People like WOTC because it’s what we grew up with. So of course some folks would prefer collecting the exact cards we had when we were kids rather than Japanese. I think this is limited to entry level or more casual collectors. Once you get a little more serious with the hobby I think people quickly realize how much is out there and how amazing Japanese cards are.
Also I’m not really sure where you’re getting people think WOTC came up with all of this. I was 9 in 1999 and even then we all knew these were Japanese cards that were translated and rereleased in English.
My point was that despite the TCG being Japanese, people still give WotC - which simply translated the game and slapped on hideous yellow borders - undue credit; just read the last comment on this thread below. That sentiment is definitely popular.
Not sure where you grew up in the nineties, but that’s certainly not how I remember them. In the dubbed version of the Pokémon anime, they called an onigiri a “doughnut” because it’d be too confusing otherwise. That pretty much epitomizes how sheltered Western audiences were.
I have definitely heard this said about WOTC cards too, specifically Skyridge but also I have heard some misinformation that Wizards came up with a number of the card game rules and/or had a significant hand in designing the game.
I just called it Pokemon as a kid, didn’t even know what WOTC was. But for whatever value you place on it, a lot of us wouldn’t be here today without that western exposure. Maybe Pokémon would be just another Japanese anime that I had never heard about in the US.
This seems like a weird hill to die on. Sure, WotC were middlemen: but they still manufactured and distributed the cards we love. It makes perfect sense that we’d use their name for that era of cards.
Periodisation is always weird, and obviously you can do different things (I think people don’t generally think of e-series as WotC), but in this case it refers to a pretty tangible thing.
I don’t think it’s that strange for people to prefer to collect the exact cards we had when we were kids (that just happened to be made by WOTC). Or even today to prefer to collect cards in their native language. I wouldn’t call that a “western superiority complex.” Is what I’m saying.
I also doubt any of the original team or the artists are losing sleep over WOTC perhaps getting too much credit considering it made them all multi millionaires. They’re offended all the way to the bank, as my dad would say.
You know what I remember? How amazing it was to be alive during that time, how EVERYBODY was excited about pokemon, hanging out, trading, having a good time with your friends and neighbors and classmates. You know what I don’t remember? Them calling an onigiri a doughnut in one episode of the anime.
I totally understand what you’re saying. I know many purchase new school items, thinking it will change their life down the road, and preach that they know their stuff.
I assume they are not in a good place financially and probably have not had anyone teach them or put in the work to educate themselves about finances. Obviously, it is not that exciting to most, haha.
Because I assume that I respect that they are “trying” to invest. I like seeing that they are pushing forward rather than kicking back and complaining. I assume the boxes will go up in cost down the road, so it would be better than sitting on cash, IMO.
To close, I do enjoy talking crap to those who are disrespectful. Always down to lip off to them… the low road is enjoyable at times
I actually kinda disagree with people not taping toploaders, i’ve had many letters where the card has partially slipped out of the toploader and sleeve that i try to avoid that myself when sending cards by putting a small piece of paper on the open side of toploader and taping it close with masking tape. Card can’t get out, no tape glue on card, easy to remove, everyone wins.
As for my actual pet peeves:
-Fake hype on ig when every half decent card pulled gets dozen of BRO THAT’S WICKED!! comments
-the toxic invest culture with zero interest in actual hobby, usually people who would sell their grandma of they made 5$ with it
-PROMOTE ON TCGBULL
-people who care enough to sell modern bulk cards individually but don’t care enough to check if the language is what they are saying
People who complain that their opponents in PTCGO / PTCGL concede rather than waste time knowing they are extremely likely to lose. It’s obvious these folks only play online because games are strict time limited IRL and conceding is critical at times so the next game won’t end in a tie. To the extent it would be considered rude / annoying to play out turns knowing you have zero path to a win.
I don’t think the issue is as innocuous as labeling for a certain period. By way of analogy, calling certain card sets “WotC” is sort of like calling it “Penguin War and Peace” or “Penguin Anna Karenina.” Does Penguin deserve credit for arranging translators and publishing an English translation of the Russian original? Sure - but the author remains Leo Tolstoy, who should properly get the lion’s share of the credit (and not just because his name is Leo).
It’s the same with WotC. Presumably the PTCG was so well loved in the 90s because of the art on the cards and the gameplay mechanics. It was the Japanese who were responsible for both - not WotC (whose involvement would not have been necessary had they not been patent trolls).
And yet, somehow, the American patent troll that thinks Pokémon is a half-baked, cartoonish franchise undeserving of serious consideration gets credit for the heart and soul of something that they merely translated (with tons of errors) and did a shitty job of manufacturing.
As an Asian American, I remember we talked about that a lot. It was like the message was “your food and your culture are too weird, we need to sterilize it before it’s fit for general consumption.”
To you, it’s probably just one small detail you never remembered. For us, this was symbolic. Things like this gave us this lingering doubt that maybe we were the odd ones out among our classmates and other peers, and maybe we ought to be apologetic about our lunch boxes smelling weird.
Not that these aren’t still problems nowadays, but I don’t remember the 90s as some paradise for kids. Perhaps that’s why nostalgia has little appeal for me.
It’s also why WotC getting so much credit for the PTCG is more than just a mere annoyance for me - it’s part of a larger, more problematic narrative. The Japanese had come up with the art and the gameplay mechanics - essentially the heart and soul of the PTCG - prior to WotC’s involvement, but somehow WotC gets credit for them? What, is it because anything good needs to have come from the West?
People who don’t care about sleeving holos or reverse holos - fine, that’s your choice - but then want to charge mint prices…
There are even whales in my local group who don’t seem to sleeve ‘hits’ out of the pack, just casually leaving them in a pile first and then want to charge more than market price because we’re not in the US and if called out, then you’re the one with a problem…
Sleeving immediately after opening is overrated. That card already went through hell and back to get into that pack during the manufacturing process. Putting the cards on a stack and sleeving later doesn’t seem like a huge problem.
Uncut sheets are slid and placed on top of another one. After the cards are cut, they are stacked on top of each other, then fed individually into the stack that goes into the pack. The amount of shuffling of the cards inside the factory far exceeds the shuffling you described from stacking the cards during the opening and then putting them in sleeves afterwards.
If this behavior isn’t for you, I’d suggest to stop watching videos from these people and don’t buy their cards. As for the premium for being local cards, that exists everywhere. I paid $2 for a Japanese common bulk card that is 5 yen in Japan. I paid $20 for a Korean card that is $2 locally in South Korea. I paid $25 for a French card that is $3 in France. Etc etc.
And yet, as I said, even with all that going on in the factory, ‘pack fresh’ holos and reverse holos don’t generally have scratches until it comes out of the pack and thrown into bulk or dragged across tables etc.
