Pikachu Beats Athletes: The Secret Reason Pokemon Value Crushes Sports Cards

I remember my parents and everyone around me saying you know you should sell this stuff man You actually have this real value. I didn't care if the cards went to zero I loved it because there was something I couldn't afford to do as a kid that I can do today Welcome to the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network from chasing Grails to Colin Bluffs I'm going inside the hobby Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it Here is your host Ryan Alford Hello and welcome to Trading Cards and Collectibles here on the Radcast Network We are your top five sports show regardless of category already on Apple We appreciate everyone that's listening We appreciate everyone sending the messages that emails It's been really exciting getting the show off the ground. We're here I don't know episode 10 11 12 we're getting up there and we can't do it without you and you know We're trying to cover the gamut here of the hobby and there's going to be some insider Details given not only from our guest, but for myself because I have you know, I don't want to call it like a I don't know a quiet interest. I'm not embarrassed in any way But I always think of myself as like the sports guy did not anticipate getting into this But I'm actually pretty into it. I'm going to tell you why here in it That's why I go to the to the master. I gotta get the experts for every category We got Jim Mint Pokemon. That's his Username, I guess we call it that it's Zach Browning. What's up, Zach? How's it going man excited to be here happy to be on the Radcast Thank you for having me welcome to the Radcast Network all the best shows But the hobby is taking off both figuratively in the broad industry and literally here on the show It's been exciting and I'm ready to talk. I look man guilty pleasure. That was the word. I was kind of searching for a little bit I have to admit I don't right now. I don't know If we've my boys and I we rip a lot of packs. It's just our time together You know like it used to be it gives a little crazy four or five times a week That's like one night a week. I don't know if I don't enjoy ripping a Pokemon pack more than just about anything else right now And I and I couldn't tell you how to play the game I couldn't even remotely tell you how to play the the game of Pokemon But I enjoy opening the packs and I do enjoy the artwork. I I mean, I'm an artistic guy. I'm an ad agency guy And so I appreciate the art and the thought that kind of goes into it maybe more than anything and they're cool to open and they don't cost a hundred dollars of pack like everything else Am I am I clearly I'm not alone Zach now ripping Pokemon is a ton of fun and it was crazy about Pokemon Is it so hard to get a hold of you know you're starting to see Pokemon at gas stations and you know You go to the best buy Pokemon's there, you know game stops now doing the PSA submission It's you know Pokemon's just everywhere. It's almost nearly impossible to get and the beautiful thing about Pokemon is it doesn't matter If they got a game tonight, you know, they're never going to get injured Pikachu's always in you know Pikachu's never heard He's never going to the IR so the beautiful thing is you can feel a lot more confident when you when you go along Pikachu He's gonna be there for you So true. Yes, he is the names are a fascinating as well like everyone I open You know like the thought that goes into them like is that you know these real name real words But it's like we've combined a lot of words into them and but they are fun to open and the the scarcity and Rarity of them. I mean good grief grown man fighting on rose at Walmart over Pokemon pie packs is a true Yeah, it makes no sense. I mean we were kids, you know I collect the sports cards for number years then Pokemon came out as kind of the new FAD And so you have all these people who you know I'm in my mid 30s that you know we go back to nostalgia You know what we love this kids and stuff and so like I do collect you know some football cards and basketball cards But I spent more time as a kid collecting Pokemon and so you have this odd divide of you know To kids today or they're gonna go back and collect more football and sports or you know You see kind of the coin collectors are kind of aging out a lot and luckily you know with fanatics and a lot of stuff They're doing they're getting the kids back into the hobby collect the football sports But Pokemon it's just got this relentless nostalgia that just brings you back in and so you have all these people who Were getting to their mid 30s they finally got some cash and where they want to spin it on they want to buy that pack They couldn't buy when they were nine years old and so I just I think Pokemon's in its emphyse I think it's got a long way to go and I think we're just getting started with with the hobby You've got all this bunny kind of coming in and people that aren't haven't been in it and like investors Seeing as potential asset class and then What what's not going to change is my gender, you know, I'm in my 40s. I have kids that are now card age That's not gonna change and so you've got this I don't know like the the generation behind me where they fall and when they have kids the Return of the nostalgia, but you know 40-year-olds for the most part Put the hobby on the shelf myself included and it's been on the shelf for 25 years And it I didn't know if it would ever come back because I didn't force it on my kids But they got into it late it I mean late for kids. I mean I my 13th or 14-year-old didn't get into it at eight I mean my nine-year-old I guess is early or about where a lot do because of his older brothers But my 13 14 15-year-olds just got into it in the last year And so they brought me back into it I was happy to get back into it, but I wasn't going to like force the issue And I think there's a lot of us like my generation out there that collected as a kid And now the hobby's bigger brighter more accessible in some ways Money inside maybe but but we also are the place where I guess the most 40-year-olds are more economically uh On better economic footing than they were in their 20s and 30s so You can sort of afford the increase and I think it's like this magical 10-year period with all back going on now I can't speak to the generation behind me. Maybe it'll be the same thing, but I think Maybe the generation behind me was already when in when the uptick started to happen. So they've been collecting But I think there's this I don't know 42 to 52-year-olds that have kids now That are collecting and you've got this magical that combined with the bigger money coming in And so there's like this demographic thing combined with Investment thing all hitting it once It's a whirlwind You know, I always thought the celebrity money would be kind of like the pinnacle of the hobby I always thought once you know fully made whether it shows a card or Derek Jeter I always thought that would be kind of like like the heat And then now I think it's like the institutional money It's the people who want to start, you know, an ETF for a fund or you know They want to take experts in the hobby and say hey, I know you're not an expert But you can invest with an expert this and that I think that's going to be kind of the new peak and and the I think for me Like you said with kids is kids kind of decide what they like and don't like you don't really get to pick with the younger generation You know wants to do and so they kind of define it for themselves And there's this beautiful thing where you know like the 40-year-olds and the kids get to collect together And you guys might like different things and I think there's a lot of other factors like the hobby becoming more global You know, you have like Otani coming in and I mean how many people in Japan like baseball cards because of Otani and Ichiro and all these guys You know China's just opened the world up for Pokemon cards like three or four years ago And it's like there's a lot of money in China and a lot of it's flowing to trading cards So I think the globalization is kind of another big cat office as well Yeah, 100% that's I think that's just starting I'm not that it's new but I think we're going to start to feel those effects in Availability and certain things because there's only so much to go around if you want to keep scarcity There's this balance of production and scarcity right right right and if you have more global demand and more domestic Demand something's got to give And so that'll be interesting to sort of watch But I think there's enough factors and energy around it. I don't think this is a blip or a Fad and this isn't a completely original thought but when I share which is the grading aspect has certainly Made it more of an asset class too because you have some amount the distribution Like you said where it's available. I'm not scared to pick up 30 packs if they're laying there You know like so I'm not going to like knock on one person near me doing something if I find it But it's it's kind of like it all it all kind of creates the same thing like You get all scalpers or everybody else it goes and raise the store But so then you're the one doing the rating when you go in because you're like if I don't do it I know they're not going to have it right right. It sort of creates This cycle, but I don't know And then if it's if it was available everywhere anywhere It doesn't have the value. It's so weird because they're printing billions and billions of cards a year And like you know word recently is for this holiday season that Pokemon I don't want to give the exact number But did they have multiples more you know being printed the new sets that they did previously So I was talking about it. I was like you know if they're printing so much more isn't that gonna change And he's like well when demand is 20x what's available? You can print 5x more and And demand still is out the pace and supply So just yeah even with Pokemon, you know up in the printing like Can't believe they're pretty more today than they've ever printed and the history Pokemon Demand is still just so much further beyond and yeah, I think if you're a store and you're getting distributed prices This you know assuming you distribute as an overcharge you get something in for a hundred bucks And it's instantly worth 300. I mean the people forget trading card hobbies are thin margins You know people would fight and call for five cents 10 cents 50 cents on a card And now you got people getting 200 bucks at release per product they get the hobby today is nothing like it was 10 years ago And it's going to be really difficult readjustment period whenever supply and demand do even out But it doesn't seem like that's gonna happen anytime soon. I can't fault it I mean I've gotten involved in it from a business standpoint and So I'm not like what's good for the goose is good for the gander so to speak I But like you know when my kids and I just want to go buy some packs to rip for a night You know, it's like if you don't plan ahead you got to get a buy online get a ship to the house because you know trying to catch it at retails Good luck unless you get up early or you know, I'm pretty sure they've got the schedules figured out because Around here, you know, you hit a store that you know supposed to get it in and you know Sorry, I'm not waiting in line. I might pay somebody go wait line But I'm not waiting in line Put a mirror tag on the restocker I mean, that's what's crazy man that you know that stuff's probably happening. It's it's crazy You know, but it's fun too at the same time the chase is on Zach