Collector’s tip: Share the hobby with others and always keep an eye and an ear out for those who want to do the same. It’s important to be knowledgeable in your hobby and it’s important to know that there is always still more to learn. This is especially true when you start branching beyond Pokémon’s TCG and into its other merchandise (and of course to any other collectible beyond Pokémon). Personally, I find lots of fun in explaining what I do in terms of the TCG, I find great joy in the show-and-tell that comes with some of my rarer Pokémon plush, and I love listening to what others have to say about their hobbies.
Something personal:
Once upon a time I was very, very into drawing, and pretty much exclusively in ballpoint pen. When I was in high school I dreamed of working at Pixar (funny enough, my ex-girlfriend from those days now works there…!) but life happened and I’ve moved on to other dreams I’m working towards.
Any who, I’d argue I can draw better with a pen than with a pencil:
Here’s a fun drawing I did on my old phone:
Maybe one day I’ll make a thread and show some more of my work.
Something personal: I used to make humanoid plushies I was only an amateur but I loved doing it, though it ended up being a pretty expensive hobby because good fabrics tend to be expensive, and even felt can be pretty pricey considering you need large amounts of it. I kinda miss it sometimes, but then again I don’t have room to just have plush dolls everywhere XD
a few examples:
Quick chess story. Over 45 years ago, I worked at a store called Chess & Games Unlimited. We had a brand new chess computer on display which Bobby Fischer would come in and play. He would seriously criticize its ineptitude. He never spoke to any of us. Very anti social. One time though he did come in with Maureen McCormick who was the little hotty from The Brady Bunch.
That’s Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, First of Her Name, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons, right?
Correct! More so Emilia Clarke than Daenerys from the reference, but that’s her! Fun fact: the drawing smells funny. It smells like just… ink. So much old ink!
Something About Me
I didn’t go to college and my high school attendance was around 60% for my final year of high school. A lot of people tell you that you can’t get anywhere without a degree but that’s not true. I taught myself programming and went on to contract for multiple product teams at Microsoft, have been leader developer for high value application contracts, built prototypes that were showcased in keynotes at conferences with over 15,000 developers and funnily enough tech reviewed publications for other developers and wrote college courses and labs for computer science degrees even though I never attended college myself.
Not knocking college or anything, but you can do whatever you want if you work hard at it and build the right connections, in most cases you don’t need a piece of paper to tell you that you can do something. You don’t need to be in massive debt before you even start working. A lot of kids including myself get told that you’ll never amount to anything if you don’t do well in school or get a degree and it’s not true.
Collecting Tip
Don’t rush into buying anything, make sure you do your research and assess the risks and worst case outcomes. If people are already talking about an opportunity than you’re probably too late, you want to be the one to recognise an opportunity and take advantage of it first - not join the bandwagon and get caught buying at the top during the hype and losing your ass. You achieve this by being engaged, analysing available data to support your theory and making an educated guess. After all, we’re all just guessing what the market will do … but those that are constantly guessing correctly aren’t just getting lucky.
Collector’s Tip: Collect that which YOU value most, rather than what everyone else judges to be the best.
Something about me: I used to work in Web Development but unfortunetly had to leave that profession due to sexism and a bunch of other stuff. I now work as a Disability Carer, and I very much like my work.
Gotta add this one tip and I know it’ll sound crazy. This just happened tonight.
Either don’t get bigger than you can easily handle
Or
Just don’t get old
Here’s what I remember about the card pictured below…ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
I was straightening out the mess inside my large ottoman (last picture) and I found this card.
I don’t know where I got it or when, whether through trade, purchase, or pulled years ago. I’ve had the ottoman for many years and it contains box cutlers, screw drivers, card supplies, mailing supplies, markers/pens, etc. I keep it covered in a blanket (see pic) so the little girl doesn’t get into it.
This card is almost a lock 10 and it’s always been worth enough money whereas I should never have forgotten about it.
Depending on when I got it it’s probably a good thing I forgot about it. I might have sold it and now the values higher lol.
Did I transact with anybody here for this card?
Thank you! I’ve done a few commissions (never anything this serious) but yeah! Never really picked it up. Besides, when I was drawing a lot, I was in college, still… and most of my friends would offer me $25 (seriously) for a pen drawing. I did do an Emma Watson one for $300, though, so that was nice. They take me about 10-20 hours on average depending on complexity. Emilia Clarke took almost 20 hours total. They’re small (about A4 size) and so adding detail is tedious work.
Collector Tip: Take risks. Ive built my collection from the ground up. Lost a good amount of money at the beginning but kept going knowing something had to give and it did. Found a low feedback seller about a year ago selling who i bought 7 first ed base holos from for $900 advetised as “NM” on tcgplayer. At the time 8s wouldn’t have even broke me even, but the blastoise and venusuar both graded gems.
Personal: I was attending UCLA, studying Chemistry, but just a few months ago dropped out. College was miserable, especially ucla. A lot of people there think they have to be there or their life will be miserable working at a McDonalds. I got a job through nepotism and now have more money to spend on pokemon and im waaaaaay happier. Making the decision to drop out took months from its first conception and there was a lot of people who were confused as to why i would leave such a good oppurtunity. Mainly the conservative people who think college then job is the best path for everyone, but in todays age theres so many people going to college that connections and experience are the only things thatll set you aside from everyone else.
I was only an amateur but I loved doing it, though it ended up being a pretty expensive hobby because good fabrics tend to be expensive, and even felt can be pretty pricey considering you need large amounts of it. I kinda miss it sometimes, but then again I don’t have room to just have plush dolls everywhere XD
good luck with the grade