shadow

[shadowcardcollector]

**JAPANESE DETECTIVE PIKACHU

Memory Capsule:**

I finally pick up the Detective Pikachu 338/SM-P promo card recently:

With this card, I have all 25 Japanese Detective Pikachu set cards, 3 SM/P promo cards (the 337/SM-P is sealed in its packaging) and 1 S/P promo card.

As of April 2021, I believe these 29 cards are all the cards released related to Japanese Detective Pikachu set. Please let me know if I’m missing any!

Overall, pretty stoked to have them in my collection and it is my second Detective Pikachu set (after the Korean one). I have also recently bought all the English Detective Pikachu promo cards that I’m missing, so can’t wait for all of them to arrive to complete that as well!

Collection Parameter:

Japanese Detective Pikachu

• 25 SMP2 set cards
• 337/SM-P promo card (sealed) - I own the card but due to recent world event, I’m unable to access it and take a picture of the card
• 338/SM-P promo card
• 339/SM-P promo card
• 099/S-P promo card

Collection Gallery:

[shadowcardcollector]

ANCIENT MEW VERSIONS AND SEALED INSERT VARIANTS

Memory Capsule:
Won an eBay auction a few weeks ago of this sealed Ancient Mew card with the insert, and it arrived this week:

Based on this E4 post, this is the Denmark insert variant. Pretty painful for me to find, so glad I managed to won the auction and add it to my sealed Ancient Mew insert variant

According to this old E4 post, there might be Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Spanish insert variants as well (although I can’t find pictures for it and I don’t own it), so if you have any of these sealed insert variants, please let me know if you are selling!

Anyway, here are my updated Ancient Mew versions and sealed insert variants collection below.

Collection Parameter/Gallery:

ANCIENT MEW VERSIONS (6)

	Release info	Copyright info	Holofoil type
1	Japan Version 1	© 1995,1996,1998 Nintedo/Creatures inc./GAMEFREAK inc.	Speckle holo
2	Japan Version 2	© 1995,1996,1998 Nintendo/Creatures inc./GAMEFREAK inc.	Speckle holo
3	Japan Version 3	© 1995,1996,1998 Nintendo/Creatures inc./GAMEFREAK inc.	Cosmos holo
4	International Version 1	© 1995, 96, 98, 99 Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK. © 1999-2000 Wizards.	Cosmos holo
5	Japan Version 4	© 2019 Pokémon/Nintendo/Creatures/GAME FREAK.	Speckle holo
6	Korea Version 1	© 2020 Pokémon/Nintendo/Creatures/GAME FREAK.	Speckle holo

ANCIENT MEW INSERT VARIANTS - INTERNATIONAL VERSION 1 (7)
From what I understand, the “International Version 1” released in 2000 has different insert card depending on the country of release. I have the following 7 sealed Ancient Mew with different inserts:

	Release info
1	US insert variant
2	UK insert variant
3	Australian insert variant
4	Denmark insert variant
5	German insert variant (Urzeiliche Mew?)
6	French insert variant (Mew Antique)
7	Italian insert variant (Mew Antico)

1. US insert variant

2. UK insert variant

3. Australian insert variant

4. Denmark insert variant

5. German insert variant (Urzeiliche Mew?)

6. French insert variant (Mew Antique)

7. Italian insert variant (Mew Antico)

ANCIENT MEW SEALED PACK/INSERT - KOREAN VERSION 1 (1)
The Ancient Mew sealed pack was given out in Korea from 30 September 2020 in conjunction with the Pokemon Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution Movie, limited to 30,000 copies (Official source with some google translation).

[shadowcardcollector]

JAPANESE T PROMOTIONAL CARDS

Memory Capsule:

Since I am on a roll completing my smaller collections, I finally decided to pick up the final cards missing in my T Promo collection:

With these cards that arrived over the weekend, I have the 24 T Promo cards. Loved this set as a whole because it is pretty manageable to collect (got 24 cards over two lots!). Art is pretty awesome and I love the concept that each trio of cards is done by the same illustrator, so there is a certain unifying theme to each trio. Personal favorites would be either the Dratini line or Eeveelution, but nonetheless all the cards are great!

