NOTE: These transcripts are generated automatically, so there are plenty of mistakes.
Oliver: [00:00:00] Hey guys, today on the podcast I’m joined by Dan Scime, he’s a Twitch streamer and has some pretty awesome Pokemon card content that he posts to YouTube and other platforms like that, but he mainly streams on Twitch. He provides some really good value to the community, we talk about like super niche Pokemon card stuff like his obsession with stamped cards and he provides a lot of insight into that.
On stamped cards. So that’s really good. We also talk about his streams and our purchasing and collecting strategies, and then we just get completely sidetracked and start talking about some really cool kind of random Pokemon card lore. So I hope you enjoyed this podcast today. If you want to give Dan a follow, it’s going to be down in the description.
I highly recommend you do and. Alright, so today I’m here with Dan Shimei, a content creator and a Twitch streamer. He has some really amazing Pokemon card content. I thought I’d bring him on to bring some value to the podcast. So, Dan, how are you doing today?
Dan: Not too bad. [00:01:00] Uh, thanks for having me.
Oliver: Of course, of course.
So, I first found your channel Uh, last week, I was actually looking for the difference between the Pokemon 151 hollow energy cards and you, I think you have the only video on YouTube about that right now. So I watched your video on that and it was super helpful. Um, and you, I, how did you figure that out?
The difference is there?
Dan: Uh, I think a lot of it. I might have some form of OCD with stuff, and like, perfectionism, so like, when we were opening the packs, I was like, I was like, these look totally different, and I usually, like, when I would see the one style of holo, it was like that smooth cosmos. I was like, okay, I like this holo, but I miss, like, the old pixel y holo, so then when I saw the old pixel was like, hey, That’s completely different.
And then I [00:02:00] started like talking to my viewers about that. They’re like, yeah, like we see that too. And then I, uh, I was the one actually who messaged PokeBeach on Twitter and that’s where they did a writeup about it. So it was like,
Oliver: Oh really?
Dan: I, I don’t know, like other people might’ve noticed it, but no one had said anything about it.
So like super niche subject and I don’t know, just went from there. I’m all about the niche cards and variants like I go nuts. Yeah.
Oliver: Yeah, so I noticed you’re really into stamped cards
Dan: yeah, yeah, so The pre releases for set usually have like the four stamped promos But then throughout the set they come out with like a few other ones like game stop always does a promo eb games Sometimes does a promo Europe sometimes you get like a card from the set with the set logo that no one knows exists like There’s one right now for Iron Moth from Paradox Rift.
Like, no one knows about it. You can’t find it online anywhere. So yeah, [00:03:00] finding that stuff. That’s what I really enjoy as a collector because usually you can find it for cheap from the right person and then it’s like you have a card not many other people have and you just have like a cool little collection growing.
Oliver: So it’s low hanging fruit for, for Pokemon cards. Yeah. Yeah, that’s cool. I did pick up, um, I actually have them right here. These GameStop
Dan: Charmanders. Dude, those have gone up in price.
Oliver: Yeah! I just noticed, I was actually watching one of your videos and I thought, ah, well, they can’t be that expensive, but they are.
I should go thank the, the guy at GameStop, he just kept giving them to me, so.
Dan: That’s awesome.
Oliver: I don’t have the, uh, Bulbasaur or Squirtle though, it’s one of those things where I’m like, ah, I’ll get them later, and then they just get too expensive.
Dan: The Squirtles, when those came to Pokemon Center, you could only get them through the Ultra Premium Collection.
Oliver: Yes, I got screwed.
Dan: It was, like, [00:04:00] so I saw that, and I was, I was so confused, because you couldn’t get it through, like, the ETVs and stuff, so I was like, okay, well, this is definitely going to be short printed then, and not many people are going to have it, because it’s an expensive product. So then I started buying a bunch on Facebook.
I bought like 50 from different people for like 30 bucks each and I just started flipping them on eBay. Like I was like, these things are just going to like skyrocket in like a week. And they did. And it was just crazy.
Oliver: Nice. That’s smart. Yeah. I went on, I ordered, um, a couple of products for one 51 and I wasn’t really paying attention.
I was just like, yeah, I get the squirtle. And. My package showed up and the squirtle wasn’t in there and I jumped on reddit and someone was like, yeah, it’s only the the UPC
Dan: Yes, I was too bad. They didn’t advertise it well, like everyone thought it was on like everything cuz that’s what it kind of should be but
Oliver: I Even had trouble with the the Van Gogh Pikachu like I had [00:05:00] trouble like understanding how the hell to get it
Dan: Yeah Some products just wouldn’t add it to your cart.
I remember some people couldn’t even like load the website.
Oliver: That too, yeah. You know, you’re struggling. I’m like, I’m at work. I’m not supposed to be on my phone. Like, I’m like trying to get this Pikachu. The site’s not loading. And then I’m like, man, what products does it come from? And, and I’m like, I don’t want to buy like a Van Gogh pencil case or, or whatever the other products were, so.
Dan: I want to get something you want with
Oliver: it. Yeah. No, that’s really cool that, that you, um, have a interest in the stamped cards, because I don’t, I watch a lot of Pokemon YouTube, man, and I don’t see a lot of people talking about that. So is that something you’re trying to provide to your audience? Is that an niche you’re focusing on or is that just your personal obsession coming through?
Dan: Uh, I’d say mostly obsession, but there’s a few. People in the Twitch [00:06:00] community with us, they’re like also trying to get these master sets and find all the different variants. So usually Someone will come to someone with like, hey, did you see this exists? And then we’ll kind of Update a spreadsheet and let everyone know and try to get our hands on them And if someone can get one or multiple copies, we’ll like grab it for the other people sort of thing.
Oliver: Nice So, are you a master setter? You go for those?
Dan: Uh, I’m trying to now, with like Scarlet Violet era. Um, but not so much anything before that. But, I have like, I have a bunch of weird collections on the go. Like, I’m trying to get every common and uncommon from every set ever.
Oliver: Then,
Dan: then I’m trying to master everything Gen 9 forward.
And then, uh, trying to get like all the stamped cards. Just kind of stuff like that, I guess.
Oliver: I don’t have any modern Master Sets. I have a few vintage Master [00:07:00] Sets, but Actually, if you want to count the McDonald’s collections, I got
Dan: those. Dude, I love those.
Oliver: Yeah, so how did you feel this year living in Canada with the, uh, with the McDonald’s cards coming out so late?
Dan: Uh, I’m kind of I’m a weird one because My girlfriend is a travel nurse, and she is doing a contract in Arizona right now. And I drove down to Arizona with her because she wanted to have her car, so we did a road trip down, I flew back. On our road trip, McDonald’s was just coming out with the cards, so on our way we were able to just get like a bunch of packs and have them like, in a minute.
Oliver: Nice. Lucky.
Dan: Yeah, mastered the set before Canada even saw the thing.
