I’ve always been here
Today, I write a slightly sorrowful post with what I believed to be an unbelievable ending. I’ve been collecting Pokemon cards since I was around 3 years old with little to no breaks along the way. What I and what I would assume all of us never could have expected was where its brought us to. Opening packs as a kid turned smashing and dragging the cards down on a hardwood floor when I got something that looked strong, that was the true Pokemon battle. While the cards and my floor probably didn’t appreciate the battle, the joy and imagination budded into much more. Many memories of writing on my ex cards as if they were trainer cards pulled out of Rising Rivals, pen marks of C, E4, etc, scribbling out the evolution and writing SP still scar my cards to this day and slightly scar the thoughts of a the potential fat bag I could’ve had otherwise, succumbing to a brotherly dare that I wouldn’t staple my Charizard ex (I did). Needless to say I had maybe too much fun with the creatures on cardstock.
Fun today is a bit different, fun today is chasing a challenge. Outside of my Quagsire collection there has always been such a thing as going bigger with the smaller things. Smaller in Pokemon terms tends to mean rarer, unknown and unseen to me as a collector. The term “grail” is used pretty liberally in today’s scene. I’ve always had one card in mind that would be the ultimate challenge yet, constantly, like most of our personal goals, always seem just out of reach. They’re always faster than you and never line up on your time. As the story goes, the 2020 boom made my challenge so difficult and pushed my personal boundaries to the limit to the point where you could call it giving up. You ignore the existence, ignore the conversation and try to find an alternative path to settle on. I’ve always been here, but not anymore.
The Mudkip Hunt
What began as a massive binder full of every alternate art, full art promo, trainer gallery and art rare from Legendary Treasures-Prismatic Evolutions turned into a nice watch and what I had considered my grail, a PSA 10 Mudkip Gold Star. Mudkip always had a close place in my heart. My first starter turned champion, the first stuffed animal you brag about being uniquely yours and, a #1 favorite for several years, Mudkip did the job swimmingly.
Shiny Pokémon are the very aspect that has kept me so involved in the franchise for over 2 decades. The allure is impossible to escape once you start hunting and the hunt was on as soon as I discovered the depths of this very challenging path.
In 2014 was when I first discovered the path of graded cards and the expansive market that went into Pokemon as a whole. As an oblivious child you can be, well, oblivious. Fast forward a couple years to 2016 and the opportunity to buy a PSA 10 Mudkip gold star from Rocket Returns was right in front of me and for $500! If you can’t tell the story is cliche, “I’ll wait for the next time I get paid and I’ll swipe it up." Surprise, surprise that opportunity was gone and the years countined to go by.
As the years went by the thought of acquiring the Mudkip gold star still existed but in the far depths of my own priorities and far from immune to distraction. Fast forward several years and the card once worth $500 has at least 100x in price but, the allure of a shiny always ignores the challenges in its path. When I decided it was time to sell my binder, it became even more clear to me that it was time to finally close this chapter, to finally obtain my Mudkip.
As a shiny hunter, I only hunt at full odds when possible (aka the lowest possible chance each time you see a pokemon), so as the years have gone by, I have learned a lot more about cards. If I was going to get my shiny Mudkip, I was going to find the most challenging path to the shiny. Unlimited Japanese PSA 10. 14 exist (1 is mislabeled in the pop report), so needless to say it was going to be an uphill battle finding one that a collector was willing to part with. And surprise, surprise, it was. I’ve talked to nearly every owner of the card I could find, all with something in common, it’s an irreplaceable centerpiece to their collection.
Thankfully in mid October of 2024, shortly after my birthday, one came to me and it was finally time to catch the shiny that had ran many times long ago. A shiny reclaimed by taking the hardest road possible. It’s another excuse to keep the hunt going, there’s always another way to reclaim what’s lost from something new.
The Alternative Path
Well, the truth is the Mudkip wasn’t the grail. While still an incredible achievement for me as a collector, it was the alternative path, the attempt to permanently suppress finishing the race. I’ve always been here, chasing a challenge. Now, I face the biggest challenge of all, letting go. Today I decided to let go of my Mudkip, my hardest work, my greatest challenge and favorite achievement as a collector now must move onto another home.
This sacrifice is bittersweet as it has led me to no longer need to go an alternative path, no longer ignore the true goal and no longer believe what I wanted is impossible. I will miss my Mudkip dearly, I’ll wonder where it is and always will want to reacquire it from this day on. It’s another challenge to chase, harder than ever before. This card that I once thought was an alternative path not only pushed me back on track, it pushed me over the finish line. I will share what I got in due time but I wanted to at least share this chapter of this journey. (A Seuss title may reveal the color of the Pokemon 
)
I am a humble collector just like most of us here. I am not rich, I have lived through Logan Paul screaming and the whatnot era, I am Quagsire collector with big dreams and today a big dream was made a reality. While one treasure leaves, I’ll always be here, shiny hunting.
PS - Here is Staplezard, a staple of the hobby.