Collection Parameter:

24 Japanese T Promotional cards

Collection Gallery:

[shadowcardcollector]

JAPANESE SUN & MOON FULL ART GX (STANDARD BACKGROUND) COLLECTION
Memory Capsule:
I started my TCG collecting journey as an adult around early 2017 after the Pokemon Go craze. At that time, I focus mostly on English cards given that was the language I collected during my childhood. Collecting Japanese cards was not really in my radar until mid 2017 when I went to Japan for the first time. Obviously, I visited the Pokemon Center for the first time as well and that experience was quite magical. I was like a kid in a candy store with all the merchandises around.

With my limited money, I bought the Ash vs Team Rocket deck and one booster box. At that time, I remembered my choice was either SM3H To Have Seen the Battle Rainbow or SM3N Darkness that Consumes Light. As I was a complete newbie collector then and seeing all these new Pokemon (Necrozma, Marshadow), I choose the Necrozma/Marshadow box over Ho-oh/Charizard box. Looking back, I regretted not getting both boxes, haha. But I did pull an awesome Full Art Necrozma GX and received some sweet Pikachu promos which I still hold on to this day.

After my Japan trip, I did not really think of starting a modern Japanese collection until the arrival of the Ultra Prism set. At that time, the time lag between the release of the English and Japanese sets are quite long, so I started buying Japanese cards. It snowballed from there and that is how this collection was started. I decided to collect the full arts over the rainbows as I prefer my cards to have some colour! In hindsight, I think I made the right choice.

Of course, a few months later Pokemon ran the Thunderclap Spark Shield Games with Full Art Zekrom GX and Rainbow Zekrom GX as the prize for the winners. The Full Art Zekrom GX is pretty special to me: it is the last card that I bought last year on eBay to complete this collection and it is also my favourite card, art wise. I just love the colour synergy between yellow/blue/black and it looks pretty bad-ass!

The other/second SM-P promo for this collection is the Mewtwo GX and I won this in one of the early eBay auction as I want to lock down the price before the Mewtwo tax kicks in.

Some of the other cards I like in this collection include Umbreon GX, Entei GX, Alolan Ninetales GX and Slowpoke & Psyduck GX. I love the cool stance of the Umbreon, that Entei looks majestic and SlowDuck is the derpy tag team that I never knew I needed. Also, I feel like Ninetales and Arcanine cards always exude a certain grace and elegance, and the Alolan Ninetales GXs encapsulates that.

Overall, I’m glad to collect the Full Arts over the Rainbows. Although the process of piecing together a larger collection is quite painful especially to get each card one-by-one, looking at the end product is truly satisfying. Pretty happy to be able to pick up the Zekrom and Mewtwo GX as well to make this collection “complete”.

Collection Parameter:
154 Japanese Full Art GXs (Sun & Moon “Standard” Background) (including Zekrom GX and Mewtwo GX)

**Collection Gallery:

[details=“Spoiler”]













[/details]**

[taizokai]

Nice post, @shadowcardcollector! I liked reading about your connection to these cards. Your reason for getting into Japanese cards resonates with me, too. Although I now primarily collect Japanese in order to unearth treasures of the past, I initially started collecting Japanese cards back in the day to explore new, untouched lands.

P.S. The Detective Pikachu promos displayed above are great. I also picked them up. Now if only I could get at those “Trainers” magazine cards…

[shadowcardcollector]

@taizokai

Nice post, @shadowcardcollector ! I liked reading about your connection to these cards. Your reason for getting into Japanese cards resonates with me, too. Although I now primarily collect Japanese in order to unearth treasures of the past, I initially started collecting Japanese cards back in the day to explore new, untouched lands.

P.S. The Detective Pikachu promos displayed above are great. I also picked them up. Now if only I could get at those “Trainers” magazine cards…

Thank you! Yeah, it’s kinda like a rabbit hole, isn’t it? Once you started, it just goes downhill from there

I do collect vintage Japanese and English cards as well, but not as active as the modern ones currently. I guess it’s quite tough to find decent condition vintage cards as I started quite late in the collecting game again, so I just focus my energy/funds more towards modern cards from wide range of languages. I do hope to complete my vintage collecting goals one day when I have more funds to do so, haha (looking sadly at my non-existent Masaki promos and WEB cards; and my semi complete VS collection T.T).

