When I was around 5 or 6 years old, my mom bought me some Base set packs from a clothing store. I can still recall the excitement I felt as I ripped open the packs on my bed, eagerly anticipating what treasures lay inside. However, to my disappointment, each of the first 4 or 5 packs contained nothing but ordinary cards. I couldn’t help but wonder why anyone would bother collecting these cards if they were all so plain.
But just as I was about to give up hope, I opened the last pack and my luck changed. To my amazement, I found a Charizard! I was overjoyed and knew immediately that this was a special card. From that moment on, my interest in collecting and trading Pokémon cards grew exponentially, and that one lucky pull became a cherished memory of my childhood.
Starting with Zard? My 7 year old self would have been utterly jealous! I think Primetime did the same as well.
Pokemon is kind of unique as far as my interests go because I didn’t actually buy the first hit myself. I discovered Pokemon on a Monday or Tuesday at school and on Friday I met my mom (we didn’t live together at the time) and she had bought me two Blastoise packs on her own initiative before I had the time to tell her about this amazing new thing. Pulled a Magneton holo and an Electabuzz or a Dugtrio and the rest is history.
What keeps me going? Loving passionately is the only mode I’m familiar with, something either takes hold or it usually has little to no effect.
My older brother came back from a birthday party where everyone got a little goodie bag, and inside that bag was a base pack. He gave me a Staryu, and that’s where it all started…
Started as a kid I think I’ve learned how to read from the cards in my mothertongue.
Can’t really tell my first holo, but everything was Pokémon and I was very little from '99 to '02.
Started as an adult I’ve thought I could make my inner child stop crying if I bought him what he wanted now that I have Money.
The Sparkle were obviusly the promo card you couldn’t find in the packs as a child, now all together in full display ready to be taken.
Been pretty inconsistent in the middle, Pokémon weren’t always on my mind growing up.
But I’m recovering the time lost.
I have been a collector since before i even comprehended what collecting was. Before i knew what Pokemon was, I was a toddler who loved Thomas trains. I wanted to have everyone that was on the checklist that came with the trains and anyone i saw on the TV show. It naturally flowed into Pokemon when my interests in it developed and in terms of keeping me going. It’s just who i am at this point.
Modern really keeps me going. I love all eras, but Pokemon wouldn’t be as exciting if they stopped making the cards years ago. One of my favorite things is seeing new cards revealed and the chase of buying new sets at launch.
I remember that in 2016 I got interested in collecting because in the past I had Spanish 2011 McDonalds cards that I ended losing them. With the hopes of finding them again, I started collecting cards. I used to buy much Steam Siege and XY Evolutions from a local shop in my country.
One of my first pulls in my life as a collector is this Charizard … It’s from XY Evolutions (Reverse Holo). I still have it right now
That card made me continuing buying cards and boosters.
What motivated even more to keep collecting is the Nintendo e-Reader . I got interested in e-Cards because they had interesting content that can be seen using one of those peripherals. I bought in 2018 some e-Cards and I haven’t stopped since then.
What keep me going in collecting are friends because thanks to Pokémon TCG cards I’ve met wonderful people, my own objectives (like buying e-Cards) and also that I really enjoy Pokémon TCG.
Btw, I ended finding my McDonald’s 2011 Spanish cards in a box in January 2022. They’re saved right now (along with other cards of my collection)
Honestly it’s nostalgia. I love Pokémon because it was the first cartoon I watched. Plus my first video game. I think power rangers may have been in my life before but I’m not sure.
I have plushies and action figures.
I really like the cards it’s just a bit of a shame they are so expensive but I’m happy they get media attention.
I had a similar experience. First time opening a Pokemon pack (my first pack of cards ever) and I pulled a Charizard. It was Base Set 2 though, which of course most people aren’t huge fans of. From there, I built a small Pokemon collection and also got into Yu-Gi-Oh and MTG in the early 2000s which I spent the most time with. Interestingly, I kept all my old MTG cards, but I seemed to have misplaced most of the Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh cards I had as a kid.
When I returned to collecting a few years back, I was amazed how much I remembered from my childhood. I just sat there one night being like “I remember seeing all these cards at school” and remembered how I would find old Pokemon cards on the sidewalk or in the fields walking home as a kid. It was such a big thing back then, and now it almost feels even bigger. I became really nostalgic for all of it mainly. I’m so glad to see how the magic of it hasn’t really gone away, even if there’s been some drama along the way at times the past couple years.
I now enjoy collecting more than ever, and although MTG is still my preferred game to play, I have found considerable enjoyment in all the Pokemon cards that I didn’t experience collecting as a child and being part of this community of collectors and fans.
I’ve talked about it on my collection thread but it really was just me happening to walk in on two classmates acting like they were doing a drug sale as a 7 year old lmao they invited me over to look and bought my silence with a machamp lv.x that I no longer have since it was destroyed. I had no idea what pokemon was so I was incredibly intrigued, one of the kids I became good friends with and he would bring packs for us to open at recess or lunch and we would play his copy of pearl together. That really hooked me into collecting the cards and just being a fan in general.
Now what keeps me going? I’m not sure to be honest lol I still enjoy the games, even if they’re god awful, I enjoy collecting pokemon like its a drug. I love the cards and talking to people about them, and also just seeing new cards I’ve never seen. E4 has also made the bug worse at times as now I just want everything lol
