Hello!
First of all, let me tell you the replies I received to my introduction already made me feel welcome! You’re an amazing community.
As I already mentioned, I’m a complete newbie about TCG collecting, but I decided to start an Oddish collection, because of… reasons. That pokémon holds a very important place in my heart!
The issue is since I’m a newbie at this, I sometimes find myself a bit lost and I have some very stupid questions.
First, let me tell you more about the rules I gave myself for this collection:
It’s meant to be like a fun treasure hunt, so shops, conventions, trading with my friends is ok, but no buying from the Internet.
I’m actively looking for Oddish cards in Italian or English that figure on my list; other things, such as cameos or cards in other languages, will be acquired anyway if it’s not too expensive to do so, but they are not my goal.
I compiled a list based on the guide made by a user of this forum, JoshsOddCollection (may God give you the glory you deserve). I added the latest cards and scratched some others (e.g. FOR NOW I’m not actively looking for promo cards, first editions, etc… In case I stumble upon them, rule #2 applies).
As you can see, I gave myself pretty achievable and easy standards since it’s my first try. Feel free to give me feedback on this if you think my rules are inconsistent or need changes.
Let’s move to the stupid questions now.
As I said, I based my list on JoshsOddCollection and also looked at oddish_collector’s doc on Instagram and other collections I found on this forum and elsewhere. I’ll post my questions here, but I’m also planning on contacting these people directly, hoping I’m not a bother. Anyway,
Some cards are listed as “holo” in some lists and “reverse holo” in others. Is it something I should concern myself with?
Some cards (for example, Oddish 58/64 from Jungle) are listed as “non-holo” only, in more than one list I checked. But then I saw this collection on Reddit… and I clearly see some “sparkle” where I didn’t expect it. Should I concern myself with that? Are those cards holo or not? If yes, how can I find out what holo cards are missing from my list?
I’m aware my questions are probably EXTREMELY stupid, so feel free to redirect me to existing resources I can read/watch if that can make you save some time.
hi!! welcome to E4 oddish is so cute, that’s such a great choice for a species collection!!! to try to answer some of your questions:
lists/people sometimes conflate the category of “holo” with “reverse holo”, is that what you mean? since all reverse holos are technically “holos” but not all holos are reverse holos. hopefully that makes sense lol. whether you want to collect the reverses or not is entirely up to you!! many people enjoy that but it’s a matter of preference.
the sparklies in that first photo in your link are stickers!! you can see they are slightly smaller than an actual card, and the owner has put a card behind them (probably to give them more weight/solidity in the binder). whether you wanna open up your collection to non-tcg is also entirely a personal preference!!
if you wanna dig into the species collecting resources available on E4 already, i recommend @citriina’s thread here:
Nice to see another species collection begin! Those sound like very good guidelines to begin with, and after all it’s your collection so you can whenever change whatever you want about it if that makes you more comfortable about your goals also, to add what @crindy mentioned, those holo stickers next to the actual jungle oddish cards are bootleg ones instead of official releases if that affects how you think about them
i’d avoid holos if i was just starting a collection (unless the card only comes in holo). focus on everything non-holo. this is typically the cheaper route. you’ll get a feel for collecting and familiarize yourself with good sellers and cards.
there are all sorts of holo varieties. regular holos, reverse holos, full art, and holos people give personalized names to (cosmos, cracked holo, etc). some of the older cards have the “1st edition” stamp on the bottom of the card and the “unlimited” cards do not. this can make or break a lot of collections in terms of cost and availability.
in short, put limitations on what you collect at the start. then you can expand. but it’s up to you.
They’re stickers?!
I would have NEVER guessed, you saved me a big headache!
As for my first question, I’m not entirely sure because the doc who listed them as “holo” also used “reverse-holo” for some other cards, so it doesn’t seem like they lump the two? Anyway, as you it’s my choice whether I collect them or not, so I will simply improvise a bit, see what I find and occasionally check on other sites. I’ll keep it fun, anyway.
Are the ones marked as ‘holo’ instead of ‘reverse holo’ from the EX era? For most of the EX era sets (for Oddish this applies to EX Hidden Legends, EX Unseen Forces, and EX Holon Phantoms), the reverse holos have a Holofoil artwork instead of the typical reverse holo you see in almost any other set. I personally distinguish them as ‘Reverse Holofoil’ vs ‘Reverse Holo’ in my own checklist, but this might be where the difference of ‘holo’ vs ‘reverse holo’ comes from in the Oddish checklists you’ve looked at.
oddish is so cute, that’s such a great choice for a species collection!!! to try to answer some of your questions: