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"I'm just a basement dweller" 😂

Hey dumb Grey, I appreciate you preaching fiscal responsibility and a healthy way to enjoy the hobby without dumping money into a hype train. I'll sub!

does this applies to this cycle 😂? i mean, we can barely dream on getting anything on msrp lol

Solid comment section. I’ll have to come back to read more, but generally there is no difference short-term difference between investors or scalpers. They’re all resellers. And that’s why investing is catching the heat right now. If there is a period where demand is low and supply is high, investors can keep the market healthy. I think the general hate for investors is deserved. This is a hobby for collectors/Pokéfans: not people trying to make money off scarce goods or supply controls. Also, to say “investors aren’t buying right now” is a bit naive. There is money to be made, so people are buying. Obviously in the case of reprints (Priz), people are holding off or being more savvy. I’m not sure how we undo that Pandora’s Box, but I agree we need to shift the culture (and content) away from money. For example, I have begun unfollowing a lot of the money-focused & investing Pokétubers. Collectors & fans have more power than they realize. I think we should unite and organize accordingly.

subs and join your mailing list~!

i got 3 UPC. and planning to keep it long term

Everyone is the problem not 1 group and me for 1 atm have a verry unpopular opinion I actually prefer to buy of scalpers for 2 main reason I can get as much product as I like and I don’t have to break the sealed product big store smyths opened at 9 and sold out at 9.10 and then local Pokemon store sell 1 etb as long as I break the seal I don’t like being told what to do with something I buy so a new opinion I’m buying of the scalpers less hassle n stress n cost a little more end of no ones changing my mind collectors will collect and they don’t usually collect bulk investors invest and they don’t usually invest in psa 7 and the scalping will always go on were there is money to be made there is so many sets were pack is 4-6 pound but no one wants it here we go ready on collection boxes n tins you can get Fusion strike Lost origin Brilliant starts Battle styles Chilling reighn Steam seige Vivid voltage Sv base Obsidian flames Temporal forces Paldean dates Silver tempest Twilight mascorade Surging sparks The list goes on the only ones that are higher are 151 and evolving skies and prismatic evolutions on second hand market so it’s all a joke 😂

im 26 and as a kid in canada i used to be able to go to 711 and buy individual packs, walmarts and stores always had stock during the diamond and pearl days. I started collecting again a few months ago. Its fun to buy and pull cards that are worth money and all the beautiful art. Theres nothing wrong with trying to make some money. Its 100% a supply issue and stores need to have a hard limit on new high in demand product. There is no reason that 6 people should be taking a stores entire stock only to list them all online for 3x the price. It isnt impossible to get them online just gotta join groups to find some deals online. Most of the world pays more for cards as well. a booster box of 151 is about $35 canadian where as in america its $25 i believe

I try to get 1-2 booster box or ETB per set and can't even do that with the latest sets. I was lucky enough to get 2 Surging Sadness boxes at MSRP as a preorder but everything that came after is just overpriced to hell and sold out instantly.

I buy what I can at MSRP or I don't buy at all. Those who pay the scalpers are the problem. Without buyers the scalpers would have no market, but it's easier to point fingers at others while crying into your $180 ETB 😂

Investing in a company and its products, is different than buying to resell a companies products. We up baby, were not making money we’re growing it

its fine let them buy this product and it could potentially drop. think about vivid voltage back during covid year that rainbow pika was a 1000. just wait and we will all be chilling, no need to over react. theres pros and cons to all of whats happening rn.