talked to me man You know, you did sports card things still do a little bit, but a lot of set building going on as I Followed your feed and and have been you know my team doing research and then here and you didn't see what you're doing What are we up to overall in the hobby? I'm just a true collector man. I love love love collecting love the passion for the hobby I love just you know meeting friends out of shows and that building sets one of the time and I started getting back into around 2012, you know hop on eBay and I'd buy a first edition base set Pokemon for 90 bucks in a PSA 9 and to me it was it was always a good deal If it was under a hundred a span over a hundred as getting ripped off and then Slowly, you know, you complete one set another set then you keep expanding your scope It's really important you collect to have a define scopes You don't go bankrupt and I was doing that making 20 bucks an hour at the time And I remember my parents and everyone around me saying you know, you should sell this stuff man You actually have this real value. You have $10,000 a card. You should sell it You should do something else and I remember saying like I didn't care if the cards went to zero You know, I just I loved it because it was something I couldn't afford to do as a kid that I can do today You look back over the last 10-15 years And you should have sold it many many times But because you just had that true passion. I mean, how many people pulled a Yannis 1-1 and never sold it because they love Yannis. You know a lot of people Oh, it's $60 on our card. That could be a mortgage payment or a house. They sell it You know, and so it's one of the things where it was never really about the money It was always just about the passion of the hobby and I think I'm really really stubborn for not selling a lot of those times But today you'd I still have probably 95% of those sets and the registry and You know, I just I love to collect. I love to build. I love to meet friends and My favorite part about the hobbies meet other people with a similar mindset that I feel a lot of Pokemon collectors We're all a little autistic a little bit, you know, we're maybe we tried to look like she's telling all the kid and I wake up every day And just make sure I get a lecture dose. I'm right on point There you go. I love it. Let's talk Okay, someone is listening It's it's not into Pokemon But maybe they're Pokemon curious Uh What's what's the best thing about Pokemon versus other things and how does one sort of start to dabble in Pokemon? You know for years I would always tell people, you know, it's important to do a ton of research and just see the markets have everything interacts You know like other hobbies. Isn't that everything is related to each other And so for Pokemon you have the blue chip investments, which would be the first edition Charizard You know the Pokemon illustrator and then for the modern cards. They'd be like the moombrian Um, and then in a couple of specific ones and you want to see everything relates And you want to see everything sort of moves and price and stuff and if you truly just want to hop in the hobby and collect I would say just collect what you love collect what appeals to the eye collect You know if the tens obviously accelerate more than the nine system that and the chances are that if you love a card And it's not there other people out there that love the same thing for similar reasons And then if if you truly just want to hop in as an investor and you don't really want to take risk and You you aren't really trying to gamble this and that you want something else to do it for you There are a lot of people in the Pokemon hobby that are building sort of funds and things like that That allow that are essentially experts that are trying to build ETF model. I mentioned earlier I'm sure there's two ways to do it. You can do it yourself or you can you can find something else I can do it more strategically for you Yeah, the one thing I do like Compared and I'm definitely more of a sports guy, but I'm into Pokemon too like I know more than you would think Who's your favorite Pokemon The most valuable one We still say Pikachu or Charizard say Pikachu or Charizard we know you know true. I don't like those guys I mean, I like them. I make those are valuable if they're the right ones, but um I like typically the really artistic ones that are like That look like I mean they all look like pieces of art. So that's kind of an odd thing to say, but I think some of them Really the detail and dynamic colors and you know I've been into the new mega evolution set because a little different little vibrant the vibrant colors being a little different And then I don't know I think that the more detail and the more complex the art the more I like it and so I think that leads to like the stuff that I kind of Squirrel away even if it's like two dollars, you know Yeah, I mean the new mega evolution set they didn't some new texturizing on the surface of the card So next you pull some of the bigger hits that you get a box actually presents really really well compared other sets You know, they have the gold ex flowing at the top two And I think that's one of the key points when it comes to artwork the Pokemon's done really well That if you look at the black white area at 2012 the nearly the xy area 2016 The art is very lackluster and it's almost like like disappointing And then you go up to like 2019 we have tag team come out and you poke one interacting each other than the same team And they are there's more these scenes and then you get to today where the art for some of this stuff like you have an artist in Canada Then you have kamea and the art is like incredible. It's like this this picture that you're pulling out of a card That guy might have spent a hundred hours drawing that and you feel like you've getting actual value Like it's almost going beyond the cards and it's like you're almost going to art And I think if Pokemon had and stepped up their art game last few years I don't think the modern market will be anywhere close where it is today Because yeah, well, like you said you said you don't play the game. I don't play the game either I don't know how to play Pokemon Which is kind of crazy and I think a lot of people collecting the day I don't think a lot of them play the game either. I think they like the art. They like the collectibility They like the gamble. They like the chase. They like going for the tens and uh if the art's that cool Why do you want the card? Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. That's what got me into it It's like okay like the boys are kind of into it now. It's kind of looking over the shoulder I was like I don't get it but then okay Well, that's cool then start to open some packs and like you know, this got in and I'm this I'm definitely not I kind of joke to the beginning you know guilty pleasure. I don't really give a shit what people think like about Okay, whether I you know, I'm not playing Pokemon. This is art number one. I appreciate art. I'm proud of that and I like value and investment and collecting things that that increase in value or Typically at worst stay or hover around the same area. Let's talk The rating it's an interesting topic the standardization of you know, what the card grade is versus You know a raw card that could be truly subjective and or you know You never know what's there And if you're holding lots of raw cards you could argue you know what condition are they what you know But the grading sort of sets a standard that's higher than and and more Reliable so to speak Than not and I think that's where the institutional money's getting more comfortable coming in because you have that standardization And so I think you have got a lot of variables that are gonna make that make this Sustainable and you know buckle up Where the gold rush days man, it's like is is it earlier? We too late, but I don't know. Yeah I'm gonna open up a can of worms a little bit. We kind of live in this PSA world I know why because you've got the legacy in the history and you got all these guys that are 50 plus That's all they know if they all they trust And that legacy's carried over and they do a good job. I mean, I'm not saying they don't do a good job overall But it's kind of a little monopolistic to me on the value side I mean, there's other companies obviously and in Pokemon you've got CGC and like you've got these other players But what says you about the overall Grading landscape with Pokemon. I think PSA is gonna be the top brand They're gonna be the go-to a lot of people forget you know 10 years ago Beckett and PSA were essentially 50 50 You know magic collectors went more Beckett a lot of sports guys, you know hockey guys would go more you know Beckett And so PSA is really a brand that evolved with the times you know, they modernize You know, they're they're automating other centering when they check cards You know, they have layers and layers of value they add they invest in their set registry team You know, they have you know, what used to be the SMR magazine they have magazines to come out they You know redid it to where it's more pop culture relevant. It's less of a traditional magazine And so PSA What can they tell you all this when they send you the card back? Why can't they tell you that when you get the card back instead of here's your seven I know you're hey, if you thought was a tin well, you got no Guidelines for what was used? Why I didn't get it. Why you got docked. I mean it drives me crazy I know I know, but they added greater notes as well So if you have a higher dollar card, you know, you can check the notes and yeah I do think they lean a lot on the groups of emitters and stuff We kind of go through a lot of that process But but essentially what I'm saying is PSA evolved with the times and then you know It opened the door for competitors like CGC who they just started grading basically during the middle of COVID And they've graded, you know, probably five million cards at this point And then you have other graders like tag who's kind of taken an ulterior approach and saying hey, we want to do everything digital You know, we want to literally use machines and stuff to grade And so when it comes down to it like like what do we care about as as collectors when it comes to grading You know, I think if we all had a hundred percent trust with each other and we were all experts grading wouldn't exist You know, but grading is that third party that neutral person that can say is this a nine or a ten or an eight You know, should I give you ten grand for that ten or a thousand bucks for the nine or two hundred bucks for the eight You'll PSA is an entity that sort of helps determine that You know between us to allow us to have that exchange That's really the only reason they're necessary Is that going to trade in a card? Yeah, they give you a report and tell you what's wrong Right headlights are out. Need to do engine You know anything else in life if you're trying to get a value and someone that you trust as a third party They're telling you no matter if it's a dollar or a million dollars. What's wrong with it? Right and so why not just be transparent and embrace Notes or whatever, you know, I got a friend named Mike Baker who was with PSA and it's starting in B.A You know and Not paid by Mike. I just like what he's doing Transparency digital tracking of exactly what's wrong with the card like what you know that we need some innovation And I'm not a PSA hater. I just hate the fact that you get cards back and you don't know why whether it's ten dollars or 10 million I think Mike you know he was there with PSA is founded right like he