Pokemon… The word that will evoke one of two very different reactions, depending on your age (I’m making a big generalisation). Children will jump around excitedly screaming something along the lines of “I want some”. The reaction of adults (parents) will be to get as far away from this money consuming product as fast as possible.
The image is changing now, as the kids are starting to lose the hype on Pokemon and are onto something else now. You will still find kids that play the game in clubs and tournaments but more and more often, you will be finding adult collectors or the few kids that take collecting seriously buying the cards.
I have read some opinions on the subject that show that the writer may have simply dismissed Pokemon as a craze and a fad. Half of these people have never even owned the cards and certainly never really thought of the cards as something that can be a hobby. There are nation wide competitions and tournaments with quite high prizes. The only difference between Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering is that the latter are aimed at adults. Pokemon cards are designed for children, so does that mean that they are automatically rubbish? I would have to say no.
A Company called Wizards of the Coast makes the cards. This company is one of the best-respected companies that make collectable cards and figurines. They also make the cards and figurines for the huge Dungeons and Dragons genre. With a Company as large as this working with Pokemon, collecting is actually quite a serious matter. Yes, the cards are aimed at children but they are extremely collectable and looking into the future, could be as popular as Magic: The Gathering in a different way. Wizards also make a lot of merchandise for Harry Potter. You can get all the figures from the characters in the books. However, I’m not here to talk about Wizards of the Coast, I am writing about Pokemon so I will get back on track.
Now, I’m not going to go into whether people should or shouldn’t buy Pokemon products. I’m going to stand up and admit that I collect Pokemon products (Sad, I know) and write my opinion on why I collect them and describe something of collecting the cards. Think of this as a guide to collecting. I am assuming that if you are reading this opinion, you are either already collecting the cards, or are thinking of collecting the cards (of course, you may just be reading this because you like my ops. If this is the case, I thank you for this in advance).
I do not play the game and know that the game has been described in numerous other opinions. I collect the cards purely for the sake of collecting and am trying to reach the grail of “catching them all”.
This was a difficult task at the start, but as I near the completion of one set of cards, a new set appears. Now… the Japanese have been experts at mass production for years, but now they have coupled that with marketing. Adverts and promotions could be found wherever you look and the hype sold an awful lot of merchandise.
I have collected the whole of the original set (base set) and am almost there with the Jungle Fossil sets. In decreasing levels of completion, there are the Team Rocket, Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge. The Neo Genesis was released a short while ago but I have yet to begin this set due to there being more moths than money in my wallet.
So why collect at all, you might ask. I actually got caught up when my younger cousins started getting a few cards in return for sweets at school. I said that the other children were ripping them off, as the cards were in poor condition. I said that I would start collecting the cards myself and whenever I had a double of a card, I would let them have it as a present. I made them promise to do one thing, they had to buy plastic sleeves to put the cards in and find a ring binder to store them in.
The main reason I started collecting after that, was to build a collection that may become valuable down the line. I aimed my attention at completing the collections of cards, but I regularly snap up limited edition items. I refuse to get involved with stuff like pencil cases and lunch boxes though. I keep my collecting to the cards.
Buying the cards is a simple process, there are numerous web-sites although I only trust three. They are:
The top site of the three is American. I only buy from this site when I can afford a substantial order, as the postage is high. The other two are British sites that offer competitive prices and can sell both booster packs and single cards. This brings me nicely onto the different ways of building your collection.
When you are just starting out on a set, the cheapest way of building your collection is to buy booster packs. These contain 11 cards, of which one is guaranteed to be a rare card (has a * to signify this). In some packs (1 in 3), there could be a shiny holographic card instead of the rare one. When buying from the above sites (especially pokemonuk), if you buy three booster packs, you are pretty sure to get a shiny card, as the packs are taken directly from the box.
Once you have amassed a large percentage of the set, booster packs loose their appeal as you will be getting repeats of all the common and uncommon cards. When you notice this, it may be worth finishing the set with single cards. The above retailers open booster packs and put the loose cards straight into protective holders. These cost more than they would if you got them in a booster pack, but you balance this against the number of booster packs that you would need to get the card by chance.
I have had amazing luck with booster packs, however, as I have managed to get not one, but three Charizard cards in booster packs. I was extremely chuffed with this, but my cousins hated me for a while as I refused to part with them. I know it’s horrible and I went back on a deal, but I had already given them over Ł200 worth of cards over the months each and felt greedy. If you do not know about this card, it is much sought after due to its power in the card game. You will find that the price fluctuates wildly on this card. On one site, it will be sold for Ł14 while another site could be asking Ł32. I would seriously recommend that you shop around before buying the card as it can be found at a good price.
The other big card is the elusive Ancient Mew card. It was only available during the time the first movie was at the cinema. The US and UK card is identical. In this country, the Ancient Mew card is like gold dust, as it was very limited. I found that in America, I found that they were going for between Ł3 and Ł5, so I bought 20 and that sorted Christmas presents for all the kids in the family while still having 12 to myself. The big thing with these cards now is not the Ancient Mew card itself, but the information card that comes with it. I have 8 of these. The reason they are more valuable is that they have spaces to write details about Ancient Mew as you decipher the hieroglyphics on the card. The value is in the ones that have not been written on.
