What’s a PSA ladder collector? I’ve yet to hear that term
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A person that collects a sequence of grades of the same card, going from PSA 1 all the way to PSA 10 and all the .5 in the middle.
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Haha got it, thanks
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I’ve got a friend who’s into that and yeah… it’s pretty awful lol
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Here’s my hot take: while everyone is entitled to have their favourite generation/Pokemon/games etc. I do find it incredibly narrow-minded when someone says something like “Pokemon peaked at Gen 1/2 and went downhill after that.”
This isn’t aimed at anyone in particular but it’s certainly a sentiment that rears its head with audiences in their early to late 30s. Interestingly, you’ll find differing opinions if you talk with people in their early 20s, who tend to feel Gen 1 & 2 are some of the weaker ones and Gens 3-5 improved on the formula/visuals/Pokemon designs.
Just some food for thought. While I personally prefer the older Pokemon designs and pre-Gen 6 games, I always try to keep an open mind to new offerings from the franchise.
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It’s not just a Pokemon thing.
People of each age group always think what they liked is best, whether it’s music, sports, fashion or anything else people are passionate about.
I’m in my late twenties and the only TCG I ever collected was WOTC. I continued playing the games but I completely lost interest in the cards until recently getting back into it a few years ago
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(this is AI generated)
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I am in the same boat! There is nothing that could take away the nostalgia for gen 1, and even gen 2. But I also understand there are entire generations that grew up with each following era.
With that said, I think there is something to having less pokemon in gen 1 allowing them to get more airtime. There are now over 1,000, so not every new pokemon gets its day. Where I feel like I had an impression for most of the original 151. Not saying that inherently makes gen 1 superior, but I think its a legitimate difference that does benefit the original era.
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As far as gameplay mechanics go anyone who claims gen 1 or bust is factually incorrect as far as im concerned.
The introduction of double battles, physical/special splits, natures, ivs evs, types, moves added etc give so much depth to the fairly shallow concept that it started as.
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Good point! HGSS is on a whole other level compared to the original G&S.
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I have a lot of nostolgia for gens 1 to 3 but gameplay wise i always wanna play gen 3 for the quality of life improvements. I wont argue that pokemon design has slowly become less inspired because generally its pretty obvious that it has but still give me the fairy type in gen 2 over gen 2 vanilla anyway
Ie crystal advance over hgss and over crystal
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Lax/Tauros/Chansey/Star/Alakazam/Eggs x ∞ + constant crits + random freeze, Tauros speed tie or Psychic specs drop wins every game = best competitive gen ever
…I’ve yet to meet a genwunner that thinks so but I’m sure they’re out there. 
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Gen 3-5 are definitely the games I’m still picking up again and again years after release. While I got started on Pokémon red, it’s just not that great of a game. Great concept, real rough execution. In terms of designs, I prefer the early more animalistic designs, with the scruff and spikey, less rounded features.
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While there are certainly examples where this is true, there is measurable evidence that it sometimes, is false.
For examples, academics and professionals have recently analyzed pop music over the decades, to find that the amount of variation and range in pop music has declined steadily since the 70s. From a production standpoint, music is written by fewer artists themselves, and digital production techniques remove more vocal variance than analog did in “the old days”. (I figure that was an un-ironically fitting phrase to use.) So, if you judge by content, pop music today is plainly inferior, HOWEVER, the more clean and exact sound of digital may be better, but that’s a subjective element - digital vs organic - I say “fun” doesn’t exist without happy organic accidents. edit: Like me eating it on a hill today. It wouldn’t have been fun if I’d known I could have done it perfectly every time. 
Music is an easy test case, since it is largely mathematically derived, and analyzed, but perhaps, it’s not the only one…
There is certainly something to be said for having fewer references. New stuff in an existing group is never free of what came before. However, the first stuff didn’t have anything to compare it to. It’s important we try to look at things in a vacuum if we want to judge. Which is hard, yes?
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Wow heartless! 
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I’d agree with that. I played red/blue/yellow at release but for some reason gens 2 and 3 hit a little harder in the nostalgia department.
I’m still hoping Pokémon will release a classic collection or whatever you want to call it for the Switch. Being able to play these old games in my TV would be amazing.
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I find sealed product incredibly boring to collect. Displaying my favorite cards is much more appealing than a sealed box that ~may~ contain that card. I understand if you want to hold scarce sealed product to speculate on a future market, but people truly collecting and displaying a fairly boring box over a beautiful card from that set baffles me.
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Some of the artwork for the packs has been stunning - especially from AKIRA EGAWA. However, I would not buy a box for that reason lol.
It seems like more of a front so that they aren’t accused of being speculators.
If anything, the ETBs can potentially be display pieces but you don’t need to keep them sealed for that. They are functional unlike the remnants of a booster box. The ETB also gives you the pack artwork printed on cardboard too on the reverse.
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The physical special split is a huge one. Some pokemon were not as good prior to gen 4 bc like gengar is a special attacker but ghost was a physical type, for example (then they took away levitate sadly). Some were downright unusable. Especially also considering shallow move pools. Thats my main negative when i play older games
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