Hey please give me some advice.I really want the groudon 199 psa10. It’s going for 400 dollars. Should I buy now or wait for price to drop (or do you think it won’t drop)

lol and investor saying investors aren’t the problem. This is seems biased to me. Of course people don’t want to get blamed. Let’s face it though “investing” has just become another form of scalping. Any card shop will tell you that some of these cars have none of these values. That’s where these videos and this kind of content play their part. It’s influenced the wrong kind of people by setting up the premise of investing over collecting which is still what it is. Doll collectors don’t call themselves doll investors. This is term created in the past decade to make a hobby seem like a professional venture and 98% ( not saying this one in particular) are not legitimate. I’ve been doing my Pokémon my whole life and it was never this bad until the hype/investor brought in the flux. Now that I’ve aired out that grievance I will say it’s only a piece of the puzzle. Pokémon international has basically okay the negative aspect from this boom and then under printed which created even more scarcity and shame on them for that. Also can we talk about how people are openly ripping packs at stores which creates issues for distributors to give out product to stores that sell at msrp? Can we talk about the greedy LCS who have basically resorted to scalping too? It’s a huge community problem and people need to be more willing to call out the bad ones even if that means being truthful.

thank you for making this kind of mature view on the investing side. I do the exact same. I love pokemon and i love my sealed collection like other love there card collection. Its almost the same only without the gamble aspect and addiction to open packs to find the chase card. Here and there i open packs but i am not realy lucky at gambling so i let it sealed xD .Thanks for the video i feel you and we are not bad people just people with the love for pokemon from a different view. Best regards from Germany

Pokemons washed

all they need to do is produce more content.. men fighting in stores for a childrens card game is pathetic. the pokemon company just need to print more cards, stop with the artificial scarcity. its bloody cardboard

At least you admit that you are part of the problem. There’s some channels on here who “invest” and defend their 20+ cases full of ETBs because of “investing” 2:28 it’s not “misguided hate” investors like yourself are part of the problem. I can’t tell you how many channels I’ve come across here on RUclips that have BOXES AND BOXES full of ETBs. And they all claim they are just “investing” and going to hold onto them.

As someone who waited in line during Covid for Shining Fates DON’T buy over retail price. Found a little yesterday at Target and an LGS at retail. Another LGS had etbs at $90. Said no thanks I’ll wait…not a big deal and there will be opportunities in the future at retail.

Don't forget the distro being scumbags, holding back product. Free will I suppose.

As someone who came from the 40k hobby i am just a bit confused we all know it the scalpers that doing this stupid shit. And i bet you their are discord full of them just barging and laughing about this. Like the same shit happens with 40k so i am like 99% sure this happening with Pokemon to

If you’re not pointing your finger at corporate then you’re wrong. You think they are oblivious to the hype of evolving skies? Every holiday set where they don’t deliver 100% allotment, it is 100% intentional. They are apologizing to distribution for S&V by switching to nostalgia based sets and then intentionally short printing “accidentally” then immediately reprinting as to pretend to their customer base, “oops we don’t mean to screw you over initially, here is some mediocre print quality rushed out for you?”

well i can tell you, i quit. i just started, this is awful. i shouldn't have to work this hard to find ANY pokemon cards anywhere.

Here’s the thing pokemon cards are not like baseball cards its a game its caledl the pokemon trading card game, investors are turning pokemon tcg into the stock market, if you dont play you should not horde sealed products many of us players want to play the new card sets but investors made it insanely expensive and adult investors investing for profits dont seem to get it.

Yep. Got my prismatic preorders in early. Now Im sitting back buying up some S&V base and shrouded fable which is still extremely cheap

Investors are not. You can hoard product and wait for long term for it to grow. It's those scalpers that are trying to make quick money that are ruining the hobby for everyone. They have zero love in the hobby and just in for the money.

I agree. I never thought investors were the problem. The market is crazy right now. When the market is crazy the feeding frenzy begins.

