Now for something a little bit different. These are my collection of the ‘For Position Only’ cards. There are 8 in total of which I have 6, inclusive the elusive Manhole card. They’ve actually got a pretty cool story behind them too, which is why I collected them in the first place. You can check that out here: www.elitefourum.com/t/fpo-for-position-only-cards-official-guide/14586/1
Unfortunately, the last two cards, Dugtrio (POP 10) and Clefable (POP 7) have been extremely hard to come by so I doubt I will ever be able to finish this set. Nevertheless, they’re a unique addition to what I have.
This actually has a normal Pokémon back despite what it looks like from the front.
I feel that it’s only fitting that these two are together. Both of these healing Pokemon need to come and heal my bank account after purchasing them.
Machamp tried to sneak in but I think the most under appreciated holo should have his own photo. He just gets no love but it ain’t too bad a looking card. Don’t worry little fella I’ll look after you.
I’ve bought the remaining ones but I’m just waiting for them to come in the mail (hopefully safe and sound). Just got the gyarados, blastoise, and raichu. So complete in a sense, although I wanna wait until they’re in my hands
@guangsta
Thanks for the feedback mate! It really has been worthwile doing the one pack a week. I feel if I opened them all, all I would want is to buy another one lol. Andd the vicious cycle would continue. I actually get to find out more about the set too as I’m invested in it for a longer time (rarity, misprints, hard to grades, taking notice of diff artwork more closely). I’ve got a Team Rocket box so they’ll both last me a good year and a half but I’m also thinking of doing the same with a newer set as the cost is much lower (maybe shining legends).
@garyis2000
I feel you’ve been along for the journey nearly as long as I have haha. But we got there!
Anddd so ends the story of these final two PSA 9 cards into my hands at last. Just like the like for like Chansey and Clefairy, I think these two water types look great together! It actually made me think of what is my favourite pairing of Pokémon by type in the base set holos…
I would say my top 3 are:
Psychic-Mewtwo and Alakazam (prob because Mewtwo is my fav Pokemon)
Water- Gyarados and Blastoise
Fire- Charizard and Ninetales
Anyway, I can thank a fellow e4 member, @ccrntrade, for being yet another reputable and trustworthy seller on here. If you look at the Blastoise it is a very low cert number, yet in a new case. When purchasing it a few months ago it was still in its old case and I wanted a newer one. ccrntrade was kind enough to take the time and effort to send it in to psa to get it recased and then ship it to me. All the while that Blastoise has nearly doubled in value! So anyway mate, thanks! I feel attached to the Blastoise because of all of this and the low cert is priceless!
Out of all of the holos I feel like Gyarados is one of the most intricate. I was honestly looking at the swirls and patterns for ages. Truly a great card!
When I get a chance I’ll get a photo of my last holo, Raichu and then I’ll get a photo with all of them together. If you’re still reading…thanks!, there will be plenty more updates soon to come
Edit: I’ve reduced the image size on all of my photos so each photo can fit on desktop screen. Was uploading on tapatalk and didn’t realise how big the pics were.
A little while ago I ventured into the realm of Japanese Pokémon cards. I bought this big holo lot thanks to someone posting about it in the GAT. The cards range from Base-Neo and I’ve arranged them by set. I didn’t really know what to expect with these but I thought it would give me a good start and mix of Japanese cards
Out of the lot these are the cards I believe have a good shot at getting a PSA 10(I can’t give the eye test to centreing yet with Japanese cards so I could be a bit off with that). I should have a few now to send off to @smpratte for my first ever grading submission I know some of these won’t be worth much, even in the 10 but it’ll be fun nonetheless.
Last but not least I got one of my fav artworks (prob PSA 9). Looks perfect besides a bit of whitening on the front left. I just want to say how impressed I am with the holos of the Japanese cards. Even the ones in EX condition have virtually no holo scratches. They look flawless. I’m not sure if this is consistent with Japanese cards or if they were just well looked after.
Another one starts. I decided after getting all of the PSA 9 1st ed base holos I’ll move onto the non holos now. I can tell you it’s a lot more relaxing collecting these as I feel I have plenty of time to do so. To make things a bit more interesting I’m only getting cards that have the new PSA logo. Thanks to @teraz @shizzlemetimbers @garyis2000
and some ebayers who have well and truly helped get me on my way with these. Even with a spreadsheet I managed to get some duplicates lol. Here is what I’ve got so far:
Rares
Uncommons
Commons
Trainers and energies
I would also like to give a special mention and a massive shoutout to @teraz . I bought only a few cards off of him and this is what he included in my package as a gift! I was absolutely blown away by this show of generosity. I’ll be sending off the horn to get graded. As for the Neo box well… not sure if I want to open it yet I need to have a think about it. It’s things like this that really makes me feel like we are not just a collecting forum at E4, we’re a community.
Thanks for following my thread and I’m looking forward to sharing many more things that come across my path in the future
One of my favourite sets is the southern islands and I finally found a good price for a sealed one. I never felt that much urgency getting this as they are always readily available. I think the artwork on these cards are just great, especially considering they make a bigger picture when joined together.
So I’m going to get this and the Japanese southern islands graded together in sequential order. I’m thinking about getting another one so I can choose the better quality versions of each card (as many 10s as possible). Oh and yes I went ahead and opened the Neo packs… 2 holos and a szisor non holo not bad!
Anyone who’s been following my thread knows I’ve been opening one 1st edition gym challenge pack from a box every Saturday.
In my first 11 packs I got 4 holos so not too bad. Here is the next 13 weeks worth. The last row shows the holos I’ve gotten. So 3 out of 13 ain’t too good really, especially when 2 of those holos were trainers! Actually out of the 13 rares I’ve pulled, 8 have been trainers. I think I went on a run where I got 4 trainers in a row haha. The shining light however, is that after that barren run I got a flawless Blaine’s Charizard. It just really illustrates the highs and lows of pulling cards yourself and is what makes it fun really. You just never know what’s inside. I still find this as being the funnest part of the hobby (and a box lasts me 9 months) but I can imagine opening a PSA return box and finding out the grades would be pretty exciting too!
So anyway this leaves me with 12 more boosters in the box and then I’m done… and to start another one I guess ha
Introducing my next lot of 1st edition base PSA 9 card. Thanks in most part once again to @teraz. Awesome seller. Can’t speak any higher of this guy and look forward to whenever I buy cards off of him.
Rares and Uncommons
Commons
Trainers
And the original 3. Just looking at them together brings back some fond memories. Back to where it all began and where I chose…
…this little guy! Still one of my favs (and favourite evolutionary line).
And so after 9 months i have opened my very last packet of my gym challenge box. The following photo shows what I got in my last 12 packs
Overall I got 13 holos, including 3 holo trainers and the highlight being Blaine’s Charizard. I’m not sure what I was going to do with these but I guess I’m only 7 holos away from a complete set so might pick up some singles. FYI in all of the packs I only managed to get one complete common/uncommon set (guess it’s quite a large set). Highlight of the box would have to be pulling the Sabrina’s Gengar… two weeks in a row. Absolutely my favourite card in any set so I’m stoked to have that
Wow it’s been over a year since I’ve posted here. So many more cards have been added to my collection, which I’ll add over the next few months. I’ll start with this though. All of those gym challenge packs that I opened have finally been graded!
I tried to recreate the photo, even with the very rare golduck holo haha.
Overall out of the 12 holos I got seven PSA 10s and five PSA 9s. Non Holos were a similar ratio, 16/24 PSA 10s.
Oh and I got my fav card in a 10. What an adventure. If anyone is thinking about opening a box, if you can deal with any losses, it’s such a fulfilling experience.