was one of the early games. Oh, he was the first employee First paid employee. He was there. He was their lead grader or oversaw the grading department for 10 years So I mean no one has more credibility. I mean like lover hate him and I I like him But I'm sure there's this this the whole hobby so polarizing everybody likes real loves or hates somebody Uh And I but I love the fact that I could look up the barcode that he puts on there and you go there and you see exactly Okay, this corner soft. This is that you got degrees of nine and ten like because every nine and every ten in the same and so I don't know. I just it's like this lack of innovation and transparency a little bit that bothers me You with the real answer there and Mike Mike owns his own company. He reports himself PSA, you know They've got a lot of investors that won a lot of money. So yeah, that's that's probably the real answer there But I love that Mike has that simple scale, you know the black diamond gold diamond silver You got three categories and either you're you're making the cut or you're not making the cut And it's like I love how simple that is and and put in the dual grade on top I mean, it's like do you put the PSA case inside of another PSA case? It's like how many layers of grading are we gonna go? You know, are you putting the are you putting the sleeve on top of the card? And so I think it's really necessary The PSA does did it right the first time. I know I agree But I think I think we should stop it at Mike. I think after Mike. There's no more grading like I agree Second layer is enough. I know I know Pokemon you you do the set building you're building all the sets out when a new set comes out or new Edition, and this is the harder, you know as much as I've gotten into it And I know you know full art and I know illustrationery. I know they're like the stuff like that But what I do struggle with is knowing okay black And white come out black you the names here are escaping me But like those editions that are sub editions and then you've got mega evolutions that I do struggle with knowing What's part of the grander set versus a small set was just like I can't quite keep up with that So I think Pokemon has done an incredible job to make it to where if you want to casually open and casually open You get some hits in the box. I don't really like the EV per box I think that's really bad. They should improve that But they've done a job to where you could open 60 cases of a new set and not pull every card And so they they've incentivized you just to if you have the ability You know they say anytime you offer a selection of products you got off for that that rich person product the product that's Seenly overpriced that someone's gonna buy because they want to prove it And so Pokemon said if you want to rip all the you know 60 cases you can and maybe that you'll you'll pull the whole set So they've really done is made impossible for anyone to build sets out of rip and packs today And with the release schedule with having like holiday sets and main sets and you know all these other things if they've really made it really difficult for that person Um, you know to actually complete but if you get back to like the core of like set building and stuff There's someone does it want that wants to build a set I think the number one piece of advice have given someone is to be patient Typically at release is when all the cards are gonna be at their highest point You know for a period of time You know that's when all the dealers want to sell it's when all the card shops want to sell That's when the players that actually play the game want to put the new cards in the deck And so you're gonna have this you know really concentrated Pricings bike and beginning then for Pokemon typically over the next three to six months You'll see prices decline as things stabilize Is that charge or one every four packs or one every twelve hundred packs? You know, you don't really know right away until you actually start pulling the packs because you know Things can change with with the distribution And so long story short what I'd say is you know why build sets especially older sets that have been out for a while I don't care if it takes me two or three years to build a set Do their cards today that are on eBay for 200 bucks? I can buy that knock out a set But I'd rather I think they're fifty dollar cards and I don't mind waiting till someone auction loan for 50 bucks Because if I bought a $200 card I'm probably reducing the scope of my collecting. It's probably not as enjoyable I'm probably not completing as many goals And so I think you just have to follow some core principles just be patient And the thing is the cards are gonna be there Pokemon print you know hundreds of millions of each of these cards That new charge art card that came out that everyone's super stoked about I bet you there's ten million of those out there like think about that. That's so many cards like it You will get one eventually just just be a little patient and don't blow your money up front Zach you full-time collector. Yeah, you're doing some other things So I was actually in health care for about 10 15 years I'm on the the consulting side and then um, I think my passion for the hobby is just so strong I couldn't go a day without waking up and thinking about the hobby You know lunch you think about the hobby and night you're thinking about the hobby That about two years ago actually left health care and I'm full-time hobby today And so I have a I've run a business. It's it's a private business called Slab Z LLC And essentially our core business is B2B And so I think there's a lot of B2C businesses out there that you know retailers live streamers are service customers I think there's very very few businesses that enter a hobby that service other businesses And our goal