P.S. I think I just got lucky with my “Trainers” magazine cards purchase as I complete them from two purchases. I do hope you will manage to get 'em one day, they are awesome looking cards indeed!

[shadowcardcollector]

JAPANESE SUN & MOON ALTERNATE ART GX COLLECTION
Memory Capsule:
This collection is just an extension of my Japanese Sun & Moon Full Art collection (modern collection). Unlike the Korean S&M alternate art collection whereby I only collect the 36 alternate art cards; for this Japanese collection, I decided to also collect the regular art, full art and rainbow rare cards. I wrapped this collection up few months after Tag All Stars was released, so it is pretty cool to take a look at it again recently.

Since I went through the alternate art cards that I love in the Korean collection, I have decided to look through some of the regular art cards that I really like for this post:

Off tangent, but I really wish we had the tag teams cards below:

• Nidoking & Nidoqueen GX
• Entei & Flareon GX
• Suicune & Vaporeon GX
• Raikou & Jolteon GX
• Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf GX

Anyway to close off, I’m pretty thankful to be able to have these cards in my collection! I do wish that the prices for the SwSh alternate arts cards will go down soon so that I can continue collecting them, lol T.T

Collection Parameter:
Out of the 36 cards identified having alternate arts, to collect the following 4 rarities:

1. Regular art/half art
2. Full art
3. Alternate art
4. Rainbow rare

Collection Gallery:

Spoiler

[shadowcardcollector]

THUNDER EMPEROR COLLECTION (ZEKROM GX FULL ART)

Memory Capsule:

Around the time when I was collecting my Japanese Full Art GX collection, Pokemon decided to give out the Zekrom GX Full Art and Rainbow Rare cards to winners of the Zekrom GX SR/HR competition. The card at that time was only in Japanese and Korean. Purchasing the Rainbow Rare is definitely out of the question as I have an internal price limit per card and I am unable to spend thousands for just one Pokemon card. However, getting the Japanese and Korean Full Art is definitely intriguing to me.

After finding out about the Korean release, I asked my friend if he is able to help obtaining the card. I didn’t have to wait for too long as a copy was on sale and that was how I acquire my Korean Zekrom GX. This Korean version is definitely my favourite, the texture on the card is more appealing to me compared to the Japanese/Thai/Indonesian version (besides the obvious sentimental value being my first Zekrom GX card).

Soon after, Pokemon unexpectedly released the Zekrom GX in Thai/Indonesian AS4a set. With a little of patience, I was able to track down the Full Art and Rainbow Rares few months after the set release. I am especially thankful to be able to acquire the Rainbow Rare versions given the low secret rare pull rates for Thai/Indonesian sets.

With the Korean/Thai/Indonesian cards in my possession, it is only natural that I would get the Japanese card to complete this collection. Pretty ironic given that the Japanese Zekrom GX was released first compared to the other 3 languages, but it was the last card I acquired.

Collection Parameter:

1. Japanese Full Art Zekrom GX
2. Korean Full Art Zekrom GX
3. Thai Full Art Zekrom GX
4. Thai Rainbow Rare Zekrom GX
5. Indonesian Full Art Zekrom GX
6. Indonesian Rainbow Rare Zekrom GX

* Excluded Japanese and Korean Rainbow Rares due to cost

Collection Gallery:

[shadowcardcollector]

PSYCHIC DOMINATOR COLLECTION (MEWTWO GX FULL ART)

Memory Capsule:

Similar to the Zekrom GX, Pokemon gave out the Mewtwo GX Full Art and Rainbow Rare cards to winners of a competition. The card is as of now only released in Japanese and Korean. The Korean version distribution is somehow quite limited as only 36 copies of the Full Art and 17 copies of the Rainbow Rare were released (read here).