Oliver: Cool, cuz. I think in 2022, we actually got those cards a week before the U S and for me, um, having like a Pokemon card website, it was a huge [00:08:00] advantage because I was able to put up the set list prices, all this information on the site. And then when the U S cards came out, uh, I got a lot of traffic, but this year.
I was just like, I was like messaging people and like, Hey, like, um, have you gotten any of the, any of the McDonald’s cards? Can you send me pictures? Canada just has like no word on them at all. So it was a stressful year for us McDonald’s Pokemon card collectors in Canada.
Dan: Yeah. Yeah. I’m not, I’m usually not too, um, I don’t need to like rush to finish sets.
I feel like I’m still working on like Obsidian Flames and 151. But, I at least like to have that knowledge as quick as possible. But then when it comes to actually getting the cards, I don’t mind waiting usually.
Oliver: How do you feel about 151?
Dan: I think it’s a pretty cool set. Like, I like it a lot. [00:09:00] It’s the way the Pokemon company handled it.
It’s kind of weird though They made it feel like product was like so scarce, but it’s like they have their own printing facility They can print this to the ground. They’re making it seem like oh, it’s hard to get like pay these super high prices Like you’re barely gonna get to open it So I think
Oliver: that’s typical the the Van Gogh Pikachu being the most recent example, right?
Uh, how do you feel about the pull rates in 1. 51? And how’s, how’s your master set coming along?
Dan: Uh, pull rates. I don’t know. It’s, they feel like they suck, but when you kind of count how many hits you’re getting, it feels like it’s about on par with like the other sets. So I don’t know, but maybe it’s the fact that you’re not hitting as many of the big cards as often as you’d like, maybe.
Um, but they’re solid. It’s at a good point though, that when you do hit a hit, you’re like, Oh, that’s so sick. Like pretty gratifying [00:10:00] to see something.
Oliver: I think they hit it out of the park with the, uh, the, uh, starter SIRs.
Dan: Yeah. Oh, so nice.
Oliver: I still don’t have the blast choice, which I think is my favorite card of the set.
Dan: Oh, okay.
Oliver: That’s pretty cool. I got super duper lucky and pulled the Charizard though.
Dan: Nice. We, we recently, uh, we did like a giveaway on stream for one pack of 151 and the person pulled the altar Charizard. So it was just like, no, it was like, that’s so cool.
Oliver: That’s so cool. I always hope that when I do a giveaway that happens, but I never hear anything back, you know?
Dan: True. Yeah.
Oliver: Yeah. And then, and then I automatically assumed that they didn’t get anything. Yeah. Uh, so, when did you start your YouTube channel and did you intent to make it a Pokemon card channel?
Cause I see you [00:11:00] got some other, like, um, uh, musical content on there.
Dan: Yeah, um, I started doing YouTube, not like, not like a full channel sort of thing. But like when I was younger I would make like a few like crappy videos and then put them online. Um, And then around high school, I started doing more like sketches and trying to make videos where you kind of like do multiple camera shots and edit something instead of just like one continuous take, uh, so around there, I was like starting to do stuff.
And then, um, maybe like four or five years ago, I started doing more, uh, getting into like, a bit of music and kind of trying to record stuff, doing band stuff, and then like three years ago started the whole Twitch thing, and then I was streaming, I was playing guitar on stream sometimes, and then I would like do a playthrough of a song and then take the [00:12:00] VOD, edit that down, make a video of that, um, so it’s just kind of been all over the place really.
And then I wasn’t even into Pokemon. My brother started opening packs. I was like, Like, these new packs suck, like, I hate what Pokemon’s become. And then he started ripping them more on my stream and I was like, these are sick, I love this. And then, just, like, I don’t know, uh, the channel started really growing in followers, I was like, this is working, I’m enjoying it, the folks are enjoying it, like, I’m all in.
Oliver: Yeah, so, you’ve come around now?
Dan: Yeah, definitely.
Oliver: Are you an OG Pokemon fan? I’m a fan.
Dan: Uh, I started around gen three, like when I was five or so we got Pokemon Sapphire and then, yeah, so people like 151 a lot, but for me it’s like, Oh, gen three Hoenn, man, so good.
Oliver: Yeah. I don’t know when we’re going to get like [00:13:00] a special set that’s not centered around gen one.
Yeah. I hear that discussion a lot, but like it, it’s a real thing though. Like they just keep milking us for gen one and I fall for it every time. But. I think I’m a, a Gen 2 man personally, but
Dan: okay. Gen 2 is so sick too though. It’s all sick, but like, yeah. Two, three, four.
Oliver: Yeah, I, uh, I think the last I did fall out of Pokemon cards or Pokemon in general for a while when I like got to that age where like girls were more important, you know, like I was like 13 or 14, but the last game.
I actually like bought on release and played through was Pokemon diamond
Dan: okay,
Oliver: and so um Even back then I was like, ah, man, I don’t know if I like these new pokemon But now looking back i’m like that generation’s sick like turtwig is my man.
Dan: Yeah. Oh, it’s [00:14:00] so good
Oliver: It’s funny how that happens though because like we’ve got the newest pokemon And again, I’m like, I don’t know.
Right. But I am going to warm up to them.
Dan: I definitely feel that.
Oliver: So moving forward with your content creation, what is your, um, I just want to hear about your strategy and what you want to provide your audience and, and what’s inspiring you to, uh, move forward.
Dan: Sure. Um, I think. A big part of what I do, I guess, first of all, what I do usually is like rip and ship streams, so like people can buy packs from me and then I’ll open them and then I’ll ship them to them.
Um, I think a huge part of that is like, obviously I’m trying to make a bit of money from it, but money’s not like the main focus. Like I love Pokemon. I love collecting. If I didn’t, and I was only doing it for the money, I’d probably like burn out so [00:15:00] fast and hate it. So. That’s a huge part of it. We have a community of people where it’s like the same people coming back and just in chat hanging out.
So now it’s almost got to a point where it’s like when I stream it’s like we’re all just it’s like your friends are hanging out and you just want to hang out and chat and be a part of it. So it’s kind of taken on a little more than just like my channel it feels like so Yeah, really enjoying that perspective of it.
Uh And then growing, just trying to get better at what I’m doing, find better connections so that I can get stuff for like better prices and then I can provide my community who’s helped me grow so much, you know, give back to them with, you know, getting them deals, getting them sick cards. If they get polls that aren’t great, I’ll get them like extra freebies and stuff just to make it like a nice, happy transaction, make them keep wanting to be part of the thing.[00:16:00]
Oliver: That’s cool. Yeah. So I’ve actually struggled myself with building community, but it sounds like you’ve actually thrived there.
Dan: It definitely took a while though. Like my first year of streaming, we like barely got to a hundred followers. Um, it was just taking a while. Like no one was really a repeat chatter or anything.
Like it would just be random people popping in. You never see him again. New people never see him again. Um, just took a while. That’s it. Keep streaming, be online long enough that enough people drop by and eventually start sticking.