The other area that I collect in are the limited edition cards that float around. Apart from the Promo cards that are available at cinemas and in the DVD (Bought on the pretext of showing the film to the kids, not just for the card. Ahem), I get specials. There is a set of holographic cards that move as you tip them. On QVC during Christmas 2000, they were selling uncut sheets of these cards that were limited to 8000 and were supplied with a certificate of authenticity. I bought 2 sets, one to open and appreciate and the other one has been packed away to keep it in mint condition.
By opening one set, the 8000 have already been reduced to 7999 and I bet there are others who have opened them. The following week, QVC announced that one person who had bought the limited edition pack for Ł30 had taken it to auction after QVC sold out and got Ł160.
The other hope of collectors is to get their hands on a misprinted card. I have managed to get two that came directly from booster packs. I carried out all the forgery tests that are shown on the Wizards of the coast web-site www.wizards.com and found the cards to be genuine. I also sent scans to the aforementioned retailers and got positive replies along with offers to buy them. I have kept them though.
You should check out the Wizards of the Coast web-site out to read up on how to spot forged cards. I’ll try and describe the tests here now briefly.
Firstly, you will find that forged cards have no copyright at the bottom of the card. This is because it is expensive to get a printing machine that will do text that small and they are looking for profit, not detail. You may just see a black line where the text should be.
Next you should bend the card. A genuine card is made of top quality materials and will bend until the edges touch. A forged card will generally crease due to the cheap and thin paper used. The edges I am talking about are the top and bottom edges, I wouldn’t suggest trying to get the left and right sides to meet as that will probably destroy a good card too.
A big pointer to a forgery is the colour of the back of the card. Due to the expense of blue ink, forgeries are generally a dark purple colour. Poor forgeries also have the pokeball logo upside down in relation to the pokemon details side.
If you have a card that passes these tests but want further proof that it is a misprint, DO NOT e-mail Wizards directly, they will give you an address to send the card to for “examination”. It is guaranteed that you will not see the card again, as they do not want misprints in the marketplace (The same way that the post office doesn’t like people having misprinted stamps). You are better off e-mailing a retailer or sending a scan of the card to the retailer.
Newer cards now have copyright on them but it says Made in China, which is a give away, as the genuine cards are made in the US or Japan. Never buy a Chinese card, as it is a fake.
For those that are thinking of collecting, or are already collecting for fun, keep your eyes open for special offers on web-sites. Some sites give promo cards away with orders of more than Ł20. Where the promo card is generally worth Ł5, you can think of it as a 25% discount.
Another tip is to ALWAYS look out for Japanese language cards. I originally decided never to buy foreign cards, as I would have enough trouble completing the UK sets. I have found that the Japanese cards have flooded the US market and are priced at an extremely low level while in the UK, the cards are considered as gold dust. If you are buying cards from America anyway, take a look at the special offer page if they have one and see if you can find shiny or promo Japanese cards. This is definitely for the collectors who are looking for financial gain as once you have the cards in this country, the value can double compared to the price you paid in the first place.
As everyone says in collecting, you should never collect things in the assumption that they will rise in value. I started collecting to help my cousins, now I am collecting to get a comprehensive set of cards. It is a case of “I have started, so I must finish”. I feel that I need to collect all the cards now, otherwise it would have been pointless to start in the first place. I actually find the artwork on some of the cards to be quite good although a lot of cards are poorly drawn. I think that it will be a dazzling collection should I ever complete it. I will also be very proud as I will be able to say I caught them all.
I hope I have described some of the pros and cons of collecting Pokemon cards. I get a lot of enjoyment from collecting these rectangular pieces of card with pictures on and get the same excitement as a four year old when I tear open the booster packs, hoping to find one of those elusive shiny cards. I also hope that you have enjoyed reading this opinion even though you are probably in the “run a mile” group. Maybe you have even learned something that you didn’t know before that will make all this typing worthwhile for me.
Thank you for reading.
Dave.
I have only given 3 stars, as this is a guide to collecting rather than a recommendation whether to buy them or not.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
This was the fourth of your ops i clicked on before I found one i haddn't read, good op all the same
naomiuk 12.08.2001 12:14
Hiya. My brothers have the complete base set, but went against what i told them, and the cards are all tatty! Great op as always! Naomi :)
Connoisseur_Haggler 05.08.2001 19:08
Very thoughtful opinion that has taught me everything I didnt really know about Pokemon Cards , especially the rarer one's and unusual one's, a very informative opinion..and so good to see you have thought carefully about the product rating too! Simply excellent, thanks-CH
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Advantages: Gameplay galore and a lot of fun to be had, a good hobby. Disadvantages: Kids know more about Pokemon than they do about geography, now, a bad thing indeed.
MikeScoates 11.09.2000 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Pokemon
Aug 5th, 2001
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