NOTE: These transcripts are generated automatically, so there are plenty of mistakes.
Oliver: [00:00:00] Today on the podcast, I am joined by Coop from Coop’s Collection. Now, Coop recently had a YouTube short go viral, like over 10 million views, and he’s gained 40, 000 subscribers since then. It’s a crazy story. Um, I will link that short in the description because if you haven’t seen it, you probably have seen it, but if you haven’t, go watch it and then make sure you come back here so you can hear Coop’s perspective on all of this.
So Coop, welcome to the Sleef No Card Behind podcast. How are you doing today, man?
Coop: I’m doing well. Thanks so much for inviting me on. It’s, uh, it’s really good to be here.
Oliver: Awesome. So you had a YouTube short go absolutely viral, but before we get into that, I want to hear your origin story. Like when and why did you start collecting cards and also when, and why did you start a YouTube channel?
And you can tell us in as much or [00:01:00] as little detail as you want.
Coop: Yeah, well, I’m, I’m known to ramble. So if you have to ever cut me off, like please feel free to. Um, I think my origin is probably pretty similar to a lot of folks. Um, I had cards as a kid. Um, I think I collected through like Team Rocket maybe was the latest set I had.
Uh, but then I got really into Yu Gi Oh and Digimon cards and stopped collecting probably when I was like 12 and then in 2016, I got into Pokemon Go like everyone else, played that for a couple months. It wasn’t, it didn’t really stick with me. Uh, and then in 2018, I don’t know what it was cause I never watched Pokemon content on YouTube or anything.
And a MaxMofo video got. Recommended to me and I watched at one of his videos and then I just like binged it and I don’t know what clicked About him just going ape over opening up Pokemon cards But I was like this man looks like he is having so much fun ripping packs. He’s freaking out. [00:02:00] He pulls You know, a rainbow rare, whatever.
And is like screaming and just freaking out. And I know part of it’s like a show for being on YouTube, right? You want to be entertaining and you want to show excitement. Um, but I was like, this man just looks like he’s having a great time. And I, I want to, I want to do that. Like I haven’t bought Pokemon cards in 15 plus years.
So I went on Amazon. I just started ordering, I just Googled or not Googled, but I just searched on Amazon, like Pokemon cards and, uh, just started buying a bunch of those old, uh, promo, like GX and EX boxes. So like, Some of them are worth like hundreds today, but when I was buying them, you know, they were 14.
99 They were 29. 99 like on sale It’s like the Gengar EX promo box and the Sharpedo and whatever box and so it was things that had packs like evolutions and Breakpoint and some of the older EX stuff and then I started buying Whatever was on the shelves, it might have been like Burning Shadows at the time, some of the early Sun and Moon GX stuff.
And I went and [00:03:00] sat at my kitchen table and just started like ripping packs. I was like, this is fun, but it’s not that fun to do alone. Um, and so then I started looking to like, online communities. And the first one I joined was like, the PokéBon. Trading card subreddit on Reddit. Um, and that was like, yeah, Pokemon TCG trade.
So like, and trading with people and finding new cards and just getting to experience, um, cards that I like and stuff. And I don’t know how I found E4, but eventually like made my way to the elite forum, forum, uh, which is a website which has just a ton of collectors. It’s been around for over a decade. Um, and it’s got just a ton of knowledge and just started learning a ton about like all the Pokemon cards I’d missed right since, you know, if I stopped collecting in, I don’t know, 2000, whenever it was, and it’s been 18, 20 years, there’s been a lot of Pokemon cards that have happened since then, um, and eventually made my way down the grading rabbit hole of PSA [00:04:00] and I got a submission together from PSA for PSA and sent it off and, and got cards back.
And again, sat at my kitchen table and just like pulled all these slabs out of a box and like looked at them and was like, awesome. Like, look at all these tens I got. And again, I was like, this is fun, but it’s not that fun to do alone. And so that’s what really was like, I want to do YouTube and start doing YouTube stuff.