Getting the Japanese Full Art was quite quick as I won it in an eBay auction. However, the Korean Full Art card proved to be quite difficult as I have never seen it sold on eBay at all (I did saw the Korean Rainbow Rare but that was not in my want list due to cost issue). In late last year/early this year, the search is over as finally managed to track down the Korean card:

Never thought I will be able to own it as with such a low distribution number, it is quite impossible for me as a small collector. Nonetheless, since I already have the Korean Zekrom GX and Mewtwo GX, maybe I should hunt down for the Korean Masked Royale next as well

Collection Parameter:

1. Japanese Full Art Mewtwo GX

2. Korean Full Art Mewtwo GX
   * Excluded Japanese and Korean Rainbow Rares due to cost

Collection Gallery:

[shadowcardcollector]

ENGLISH SUN & MOON HIDDEN FATES SHINY COLLECTION

Memory Capsule:
Finally picked up the last 5 cards needed for my Hidden Fates shiny collection early May 2021:

For me, it is a pretty cool set as this is my second English shiny set after Shining Legends and there are so many shiny cards! Was fortunate enough to open up some packs/products - although overall I feel my luck is pretty meh for this set. I did not pull the Charizard GX but did pull this weirdly cut Mewtwo GX:

Also glad to have bought the Charizard GX at $200 and the Eeveelutions for less than $50 per card (if my memory served me right, it should be around $30ish or less). I have no idea why the Umbreon GX is going for so expensive though compared to the other Eeveelutions at the moment.

Overall, pretty happy as this is the final language that I intend to collect for my multi-languages GX Ultra Shiny/Hidden Fates shiny collection, so it’s pretty cool to finally have all of them in my collection.

211605.T#2037.49#602.69#180.59#76.60#105.76#98

Collection Parameter:
83 shiny cards

• 80 cards from Hidden Fates: Shiny Vault (“SV”)
• 3 promo cards from Hidden Fates products (Zoroark GX, Metagross GX, Rayquaza GX)

**Collection Gallery:

**

[shadowcardcollector]

ENGLISH DETECTIVE PIKACHU COLLECTION
Memory Capsule:
After 3 of my non-stamped English Detective Pikachu promos got lost in mail last month, I managed to get another copy sealed and they arrived safely today! With this, I have 14 English promos in my collection:

https://i.imgur.com/j55Ptlw.jpg(image larger than 4 MB)

English is my third language completed* after Korean and Japanese. It’s pretty cool and unique that the English, Japanese and Korean set have different holofoil/stamp treatment.

* Please let me know if I’m missing any cards, thank you!

Collection Parameter:
32 English Detective Pikachu related cards

• 18 set holos
• 14 promos

**Collection Gallery:

**

[shadowcardcollector]

PRETEND BOSS PIKACHU COLLECTION
Memory Capsule/Collection Gallery:
With the Detective Pikachu collection, thought of sharing some love for the Pretend Boss Pikachu as well. Bought the Japanese Pretend Boss sealed in 2018/19 ish. For the Korean cards, I initially thought I have to pick up the cards one-by-one. After buying one card, a set of 7 was up for sale and I bought them as a set.

Pretty cool trivia which I was not aware of until recently, but apparently its first attack reflects each Bosses’ philosophy which I find pretty cool:

1. Team Rocket: Domination?
2. Team Aqua: Ambition of the Sea?
3. Team Magma: Ambition of the Land?
4. Team Galactic: Destroy the World?
5. Team Plasma: Liberation?
6. Team Flare: A Beautiful World?
7. Team Skull: Destroy?

https://i.imgur.com/4mr9GHQ.jpg(image larger than 4 MB)

https://i.imgur.com/7xfAayU.jpg(image larger than 4 MB)

Collection Parameter:
14 Pretend Boss Pikachu cards

• 7 Japanese cards (Japanese promo set #: 191 - 197/SM-P)
• 7 Korean cards (Korean promo set #: 093 - 099/SM-P)

[shadowcardcollector]

INDONESIAN PROMOS ONGOING COLLECTION - 109 CARDS
(as of June 2021)
Snapshot:
My Indonesian cards have finally arrived and thought of sharing my Indonesian promos. This collection is something I do as a side collection, and therefore I do not aim to collect all available card releases (at least that’s the current plan, and its pretty exhausting to chase down all the multiple language card releases). Nonetheless, although it is not a “complete” collection, I do love the mix of Indonesian promo cards that I currently have. With the 25th anniversary sets coming soon, I can’t wait to see how the promo differs between languages. Anyway, let’s begin!

1. Pika-Pika

Thought of starting off with the latest card that I acquired, the Pikachu VMAX promo. This Pikachu was given out in Pikachu VMAX sealed tournament from 5 to 6 June 2021. Big fan of the illustration, so very happy to get this in my collection. The second picture shows the other 5 Pikachu promos that I have.