Oliver: So can you tell me a little more about the rip and ship, uh, I guess business model, because it’s something that I see on, on Tik TOK a lot and I’ve jumped in a few lives and I’ve watched and I’m just like, man, Howard, like I don’t fully understand how the rip and ship works.
It’s like, is it people who. Who don’t [00:17:00] have access to booster packs in person, or do they just enjoy the rip and ship? And prefer doing that
Dan: Yeah, like I’ll say when I was getting into it like watching other rip and shippers I was like, this is a scam. Why would anyone do this? You know, it it doesn’t make any sense But then yeah, just starting it I had started when Celebrations was coming out and I was keeping my eyes open for deals or products and so that product was so scarce that a lot of people coming in wanted to buy from me because they couldn’t find it.
Um, but now Pokemon’s getting readily available. The company’s doing well. It’s not as in high demand as it was during like COVID, but I think a big part of it is, um, keeping your prices competitive, then it’s like people. feel like they can not only support you, but get the packs for the same cost that they might be getting from stores.[00:18:00]
Um, I’d say part of it is just having it available. Like if you’re in bed at 10 PM and you want to open cards, like you can’t go to a store, so you kind of go to someone online and you can have your stuff open for you there. Um, a part of it’s the community of like, instead of just opening a pack yourself, you might not have anyone like you.
physically near you that enjoys the hobby. Doing it with the community, with other people you enjoy and chat and kind of just enjoying that experience together. I think that’s a big, big part of it. Cause a lot of people now like want me to stream so they can buy packs, even though they probably live super close to a store or there’s so many stores that offer free shipping in Canada too.
So you really could get it from anywhere, but I think just, you know, Just having other people interested in watching at the same time is like a big part of it.
Oliver: I see. Yeah, you just made that sound really attractive to me, actually, cause like, uh, the [00:19:00] one thing that what holds me back from not buying more packs is like, Oh, I got to get out of bed and go drive.
Right. And then same thing. Like my wife is not into Pokemon cards and I am completely alone opening my packs most of the time. So I might have to dive into that a little bit, jump on your streams, because that sounds really cool.
Dan: Yeah, I mean, hey, if you want to check it out, you’re more than welcome.
There’s like, there’s never any pressure on my streams either, I try to make that like super clear to viewers. Like, you do not have to buy anything, like, just come, enjoy, like, hang out, like, win some stuff too if you want. Like, no, no pressure, just, like, the community is just about spreading positive vibes.
And that’s a huge thing too, I find, like, so many Communities on like Reddit or Twitch or YouTube. It’s people are just They’re like beefing each other starting drama. I’m like man. We’re just trying to have a good time. This is like This is literally a hobby. That’s the point of it No time for [00:20:00] negative sort of attitudes.
Oliver: I Agree, I agree. So what’s your um, do you have a favorite? Favorite memory from from any of your streams there anyone pull anything crazy?
Dan: Uh, one of our recent things was, I was trying to do an Ultra Prism box break, because I had a sealed box of Ultra Prism. The packs weren’t really selling, we had sold like 5 or 6 packs, so then eventually, uh, we had decided, you know what, we’ll just sell.
The packs and open them as they’re purchased instead of trying to sell the whole box and like wait until the full box is purchased We’ll just sell the individual packs. So then one guy who had bought like three packs We started opening his, he was the first person, the first pack from the box. He pulled the full art lily, which is like, just insane.
It’s worth like, way too much money, and it’s just like, okay, so the rest of [00:21:00] the box is dead now. But it was so sick.
Oliver: Yeah, I uh, I know what card you’re talking about. Yeah, that card’s crazy. That’s one of those ones where, you know, it kind of goes by under the radar and then all of a sudden you see someone’s sale on eBay and you gotta do a double take.
It’s like four figures or like if it’s like a, you know, black label Beckett or something it might even be five and it’s like, what the heck just happened?
Dan: I feel like that too, about like the Latios Latios tag team.
Oliver: Exactly.
Dan: I want that so bad, but it’s just like gone up so much. It’s like, Oh, what happened?
Oliver: I actually, I have a screenshot from one year ago and it was 200 bucks. Damn. And I just found it. I was like, why did I even screenshot this? And like, whoa. That, yeah, that’s the card that came to mind right when I was saying that too. I think that one’s kind of like, The, [00:22:00] uh, poster child for that whole concept right now.
Right.
Dan: Yeah. It seems to be like, that’s it.
Oliver: Yeah. Those are the kinds of things that are like, um, there’s lots of content online about like, what cards you should invest in. And I should actually go back and see if anyone called out that, that Latios and, uh, Latios card. Cause that was a big one.
Dan: Yeah. It’s so weird.
I don’t know it’s like people just miss things like so many of those tag team alters were like selling for like 5 10 bucks And it’s like you don’t you’re not even guaranteed to pull one from a full booster box like why is no one Really going nuts on these
Oliver: I? Think it’s the case where or this might be a factor where?
It’s just It’s procrastination really like I really want this card and then you chase it for a few weeks You don’t get it and you’re like, ah, you know, I don’t really want to drop 120 bucks right now And then next thing you know, it’s [00:23:00] been a whole year and it’s absolutely blown up
Dan: Yeah. Yeah, at least
Oliver: that’s what happens to me
Dan: That’s a great point.
I think yeah, because Some of these yeah, because 100 bucks for a card you’re like, ah, that’s a lot like i’ll wait till it I find a better deal or something Nope.
Oliver: Uh, I, I’m a little nervous. That might be happening to me right now with that blastoise, you know, not that I don’t think it’s going to explode or anything, but I don’t want it to go up in price and me procrastinate, you know,
Dan: it’s, it’s definitely hard to say, but the way I think it seems right now with scarlet violet is like, there’s just so much product that.
I don’t think anything’s going to be able to really spike for a while. It’s kind of going to like dip and then stabilize. I think a lot of these sets, we’ve got a lot of time for them.
Oliver: Except for some of these [00:24:00] stamped promos, right?
Dan: Yeah. Except for those, those things, which you got to watch for.
Oliver: Yeah. You might be onto something there.
Dan: Yeah. Well, there, have you seen those, uh, the Pikachu and Eevee promos from one, five, one. Where it has like a gold stamp that says Pokemon together.
Oliver: I haven’t, no.
Dan: So it was like a little, um, Oh, what do you call it? A promotional thing that Pokemon was doing in Europe. They were setting up these little like, um, pop up like post offices where people could line up, get one of these promos, send them to a friend sort of thing.
Oliver: Yes. Now, now I know what you’re talking about. Yeah.
Dan: Yeah. So. Those promos, like, I don’t know if people thought there was going to be a lot or a little, but like at first they were selling online for like 700 bucks for the pair and then it went down to like 200 then it went down to 100 and then a few weeks ago I found the set for [00:25:00] like 50 shipped and I was like, okay, that’s a good price.
It might drop lower, but at least I can like guarantee I’m getting it. And then checking today, like. Pikachu alone is worth like a hundred to two hundred bucks. They just went up and it’s you literally like it hasn’t even been that long since Like it hasn’t even been a month since the last round of those came out.
