What is one thing that stands out about collectors 2, 5, 10 years ago vs now?
I remember searching on Facebook in 2019 for a very rare card, call it “Eeveelution staff regional.” There was a 3 year old post of someone looking for that same card. I commented on their post asking if they found one and if so, how. They replied and said they found it and was able to instantly point me in the direction of where to get my own copy.
Nowadays if you find a post more than 5 days old, that person likely already sold the card, or wont reply because they already moved on from the hobby.
At one point there were zero cults of personality in the hahbee. Feels bizarre to think about that now. That started to change for the worse around 2014, like most things.
The people with experience have backed off from providing their input because they get 10 “new people” who think they know more. Probably gets old after awhile
There was a time where there was no Pokémon investing community. Where there were high tier, high value collectors, but they were a) few and far between, and b) not seen as desirable to emulate. Where Pokémon was, frankly, lame. The real crazy marker, there was a time period where my mother in law would never have thought to ask me about Pokémon.
I sometimes think about being bullied in high school and in only the collecting aspect, miss the days when playing at Saturday leagues was a well kept secret
Everything is louder & money is at the forefront. However you have more options available; better ways to buy & sell, more conventions to experience, etc.
As a side note to op: if it’s the generic ‘is this still available’, i ignore because more often than not, it’s a waste of time to respond to someone who doesn’t write something of their own. I have yet to ever receive a response when replying to those automated messages, so that may be part of the reason you aren’t getting a response if you are using that quick message. I wouldn’t be so quick to assume a post that is ‘more than five days old’ is already sold as I mark my listings and remove then when sold. Not everyone does, but it’s a good means to keep track of everything you still have for sale instead of guessing.
As for my personal notice of change, the local league/play pokemon events had changed in it’s overall atmosphere when the trading cards became more about pricing everything out. I stopped attending at around the end of sun/moon beginning of sword and shield. Some of my local lcs’ just weren’t the same after the plandemic. Played in league during base-rocket era, and it was all about comrodery and earning enough points to get a chance to earn those damn kanto gym badge pins. Nowadays, there’s it’s more focused towards the monetary aspects of the hobby. Not necessarily a bad thing per say, but the nerdy good fun instances in league is far and few between in comparison. Spent weekends with two of my good friends in college preparing for regionals, sleeping in cars, and ransacking mcd’s while heading to a regionals/internationals event. Could be that I lost connection with them over the years and out of college now, but those experiences just don’t happen any more at least from what i’ve seen.
Right?! They have actually tightened things up a lot in the last 12 months. Vintage buy-ins are a lot lower calibre and things are usually priced more in line with online sales.
I’ve noticed a lot more young collectors (late teens - 20’s) than there used to be in there (besides the usual loud children), mostly buying cheap modern singles for specific collections, from what I generally find through conversations at the counter. Very different from the regular older collectors that used to haunt the place whenever I visited.
I’d call these people schemers. Not quite scammers, but they have an angle, and it’s all about hustling that extra dollar so they can go blow it on luxury goods. We’re totally heading for the Elysium-type reality… You might think Wall-e, but in fact, no one will be content to sip iced tea next to someone who can’t afford a moonbreon card… even tho there are a bajillion of them.
The greatest shift is that everything is not being optimized, but everything is being commodified. Investments of course, but professions, hobbies, even relationships. I got ebay msgs last years from collectors who wanted to meet up or find out what grades I got, and now every message is about money and profit is some way.
I believe the majority of new people don’t care as much about investment/money as we think. The actual people I see who collect cards (not to be confused with the loudest and most prominent voices on social media) are pursuing a legitimate interest in the cards. There are other ways that the money aspect has changed collecting, but I am not as cynical as some.
What has changed significantly is the social acceptance of collecting. Whether this is a wider social shift or because we aren’t all in high school or college anymore I’m not sure, but it is a major change. Sharing your Pokemon collection is cool now.
Ended up trading it for my 1st ed Zord, so that Lugia was more than worth the purchase.