Woopers and quagsires and wotc, oh my! (UPDATE: 1 remaining 151 wotc, international woop/quag mailbag)

hello!! i know i’m v new here, but i wanted to share where i’m at with my collection. i’m not new to collecting (ask me how it feels moving my record collection to a new apartment year after year :upside_down_face:), or to curation (collaging supplies aren’t easy to transport either :upside_down_face::upside_down_face:), but this is my first time interacting with my pokemon cards in 20-odd years. i’ll put some personal history in a little collapsible which you are welcome to skip if you’d like!

yapping about myself 😴

calling myself a 90s kid is stolen valor considering i was only alive for the latter half of the decade, but i had older siblings and was around older kids enough that i think i’m spiritually a millenial, and early pokemon hooked me immediately. i only ever saw maybe 5 episodes of indigo league, always at other people’s houses since my mom didn’t like it. but she let us have the cards, and i would pore over them before i could even fully read them. i also fell in love with the old pokemon figures (the collection was discovered probably 10 years ago and promptly given to my nephew but i may be able to get some pics eventually).

i would trace the pictures in the old 151+1 pokedex book and hang them on my bulletin board, alongside cards i especially loved. the rest of my cards were in one of those old snorlax wotc binders that i got at a garage sale, or in a shoebox that i covered in stickers (usually those shiny jpnanese sticker cards but also one inexplicable honey bucket brand sticker :woman_shrugging:). i loved getting the prebuilt decks despite never actually learning how to play the game itself, which means my childhood collection is teeming with many multiples of the same card lol since i never understood that the prebuilt decks always had the exact same cards. at some point my cousin gave me his old copy of pokemon crystal, and i was even more hooked than before.

sadly around fourth grade or so i became hyper aware of how most of the girls didn’t actually care about pokemon, and little sheep that i was i hid away my shoebox, set down my gameboy, and threw away my pictures. although of course i grew up and realized it was silly to base my interests on what everyone else cared about, i never got back into modern pokemon cards or games. but i still love playing crystal, and it was a delight to rediscover the box and the binder and to rekindle my love of the cards :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: end autobiography section!!

pictured: the author’s only friends in the world

i’ve learned a lot in my short time on the fourum, both from the species collectors and general collectors, and it’s helped me shape my goals. i don’t wanna put more plastic into the world and separate myself from the cardboard; the tactile sense of them is rlly important (just one woman’s opinion :smiling_face:). so no slabs. that also means nothing too too valuable, as i don’t want anything so precious that i’m afraid to take it out and hold it. binder collections, on the other hand, especially with the personal touches (michi?), have me in a chokehold!! it’s like collaging, in a way, and i love it. so that’s where i’ll be focusing.

right now i have two projects, which i painstakingly laid out in an excel sheet with images clipped in before realizing there were websites built for that exact purpose lmao.

crindy’s current projects:

  1. binder dedicated to wotc gen 1
  2. binder dedicated to wooper and quagsire

when #1 is crossed off i want to do the same for gen 2 but i’m trying to limit myself lol. in the meantime i moved all of my old gen 2/3 cards to an auxiliary binder for uncurated safekeeping.

i think this journal format lets only me respond to myself, so i’m gonna lay out the collections in subsequent posts :smiling_face:

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I love this and the female influence in this hobby is still hyper rare level. Thanks for sharing

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crindy’s 151 binder:

for this i want to only use wotc cards, i want it to be cohesive and aesthetically pleasing (to me), and i want to use my childhood cards as much as possible. with that in mind, my general format for this is:

  • pokedex order ascending left to right, with base/fossil/jungle on the top row, rocket/gym challenge/neo/southern islands/bsp in the middle row, and expedition/aquapolis/skyridge on the bottom. three wotc eras, ascending up to 151
  • cards will be chosen for their aesthetic appeal and cohesiveness, not necessarily for their rarity. this will help my wallet as well!!
  • evolutionary lines will not be split between unfaced pages. this will result in somewhat frequent empty space, which will be opportunities for collage/michi.

binder pages are broken up into collapsibles so you don’t have to load a billion pages at a time!!

update log:

  • 12/27/2025 - merry christmas!! mostly e-series additions, with a few rockets thrown in
  • 2/1/2026 - ringing in 2026 with a ton of additions. happiest to report the first finished spread (charmander->blastoise). so many thanks to my mail exchange partners who have helped make this possible!!
  • 5/16/2026 - starting to see the end in sight for this one!! 60 cards remaining and then it’s time for michi. continued thanks to the kind folks at the mail exchange :slight_smile:
  • 9/04/2026 - one card remaining, and i have plans in place for michi!! just need some cozy cold days to stay inside and paint.
pages 1-13: bulbasaur→clefable

pages 14-28: vulpix→golem

pages 29-42: ponyta→tangela

pages 43-56: kangaskhan→mew

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crindy’s woops and quags:

i want to have a little homage to my favorite little guys :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

pictured: the author’s well-loved childhood quag before being attached to a homemade keychain

current goals:

  1. get a cute blue 4slot binder for this to replace my current (old) binder that has the cards back-to-back
  2. get a blue 12slot binder to expand to all languages. take 2 of operation pointilism cover
  3. all english woopers and quagsires
  4. woopers and quagsires, all languages (not currently counting EX code differences)
  5. all english cameos

i also have decided to include some non-tcg stuff in the binder!! no specific goals associated, just a general urge to collect.

binder cover:

update log:

  • 12/27/2025 - cute new blue vaultx binder! also a few more english quags. top row is looking awful bare in comparison!!
  • 2/1/2026 - approaching a complete set of english woops and quags!! also a big influx of non-tcg, with the highlight being some lovely quag/woop art from my friends in the mail exchange :blue_heart::blue_heart::blue_heart:
  • 5/16/2026 - goals have been updated, watch this space lol
  • 9/04/2026 - new binder, big international mailbag :slight_smile:
current pages (tcg) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
current pages (non-tcg) UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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Awesome collection and I like your binder formatting. Looking forward to seeing you hit your goals

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I knew you were a real one, Beautiful collection and thank you for sharing your story. Looking forward to the updates :slight_smile:

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A really nice collection, and I really enjoyed reading your backstory! I also love Wooper because, in my mind, it’s Mudkip’s cousin, since they are the same cute little blue creature, haha. I’m looking forward to seeing updates on your 151 binder and your Wooper-Quagsire binder!