Sure, Pokemon investors definitely contribute to the sense of cards needing value. We undoubtedly take advantage of this fact, regardless of what anyone think about our participation. I don't think we're a large part of the factors making up this matter of fact in the end though. If collectors did not make sealed product valuable, there would be no scalpers or investors. If all collectors collectively said "regardless of how old, rare, or beautiful these products are, I refuse to pay more than MSRP" then whatever issues come from investors and scalpers would be gone after a single round of toiling with them. But ultimately, with the exception of scalpers, I think the hobby is healthiest with 4 types of people being heavily involved in the hobby: the players, the casual collectors (often children), the hardcore collectors, and the investors. The investors are generally just dealing with the hardcore collectors, while players and casual collectors allow for the hobby to grow and TPC to produce a nice amount of product for the cycle to continue. For the record, I am not saying that collectors are the problem. I will say anyone willing to pay $150 to crack open an ETB of the newest release is a massive part of the problem, but the vast majority of collectors are not willing to pay that amount of money for product. I genuinely think that right now the insane market comes from scalpers scalping scalpers scalping scalpers - and the issue will eventually die once the average scalper realizes what's going on and stops buying the product while thinking "the box will triple in value in two weeks no matter what I paid for it". Then a lot of scalpers will go in debt and the craze will correct itself.

In my humble opinion, being connected to Pokemon since the beginning, not just 4 or 5 years ago. Between 2020 and 2021 we had a huge increase in demand and this increased prices, but at the end of 2024 we had a huge increase in prices and demand/new "collectors" appeared out of nowhere. This means that they are not collectors but investors/scalpers... and if you say that this is not a problem, you are mistaken. ex: if we have 100 booster boxes to sell and investors buy 90, what will happen to the price of the other 10 that are for those who want to play and collect? In my view, only the Pokemon Company can stop this, I would say postpone all new editions this year and put the printers and print all the sets from 2021. I would like to see this scenario unfold.

I think you are spot on

I don't normally follow the investment side of the hobby too much, but every couple years when there's a big boom like this and it's hot right now I am sometimes curious when it spills over. Since Journey Together is looking like a headache for even competitors to get, and that's another big point of tension. But I like your videos! And message. It's nice seeing the investors who adore the game and actually have a strong connection to it, rather than flippers who are kind of the main problem right now. So yeah good insight! Thanks for the video! c:

Great video man !! Investors are not the problem we need more product ! But I still don’t like the resellers ruins it for the collectors and investors

its a great video! in my humble opinion, as the time goes, market's behaviour keep changing and so customer's behaviour. it used to be like "why I spent hundreds on things that I cant use/play with" or "what a nostalgia and price pretty reasonable" to "oh, shiny!". TCGs market competition become very vast. every companies are trying to compete each other while keeping their customers base to not stray. Making set based on demand/popular/iconic is one of its way. but with every pros comes with cons. The least we can do is thinking back to our first/main purpose. Be wise on purchasing is the key. Dont let your emotion take over your action.

Awesome vid brother very well thought out points ❤

Real world experience with tangiblity and enjoyment < online only hobby/investment portfolio with speculation and no real secondary market licence

Hey, that's the cardboard man! 2:28 this whole rant right here. There's guys buying like a hundred of an item and immediately reselling at 2-3x until they sell. I think when you've got super high demand AND super high greed, you've got almost everybody getting as much as they can.

This is a very good vid. There is no material difference between an investor hoarding product and a passionate fan hoarding 'collecting' product (i.e. neither are bringing product back to the market, at least in the near-term). The smart investors as you say are not the problem but what percentage of investors are smart? Online trading platforms (stocks) see 15% or less of their accounts turn a profit; I'm sure it's far fewer for Pokémon investors who are likely younger & more prone to speculative investment. As an outsider I'm skeptical re the delinquency of the Pokémon company (you say they can't keep up, at the mercy of overwhelming love and demand). This isn't a chip shortage, they're literally printing cardboard. Any toxic manifestation around a product (punch-outs at Costco, BBC headlines) is fair play if the bottom line lifts; this is capitalism not a multi-generational goodwill gesture to a bunch of nostalgic fans. I'm always thinking about where 'collecting' meets 'flagrant consumerism' in this space, and I think your most compelling point is re the influencers & investors driving the narrative around the monetary value of the cards. I've always appreciated that your nostalgia for the game & genuine interest in the artwork shines through the investing content. But really I'm here for that 20 second synthwave soundbyte at the end.