And it was really to share in. What I was doing, what I was collecting, what I was enjoying, uh, and getting to kind of share that with other people who were in the hobby. And so I think PSA submission and reveal videos were things that I really enjoyed watching on YouTube, getting to see people’s excitement when they got like a PSA 10 card back that they’d sent off.
Uh, and I was like, well, I want to share in that with other people too. And so that’s what really kickstarted me and wanting to do like YouTube stuff was getting PSA submission, submitting them and then getting my grades back in. Revealing the grades that I got. Um, and then I did like opening videos cause openings were really popular on YouTube just to kind of see what I could pull.
[00:05:00] Um, but that not never really like stuck. Um, big, I mean, I’ve been on YouTube for almost maybe five years, almost five years, um, you know, had like a thousand subs would get, you know, a hundred views on a, on an opening video and then a couple hundred. Maybe a thousand on like a PSA return. Cause everyone looked kind of like what watching PSA return video.
So, um, that’s kind of where I started collecting and how I got into the hobby and, uh, and started on, on YouTube. But yeah, it really kicked off for me in like 2018, which was a great time because it hadn’t blown up from COVID yet. And I was able to buy, you know, Watsi cards for, you know, an inexpensive amount, and, um, I got really into the poncho Pikachu’s, which I was able to get before COVID hit.
Um, for most of them. So I lucked out in that regard that I was able to build up a collection before it became really like cost prohibitive to, to get a lot of stuff. So yeah, that was again, I just rambled for however, five minutes about that. But [00:06:00] yeah, yeah.
Oliver: That’s awesome that you got the poncho Pikachus.
I look at those now and I’m just like, Oh, no way.
Coop: Yeah, they are. They’re, they’re the cards. That’s like, if I were to ever sell out of my collection, like the cards I would be keeping are the poncho pictures and like the Mara and Luigi cards. Um, I’m missing one. Poncho, 10, and it’s the team skull, the full art team skull.
Actually, I got a team skull box off of eBay for 80 when I was buying them or buying ponchos. I opened it, graded the cards, and it got a nine. Cracked it, said it again, it got a nine. And I was like, all right, well, I’ll get another one eventually, and I sold a nine for 45.
Oliver: Yeah.
Coop: So we all have our regrets and things we’ve sold or haven’t bought. Um, but yeah, that’s definitely one of mine. But yeah, I love the ponchos, love the Japanese, like exclusive promos and stuff. That’s definitely a bread and butter of mine. So, okay. So
Oliver: you had a YouTube short go viral, like, like actually viral.
Coop: Honestly, I don’t know. It’s at
Oliver: [00:07:00] 10 million views right now.
Coop: Yep. It crossed 10 million today. I gosh, and when I was watching it, like a hundred thousand, I was like, Oh my gosh, like I got a hundred thousand views on a short, like this is crazy. And now to be at over 10 million. Like it’s been a whirlwind but so positive like everyone has been so nice like I think I’ve gotten like 10, 000 comments on that between that.
And then, cause then I did a couple more shorts. Cause what I did was I took my vendor POV, which I uploaded, which is over an hour and just started grabbing clips, right. That I thought people would like, because I’d never really done shorts. I had maybe four or five shorts before this one. And it was just taking parts of like my PSA submissions and talking about like specific cards that I liked and what I liked about them.
So I had like four or five shorts that people liked. Got like a hundred, 200 views or whatever. And I knew that shorts did better than videos because people scroll and they come across yours and they watch it for 30 seconds or whatever. And so I’d done this card vendor event, which was only the second time I’d ever sold cards, like [00:08:00] at a show.
First time I filmed it cause I got camera shy at the first event. Um, and so I filmed it. Uh, and again, because I’ve been watching vendor POVs, like the Bulba store is a big one, I think he’s got like 50, 000 subs. Um, and I don’t know who kicked off this trend of like vendor POVs, but it’s like what people enjoy right now.