Cheers,
Adhi

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Finally, a wooper/quagsire collector. If I ever decided to species collect, I had these guys on a short list for my choice. Ancient Origins Quagsire is just one of the best cards of all time hands down. One of my favorite video game facts is that wooper can learn several “punch” moves…punch moves.

I like the format idea to fill in blanks with something ritzy and glitzy.

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happy new year!! i’ve finally found the time to post an update here, i’m feeling very grateful that i have so much to share :smiling_face: i want to thank @slowqueen @bbobrob @niece and @PlentyCoup for taking me up on my little mail exchange!! each of you have now put cards in both my wotc binder and my quag binder, and i rlly appreciate it :blue_heart: some others have been in contact as well, the exchanges just haven’t been completed yet, so i’ll have more to report next time :slight_smile: if you haven’t already, pls take a look at the topic and lmk if there’s anything that you’d want to trade for!! low stakes, people, low stakes!

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Awesome update! I really like your WotC binder layout. It’s very neat and well planned! :slightly_smiling_face: And your Woop/Quag binder is looking great too! Reminds me of all the cards I still need to pick up. Can’t wait for more updates!

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happy spring!! i have been hard at “work”, and have some updates :slight_smile:

first is that the wotc binder is at ~87% completion (cards-wise)!! i haven’t tackled the michi portions yet, i’m excited to get to that eventually :relieved_face: i have plans but things always shift and i don’t wanna commit until i’ve solidified the card selection. i plan to paint/collage all my michi myself so it’s going to be a long process. i’m really pleased with some of these newly-completed non-michi pages!!!

second is that i reached the end of english woops and quags (not shocking, considering how few cards there are lol)! from there i started to look elsewhere, and dipped my toe into the jpnanese exclusives. even just with those (and my non-tcg collection) the 4-slot binder is starting to be pretty full!! so a binder swap is merited. and if i’m swapping binders, i think i ought to just go ahead and expand to all languages :grimacing: also the opportunity to paint a new cover is very exciting, as i think i can do a lot better than my first attempt (is it dumb that that’s a part of my reasoning? perfectionism is a curse).

SO i did what many noble species collectors before me have done: put together a spreadsheet of all* the woops and quags!! i also did a ton of “storyboarding” of the binder and how it would be laid out, and settled on a 12slot.

*caveat: i have decided not to pursue the various EX code variations. perhaps at a later date!!

i’m thinking it will be chronological, as opposed to all woops then all quags. i also don’t want to split cards from the same set across different pages, so there will again be empty spaces for which i have no end of non-tcg!! once i have the binder in hand, i can start laying out proxies and the layout will be a little clearer. i’m definitely a little nervous about the jump in goals but also v excited!!

anyways thanks for reading :slight_smile: more updates soon :blue_heart:

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What a wonderful update!! So cool to see your woop and quag binder and taking the plunge to all languages is a big step!! Quagsire’s name in German being “Morlord” is one of my favorite things

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hello friends :slight_smile: lots to update here.

first, i am one card away from completing my wotc 151 binder (can anyone spot which one is missing?). also i have plans in place for all my michi spots!! this binder has been a lovely project and i’m rlly looking forward to a cozy fall spent painting some kanto scenes. :yellow_heart:

second, the 12-slot woops/quags binder has officially been painted

and over the past four months i have been sourcing various international woops and quags to fill it with :slight_smile:

it’s a modest start compared to a lot of folks here but i’m pretty excited!! this is all via tcgplayer and ebay; i have yet to venture into the intimidating waters of cardmarket and middlemanning, although a friendly E4ian has offered to help me out. the challenge for me right now is making sure i have everything tracked in a spreadsheet and deciding on a binder layout!! when i did a rough count i thought they’d all fit but now i’m not so sure… to be determined!! i will probably post my spreadsheet here at some point when it’s in a more finished state :blue_heart:

bonus/third, i’ve been working on a little side collection of camels because i love them very much. something about placid dual types with a ground secondary and nothing behind the eyes rlly catches my attention :head_shaking_vertically:

i have no intention of ever taking this binder to the same level as my woops/quags, any international camels will be acquired only by happenstance and there is zero goal or ambition involved :heart:

on the horizon, besides 151 michi and cardmarket quags, are a johto wotc binder and an E4 keepsakes binder and some even smaller side projects… too many things, too many irons in the fire!!! i’m trying to limit myself to three things at a time, we’ll see if that works. anyways thanks for reading, happy collecting :slight_smile:

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Nice update of Quags and things. Looks like you are missing the Southern Islands Lapras would be my guess? And I love the camels! The Numel line are Pokemon I came very close to collecting myself. Numel is so dopey and has some some very cute arts.

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Lovely updates, and also, amazing binder covers! Congrats on having only one card left for your 151 binder. Can’t wait to see which Lapras card you choose and all the michi methods on the binder pages once it’s done.

It’s great to see all the woops and quags together in all the different languages. And I definitely love the camels too (I’m always going to hype up all my Hoenn Pokémon).

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Adhi

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