I would like to discuss the desirability of trophy cards vs set cards, specifically base set. This is not intended to be divisive, but to actually create a meaningful conversation on the topic.
I’ve been in the hobby a few years now and like most people I started with collecting base set as that is what I grew up with and have nostalgia for.
I had no knowledge of trophy cards as a kid, nor as an adult when I came back to the hobby. I have no nostalgia for trophy cards.
It is curious to me that trophy cards are considered to be the top of the hobby when most people do not know they even exist until being in the hobby for a long time.
I understand trophy cards are more rare than base set cards, but just because something is rare does not mean make it automatically desirable. Lots of collectibles are rare and people still do not want them.
Whereas every kid that grew up in 1999 knows about base set and we all wanted Charizard. There is a natural interest / nostalgia / desirability that exists for base set cards that just does not exist with trophy cards.
When I look at a trophy pikachu, there is no desire or nostalgia whereas when I look at base set Charizard there is great excitement.
Maybe you grew up knowing about trophy cards and you have that nostalgia and that is the difference.
Do you have desire to own a trophy card? There is no right or wrong! For me, I’d rather have a PSA 10 1st edition Zard!
People collect what they enjoy collecting. Obviously nostalgia is a great starting point for many, myself included.
But the median age on this forum is probably late 20s. At what age does someone stop having childhood nostalgia? 10? 12? Yet cards from 2005 onward are still highly desired by many users, set cards along with trophy cards.
I love collecting cards I didn’t know about as a kid – including ones that hadn’t been released yet! AKA everything from this decade! I am grateful to have the mindset that Pokemon as a whole is fun to collect and not just the cards I grew up with. I think it is natural to start with what you remember fondly and then explore other cards. Especially because, with the exception of an unlucky few, most Pokémon have gotten an array of new releases since '96.
People come back for nostalgia. Once back, they discover trophy cards and get into that. The reason trophy cards are more desirable is the rarity. Having a card that only a handful of people in the entire world has is a great feeling.
I think you hit the nail on the head in your comments. It is a matter of collector style/preference. Some like to collect for nostalgia while others collect for rarity. Still others just collect what has visual appeal or speaks to them, and yet others collect with the thought of future investment return in mind. I think I am a little of all of these, which sucks because I can never afford a lot of what I would like to have in my collection. I own zero trophy cards - for rarity I would prefer the error cards and hard-to-find promos because those are still obtainable financially for me. I do have a lot of vintage (and my kids own a lot of newer stuff - Evolutions set, Unbroken bonds set, Hidden Fates set, Champion’s path set).
If you feel that because you were not aware of them when you were younger they are now not as desirable to you personally then that is a reflection of your collector preference. I would not condensed to call you a “smooth brain” for felling that way.
The difference between trophy cards and expensive set cards is the natural result of the difference in the ways this hobby is enjoyed.
I personally see TCG collecting as a vehicle with two distinct drivers:
Collecting for its own sake
Collecting as nostalgic participation
Base Set can be both. I do not have a nostalgic connection to Base Set, but its position in history and significance to the English TCG ultimately drove me after a decade to pursue a PSA 10 1st Edition Base Set Charizard. But you won’t find me buying into breaks of base set boxes because I don’t connect with that experience and the physical opening of a booster pack is not an exciting experience for me. But as a whole, Base Set seems to me to represent a collective nostalgic icon from a specific time period (apx. 1999-2001) and its value is ultimately based on this. Base Set prices react more elastically in response to cultural trends (though I admit that relatively high availability is also a large influence on this behavior).
Trophy cards are inherently limited and thus diametrically positioned against nostalgic interests. The rarest cards are driven in scarcity by the limited purpose they serve. Only the best, only the few, only at this place in time. These tap into a more innate desire to complete. The “collector as curator” model explains the interest in trophy cards as the ultimate expression of comprehensive display. Where set cards may be available in some conditions to nearly everyone at all times, trophy cards may only appear on rare occasions. With extreme financial resources relative to the average hobbyist, you still may not ever complete a collection of trophy cards. That challenge is enticing and it works in tandem with the interests of historian collectors to drive prices insofar as the niche collective is willing to go to achieve their ends. In this way, we find trophy cards less burdened by general market trends and more erratic in price, though still influenced by the breadth of interest in the hobby as a whole by virtue of the niche’s capturing a portion of every new wave of collectors.
