Okay, it’s time for a collection thread.
I thought I might start with the earliest pieces and memories, but I’ll save those for another time. Instead, I’ll begin with some of my favorites I obtained in the last year and a half, a period that directly corresponds with my time on the forum.
This is the first graded card that this binder collector kept encased:
One of the best. Like the Masaki promos, I first encountered Grand Party when browsing in shops in Japan a couple years ago. The hobby instantly had that much more depth for me as a result. And while Grand Party was common enough to come across in multiple stores in different cities, it was still apparently rare enough to always be placed amongst the heavy hitters on the top shelves of the display cases. It caught my attention every single time. I mean, the card is simply striking. AND its name is Grand Party!
But what did I do? For better or worse, I decided to hold off in order to pursue the cards on the list I had drawn up before the trip. There was, however, a distinct moment I had in a store in Nagoya where I said to myself:
I decided to go for it last January. It really was meant to be. And then, shortly after that, I pursued the fine set of cards in the two pictures below.
At first, part of me wanted to save the Masaki cards for a future trip to Japan, but I am, of course, glad I didn’t go with that idea (as nice as it seemed at the time). It was realized that these, Grand Party, and the Vending Series sets were unquestionably my “must have” cards for 2020. It took a little more time, but I eventually found each one. Which is the best, the Gengar or Alakazam? I’m not sure if I can decide anymore. Regardless, this set of fantastically illustrated promos with a particularly storied past was shared in one my initial posts on E4, and now here they are in my own collection thread.
I made an effort to start collecting the Vending Series cards one by one in the spring of last year. That’s probably why I feel inclined to share this group of cards now—I associate them with the season. In any case, these sets, as many you already know, are not to be overlooked. They bring so much creativity and what some might call “soul” to the vintage card scene, not to mention they are the very fountainhead from which the legendary Masaki and Red and Green Quick Starter Gift Set holos arose. (You may be detecting a slight bias towards shiny cardboard, but for that your humble narrator cannot be entirely blamed.)
As mentioned in an earlier post, I obtained my first Vending Cards back in 2003 when I was in high school. My friends gave me both Haunters and the Mewtwo from Series 3 for Christmas. (We had a tradition of buying each other “lesser known” cards of favorite Pokémon from PokeOrder for the holidays. The more random, we thought, the better.) Then, when visiting my hometown in 2015, I bought 15 unpeeled sheets (from Series 1 and 3) at an antique shop for 75 cents each. The store was oddly enough located just a few doors down from the comic shop where I bought my very first cards in 1999. (RIP Krypton Comics & Collectibles (insert sad Pika here)). I decided to only unpeel about half of the sheets that day.
I think it was late March when I printed off the set lists and start searching around to see what was available. There was quite a lot. Plenty of affordable NM+ cards were scattered across eBay to make a more or less mint binder set a feasible goal. I bought a mix of raw singles, unpeeled sheets, and PSA 9 and 10 cards. I have to say, it was so incredibly fun collecting these in a piecemeal way as I had a lot of time to enjoy the unique art on each one as they slowly came in from around the country. At the same time, since these were fairly accessible, I was still able to complete the sets within three months. (Interestingly, I ended up getting the CoroCoro promos last month, almost exactly one year after I started to collect these.)
Putting all of the pictures of these in spoilers is probably best. If you want to see the set, you can pull out the binder here:
Vending Series Binder Collection
And finally, the last cards to be viewed and discussed here are the Quick Starter Gift Set holos. These are some of my most recent and undoubtedly my biggest cards of 2021. I am thrilled to have them in my collection. They were on the list last year, though they just didn’t quite make it into the “must get before world melts down” section. Still, I had my eyes on them. I was later thinking I must’ve noticed them on the above-mentioned trip—my memories of them, however, are a little hazy. In any event, it was when I saw them occasionally posted and discussed on E4 that I grew more and more fond of them.
My two favorites, and the main driving forces for collecting the set, are the Articuno and Scyther. These arguably rank amongst the finest. Right, it’s absolutely not true that all holo versions are that much better than their non-holo counterparts, but the feature on these two clearly takes them beyond to a separate realm of beauty. Just amazing. And since we’re on the topic, what other cards from the Vending Series do you think would have made for top-tier holos? The Lapras and Pinsir immediately come to mind.
Alright, that is everything for this opening round. I appreciate you taking the time to have a look—I’ve definitely had some of the most fun going through all of your different collection threads this last year and a half.
Hold on. Actually, my wife’s Clefairy (it goes by Pippi) is throwing an after party. Drinks are in the kitchen. Also, here’s a full picture of the background setup in the living room as well as the photography crew:
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