Reviving the Pokemon Collectors Catalogue project?

Hi all

The oldest members of this community will remember me as one of the first admins of this site. I’m so pleased this place is still going strong! I haven’t really thought about Pokémon for a long long time, and haven’t bought anything for several years either. Whilst I’m not really a part of the community any more, I do occasionally wonder about the new releases and about all the rare cards that I’m letting slip by.

One of the things that I was really keen on was to create a set of professional looking catalogues for each set or release. Here are some examples of what I created.

I had all sorts of ideas for these catalgoues - to see how ambitious they were, you only need to see page 4, which listed all sorts of additional resources. I was also exploring turning this into a website, inspired by some of the amazing sites that the M:TG community have created (for example, magiccards.info/ is just incredible for all of the information it maintains). My problem then was time and a lack of programming skills. My problem now is an even more lack of time and the same lack of programming skills.

So my question is: do people in this community have the skills and energy to take these forward? (I’m expecting the answer to be no - you all have lives and quite rightly, care more about collecting cards rather than documenting them.) It’s an incredible amount of work, but what an amazing way to document every card and all the knowledge this community has accumulated!

Even if I don’t get any bites, it is lovely to say hi to all of you again :blush:

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Great to see you again, Dogma! I hope you’ve been well.

The catalog seems like a great idea to me and the examples you’ve provided look amazing. Unfortunately, I am in the same predicament as you are currently. I really do hope someone or a group of someones can help realize your ideas.

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I’m very well thank you. Real life responsibilities has meant that I don’t have time for any hobbies, but I’d be lying if I said I was complaining! I hope you are well too.

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Hey Dogma,
your concept looks amazing. This is definitely something that deserves to be materialized. I’m working on doing something similar but just for the cards/items in my collection (obviously not as comprehensive as this). I think Simon has one of the best web editing skills on this site so maybe he is interested in pushing this forward?

@pokemoncenteritaly :wink:

@dogma I’m Simon :stuck_out_tongue: I can help with some scans and I can try to do the html code for the new website to collect the various sets.
I am glad to grow this project as quickly as possible.

Ooops! I’m sorry Simon, I should’ve guessed. In terms of a website, what I had in mind was something like the M:TG website I was referring to, magiccards.info. That is, you can search for a card, and you’d end up with individual pages for each card that look like one half of the main catalogue pages (that is, something that looks like say this but formatted like my catalogue. Wouldn’t something like that require PHP, not just HTML?

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@dogma yes with a PHP database you can do the website but I don’t know how to code php. Maybe if we can contact the creator of the M:TG website he can help us or release the source code of the site.

Yeah PHP coding does seem to be a rare skill! I’ve always wanted to learn but don’t have the time! I doubt the creator of the M:TG website would just give us the source code… surely not? The M:TG community is so much more advanced than the Pokémon one, which is such a shame… they have all sorts of resources that I can only dream of. For example, did you know that the M:TG community has multiple sources of reliable, up-to-date card price information? I don’t think that’d ever happen with Pokémon - we don’t even know of some cards existence until much later on - but wouldn’t it be amazing if we did!

Whoever created pokepedia.net/ would be able to help, surely? Does anyone know that person here?

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I do not know the Pokepedia website but if you have a Facebook account you can send some messages www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pokepedia/235969305014

I suppose now is as good a time as any to share this information.

Some UPCCC administrators are independently working on creating a scan database.

Surprise! Or not, as it’s a predictable next step. Because we want it to be the most professional and complete database out of what currently exists, it is not an overnight project. We have a graphic designer and coder already who have started talking within the last week. There are no prototypes or anything, as this project has just recently been brought to the forefront of goals. Don’t expect any in the immediate future either, as there isn’t a timeline and it’s being tackled with the understanding that the parties involved are not employees, but volunteers.

HOWEVER: We’ve already created upccc.scans [@] gmail [DOT] com

Anyone interested in contributing scans for the use of this project in the future can send their high quality card scans to that email address, where they will then be sorted into files and saved for future use.

That’s really all I can say as the details aren’t fully worked out on this end either, but note that the project is underway. I will note that it’s seen to be very unlikely that Cally would be interested in contributing anything to the project, but we are actively looking for people that can fill in the place. We’re confident that between the community members we truly can pull together a more complete database than any individual has to offer.

So anyone, PLEASE feel free to submit your scans to that website for the time being. Only request is that if you are submitting set cards, rather than promos or variants, you submit them a full set at the time. It would make my life infinitely easier, as I will be sorting them. In the final product, any individual who submits them will be noted as a contributor. We can only use un-watermarked scans as they will be marked with a UPCCC scan down the road. Submissions are considered a donation to the project, so we will not be using scans that advertise other sources. Our deep appreciation for contributors will be shown in the aforementioned way.

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@funmonkey54 : Do you need scans of foreign cards (like french cards …) ?

I’m 100% with your project, it’s a very good idea, and I love the catalogues from dogma :blush:

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We have discussed bridging into foreign cards. Specifically @tonysandlin has offered to reach out to some foreign forums and see if they could contribute entire set scans. The most complete database and resource online is the primary goal. At what point we’d be able to introduce languages outside of Japanese and English is not yet determined, but you certainly wouldn’t be hurting ANYTHING by submitting them! I’ll gladly sort through those as well! Thanks for asking.

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Okay.

Yes, I have seen tonysandlin on the french forum Pokécardex.
Pokécardex has already a big database of scans but if I can help I’m here :blush:

Also : will you scan appendices (with unpeeled cards) from CoroCoro for example ? All items related to Pokémon cards (decks, binders, etc) ?
If yes, it will be awesome !

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Pokemon cards and sets have been documented already for a long time. All those old price guide books and magazines etc.
Although the collecting scene definitely needs an updated catalogue.

The ones presented by dogma are quite professional and nice. Its a fantastic ideology.

Going to be one which is time consuming, and I think we should appropriate other websites scans to save time like the above. Maybe we should do a kickstarter? it could turn into a larger than imagined project.

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I don’t see how a Kickstarter would help… We don’t need money, we need expertise. It sounds like the UPCCC admin are on top of it. If they get a good set of scans, hopefully something will come of it. This is a huge amount of work though so it’d be amazing if people can help out :blush:

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@dogma

It simply does’t make sense to approach a project and be discouraged because someone else has something nice.
Quality will be handled as the scans come in, most likely through increasing the quality each time a better one becomes available.

The question is not “how will you match what someone else has?!”
Rather, the question is “Who all wants to pitch in so that we can create THE best database there is, no exceptions?”

I’ll be buying a nice scanner in the not-too-distant future and picking away at the project myself. I’d encourage anyone else that wants to have a significant, long-lasting impact on Pokemon as a whole to do the same.

Just to clarify, this is something still in discussion. We are not sure exactly how this entire project will be executed.

Either way, we are still discussing the fine print on this idea as we want it to be as good as possible. Realistically, the gathering of images has its inherent problems due to ownership. It is why you don’t see these sort of projects pop up in other sports/prominent hobbies as you have to be aware of the possible infringement on the owners values.

Oh and it’s good to see you posting dogma! I see that username online once in a while!

Yes, that’s a fair clarification. I’ve edited above to reflect.

A handful of UPCCC administrators are working to create the database. Those administrators are very excited about the project. There are also non-administrators involved. It will hopefully be a community thing. Others have chosen not to jump on board yet, which is totally fair and their decision. So we won’t call it a UPCCC database, just a database by members of UPCCC.

I can offer scans from 2003 onward of 1st ED, Japanese sets. There are a few gaps in my collection, and I would need time to get high quality scans, but it is something I am willing to do without any credit necessary.