was to try to make it as easy as possible for other businesses to exist in the space So whether we help people through wholesale inventory or whether you know We build different products for people or whether we build some technologies technology solution that automate some things Um, our real goal is to to make it easy for businesses to exist in our space and um, we're still early You know, we still have a long way to go. We got a good roadmap. We got about 10 ideas I think if we can execute on three of them. I think it'll make the hobby a better place for everyone Hey, I love that. Hey, we have to talk some. I got the rad collective started which is Sort of marketing and all things hobby, you know, both in and out of the hobby, you know kind of a consultant role as well as You know aggregating solutions within the hobby. We should definitely have a cock off line the uh, there's could be some synergies there For sure, I think my goal is I want that sexual boy to walk in a car shop and have a fantastic experience in 20 years later I want him to still be in the hobby and love and everything about it And so anything around that you know that that helps to have that kid have a good experience I think it is a kind of sort of what we're targeting what we're trying to do Just just make the hobby more enjoyable and lively place for all ages. How would uh, okay someone's listening They want to get into it. We you've talked about set building Talked about being patient Talking about you know starting and you know don't overpay if you start to get into that What maybe let's give them like the stock advice, you know, what are some cards? You know, maybe new you can do it like a few new and a few old if you were buying right had you do That you'd be keeping your eye on you know when people talk about the hobby like what's gonna 10x? I think there's probably a hundred cards that'll 10x I think some cards have an extremely high risk level. I think some cards have a very low risk level And so what I'd recommend is based to the cards. I think are more likely to to go up without that risk The cards with the higher risk level, you know, you could bet on them, but they could also go down too And so for example, I think terraced our festival It's a special set from from last year. I think that's an incredible set You know for it's the prismatic evolutions equivalent for English If you ever open English packs you could rip box after box and not pull anything For the Japanese sets you get a hit and every single pack you get a guaranteed You know big hit, you know, it could be one of the evolutions. It's loaded with hits The box is probably 80 to $100 right now I don't think there's a world where that box is under 200 or 300 bucks in a year or two And so it's I think that's one of the key investments where I think the risk is really really low Compared to where the upside is and I think if they were to reprint that set it's so much fun to rip online You see the whatnot streamers ripping it left and right and I think if it came out of 40 bucks of box I think it's shoot back up to 80 right away So that'd be one of the key investments Another one would be anything Pokemon partners with and so if you see the collaborations like the Van Gogh Pikachu Which I think if you got into that six months ago would have been way better You know the entry point that you enter is is obviously very important I probably would not buy Van Gogh Pikachu's today I think it's probably still going to keep going up But I think the risk level and that's a little too high But if you look at other cards like the Mario Pikachu, you know, where Pokemon has that brand collaboration You know if they're ever to come out and do something else that's similar You know like I outside of Pokemon the Otani, you know one piece collaboration For that Dodger game. Yeah, that's a thousand RPS 10 today I bet you that's a 10,000 R cards someday It's like when you have those two major IPs that cross collaborate I think that's almost like the the blessing that this this is You know going to do well and you another thing you want to look at is you want to look at the distribution the release the items If and I give this advice all the time. I think it's really really important If something is collectible and it's distributed as collectible whatever one perceives it as collectible All the times it's not really collectible. It never really goes up But if something is distributed to the masses where a lot of the people that get the item are not the intended target So the people that went through that game I bet you that 90% of them are not card collectors But because 90% of them got that Otani card the one piece That's going to make that thing so collectible because it's going to slowly dripper into the hobby It's slowly going to leak out and so like those are kind of some key things you can look at and I bet you if if Pokemon ever did another van go collaboration I bet you that would just be the that would be a lock. Yeah, I is it so then me buying up a lot of the Magic marvel spider-man isn't that such a bad idea? Well, the spider-man's having a big collapse right now because people are upset the no serialized this and that a lot of people think It was underdeveloped compared to final fantasy and they think the new avatar set is a lot more development coming out later I do think the collapse is an overreaction. I think if you're buying spider-man at four bucks a box I think it's going to be a thousand dollar box someday. I think it's an overreaction So it kind of goes the piece advice that you know if other if everyone's going this way Maybe you should look the other way because the opportunity is going to be where everyone else isn't It's still marvel it's still spider-man and it's still you know magic Which is still I think on the rides in some ways it still