And so I was like, well, I want to do that. And I want to share that with people too. So, uh, when it went and did that at a local show and what the short, um, a kid came up to my table with a Charizard VMAX card, um, and he showed it to me and said, Hey, I think this is worth like 30, or I think I had this at 30, but I think it’s gone up.
Um, and I was like, well, let me, let me take a look and see kind of what it’s going for. And on TCG player, it was ranging from like 22 to 25. And so that’s what I told him. And as a vendor, I usually pay about 70 to 80%. I think in the video I did like 80%, it was like 20 on a 25 card. Cause I figured I could sell it for 25 and make five bucks.
Right. Um, [00:09:00] Charizards are easy to sell usually, and, um, he, I, I, you know, shorts are choppy, so I’m like talking about context that wasn’t seen in the video, but long story short, you know, I showed him how I looked it up on TCGplayer, his dad had come over, um, and I showed his dad, cause his dad was like a bit of like a fish out of water when it came to Pokemon, I think he was more of a sports card guy, and, So he wasn’t super comfortable with the fact that his son was like, trying to do Pokemon stuff because he didn’t feel like he could help him.
So I showed him like how to price cards on TCG player. And then his dad was kind of feeling like he was just over it after seeing his son kind of got gypped off or whatever. And, um, as he was leaving, or as the dad walked away, the kid was looking into my, um, uh, container or whatever. I can’t even, I’m losing, my vocabulary is just like, Um, looking in my case, right?
So I had a, a set of radiant rare cards, um, like Alakazam and, [00:10:00] and Blastoise and all that, and he looked at the Alakazam, which is great at a nine. And I had a 10, which he didn’t point to. He pointed at the nine and, uh, he said, Oh, I really liked that Alakazam. And I thought for a second, I was like, you know, I’m going to, I’m going to give this kid this slab.
It was like a 15 slab. It’s not like it was anything insane, but, um, I feel like that was just such a positive experience for him. And for everyone watching that it just, for some reason, clicked with so many people, whether they like Pokemon cards, or they just experienced some act of kindness from someone at some point, um, as a kid, right, that were so impressionable, and it just, it took off, right?
And I, I don’t know, I had released a short right before that one, um, I, I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but I gave a, a kid like a Blue Eyes White Dragon, who was like really excited about Yu Gi Oh!, he’d just gotten into it like a month ago. Uh, his school counselor had recommended it as a way for him to, like, express himself and interact with people.
And so he’d just gotten into Yu Gi Oh!, knew about, like, the God Rare cards and and [00:11:00] Blue Eyes Red Dragon. And so I had a, uh, I think a starter deck. Uh, blue eyes, like in my binder. I don’t do a ton of Yu Gi Oh, I had, I happen to have a couple of cards in a binder and when he said that I knew that I had a blue eyes and I gave him that.
And that one had kind of started ticking up. And so I don’t know if that helped the other one kind of really take off, but yeah, the rocket ship, I mean, really took off and it’s been like 12 days and yeah. Hit 10 million. So yeah, it’s, it’s been wild and it’s, it’s been awesome. I’ve read probably. Almost every single comment that’s come in and there’s been thousands of them and 99 percent of them are just so positive.
They’re sharing an experience they had with either a card vendor or just someone else That helped shape them as a kid Um, or just sharing positive notes about like, yeah, you know I was doom scrolling and I came across this and you know, thanks so much for just being kind, you know There’s been so many that’s like I don’t know anything about cards or tcgs [00:12:00] I don’t know why this popped up on my feed, but i’m so glad that it did and I’ve just had this grin on my face for the last 12 days because it has just been an amazing experience.
And I’ve just been so happy to be able to share in it with everyone. So I’m, I’ve been overwhelmed, but in such a good way and whether or not anything else I ever do takes off like that. It’s just been an experience I’m going to cherish for
Oliver: sure. That’s really cool. That’s really cool. And you answered my next three questions, by the way, which is awesome.
I’m also
Coop: a mind reader. So, So
Oliver: what do you think is the formula that really let that short?
