While I’ve always loved Zubat, I didn’t start collecting him until our fellow member @dblast generously gave me my first PSA 10 Zubat for the 2021 E4 Secret Santa. In honor of him, Team Rocket’s Zubat will debut this thread. This is a very grotesque Zubat. His fangs sticking out and his posture make it seem that he is gathering prey. Certainly a very appropriate card for the Team Rocket set.
Also, a big thanks to all admin who have made the new E4 site possible. I’ve always wanted to do this thread but it was too difficult for me on the old site.
This is why I collect full sets. Many people, myself included, get very caught up in the holo cards but theres some amazing artwork in common/uncommons of which that zubat is a great example.
I posted this in the recent purchase thread but wanted to flesh it out more here. Because WOTC cards were like $30-$50 in PSA 8/9, I never thought collecting modern was worth it. So I missed out on Mario Pikachu, Ultra Shiny GX and Shining Legends.
Now with vintage in a new echelon of pricing, modern is just so much easier. A $100 burning shadows box was like almost 150% the price of a Fossil PSA 9 Dragonite 1st edition holo( $65) in 2018. You could get 2 Shadowless PSA 8 instead of a $100 sealed box. Now modern boxes are a fraction of vintage chase cards; less opportunity cost than a few years ago. @smpratte, there’s a video topic for you.
I am being careful with alt arts. If I am paying $50+ for modern cards, I am focusing on $50+ cards that are from an earlier less printed era. Also, CHRs are so cheap. I picked up a complete VMAX climax CHR set for like $60. Alt arts are fun and exciting but CHRs are more accessible.
My goal is to close the backlog and assemble a sort of “Greatest Hits” of modern before VStar Universe. I hope to get a bit more of Shiny Gx and finish Vmax Climax before Vstar hits in December. Tag Team is gonna be tough, but I wanna get a few of those cards. I was going to go for a whole Eevee Heroes set, but now I am settling for just the standard v alt arts.
The name of the game for modern is go big or settle for a slice.
Forgot to post this. For 2 years I’ve wanted to buy Shiny GX baby shinies but didn’t want to pay a 300 Y service fee for a 500 Y card. I guess I stumbled upon this listing and picked up a complete set for 24,999 yen in a single lot. Pack fresh. Couldn’t believe the price and convenience. Image gallery ftw
Team Rocket Returns! I didn’t grow up in the Ex era but its a fun set. Looking forward to colecting the classic team rocket Pokemon in reverse holo. Like Ratticate, Crobat, Rattata, Koffing Weezing and Ekans. Arbok too!
Was my favorite Lv X when I was collecting in high school. I bought it from a tin. Not a rare card at all but doesn’t seem to show up much in PSA 9 or PSA 10. This 8.5 leans to a PSA 8. Probably my favorite Lv X.
Team Rocket returns reverse holos! Since finishing up most of Fire Red Leaf Green, this is the other set I want to complete. Team Rocket Returns does a great job of celebrating the first III generations of Pokemon. I also love the set identity of Team Rocket.
Last is Ex Deoxys. I enjoy the holo pattern, and am trying to collect Gen III reverse holos from this set. My favorite in this batch is the Carvanha, but the Pelipper and Wingull are close too.
