Time to sell. Flareon will forgive you.
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In a way, is this actually surprising?
Most cards actually don’t have a lot of PSA10 copies and that is where all the attention has gone in the influencer space. It would eventually bleed into that if that is all the consumers cared about.
It feels like the entry point for many people is no longer cards in binders and been conditioned towards graded plastic slabs.
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Yes, it is surprising. Cards aren’t meant to 5x in 6 months or 10x in two years. I suppose its pop is relatively low compared to modern chases these days, but it’s still excessive growth that will be difficult to sustain.
I agree that the entry point for Pokemon these days is graded cards. Definitely a big change since the COVID boom, where a lot of folks (myself included) were still collecting with binders.
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That was me my first year back. Came back becaue of the Vaporeon V and VMAX alts in eevee heroes but started being thrilled by the chase of packs and “prestige” of having super rare cards like ponchos more. Grading became a thing for me too, more as in investment/status thing than anything else.
Took about a year for me to course correct and really start going for art that really makes me feel good/at peace/mesmerized (if that makes sense). Collecting with my niece and nephew really helped reel me in since they get really excited for any card/pokemon they like regardless of value.
Also realized I hate slabs because they are plain ugly (other than TAG and ARS which make really nice display pieces)
There aren’t many old cards left for me to grab that I loved as a kid (92 baby) and still love now (and are affordable) other than the aquapolis slowpoke and tyranitar.
I gotta say it’s way more enjoyable collecting how I do now and having a collection I really enjoy looking at.
oh and unpopular opinion:
Even though the pop is lower because of crappy US quality control (graded and ungraded) Japanese cards that are NM should be worth more than their English counterparts (not counting certain language exclusives/exclusive promos) for people who are collectors and not players. It boggles my mind how people pay more for an inferior product 
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same but i dont mind it, lets me get modern espeon slabs in chinese that are higher quality than in english yet a third or a fourth of the price
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Ok but controversially, what really is historical?
People chase trophies that don’t even feature Pokemon. So, it was 1/2/3 of 2006 or whatever, so what? Was the tournament significant, was the winner?
If they made special cards commemorating the actual cards that won the tournament, then it might be more noteworthy. In that sense. the more widely available ‘Celebration Fanfare’ cards are more relevant since they feature seasonal archetypes.
Also, in the end, this is still just a mass produced commercial product whether it is a set card, a promo or a trophy card. It really is barely noteworthy in history.
I’d argue cards that actually have art featuring something contextual have more relevant ‘history’ to the franchise - so things like the Pikachu promos with the Galar and Paldea starters distributed with the game, Pokemon Centre opening promos or any generic card featuring the ‘evolution’ of the holofoil or rarity tiers.
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I rank Ken Sugimori’s art at around the same level as 5ban Graphics, which means very low on the art scale of Pokemon. It’s so boring and souless i don’t even want to look at it.
Mitsuhiro Arita, despite being recognized and appreciated, is I think still underated. He constitutes the gold standard art and style of Pokemon in my opinion.
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Crazy to me that you can insult the work of someone who has done so much for Pokemon!
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Agreed. Sure stock arts can be boring because we see them in merchandise and marketing materials, but they are necessary. Sugimori had to crawl so that Arita could soar.
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Psa 10 bubble
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care to elaborate?
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All the cards people point to as inflated sales are psa 10
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It’s mostly lower pop PSA 10s,
For many of those cards it is common for there to only be a few listings at any given time. Sometimes only one listing.
Those sellers can put their card up at whatever price they want, you’ll often see them listed at 3x-4x the last sale price.
In normal times no one actually buys those marked up cards. They just sit there ignored.
For whatever reason people are actually buying these cards. They see the marked up price and they think “well there are no cheaper ones around, so sure let’s pay 4x the last public sale!”
That kind of irrationality can only be explained by FOMO and euphoria. It’s classic bubble behavior.
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If they’re low pop after all these years, it must be because they’re hard to grade 
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Oh for sure most of them are. Still a 4x increase between two consecutive sales only 1-2 months apart is not normal market dynamics.
You only see that in times like we are currently in, where enough people are overconfident and/or afraid of missing out that they ignore any inner voice that might have otherwise held them back.
I’m not complaining, I’ve been selling some of these 10s. It’s still alarming to see.
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ah I didn’t see the earlier discussion and thought ‘pas 10 bubble’ was a standalone unpopular opinion. 
. Let’s not forget the good ole black label though
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Quite a few Gen 3 era ex cards are simultaneously insanely ugly and somehow also really cool.
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I know exactly which ones you’re talking about. A lot of Ryo Ueda does this for me
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Ryo Ueda is so polarizing but one of my favorites since he has done a vast range of promo cards. He has done some very iconic work like Mew Ex PLAY promo and also Burned Tower promo but then I look at some of his other cards and can’t believe it is the same artist.
Cheers!
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