was fortunate to learn that Pokemon had released a file binder, with 2 designs as far as I’m aware of. They feature 20 pages, a plastic case to offer some rigidity and aren’t too expensive/difficult to find.
Posters
Posters are great for those who enjoy set arts. There are a range of sizes, generally from A4 flyers which feature some information behind to larger, B2/B3 posters with blank backs.
Can’t forget Arita, who illustrated the L1-L3 set arts all the way up above, which make phenomenal posters.
The PCG range also features some cool ones.
Some other assorted posters. Been lucky to pick up many rare ones but the OG Jungle one has always eluded me… I still have a few more mainly ADV/PCG ones stored away, so I’ll try photographing them properly for this post next time.
They’re much larger than they look in these pictures, and definitely something to line the walls with if I ever have a hobby room.
Smaller ones
Magazines/books can contain cool inserts:
I’m sure telephone card enthusiasts will recognise this one:
Everything else
One of the bests thing I find about “niche” products is the thrill in finding something neat amongst thousands of lesser known releases. This is by far the broadest category so anything below is just a small fraction of what’s available.
Deck boxes (Arita). Besides a preference for the L3 art, the 3 beast arts are a close second with the shinies taking the spotlight. Sleeves are also a category worth looking at if you’re into unique artworks.
Magazines/Books. Some feature adorable artwork, the original chonky chu, and interesting information about some cards. I absolutely love Gemi’s Suicune here, and it would be a dream to get a signed print of it.
The legendary single horned Charizard:
Stickers. There’s a whole collecting scene for various official sets of these, but I mainly pick up stand alone ones. I particularly like older set art examples which can come (approximately) in postcard and card sizes.
Set list items
Boxes. I use palms off boxes to store my slabs, but carry these around if I bring anything out. They originally come with a rule book which shows their art a little better. Empty vintage booster boxes are also cool!
Envelopes
Can be much cheaper than their postcard counterparts (picked each of these up for $5 odd on average, while I paid just over $100 for the first art as a postcard).
Pins/ “Medals”
Non-TCG cards. Lenticulars, glow in the darks:
Other TCG
One of the bigger influences from my Pokémon collecting are autographs, as they feel like a more personal aspect. Having art as a core collecting aspect for one makes interacting with their artists extra meaningful.
I’ve been casually collecting MTG artist proofs and prints, but my favourite by far is “Archon of the Wild Rose” by Chris Rahn, who does amazing pieces featuring dragons as well. Will always be bummed out missing the sale of the original painting and sketch.
Yoruichi is a character favourite (aside from Aizen) from one of my top childhood anime: Bleach. Here’s an original anime production sheet (douga/genga) along with Satsuki Yukino’s (Yoruichi’s JPN voice actor) autograph.
Wants
Just about any error can happen to any card, so error cards will always be an ongoing search. However I still have a few other “realistic” card goals, namely:
- Shonen Sunday Arceus
- Tokiya signed Metagross 053
Ramblings about card wants
I’ve been after the Arceus for several years now and always been priced out by roughly 10-20% each time. Perhaps it’s the stubbornness to fork out way “over market” (since each subsequent sale blows past the previous)? But with something that rare, I probably just have to go all in. Then again I do have more important life goals so unless it comes back down to Earth, it might stay an unchecked goal for a long while.
Tokiya is probably my favourite artist to have interacted with, who really stood out when lots of other illustrator encounters were often more underwhelming. Some were understandably apprehensive, while others purely professional in a transactional sense. Here, the lady was nice but reserved, however the male half was very engaged when I shared my 053 Metagross collection with him- how I’ve collected a binder full of that single card and it being my single favourite illustration from them. The combination of this positive interaction and meeting the illustrator of a favourite card easily made for a top moment in my collecting journey. I didn’t request for a card autograph at the time because it was outside such an event, but really do hope to eventually get this achieved (Although I do hear that their agent has been steering them clear of Pokémon signings).
May throw in an update especially if I acquire any core goals, but thanks for reading till here! I hope you’ve enjoyed this slice of my collection. Can’t possibly picture everything but I hope it gives you a small idea as to what there is out there. There are many people I also have to thank for helping me along, or annoyed with questions to make all of this possible.
And of course, I’ve still got a zard or two.
); loved the little derpy XY-P Diglett alongside those banger of artworks; loved the misprints, the Sceptile and Ninetales especially; and of course loved the explanation and story of it all.