2. First Indomaret promos

This set of 10 promo cards was given out for booster pack purchase in Indomaret convenience store, in conjunction with the release of the first Indonesian set, Hantaman Pertama.

3. Pokemon Indonesia League Regional stamp promos

These are the existing four promos with Regional stamps. For the Dedenne GX, it took me a while to get it as I was waiting for the price to drop before I buy it. It doesn’t help that it is quite playable.

4. Random Gym promos

These are two separate Gym promo lots that I picked up on a whim. Personally, I love the Alolan Ninetales and Tapu Lele arts, it looks so pretty.

5. Eeveelution (non Tag Team GXs)

These are the non-Tag Team Eeveelution GXs that I acquired one-by-one to build up this collection. Pretty bumped that they don’t have Gym promos for the OGs, but it is what it is.

6. choki choki promos

This 21 cards promo set was given out for choki choki promotion and I bought them for my energy and gold cards side collections. As I understand, the Thai language did not release any of the Sun & Moon era gold Pokemon cards (ie. Solgaleo, Lunala, Ultra Necrozma, the Tapus, the Tag Teams). For Indonesian language, only these two gold Pokemon cards were released.

7. Upnormal coffee promos

This set of three promo cards are from the Upnormal Coffee event.

8. Further random promos…

The picture on the left are cards that I bought as single promos, which is unconventional for me as I prefer to buy promo lots to minimise local shipping cost. The second picture are some of the additional gifts given by the sellers which is pretty nice since it is free. That Manectric is my personal favourite from that picture.

**9. Some more Gym promos…

**These are some Gym Season 5 promos that I have. This is a pretty cool set of Gym promos: OG starter Tag Team GX cards, an additional Charizard promo and good mix of other Pokemon. I would have to say the Necrozma promo is my favourite from this lot, it looks so bad-ass.

10. Energy promos

This next set of promos is also part of my energy collection. I love the holofoil treatment, it is pretty unique to the Asian language Energy promos.

11. Tag Team Collectionpromos

This next set of 4 card promo was given out for every purchase of booster box for Koleksi Tag Team. I can’t think of a better 4 cards to be given out than these 4 - excellent fan favourite Eeveelution alt art cards and two waifu character cards.

12. KFC promos

The next set of promos is the KFC promos that was given out this year and which seems to be pretty popular among the international collectors compared to the other Indonesian promos. That Pikachu promo even have a proxy version being sold. I’m just glad to get this set before the price increase and this proxy nonsense.

13. Toys Kingdom promos

This is a sub-set that I completed recently with the arrival of the Alolan Vulpix and Eevee. The first four starter cards are pretty easy to be purchased. For the Alolan Vulpix and Eevee, it is given out if you join the Toys Kingdom Workshop Event.

14. Zards

Thought of ending this collection post on a high by sharing everyone’s favourite dragon, the Zard itself! The Indomaret cards on the left are some of the additions made this year while the four to the right have already been discussed above.

[shadowcardcollector]

PIKACHU VMAX PROMO COLLECTION (HAPPY PIKACHU!)

**Collection Gallery:

Memory Capsule/Collection Parameter:**

This is a collection of the Pikachu VMAX promos in four languages: Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indonesian. The Japanese promo (123/S-P) was 1 of the 5 cards given out in conjunction with Amazing Volt Tackle set. The Korean promo (074/S-P) was 1 of the 3 cards given out in conjuction with Amazing Volt Tackle set. The Chinese promo (062/S-P) was given out as a early purchase bonus of Pokemon Sword and Shield expansion pass bundle games (the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra). The Indonesian promo (054/S-P) was given out in a Pikachu VMAX sealed tournament from 5 to 6 June 2021. Just like the Pikachu expressing its happiness, I’m pretty stoked to have them in my collection!

[axius76]

Where did you get that pikachu vmax promo from Indonesia? Did you buy it from eBay?

