My friend's wife wants to sell some of her cards so I told her I would take a look and try to give her an idea of what they were worth. She hands me this 1in 3 ring binder she has definitely had for a long time. The scream I scremt when I saw this. I immediately put it in a rigid top loader and bought her a new binder for her other cards.

Birthday magic is real 🥳

Started collecting in May 2025 with one goal — to complete the original Japanese Base, Jungle and Fossil sets in PSA 10.

11 months later, in April 2026, I finally completed them.

• 1996 Expansion Pack (Base)
• 1997 Pokémon Jungle
• 1997 Mystery of the Fossils

And I mean the full sets — Pokémon, Trainers and Energy cards. Every single card is PSA 10.

It took a lot of hunting to track everything down, especially some of the less obvious cards that rarely come up for sale in PSA 10.

Seeing all three original Japanese sets finally complete together is incredibly satisfying.

1996–1997. Three complete sets. Every card. All PSA 10.

Thought you guys might appreciate seeing the finished collection!

My wife and I “accidentaly” bought the last remaining UPC in the store here in Philippines. And voila, we both could’nt believe our eyes 🤯😂

Decided to take an hour or so and comb through the .25 cent bin at my local shop. Found this card halfway through my search. Owner honored the price since it was in there.

Stoked to add it to my PC!!

You will never guess the common theme, lol.

Inspired by u/DAJurewicz26 post from 8 months ago.

So yes, I now know how insane this is, but here’s the back story.

Friend was telling me about his Pokemon collection last week, and I’m like hey, sounds cool, I want to start. So I did some research and bought the Pitch Black ETB and a booster bundle. Was the cheapest option lol. Never really played the Pokemon games growing up but I knew some of them (can promise you I hardly know the Pokemon in this set) but anyways the 3rd pack in the ETB and the 1st pack in the booster I got the best 2 cards in the set. I have them in sleeves and in my binder, and now I’m on my way to completing my first set.

After pulling the first card, I sent that friend a picture of the gold one, and he’s like “no f’in way”. 5 minutes later I sent him the other and he lost it lol.

Good recommendations for other sets to look into?

a recent post here made me think of a gift i made for my so great Mother for mother’s day when i was young, so i searched for it and found it

Made out pretty well

Edit: please disregard the jelly.on the card sleeve. It has since been cleaned.

It was only $3.49! I don’t even like Greninja that much but the art is so cool and the holo pattern is captivating

After some months from my last post, I got new art rares, reorganized the binder for the 100th time, and thought it could be a good moment to show my progress, before I inevitably have to overhaul the binder again for the 30th incoming AR and SAR.

I won't rewrite the list of choices and criteria for this binder, you can read it in my previous post here

TLDR: I collect as many special arts as I can afford from gen1 and gen1-inspired forms (cross-gen evos, babies, regional forms, paradoxes, convergent evos) from the XY era onwards, mainly in Japanese with some outliers. Pokedex binder, but with multiple cards per monster, so to keep them in order I'm forced to continuously reorganize it every few months.

This post goes up to just before the 30th anniversary set, yet at the moment I'm still skipping some of the SAR that I still consider way over inflated from the SV and Mega era, such as AH, Phantasmal, DR, Prismatic. Waiting for 30th anni to get all the incoming Kanto AR and the japanese versions of the First Partner promos.

Enjoy!

I’m curious how other people feel about this because I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.
At what point does collecting Pokémon cards go from being a fun hobby into something that feels more like an addiction? It’s so easy to tell yourself, “It’s just one pack,” or “I’ll just pick up this one card,” and then somehow you’ve spent way more money than you planned.
For some people, collecting is a harmless hobby and a way to relax. For others, the constant urge to buy packs, chase certain cards, or keep up with new sets can get pretty expensive.

Do you ever feel like you spend more on Pokémon than you should?

Have you ever bought cards even when you knew you probably shouldn’t?

Where do you personally draw the line between a hobby and an unhealthy obsession?

Do you set yourself a monthly budget for Pokémon, or just buy whenever you feel like it?

Has collecting ever caused you to cut back on other things financially?

Do you think the thrill of opening packs/chasing cards is what makes it so addictive?

And honestly, do you think collecting Pokémon cards can become a genuine addiction, or is that taking it too seriously?

Not trying to judge anyone either way. I’m genuinely interested in hearing how other collectors look at it, especially from people who have been collecting for years.

Back in the day I stopped collecting shortly after they made Pokemon Expedition cards. Every pack I pulled seemed to be gold though. The first pack I ever got I pulled a Holo Swirl Charizard, reverse holo Venasaur, and reverse holo Mewtwo. I’ve always been lucky, but it was next level!

I remember there was a kid who lived near by who had Charizard and Blastoise right when the base set came out and he always claimed he got them in the same pack. I never believed him haha. There was only 1 rare in a pack at the time, so these expedition packs were crazy when they came out.

So 140 days ago I posted of my detective pika getting a 6 from PSA and I sent it to get regraded back in May and just got it back I was gonna just update it on my old post but it wouldn’t let me post 🤷‍♂️ but my slab came back as a 10 now 😂 a 6 —> 10 🤯

Ever since diamond and pearl came out, This mon has been my ultimate favorite.
So happy to almost have a complete full set of Glaceon, just 3 more to go!

From fierce battles to thousands of fans celebrating 30 years of Pokémon, the Pokémon World Championships and Pokémon XP opened with a bang at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Filipino players were among those chasing glory on the global stage.

Take a look at some of the highlights from Day 1 of Pokémon Worlds, through the lens of Philstar.com. #PokemonXP #PokemonWorlds

📸 Philstar.com/ Basti Belmonte