One of the beautiful aspects of trading card collecting is the accessibility of the hobby and the universality of the way it appeals to collectors. There are countless “ways to collect.” And the rules are freeform. This can leave a lot of people scratching heads at why someone else would go to such lengths for cards that they do not themselves find appealing. But when you look at the core motivations of collectors and the philosophical underpinnings of the methods that form familiar habits and patterns amongst us, I think that a very short selection of reasons for going on is laid bare. And I think these primary motivations are the reason that high prices localize in only a few very distinct categories. All paths are unique, but most ultimately lead to specific cards that form the “high end” of the hobby, as we often refer to it.
There are other paradigms that could be drawn out, such as “collectors as investors” and “collectors for the sake of showing off,” but I leave them out because I find that they mostly trade on credit built on the backs of the models I’ve identified above.
Something I forgot to mention earlier, the idea that trophies are somehow not nostalgic is complete nonsense. The reason I started collecting trophies is because of the nostalgic art. Its that classic hand drawn style, some the literal images from gameboy guides and 90s magazines.
This is a great point. I have thought that the desirability of a trophy card comes from the chase of acquiring the card and having an item other people do not have more so than people actually liking the card itself.
This is almost certainly an exceptional position. Trophy cards could never reach the level they have if this was the path by which the majority of people came to attribute great value to them.
Everyone has their preferences and their own reasons for collecting.
Like many on this forum I was active in the hobby for all of WOTC. So I have a strong nostalgic connection to those cards. There are tons of them I do not own. Especially PSA-graded WOTC…
I enjoy collecting master sets. I could probably spend the rest of my life chasing PSA 9 master sets of WOTC, and I’d still never finish. I’m not even sure I’ll amass enough discretionary capital in my entire lifetime to complete that goal. If I somehow did manage to get a master set of all of WOTC, what next? I’d move onwards into the ex era… The chase never ends, the goal is truly unattainable.
If I can’t complete my nostalgic-trigger goal, why would I even think about cards from a different language which I have no connection to? For me the Japanese trophies are a curiosity and nothing more. I literally don’t have the funds to give them more than a passing thought. This hobby is just way too big, and there’s way too many other things to stay busy with.
@funmonkey54, I think if you asked most trophy card owners, especially for the original trophies, they would agree the art is a major factor. Its why no one collects trophies post 2010, because the art isn’t desirable.
Would you say your desire to own trophy cards is driven more by your desire to have them as a kid or your desire to have a rare item in your collection ? Or is it something else entirely?
I guess I am saying that there is not inherent interest in trophy cards because people don’t know about them. (At least that was the case for me. Maybe you did know about them as a kid.)
Whereas interest in base set is almost universal for Pokemon fans. Everyone knows about base set Charizard.
I started back in the hobby wanting all PSA 9 WOTC 1st edition holo set cards. I did that in a couple years. At the time I didn’t really “get” japanese cards or trophies.
Now I want all the trophy cards I like (which is most). I’ll never do that and it isn’t only becuase of price they are just super hard to find. I did do a full art pika set in a bit over a year though and the chase on those was super fun.
Different strokes for different folks as they say. Pratte starting off the conversation strong with his “smooth brain memes” comment, but we all know him (nor anyone else on this forum) fell in love with Pokémon and began collecting because of trophy cards.
Trophy cards are just the natural progression of this hobby just like it is with about anything else. I come from an automotive background and it is a similar thing. People might buy old cards because it’s what they drove with they were younger, or it’s what they wanted to drive when they were younger. You get that certain car and then you want more. You want different years, with rare options, etc.
People start collecting for different reasons, but typically their first item has personal connections. If I had to venture a guess, I would say most (not all) Pokemon collectors started with cards that had meaning to them, and for a lot of people, that is Base Set. But once you own multiple first ed zards then what? Sure, you will have purists who will collect very specific things and they only want more of that ONE thing. But a lot of people will move on to the next thing. The rarer thing, the more expensive thing. Trophy cards in this hobby is what those next things are for a lot of collectors.