[shadowcardcollector]

KOREAN GX ULTRA SHINY MASTER SET COLLECTION (250 UNIQUE CARDS + 5 PROMOS + 9 ENERGIES)
(CHAPTER 2 OF GX ULTRA SHINY SHINIES COLLECTION)
Memory Capsule:
This is the second installment of my multi-language 83 GX Ultra Shiny/Hidden Fates shinies collection, after I shared the English set in previous post. The Korean set is the second language I completed for GX Ultra Shiny and is the most complete language that I own. To the best of my knowledge, these 255 cards (plus 9 energies) are all the cards related to Korean GX Ultra Shiny. This Korean collection was completed in 2019.

The Korean GX Ultra Shiny set has some subtle differences with its Japanese counterpart. Besides the usual visual differences (ie. yellow border for Korean cards and different back between Japanese vs Korean), the regular cards are released in Korea as mirror holofoil only.

Also pretty unusual is this set was released twice in Korea. It was first released in Korea as GX Ultra Shiny on 28 February 2019. It was released a second time as GX Ultra Shiny ULTIMATE on 23 August 2019. The first release enables you to pull the 150 set cards, 100 secret rares and 9 energies. The second ULTIMATE release also allows you to pull the 5 promos. This is just my speculation and best guess based on the accompanying set list booklet, but the second ULTIMATE release excluded the 7 gold cards. You can refer to this relevant pages of my booklet as reference:

These are the gold cards and ULTIMATE promos from the Korean set:

https://i.imgur.com/mGSO1e7.jpg(image larger than 4 MB)

Another interesting difference is some cards such as the supporters and energies have different set number between the Japanese and Korean set. For example, the Full Art Guzma is numbered 152/150 in Japanese but the Korean set number is 151/150.

Here are all 10 Full Art Supporters from the set:

From a personal standpoint, the Korean GX Ultra Shiny set is pretty special to me. This is the genesis of my interest to expand my collection beyond English and Japanese cards. No doubt I have amassed more Korean cards after this set, but the Korean GX Ultra Shiny will always hold a special place as the set where my Korean collecting journey begins.

Collection Parameter:
255 Korean GX Ultra Shiny cards + 9 energies

• 150 set cards
• 100 secret rares
• 5 promos
  (also have the energies)

Collection Gallery:
I have an Imgur album of all the Korean cards (except energies not pictured) that I took two years ago here.

[shadowcardcollector]

JAPANESE GX ULTRA SHINY SHINIES COLLECTION****(CHAPTER 3 OF GX ULTRA SHINY SHINIES COLLECTION)****
Memory Capsule:
This is the third installment of my multi-language 83 GX Ultra Shiny/Hidden Fates shinies collection, after English and Korean. This is the first language I completed in 2019. When the Japanese set was first announced, I was very excited about it. As someone that was too young and broke to experience the Neo Shining and Gold Star cards era, this is the second Japanese set (after Japanese Shining Legends) whereby I can actually experience it “live”. Not only that, this set is more hyped for me personally because there are 83 shiny cards (vs. 9 or 10 for Shining Legends).

However, looking back on how I went about collecting them, probably it could be improved better. The number of shinies in this set is pretty much unprecedented (ie. 83 shinies alone in GX Ultra Shiny, which exceeds the shinies in Neo Shining and Gold Star; and in addition the Neo Shinings and Gold Stars were distributed across more than 1 set). I bought a couple of boxes but I felt it is wasted if I open them, so I kept them sealed. Instead, I picked up most of the 83 shinies in batches from eBay within 2 - 3 months after the set was released. This is before I found out about Buyee and other Japanese forwarding services. Looking back, I think I overpaid for all the cards except for Charizard GX which I managed to snag a couple copies for US$70 each. It also doesn’t help that I’m not sure if they would release it in English, so the FOMO kicks in. Overall, it did taught me some valuable lessons about my future collecting strategies for these big sets (ie. Shiny Star V etc).

From the art perspective, I really love that most of the shiny Pokemon are actually smiling widely and seems to be happy to appear in the set. The Wooper and Quagsire especially are so derpy adorable:

I also love this Oranguru pose - it looks like it is in an advertisement and have high meme potential:

One of the things I appreciate about shiny Pokemon is the color scheme will change. I’m especially a big fan of the Zygarde shiny color scheme. It looks so different from its regular coloration. The Naganadel and Lucario ones look pretty cool as well. On the other hand, some Pokemon shiny coloration looks the same to me compared to its regular counterpart such as Articuno, Glaceon and Leafeon.