First! Great commentary on the current situation. Basically everyone is playing the blame game. I got two Blooming Waters for myself, one to open and one to keep sealed. Coming off of all the reddit videos and social media posts, I couldn't help but feel guilty even though I only bought 2 instead of 10 like everyone else there.

Awesome video buddy. Keep it up. Solid info.

Solid video

Do you think its a good idea to buy 4 elite boxes on release and sell right away, or do you think the prices will come down and not be worth it.

Good try diddy😂😂😂😂

I need more 😂 I only got one box and I’m not even an eeveelutions fan but i love these cards 😍 and I got my umby in my first box 😂🍀!

I'll help you out not buying any Prismatic! Forwarding my IBAN so you can do what's best for your wallet! Keep it up Grey!

Bro I got Moonbreon and 8 months after this its still growing. This card is going crazy, and somehow I got it with just spending 60 dollars... I feel like whats happening is that theres so much hype about this card, getting more people to buy it at higher prices providing a even higher demand.

We can’t blame scalpers and bots for everything. We need to admit that Pokemon is bigger than ever and that’s the main contributor to the shortage of stock (plus Pokemon not printing enough). Furthermore, the climate of everything being short stocked is made worse by fans who buy more due to scarcity which leads to further scarcity. I’m sure many of us can relate to this: we’ve went to Walmart and finally saw an ETB that’s always sold out and bought 2-3 instead of only 1 as per the norm in a well stocked environment. You can generalize this to the market as a whole to explain the complete shortage. This idea that scalpers and bots are taking everything is just silly. Pokemon product is fantastic right now, everyone wants it, it’s hard to get so people buy extra when the opportunity arises. It’s as simple as that. Also, for the people complain about bots just order bots yourself. It’s clearly worth doing or people would use them. Hopefully Pokemon hikes up production because as a fan I think we can all admit that this level of scarcity is simply ruining the hobby. We love when Pokémon plays hard to get but not impossible to get.

I feel like it's mainly hyped because of the stupid prices Evolving Skies and Umbreon shot up to. Brought in all the annoying hypebeasts who would normally be trying to flip sneakers or Supreme shit. Now they're here and unless TPCi makes the SARs promos in a mass printed premium collection, they'll never go away. Then you have the investors (but let's be real, everyone is an investor, if you been in Pokemon long enough you know to hold onto at least a few sealed products for a few years and you make coocoo bucks, it happens every time and if you don't you just have a gambling addiction and need to open every pack you buy lol) the annoying Whatnot creators... the content creators who tons of boxes to open (Pokerev or MysticRips)... there's too many eyes from too many directions on Pokemon now... but mainly if we could just get rid of those annoying hypebeasts (like that douche running the Pokemon Graded Mystery Bag Casino...) things might return to normal... but until the people with more money than brains learn to stop feeding the hypebeasts, until people get sick of graded cards, they'll be here for awhile... I've just accepted the fact that there will be certain cards I'll never be able to get. I've done before with the Espeon and Umbreon gold star Japanese prize cards. The Illustrator Pikachu card. And then any alt art Eeveelution from ES. Oh well, more to life than Pokemon cards, just gotta hope TCPi takes control of this madness and just live your life. Don't FOMO for cards... especially if you can't make the money you spent on it back easily...

I heard that there was a short print on 9 volt batteries maybe you should try to curb the market before everybody else catches on 🥴

I got one ETB coming from Pokemoncenter and now idk what the heck to do with it. If it was just $100 I'd open it, but knowing that its value is way higher, I might want to trade it for a vintage card I like

Didn't you lose a ton of money on the last hype period? Did you make any of that money back yet now that everything is to the moon?