has you know I might even into it per se but I saw it not as bought I bought a lot of the booster packs You know the Those I'm just throwing them in the closet, you know in 20. Yeah, 15 years. I'm telling you they're not worth less I think you're gonna feel a little pain right away and you know maybe six months from now you look like man Why do I buy that spider-man? Well, I don't do that stuff that I throw in the closet. Maybe it stays there I don't even look at the value. I mean I mean somebody wants to tell me like okay, you know like that's not worth you know then that's fine But I don't go look at it like there's stuff there's stuff that I do the weekly check in on but the stuff I just throw in the closet to go it feels like It ain't going down to 15 years. Yeah There's so many things in Pokemon that have like a three-year cooker on them And it's like if you wait three years or good there's so many times a year or two or a year two and a half I'm like man Why isn't this thing moved and I've had it for almost a time and then you have something else it comes out You see the you know the bright red dress walking on the street Switching up your position And then it's like six months later. You're like man, I think triple, but I should you know should have helped firm So I love your closet theory collecting versus versus investing you know like Where's the line and Because I feel like some of the youth are getting too worried about the investing And not that I don't hey, I think it's great if some I want a kid wants to hustle around and go the dollar bins and Turn a dollar into three or four or five and do that a hundred times good for you I don't have any problem with that aspect But it does just feels like So transactional Yeah at all times like And it's it's the beauty of like Cars is your thing else that you talked about is okay 40-year-olds and nine-year-olds having conversations and there's no Air of whose older or whose wiser. It's the cards or what's on the table You know whoever wants to Yeah, if you want to do a deal you can do a deal But everybody's got knowledge at their fingertips and what do you want to happen and I think that's great The first thing I did when I got back into it was like all right Okay, where's the apps? What's making this easier? You know because and it has some things have So I don't think we're far enough along but we're getting there and but then it's like Again walking around and and and and and the key of cards I had on the show he Made this point I grew with him everyone the car shows aren't necessarily the masses because those are the hyper into it So I don't want to paint this whole picture But it's just like walking around it gets exhausting and when I've had tables it shows it gets a little exhausting with Every 12-year-old that that thinks of themselves is the dealer They want 110% of retail for every card they have right you know, they want to you know lowball every card I have and it's like That's fine. That's the art of negotiation. I'll have but it's like it's that seems to just be more than norm than it used to be I'll watch all the vendor POVs man. They're their coach number teaching them They're seeing these winners say I only traded 80% You know, and then they give these free 20% bombs $1,000 deals. It's that's free money I mean how many times do you work today in your life and made less than 200 bucks? You know, it's like people are making a ton of money these days and Know your spot off. Yeah, you gotta set it forget it. Throw it in there. Hey man Where can everybody keep up with what you're doing? You got to get following online, but where's the best place for everyone to follow all that Jim mint Pokemon's up to? Yeah, Jim it on Instagram. Jim and Pokemon on Instagram. That's the best way. It's where I communicate DMs all day every day So reach out to me there. I'm happy to help anyone the hobby and One of the biggest things I pride myself on is if anyone ever has any advice or questions or so that I love helping people for free And so I you know people were there for me when I joined the hobby and I'm happy to to give back anytime I can So reach out and I'll help you if I can Zach guys like you or why the hobby is in good hands. I really appreciate you for coming on Thank you, sir. I really appreciate the opportunity Hey guys here to find us collectibles dot show you'll find links to Jim mint Pokemon Everything's acts up to see where he's at and that set building you never know You might have a card he needs or need some advice He is there and one of the good guys in the hobby You know to find me at Ryan Alfred on all the social media platforms. We'll see you next time On trading cards and collectibles Collectibles dot show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing and ultimately Hey, we want to hear from you. You do case hits at collectibles dot show What's you to send in your favorite pulls of the week and here's the difference. This isn't about just value Hey, we want to see some $10,000 hits had a couple of those myself a few months back But it's not just about the values about what you're collecting what means something to you share stories Share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week. That was your favorite player and you nailed it So case hits at collectibles dot show send in those videos. I want to know the stories We're gonna bring into life here on the show. We're gonna do a segment each week once we get rolling and get some videos in Where we share that on the show with us will feature you on collectibles show Thanks for tuning into the show Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast platform and don't miss the full video version on YouTube You can find us at www.collectibles.show or follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Ulford Now get out there and collect yours