Like you literally cannot wait for some of these
Oliver: damn Yeah, my uh, my news editor for sleeve no card is in the uk And they did some write ups on that Now that you mention it , that’s something that I should have jumped on. Maybe .
Dan: It’s tough though, like Yeah, you never know. And even like 50 bucks for the set, I was like, I don’t know.
I might be paying too much for this.
Oliver: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That’s, it’s tough like that, you know? Mm-Hmm. . I am gonna look into these stamped promos a little more though, I think. Uh, what, what do you think is [00:26:00] the first stamped promo.
Dan: Uh, it depends on the stamp, I guess. Um, the first ones were kind of like, I think Aerodactyl from Fossil had like a pre release stamp on it.
Pre release. Clefable
Oliver: would be the first in that case, right? Maybe,
Dan: or some people say there’s even like a base set Raichu that exists with the pre release. Oh, don’t even get me started on
Oliver: the Raichu. That could be, like, the most intriguing Pokemon card lore. To me is that That pre release Raichu is the most valuable card and it might not even exist Hey guys, so I have to interrupt the podcast really quick to make a correction Dan just brought up the legendary pre release Raichu and I’m about to go on and say that it’s never been authenticated and might not even exist.
Well, I fact checked myself and I’m completely wrong. [00:27:00] So just a few months ago, CGC actually announced on November 1st, 2023, that they have authenticated and graded not one but two copies of the pre release Ride you. So it is in fact real and authenticated and graded. So enjoy the podcast and enjoy the next minute of me sounding like an idiot.
Dan: Yeah, they like, didn’t they have a thing where they kind of proved it was authentic or something? Someone had it or, so it’s like the only one.
Oliver: Yeah. So what happened is a former Wizards employee actually spoke out on Facebook about it and, um. I don’t want to go into too much detail because I wrote an article on this like two years ago, so I don’t want to mess up anything.
But I think he came out on, on Facebook and said like, Hey, so it is real. Basically we were doing the pre release Clefables and there were a few Raichus on the sheet that got the [00:28:00] stamp. And here’s like a really crappy, like JPEG of one, you know, and it’s like, it, Uh, that’s it. That’s pretty much all we got on, on the pre-release ride to.
And then, if I’m not mistaken, I think there’s someone on Instagram who claims to have one and the, and the guy’s very credible and everything, but he just doesn’t want to, uh, doesn’t want to like show it because he doesn’t want to, um, you know, like attract any attention.
Dan: Uh, yeah, that’s fair. That’s. Yes, yeah, I didn’t know the lore of that, but that’s So it’s like it was unintentional, but it does maybe exist
Oliver: Yeah, yeah And no one knows like we don’t actually have like a video of one, you know And then since it’s just a stamp on top of a base set Raiju [00:29:00] There’s so many fakes out there that there could be Like, I, there could be authentic ones just floating around in circulation.
And I think someone brought this up. It might have been PSA. It might have been CGC. Uh, I think they came out and said that they have a, uh, a very specific way to tell, like, how much pressure was applied during the stamping process in order to authenticate that stamp. So, you know, hopefully we can trust their process and one day that pre release Rai 2 will actually come forward.
Dan: Yeah. That’s, that’s interesting that they can do that. I mean, that’s great for authenticating stuff. Yeah.
Oliver: Yeah. That’s cool. Um, I was actually, before you said pre release, I was thinking of the Wizards gold stamp.
Dan: Oh, like that. [00:30:00] W kind of thing.
Oliver: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think there’s a Kabuto, uh, uh, Charmeleon.
Dan: There’s a Psyduck because I have that one. I don’t know where I got it, but it’s just in my childhood collection. So sure.
Oliver: Do you have a big childhood collection?
Dan: Yeah, we had a pretty decent one. Cause like around gen three, four, we were like just super into Pokemon and. Anytime we got like a birthday present or a Christmas present, we’d be like, Oh, can we get a few packs of Pokemon cards?
So we just opened like so much, never really got anything expensive, but we’ve got so many of like the commons and uncommons, like diamond and pearl base set, I have like the commons uncommons, like mastered like 20 times over. It’s like, why did we keep opening this? But yeah, so a good amount of stuff. Um, but then when I started really digging deep into like.
What are the different sets and what cards are from which sets? It’s like [00:31:00] there’s so much I don’t have like whole there’s so many sets. It’s crazy
Oliver: Yeah, and then like I think you and I are the type to really go down the rabbit hole and find those just like those 151 energy cards like go down the rabbit hole and find those like Variants in like the the dot matrix of the print or like just something super niche like that And then, you know, it’s really fun and like you get obsessed about it, but then you’re like, oh no if I want a master set Then I have to buy another 200 cards
Dan: There’s uh, oh there’s so many niche things that like I talked to my twitch community about and like Some people enjoy it, but some people are like, Yo, you’re insane.
Like, this isn’t Like, there’s, uh, You know the Abra box? With the Alakazam EX, and you get Abra and Kadabra? [00:32:00] There’s Two Like, the two holofoils you can get on the Energies, You can also find those two different holofoils on Abra. So now it’s like, you need to get both different kinds of Abra. But then Kadabra only has the one holofoil.
There’s no proof. Oh, is that right that anyone ever found one with the other? Yes Oh, okay. Now, it’s like we all just got to constantly keep our eyes open if anyone sees something like out of the ordinary
Oliver: what about the What came in the uh, what came in the other ones the Zapdos box has an electabuzz. Is that right?
I think does that have the
Dan: electabuzz I believe Also does it’s got both variants um The poster collection with like Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle only has the one type so far. No one’s seen like the older retro pixelated kind. So
Oliver: Right, yes, so
Dan: Just weird keeping track of the different ones.
Oliver: Yeah.
And like the Pokemon company’s [00:33:00] never going to acknowledge this. Will they?
Dan: No, no. They, they probably don’t even know that they’ve done it.
Oliver: that’s a good point. They’re probably, um, like a few sets ahead already. Right.
Dan: They’ve got to be, you’d think.
Oliver: Yeah. I think the, at least for me, the way, the way I differentiate those is that the Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, they’re promos, right?
And then the Electabuzz and the Abra are not, like, promos. They don’t have the promo stamp. But then that doesn’t really explain the Kadabra.
Dan: Yeah, no idea with that. But, I do like that theory, though, about, like, how they’re in the set and not those Blackstared ones, because then they could have been printed at, like, different times or in different stages of something somewhere.
Oliver: Right, so When you’re building your one 51 master set, where do you put these, this extra like [00:34:00] Cadabra Abra and elective buzz? Are you putting that in order or are you putting it with the promos?
Dan: I love that question. So the way I do master sets, the way I think is like the most maintainable way is I’ll do like the main set without reverse hollows.
So like just. all the cards in the set like before the full arts. Um, I’ll do like that as a set. Then I’ll start a new page and do all the reverses as a set. And then at the front of my binder, I’ll do a page for any hollow variants and I’ll just put them in, in the order that they were released. Then I’ll do any non hollow variants order they were released.