Overall, it’s a pretty cool set! So, these are my posts on the 83 GX Ultra Shiny shinies in Japanese, Korean and English. I guess this is the end? …

Collection Parameter:

83 Japanese GX Ultra Shiny shinies

Collection Gallery:

[shadowcardcollector]

(MOSTLY) ENGLISH δ DELTA SPECIES COLLECTION
(CHAPTER 1: GOLD STAR & POKEMON -ex)
Memory Capsule/Collection Gallery:
This is the first installment of my δ Delta Species collection and will be quite short as I would like to focus more on the second part. This first part would focus on the δ Delta Species “rarity/type” that are also Gold Star or Pokemon -ex. All Gold Star and Pokemon -ex cards are acquired in 2018/19 ish except for the five cards on the left which I only bought this year:

For the Gold Stars, I did try to collect the English and Japanese ones slowly before the pandemic. Unfortunately, the prices for them have skyrocketed substantially for me to purchase them outright. So, in terms of English δ Delta Species Gold Stars, I only have Charizard and I do not own the Mew and Gyarados. Fortunately, I managed to buy a Japanese Mew and Gyarados so these are my placeholders for now until (and if) I buy the English Mew and Gyarados someday…

Overall, pretty happy to have these as the δ Delta Species hold special memories from my teenage years (which will be explained in Part 2).

Collection Parameter:

11 English δ Delta Species Pokemon -ex

1 of 3 English δ Delta Species Gold Star [do not have English Gyarados and Mew]

2 of 3 Japanese δ Delta Species Gold Star [Japanese Gyarados and Mew as placeholders]

[shadowcardcollector]

ENGLISH δ DELTA SPECIES COLLECTION
(CHAPTER 2: δ DELTA SPECIES)
Collection Parameter/Collection Gallery:
174 English δ Delta Species (excludes those that are also Gold Star or Pokemon -ex - these are already discussed in Chapter 1 above):

• 162 reverse holos
• 6 holos
• 6 non-holos

My collection album of all the δ Delta Species cards here.

I used the English list from Bulbapedia as my checklist and to arrange my cards in the binder.

Memory Capsule:

This is the second installment of my δ Delta Species collection and holds a lot of memories as a teenager. I remember being a broke and unknowledgeable teenager, so I was not too familiar with Gold Star and Pokemon -ex at that period in time. The only Gold Star I knew about at that time is Mudkip Gold Star (as my friend owned it) and the only Pokemon -ex that I can recall at that time are Wailord ex, Moltres ex promo and Articuno ex promo.

Fortunately, the δ Delta Species cards are more accessible for me. I remembered playing the Pokemon TCG with my friends after school ended. The first deck I built centered around two copies of Salamence δ Delta Species, one copy of R&S Blaziken and one copy of Emerald Blaziken. The second deck centers around Dragonite δ Delta Species, Metagross δ Delta Species and Manectric. I used multiple copies of Wally to accelerate the evolution process. Looking back, those decks are quite awful but as teenagers playing casually, I guess it doesn’t really matter as we are just playing for fun.

These are some of the other cards I remembered owning as a teenager and will always hold special nostalgia:

When I rejoined the collecting hobby again few years ago, one of my first few goals then was to collect the δ Delta Species cards just so that I can relive some of these teenage memories. I settled on getting the reverse holos as I was a big fan of the stamped holo effect on the cards. And the arts on most of the cards are stunning and I am a big fan of them.

The arts in the Dragon Frontier set are especially beautiful and I was having trouble choosing between them. Somehow, I really really love the Smeargle δ Delta Species and Bagon δ Delta Species from the set.

Unfortunately, I believe the POP Series or some miscellaneous cards have no equivalent reverse holos so I settled on picking up the holo cards (or non-holo cards if the holo version does not exist).

Although the δ Delta Species cards will always be overshadowed by its more successful siblings (Gold Star and Pokemon -ex), it does hold a lot of sentimental value for me and I love looking at this collection binder from time to time. With the upcoming 25th anniversary set containing classic Pokemon TCG cards including Mimikyu δ Delta Species card, I can’t wait to update this binder with the newer δ Delta Species card(s)!

[xzini]

Awesome stuff!