TCG General - 200 day recap

That's a lot of dragons.

no need to grade unless you wanna sell imo (can always wait till then)

he still doesn't have a 1st ed base

My tcg assets have grown 28.12% in the past 6 months.

By the way, here's the important thing, about 60% of my collection isn't for sale. It's my prize collection. This type of mindset exists with every card collector.
When you combine 4 factors:
a, Diminishing supply
b, Consumer emotional attachment bias further constricts supply
c, Potential for attrition due to physical card damage
d, Pokemon don't age. Mickey Mantle is dead, but charizard will never die. Multi generational brainwashing

These effects magnify gains and easily rival some of the best blue chip investments. Debate me on this now.

How much in Zards? How many base set?

Charizard is...POPULAR. So is Umbreon, but not ONE will ever reach Charizard levels of $$$

0 base sets so far but as you can see from pic i got some old ones (Dark Charizard)

probs at $20-25k atm

I'm just gonna keep going with the positive risk/reward calculations that have made me a lifelong card collector.

e, These cards can be viewed as alternate currency and retain strong value despite market fluctuation. Similar to gemstones, jewelry and precious metals.
f, This is a miniature form of collectible artwork that people can enjoy. Not some fractional shares of a painting I can never afford. I own binders of this and enjoy flipping through it regularly
g, These cards are actually quite counterfeit-proof with microscopic patterns and proprietary composite cardboard. The entire thing is a timestamp signature

based (and agree with your points)

where do i buy this if i'm rich and wanna get a really expensive charizard, is there a legit online auction house or exchange or do i have to go to some nerd convention

If you're looking for graded cards (which I'd say a large percentage of the rarest & highest value cards have already been graded), then you'd be looking at a prestigious auction houses which charge an additional buyers premium:

heritage auctions
goldin auctions

You could also be relatively successful walking into a hobby shop, comics & cards shop, etc. and browsing their top-shelf items. You might even be able to haggle with them on the prices. Most of these card shops are selling a variety of graded and raw cards. Maybe a view out-of-print sealed products too.

If you dont like the idea of paying extra multipliers because of a 3rd party grading system, then finding quality rare cards becomes a bit harder. You'd have to browse Ebay listings, setup an Ebay auction snipe bot, configure your preferences. Then you'd also need to have an eye for quality. I recommend buying multiple monitors, and looking at seller's pictures while viewing the image on 2 types of monitors and from multiple viewing angles. In this way you may be able to see scratches or damage that wasn't visible at first.
You also mentioned going to the crusty nerd conventions. That is where you're able to view things in-person and really see what you're purchasing beforehand.

I meant to reply to your dubs.
More information about hunting down quality cards. I've been an ebay browser for many years and Im pretty sure people commit robberies and just dump really nice cards on Ebay for stupid quick profit. There is a massive risk involved because most of these accounts have 0 reputation. But I still try every once in a while when they have something excellent. in my experience I've actually had good luck with these sussy baka sellers.
Just search for "pokemon" on Ebay, and sort by recent listings, and refresh every once in a while. You'll eventually find something cool on buyout (as opposed to waiting for an auction).

This brings me to another point about cards
Value is subjective. It's a realm where you can find people charging low prices for absolute gems - and you can also find people charging high prices for bulk shit.
It is the essence of greater fool theory.

Bonds in massive sellout from Chyna

Chyna is trying to pull in Jaypan to sell-off too

JPOW refusing the QE and lower rates

Trump now going after 90 year old Supreme Court rulings protecting JPOW

Vintage chads on stand-by

*siiiiiip*
It's coming.
It's bad.

vintage chads are immune to bobo

Love No Mercy. Great card.

Ahhh okay gonna reply to your dubs for real this time.

It's important to keep in mind that the pool of vintage cards available is shallow. Anything that's ungraded might have print-lines or other defects that make it undesirable.
Alot of vultures have scooped up the best parts of the watering hole, and whatever is left on the market may be of questionable quality.
Hoarding sickness, unhealthy obsession, whale mentality, etc. definitely shows itself in this market.

tag teams are so cool

Oh lookie, The Schiff just said "QE Infinity" just then. What a card.

kek

Continuing.

h, Despite some of the things I've said, I think trading cards are an oasis of untapped potential compared to the absurd P/E ratios we have to witness on the Mag 7. There's still a lot of money to be made here in the long run
i, It may be good or bad, but cards go in phases of buyer’s markets and seller’s markets. Currently we’re in a seller’s market, but it was a buyer’s market as recently as 2022-2023. We’re pushing all-time-highs because people usually hoard the cream-of-the-crop instead of selling it
j, The market is supported by low-T high-income nerdy males such as LGBT’s, programmers, nepo babies, neetlords, cringe influencers, crypto apes, and other types of dystopian whales, meaning that market corrections always result in a rising tide of increased valuations even though mainstream finance refuses to take us seriously
k, Trump keeps saying things like “you don’t have the cards” “Gotta have the cards”. This is a subconscious reminder that cards are representations of abstracted strategic value – whether it be poker, blackjack, UNO, Pokemon, MTG, credit cards, platinum debit cards, green cards, etc. At this point everyone knows cards are synonymous with value

and other types of dystopian whales

Guilty as charged. Quality post.