Then I’ll do, uh, the art rares from the set. Then I’ll do a page for the full arts from the set. And then, um, all tarts and golds usually I top load, so don’t make any pages. But then it’s like, if a new deck comes out and you got like a non hollow of this guy, [00:35:00] instead of trying to like rearrange everything, it’s like, nah, just stick it in the non hollow variant spot and you’re good to go.
Oliver: I like that, cause I do mine completely different. And in an incredibly punishing way. You know, I didn’t, well, okay, so I’ll go. I’ll go non holo, reverse holo, non holo, reverse holo, and, but I didn’t know about the two different, um, Cosmos patterns, so I’m like, oh no, I have to, I have to move all my cards over one slot for, for, um, Dyslectabuzz.
And then I jump on Reddit and someone’s like, Oh, the Abra has it too. And Kadabra actually is what they said. I’m like, okay, so I move all my cards over again and just absolutely punishing myself. But yeah, so I go, um, non holo, reverse holo. And then what I’ve done, and I’m not so sure how I feel about [00:36:00] it, is I’ve done non holo Abra, reverse holo Abra, Cosmos.
Abra and I didn’t want to put the Abra Gadabra and Electabuzz in the promos because they’re not numbered promos but I’m considering just putting them with the promos
Dan: yeah yeah see I could never do it that way where you gotta like constantly maintain the order cuz it’s horrible but he’s that to that too and it’s like they keep like four seal stones been out for like A year or two and then they just made like the new non holo version in the one deck.
It’s like now you gotta You just gotta keep maintaining
Oliver: So one thing I didn’t know about when I was watching your videos is the non holo v cards That they put in those decks like if someone and it made me feel horrible because I Sometimes consider myself a pokemon card [00:37:00] expert and if someone brought me that card, I would have told them it’s fake
Dan: Hmm
Oliver: I had no idea those existed.
Dan: Yeah, they, they were never really publicized until like they were, they were kind of publicized, I guess in late 2023, but they were originally from some events called PAX West that happened somewhere. So someone had told me, but then. Pokemon started giving these decks to stores, so then they were more like readily available, but still pretty niche, because like, a lot of stores didn’t even bother doing anything with them, because it’s just kind of like a weird teach like a little kid how to play the game sort of thing.
Oliver: Uh huh.
Dan: But yeah, just a non holo V, yeah, you would totally think that, and it’s weird, because like, when you look at it, it’s like, yeah, it’s non holo, but everything else looks right, and then the back looks perfectly fine, too, so Yeah, it’d be so easy. I didn’t even really think about that. It’d be so easy to [00:38:00] discount it as a fake on first glance, but yeah, it just, it exists and some people don’t even know about it.
The master setters have to move everything over again. It’s like so weird. Pokemon just, they keep doing things that you’re like, why are they doing this?
Oliver: Keep you on your toes, I guess.
Dan: Yeah. That’s the, yeah,
Oliver: I might have to grab some of those. I just want to see what a non hollow V card looks like in person.
Dan: It’s, it’s kind of boring, but
Oliver: Underwhelming. Yeah. Looks like a fake.
Dan: Yeah.
Oliver: I wonder if they’re uh, to your knowledge, have they done that in the past? And do you think they’re gonna do that with like, the new EX cards? Uh,
Dan: I don’t, I don’t know if they’ve done it in the past to my knowledge at least. With the EX cards, I hope to God they don’t, cause that’s so annoying.
Oliver: They kind of rely on the hollow, the new EX cards.
Dan: Yeah. You know what, actually, one of [00:39:00] our viewers sent us a picture. He got a Ting Liu EX from Paladay Evolved, and it just had like no hollow stars on it. Like, I think it might’ve had a sheen, but like none of the hollow pattern that usually comes with it.
And he’s like, what is going on here? So. I guess you could always kind of find the variance if it’s like a factory error, but I don’t know what’s intentional or what’s, what do I consider my master set when I’m collecting sort of thing.
Oliver: Have you ever been on the, uh, uh, Elite Four forums, E4?
Dan: Yeah, that’s, uh, that’s where, you know, like the prize packs that stores started giving out with like the league stamps.
Oliver: Hmm.
Dan: That’s where I started, like, that’s where I found the elite forum. Um, cause I was like, Hey, does anyone know what cards exist? And they were slowly starting to like compile a master set list. And then now whenever I [00:40:00] have new findings, usually I go there. So like with the hollow variants or like the, uh, energies or any play stamp related.
It’s a pretty good resource.
Oliver: It is, uh, actually. I’ve got Quador. I don’t know if you’ve if you know him. He’s one of the moderators on E4 I’ve got him lined up for the podcast and Or sorry, I don’t actually have him lined up for the podcast. I sent him a message. I haven’t heard back He’s got the world’s second largest Pikachu card collection.
Oh and I think I think it’s over 1, 700 unique Pikachu cards And he does that where he collects all the variants in factory errors.
Dan: Oh, okay.
Oliver: He’s got a couple of YouTube videos on it that are like 45 minutes long of just like, here’s this Pikachu. It has an ink blot. Here’s this Pikachu. It’s slightly discolored.
And he just keeps going and going. And it is [00:41:00] one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever watched.
Dan: That’s. Dedication, for sure. It’s super impressive.
Oliver: It’s super impressive.
Dan: I’m gonna, I’m gonna check that out after that. Holy moly.
Oliver: Yeah, it’s like, it makes me a little nervous just watching. Just trying to maintain that.
I think he did, for a while, have the, uh, the largest Pikachu card collection in the world title. But he lost it to a friend, and he was like, you know what, I’m just gonna stick with, like, English variants for now on.
Dan: Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, if you, if you go down the multilingual rabbit hole, like, you’re toast.
Yeah. You’re just like, oh, it’s too much.
Oliver: Have you ever pulled any like crazy errors or miscuts?
Dan: Um, we’ve definitely pulled like [00:42:00] some like miscuts or, uh, where you have like the crimping at the top of a card where they were like trying to seal a pack, which nice, I think those are my favorites. Cause they’re like nice and uniform along the top and it’s like bumpy.
Um, but nothing like shoe too crazy. I don’t think.
Oliver: Yeah, I, uh, I haven’t at all, you know, you jump on like, um, Regigigod’s subreddit, the Pokemon card errors, and, uh, and it just feels like everyone’s pulling these things all the time. And then I’ll, like, pull perfect cards out of a booster bag. I’m like,
Dan: damn it!
Yeah, yeah. Some people pull those, like, Looks like a chip, like a, it’s like the tiny corner of a card that somehow made it into a pack or something. It’s like, how does that even
Oliver: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just like a little, like, debris, basically. [00:43:00] Yeah, I, I don’t know, I tend to just pull perfect cards all the time.
Unless it’s a valuable card, then there’s usually a ding in it.
Dan: That’s, it’s so weird how it seems like the valuable ones are the ones that like, have the worst quality control.
Oliver: Yeah, and it’s, um, right around kind of like the pandemic era of Pokemon with the celebrations, evolving skies, vivid voltage and stuff.
I, I found that like, it’s no secret that the quality severely dipped. Right. Cause the demand was just to the moon. And I felt like they did take an approach to prioritize the nice cards because the commons, they felt thinner, the centering was never good. And then you pull like a gold rainbow or all tart and it was a lot nicer, but then there always seemed to be like a freaking ding in it or like, you know, it just looks like it got.
Just [00:44:00] got kicked, and it’s like two completely different, um, quality control systems, I think.
Dan: It definitely seems like that, uh, Lost Origin, like, the Giratina Altart is incredibly, like, elusive. Like, you can, we’ve never pulled it on stream, we’ve opened like seven cases of booster boxes. And then when you do finally pull it, it’s probably like terribly centered and it’s like if they barely exist, why couldn’t they exist a little better?
Like what’s going on?
Oliver: I’ve never seen a crimped card in person either. That’s really cool that you got some.
Dan: Yeah, we, uh, we’ve seen a few, not so much recently, but I feel like the fusion strike days is when we saw a few of them. Oh
Oliver: yeah, that’s interesting. I think I opened one pack of fusion strike, maybe.
Dan: It’s a, it’s a solid set.
Oliver: It is. Yeah.
Dan: Not to derail too much, but we [00:45:00] opened two God boxes of fusion strike back when there was like a weird factory air where
Oliver: I remember that,
Dan: yeah, it was like you got a secret rare in the packs, even though there was already a rare. And so each box had like 10 rainbows, like three alters.
Um, and this was near the start of my streaming. So I was like, Oh, do I take the chance on these boxes? I guess, worst case, I’m just buying products to hold on to. And we had opened like 10 to 15 packs and still pulled no secret rear. So I thought, Oh, this thing was like a complete dud. And then we started pulling like two Espeon VMAX Altarts in the same box.
And it’s like, Oh, something’s up. Um, and then by that time, They were all sold out. I think it was hobbiesville that I had bought them from. Oh, yeah people were posting like boxes from hobbiesville has these god boxes and people were skeptical and like [00:46:00] Because I was like early into my streaming career. I wasn’t trying to buy like a whole lack of inventory So even two boxes was like so much for me But now it’s like knowing that I probably would have bought like their entire inventory.
Oh, yeah So that
Oliver: That’s, do you have that video up somewhere? Can I go watch that?
Dan: Uh, I’ve kind of got like an edited version. I don’t know if it’s on my YouTube. It’s definitely on my TikTok and Instagram, I think. Um, there might be a Twitch highlight as well somewhere. If it’s not on YouTube, I should post that.
Oliver: You should.
Dan: I, I made like a highlight of the one box. Still should make a highlight of the other, but I never got around to it. I should post. Maybe one day
Oliver: Yeah, now that you brought it up. I remember that happening with fusion strike and I’m not the type to actually buy a lot of packs So I was just kind of watching from a distance, but I was like dang.
I can’t imagine the feeling of Opening one of those.
Dan: Yeah, it was [00:47:00] There’s like what the hell’s going on in the best way
Oliver: Uh, so we’re coming up on the 45 minute mark here, but since you’re Canadian, I did want to ask you about, uh, your grading process. How, uh, if, if, if you do grade cards, where do you go for that?
Dan: Uh, we don’t grade too many cards, but when we do, we’ve done it a few times. Um, There’s a stream on Twitch called Janey Breaks, who I’ve typically been using. He submits like a lot of cards like every month or maybe he’s doing it like twice a month now. Um, and he’s also a big member of like a lot of the big Facebook community groups, uh, for Pokemon.
So usually I’ll just send it to him and then he like deals with, um, You know, sending it in whatever paperwork’s involved, getting like insurance policies on the cards in case [00:48:00] anything goes wrong. So it, it’s just like a lot easier for me because we don’t do too many submissions, I’m not too well versed in the process, so we just send it to him.
He sends it and he, uh, he does like PSA and CGC, but usually we’ve only submitted through PSA and we’ve done only like three times now, so it’s not really a super common thing for me, at least.
Oliver: So you’re essentially using a middleman.
Dan: Yeah.
Oliver: Yeah. That’s cool. So I guess he must submit the cards in bulk, get a discount, and then it’s probably not that much more expensive for you.
Dan: Yeah. I, I’ve never really researched it, so I don’t even know what the price would be if I did it myself, but yeah, he just takes on all of like the extra time you got to sink into it. So I’m like, yeah, that’s,
Oliver: that’s nice. Yeah. I, um, Have you checked out any of the Canadian grading companies?
Dan: I have not, but like mint [00:49:00] seems pretty nifty.
We have a few people who’ve like shown us cards. They’ve got back from us. I like the way their labels look. So that’d probably be the first one I would check out if I were to check one out.
Oliver: Yeah. I like mint a lot. They actually, I think it’s 2016 they opened up. So it was before the pandemic, before the pandemic.
the like grading industry Saw like thousands of new companies pop up, right? They probably have the best reputation in canada I’ve submitted with them a couple times. I like mint a lot. Um, their slabs are identical to beckett Okay Yeah and then we’ve got um Ksa, which I believe is just on the west coast here And koba Koba’s new, but yeah, I, I have submitted with the Canadian grading companies just out of curiosity, really.[00:50:00]
But it’s kind of a pain in the butt to, to send cards to the States for us. So I find it’s usually cheaper to just buy a graded card or similar in price.
Dan: Yeah, it feels like that a lot of times, especially like if you’re not grading at 10, it’s almost like not even worth like the time effort or cost.
Oliver: Yeah.
Yeah, that’s, that’s tough too. I don’t like pre grading my cards. Cause it really, it kind of takes the fun out of it. Cause I’m like, Oh, I really want this card graded for my personal collection. And then I find that the centering’s a little off or, you know, what have you. And I don’t send it in. And that sucks.
Dan: Yeah. Definitely tough that way. Yeah.
Oliver: But yeah, I do typically just buy graded cards off of eBay.
Dan: I’ve submitted like a few personal cards, just, [00:51:00] I’ve got a story about one of them. I don’t know if you have time for it, but the other, it’s usually like, if this is a nice card that I want to keep well protected and like preserved and never lose its quality, then I’ll be like, okay, let’s get it in a slab and then I won’t touch it.
Um, but this one that I have. Those prize packs that we were talking about that like stores give out they have the stamps on them I ordered the pikachu vmax from series one as a single online And it came in and I looked at the thing and I was like this looks pretty clean like The corners are all rounded which was a huge problem with uh, when those prize packs came out like a lot of the corners on cards were like Just square or diamond cut like they looked awful You Then I’m checking on eBay, there’s PSA 9s of this card, and their corners are like, disgusting.
It’s like, how did this thing ever get a 9? So I looked at my card, it has like the tiniest little white [00:52:00] specks on the corner, but I’m like, I’m gonna send this in, there’s no PSA 10s of it that exist, may as well shoot my shot, worst case it gets a 9, because it’s better than these other ones, and we’ll go from there.