What are your thoughts on Pokemon remaining popular forever, when it was more or less dead from 2004-2020. Do you foresee Pokemon just not losing popularity again?

Sorry I guess my chart is wrong I forgot people got interested in pokemon cards again in 2016 with pokemon go. Weird because I played pokemon go but didn't even hear anyone talking about cards again or anything so didn't get back into them myself

When will the last official pokemon card be printed?

I just think it's important to keep in mind that Pokemon simply just isn't as important to kids now as it was to us when we were kids. Pokemon was like a cornerstone of my childhood. For kids now it's just a sort of passing interest. I don't want to be all gay about it, but they just don't "truly care" about Pokemon like we did. So I don't foresee them looking back at Pokemon with great nostalgia when they're older.

It's true that Pokemon's popularity went through a low phase and Wizards of the Coast/Nintendo had to try some weird gimmicks to make themselves relevant. That didn't even work - so they decided to decrease print runs. Ironically cards from that era became highly valuable due to their low print runs.
However, in the moment, those boxes and packs were considered junk, selling way below MSRP.
I feel that Pokemon has crossed a threshold now. It's the #1 highest grossing entertainment franchise for multiple years running. Pokemon lives rent-free in everyone's mind, whether theyre a fan or not.
It's true that Pokemon cards are relatively niche and strangely someone who enjoys Pokemon might not even know the card game exists. Personally I know Pokemon cards from the school playground and cool kids comparing their shiny cards to the point where teachers would scold us. Simple times, great memories. Pokemon is associated with these strong nostalgic feelings and without those, it's doomed to fail. This is why it's important that the cycle of using Pokemon cards as a way stimulate good memories can continue for the next generation. They imprint on these toys from childhood and they make an impacts on the market once they become adults and spend their own wages.
Another thing you mentioned is the Pokemon Go! game which was an iconic success and genuinely perfect fit for smart-phones. In my opinion, the whole line of Pokemon video games is excellent because of sheer autistic depth (hallmark of nearly all Japanese products) compressed into a tiny game cartridge's of Pokemon statistics, randomized DNA system, breeding system, complex movesets and game-altering effects. I swear the old Gameboy games have remarkable complexity and competitive post-game player-vs-player elements.
There's also the long-running anime series specifically targeted at kids. Thats probably been responsible for wiring a lot of kids' brains over the years.

The Chad Anon Babble play is to fit in buying cards with crypto as a part of your cash out strategy. For example in 2022 I bought this whole page with shitcoin profits. I purchased at:

Raichu: $45, currently $175 on TCGplayer

Gengar: $65, currently $564 on TCGPlayer

Marshadow: $20, currently $101 on TCGPlayer

Rowlet: $21, currently $61 on TCGPlayer

Currently I could probably get $10k for the binder if I sold everything individually. I also bought some sealed product every year since 2020 and most of that is up. I think this current pump is a bubble though so I’ve been selling a few things as well.

2001.

Regarding the idea that Pokemon could be in a bubble, that's probably true, but there will be other market factors that muddy the waters here such as perhaps the US dollar losing value, people attempting to flee into alternative assets, the wealth gap widening and allowing for less upward mobility or accumulation of assets. Remember that cards are a key form of money laundering since so many cash deals take place.
Something else you want to calculate is the sheer rarity of these modern alternate art cards. It's hard to say which prices feel bubbly since the MSRP per box is generally high and many texture cards have laughably punishing pull-rates.

Yes, but i wonder about the $100 to $200 cards coming down. Friend got a nice Salamenace ex from a few packs. It's currently $95 tcg, but in a year, it'll probably be like $50. You never know what cards will change in price due to "cool factor" or to a lesser degree "i play tcg...for some reason".

That is a beautiful Espeon. What amazes me is how even though I’m familiar with these sets, there’s always cards that I didn’t take notice of and appreciate. I did pick up a ton of 1st Ed Typhlosions back when they were under $20. Now I realize what an insane deal that was and how I should have been stacking Umbreons and Espeons too.