And the thing came back a 10, so it’s the only 10 in existence right now. And it’s just really
Oliver: population one
Dan: last I checked population one. I haven’t checked in like a month, but wow hoping it’s still so now i’m trying to sell it because it’s like I don’t really need it. It’s a really cool card to have but like You know if I could get some money for it, that’d be sick too, but It’s just such an interesting one
Oliver: That’s really cool that is really cool having a population one, but I guess the downside of that is Um You’re pretty much on a timer, right?
You have to sell it before that population goes up.
Dan: Yeah, exactly But
Oliver: if it does
Dan: Yeah, because like the quality control was so bad and like you can’t really find series one packs anymore unless you’re [00:53:00] just buying it from like ebay or something, so It’s tough to say if it will go up. I mean like it definitely could but It’ll be really tough But either way, yeah trying to get out before it’s too late sort of thing You
Oliver: There are some cards out there that just like, they really benefit from being hard to grade.
Like the first thing that comes to mind for me is the base set Magneton. Is notoriously difficult to get a 10 just because of its, uh, because of its hollow. It’s like really easily, I can’t remember if it’s really, really easily scratched or if it’s just prone to print lines. Or, or what the case was, but if you’re browsing base set PSA 10 cards, they’re all pretty expensive and the Magnetons just like through the roof consistently and it’s because the PSA 10 population is very, very low.
[00:54:00] That’s,
Dan: yeah, that’s so neat how it just works like that with some cards. It makes me think of, uh, like Chansey from PSA 10 of that. There’s like barely any,
Oliver: I was just going to say that. Yeah. That one was just brutal too. Right. That’s tough. And then Japanese cards are like the, the safety because the quality is so nice.
Dan: Yeah. They like, it comes back at 10 and it’s almost like still worth the raw price. Like no one even cares anymore.
Oliver: I like that though. I like that. I got this, um, this Blastoise. I think I got this for my birthday in 20 22? That’s so nice. And these are the cards I like to go for on eBay, right? Because it’s a, it’s a PSA 7.
And I’m looking at the listing and I’m like, Damn, I can’t find a single [00:55:00] thing wrong with this card. And I got it in the mail and I’m looking over it. with a friggin microscope. Like, I’m not exaggerating. And, uh, it is absolutely perfect. It took me like three days to find this very, very subtle dent in the bottom left corner.
It’s so subtle that my camera’s not even picking it up half the time, but PSA found it. Hmm. So that came at a huge discount and it’s Like, I was going to say at first glance, but you really have to look at it to find that, that dent. Otherwise, it’s like absolutely mint.
Dan: That’s like such a good way to go if you can find cards like that, because like you essentially have a mint card, but for the price of like a damaged card, and it’s like, now you just have this card in your collection.
Oliver: Yeah, yeah, actually, I don’t mean to do a, uh, [00:56:00] a show and tell here, but I got another one. This, uh, this Cardass, this Bandai Cardass Pikachu here, same, same thing. It is remarkably mint and exact same scenario. I crawled all over this listing, couldn’t find anything. Uh, but when it came in, these are actually stickers.
And. If you look really closely at the right angle, there appears to be an eyelash underneath the sticker.
Dan: Oh,
Oliver: yeah. Yeah. Or like, like a small eyelash, maybe half an eyelash. And it’s really hard to see. But yeah, the card is otherwise mint. And, you know, it looks like someone’s eyelash fell on the sheet in the factory and, and a PSA knocked it down to a six.
So, yeah, once again, huge discount on a seemingly mint card [00:57:00] and I’ll take it.
Dan: Yeah, for sure. That’s wild.
Oliver: Yeah, yeah. I really like, um, came around to that, that purchasing strategy on eBay because I, you know, it’s just the nature of a collector. You want a 10. Right, so I would filter it to show me tens, but then I think it was this blastoice, I was like, well, I can’t afford a 10 straight up.
So I’m going to look at less than 10. Yeah, it’s fun. Spend all my money on cardboard.
Dan: Yep. I know. I feel that I like going for damaged cards, honestly, like, uh, here I’ll show you one I got. Because Yeah. Just like really wanted the card, the Galarian Moltres Altair. It’s got like, such a nasty crease, I don’t know if you can see it or not though, but
Oliver: Really?
Dan: And the centering’s like pretty bad, so like, definitely [00:58:00] damaged. If you saw it in person you’d be like, oh 100%. Um, yeah I don’t know if you can see it there, but So he basically, he wanted uh, 70 bucks for it? And I was like, yeah I’ll pay that over like the 150 200 bucks, like It’s like a nice card just to look at.
There’s so many cards I want, like I can’t afford to keep paying like 200 bucks for every nice card. So for me, I’m just like, once it’s in a top loader, it becomes mint condition in my eyes. So I don’t care. I’ll take it.
Oliver: I haven’t really considered that as a collecting strategy, like purposely buying damaged cards.
Dan: That’s
Oliver: uh, that’s smart, actually.
Dan: Yeah, and sometimes you can find like really cheap ones. Like if I held out long enough, maybe I could find a damaged Maltres, say for like even cheaper. But it’s all about just finding like the right person selling it, thinking it’s worthless. And then you’re like, yeah, I’ll take it.
Oliver: That Maltres is my [00:59:00] favorite card from Chilling Rain. And maybe my favorite card from Sword and Shield. It’s so nice. And I don’t have one. Yeah. So I might, I might have to, uh, so this is one of the cards I missed the mark on. Cause I was looking at it when it was going for like 85, 90 Canadian, but I looked at it recently and I was like, Oh, I screwed up.
Dan: Yeah. It’s those ones. Yeah. The sword shield ones. They’re like slowly starting to climb now. It’s, and even now is still like. The time to buy, cause they’re just going to go up more in a year or two.
Oliver: Yeah. Yeah. And I don’t know if we’re getting chilling rain anymore. I think maybe this, um, the Charizard UPC may have been the last product to like consistently have chilling rain in it.
I could be wrong. Probably I’m wrong, but yeah, [01:00:00] that’s going out of print. Sorry, it is out of print, but we’re not seeing it on the shelves anymore. Hey,
Dan: yeah. Unless like Pokemon, they always do weird stuff where you see randomly, even cosmic eclipse is still floating around somewhere.
Oliver: Really?
Dan: Yeah. Like some people at Costco are finding them in the specific serial pokeballs.
Oliver: Yeah. Yeah.
Dan: Serial number.
Oliver: I don’t know if this is correct or not, but I think it’s D 21. Yeah, I think so. With Cosmic Eclipse. Mm hmm. Are you still seeing Shining Fates on the shelves?
Dan: Um, yeah, sometimes. There’s a lot of stores that still have them. Like, I don’t know, maybe it was just printed so much, because that was like, peak COVID.
Like Shining Fates ETBs were like 200 bucks at one point. You couldn’t get them. So then they mass produced it and now everyone’s like [01:01:00]
Oliver: Just um Just this past Wednesday. I Passed through the the trading card section in Walmart and there were Shining Fates ETBs And and I was like, dude, I Feel bad for anyone who like went all out on that set when it was at peak demand
Dan: My brother did, he opened like 20 ETBs, didn’t even pull the Charizard, like, Just, it’s so tough.
Oliver: I probably opened five or six, which is pretty extreme for me. And I go through my, my bulk, and there’s just this huge section, and I’m like, Oh, what is that? And it’s Shining Fates. I’m like, oh man, these aren’t worth anything.
Dan: Oh, it’s so tough to like, so many people don’t care for the bulk and stuff. And it’s like, you got to at least keep a one of each card.
Like someone worked hard on this design. Like you can’t just not want any of the ball. [01:02:00]
Oliver: Yeah. Yeah. Um, it’s totally worth your time to go through the commons and look at the artwork too, which I think like most of the community has just forgotten about.
Dan: Hmm. Yeah, definitely feels like that
Oliver: even actually just because I have it on hand here this this Charmander promo We’re just talking about I don’t know if you notice but there’s Charmander on that grassy knoll and then in the background That’s a shadow of a Charizard.
Dan: I Don’t think I noticed the other Charmander, but the Charizard I saw on Facebook someone had mentioned then it’s like Yeah, they’re just hiding these easter eggs. You like don’t even yeah
Oliver: Yeah, because it’s common right and people are just like they slot it in the binder if they do and then move on There’s also um, I think it’s a great ninja.
I can’t remember what set it’s from it may have been It may have been sun and moon But uh, he’s standing in the shadow of a charizard [01:03:00] And I think it’s an uncommon
Dan: Okay
Oliver: But yeah, it’s cool, you know, I might start a Shadow of Charizard binder page.
Dan: That’d be cool. That’d be a really sweet collection.
Oliver: Yeah, that’s, that’s the beauty of this hobby, right?
Dan: Yeah, find what gives it value to you, you know? It doesn’t have to be what’s the most expensive, like.
Oliver: Exactly. Exactly. I’ve never been one to go for, like, super expensive cards, either. Hence my PSA 6 and 7 collection over here.
Dan: Yeah. Cause like, yeah, it’s just, unless you’re like filthy rich, it’s like you can’t maintain that.
It’s, and you’ll never feel like it was a responsible purchase either, you know?
Oliver: Yeah, I get that. I get that. And it’s like, it’s, there’s a lot of pressure from social media too. Because you’ll jump on [01:04:00] and someone’s posting like, Oh, found, just picked this up. I think it just might be a binder card. I don’t know.
And it’s like a freakin Pokemon Illustrator or something, right? And you’re like, dude, like, It’s like, what’s the opposite of a humblebrag? You know? And then, here you are, like, scrounging to, like, you’re like, Ah, man, I don’t know if I should buy this ETB or not. And
Dan: It’s like, ooh, can I justify it? I guess I won’t eat today.
Oliver: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s, it’s about finding those like, those little pockets of, of like when you can justify it. Like my birthday’s two days away from Christmas. So I usually tell my wife, I’m like, hey, can I just have one nice Pokemon card? You know? And then that’s, that’s for the past couple years, that’s been like my, my big purchase, my big Pokemon card [01:05:00] for the year.
Dan: Nice. That’s cool. And then it’s got sentiment too with it probably, which is really nice.
Oliver: Oh, totally. Totally. And like, she’s cool with it too. Like I, it’s not like, you know, I, I’ve been talking about getting a new keyboard lately. I don’t have a new keyboard. The Pokemon card I got for Christmas. I’m like, oh, that’s way better.
You know, it’s way better.
Dan: Yeah Yeah Bringing it full circle like that’s why I love like the niche cards and the hollow variants because it’s like you pick up this card That’s so cool. Not well known about it’s now part of your collection You spent time researching it and it was like a two dollar one dollar just random variant and it’s like I love that, like, that’s That’s super cool.
Oliver: Yeah, that’s super cool. That’s awesome. Just like those, uh, [01:06:00] hollow pattern, um, energy cards.
Dan: Exactly.
Oliver: That’s pretty cool if, if you’re the one to figure that out. That’s, that’s pretty awesome.
Dan: The one to at least post about it. Cause, like, so many, I don’t know, so many people go to like a regionals event or something and they come out with like those stamped cards and people see things and no one’s like publicizing it.
It’s like, try to make it known, cause like, not a lot of people know about a lot of these cards that exist. It’s like, get a nice high quality picture posted somewhere, like, I don’t know, do something with it.
Oliver: Yeah, I’ve done, um, I think my, my, uh, Claim to fame. I don’t know if I want to call it that. I’ve done a lot of original research for the top son cards.
Okay. And, and I’ve like gone as far as sending like mass emails to eBay sellers, like Japanese, like I’ve translated [01:07:00] Japanese websites that aren’t, you know, aren’t visited by, by North Americans, just like trying to get information on the top son cards. Cause it’s like, It’s super frustrating that it was under 30 years ago that those cards came out, and we still don’t have a definitive release date.
It’s as if they came out 200 years ago. You know, and people just like, there’s all this mystery about like, Was it the blue backs or the green backs that were first and like, all these questions. But yeah, on Sleeve No Card Behind, I have quite an extensive write up on my research on the Top Sun cards. And uh, yeah, hopefully, that’s that kind of situation where it’s just like you’re trying to bring attention to it.
Dan: I gotta say, the name Sleeve No Care Behind, like, that’s a perfect name for what you’re doing, like, researching these Thanks. Forgotten [01:08:00] about, like, People just, yeah, look past them, don’t even give it a second thought. It’s like, no, give it a second thought.
Oliver: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, these, um, These Cardass cards, They’re all, every single one is illustrated by Ken Sugimori.
And some of the artwork is, um, I don’t even know what word I’m looking for, but it’s just, it doesn’t really feel like it belongs in the Pokemon universe. Like he does one of Electrode, where Electrode is opened up. Oh. And you can see the inside, it’s just a hollow ball, right? And it’s like, wow, I don’t think, We have an illustration of the inside of an electrode, you know?
Anyways, I could talk to you for probably another couple [01:09:00] hours about, about niche Pokemon card lore, but we should be wrapping it up. Um, so much for coming on the podcast today. I think you, you actually really did provide some value to the audience. Which is what I was going for. So thank you for that. And, um, where can the viewers find you?
Dan: Uh, my main presence is on twitch. tv at Dan Shima. And then I’m also on YouTube and Instagram, TikTok. I do posts and Twitter as well, but mainly Instagram and Twitch are my big things right now.
Oliver: Cool. All right. I will link that in the description. If you’re watching right now, you can jump down there and, and follow Dan.
I highly recommend that you do because his value is, I mean, his content is valuable, which I think is rare these days. So, Dan, again, thank you for coming on. Thanks so much for having me. And, uh, of course, catch up with [01:10:00] you another time.
Sounds good.