Coop: I think shorts in general, and I, you know, I kind of wish I’d done them more in the past, but I’m not someone who like, I’ve never had TikTok. Um, I’ve never, I didn’t have Vine. Um, I think I was a little older for some of those things.
Um, so I don’t know if like the rumors of TikTok getting banned has helped spark YouTube shorts doing better than they would in the past. Um, but I [00:13:00] think one, just being like a short video, I think it was like 40 seconds. Um, Um, that’s one like key component. Cause I don’t expect people to go watch hour, two hour long vendor POVs.
You know, they might stick around for a couple of minutes or like jump through to see if anything catches their eye. Um, but I really do think it was a random act of kindness that people saw either their young selves in that that’s happened to them, whether they were taking advantage of as a kid in the past.
And I’m like, man, I wish I had someone who just acted kind to me so I could have had a better experience. Or taking the time to help make sure like that dad and kid didn’t like knew how to look up card values for Pokemon felt informed. Um, and like I said, a lot of times it was people who like, I don’t know anything about cards and I just liked that you did something nice.
Um, so I, I think the formula, whether or not it’s, Something that you can emulate or not. I don’t [00:14:00] really know. I, it just, it felt natural at the time. And I think people just kind of see in the video itself. Like there are so many people who go out and like shove, actually someone commented this, like, I’m so glad you weren’t shoving charity in someone’s face.
Like for the content, right? I’ve seen videos, even scrolling myself where it’s like, someone’s walking up to a homeless man with like money in their hand. It’s like, what can I do to help you? And like shoving the camera in their face and all that stuff. So yeah, I set up a camera at a card show. I put an old, I use an old iPhone six that I put it on a tripod and I filmed seven hours of video and then, and then truncated it down.
So. Um, I think people just saw, like, the, the, like, genuineness to it a little bit. Um, some people would make comments like, Oh, like, nice act, right? And I’d be like, well, if you act away for long enough, it just becomes who you are. And so, um, I’d, I wish everyone would act kind, you know? Because it, it helps people, you know, spread a little joy around the world.
But yeah, it’s been, it’s been great. Uh, I don’t know if there’s a secret formula, but, um, [00:15:00] We’ll see. I’m, I’m still making shorts. I do. I mean, I don’t know what I’m going to do on my YouTube longterm. I don’t know how much of this really has a, like a ton of sticking power. Cause like, I’m going to continue to do trading card content.
Um, I’m going to try to continue to do vendor POVs and I’ll make shorts of those because they are such long videos, but, um, I don’t anticipate a ton of sticking power because a lot of it’s just like, Oh, you did like this, Here’s a sub, but as soon as I start doing like pack openings and PSA returns, like, are those same people interested in that stuff or not?
Maybe not, but again, I never started YouTube to become a YouTuber. I did it because I wanted to just share in this hobby and the things that I was doing. So I always said, like, if people want to watch, like, that’s great. If not, like, oh, well, so
Oliver: that’s funny. I basically had the exact same train of thought on that.
It was a random act of kindness. And you could just tell that it’s genuine because there’s so much fake stuff on, on that short form [00:16:00] content, right? And there’s just something about it that, that bled through and you just knew how genuine it was and you got a huge response that I think you really do deserve.
So. That was really cool, but it’s not really something that you can replicate.
Coop: Yeah, and it’s not something that I feel like anyone should. I mean, I want everyone to, like, be co uh, like, I love helping foster the collecting hobby, right? Whether it’s Yu Gi Oh, Pokemon, I don’t even care. Like, if it’s sports, I don’t know anything about sports.
I said it like a thousand times in my POVs. Because someone would walk by, because it’s a big sports convention too. Like, oh, you like Pokemon? I’m like, nah, I’m more into sports. And I’d always be like, I don’t know anything about sports. So, ha! Even if it’s sports and stuff, and stuff I know nothing about, like, I just want people to enjoy what they enjoy, right?
It doesn’t And, uh, there were a ton of comments. So it’s like, it doesn’t cost anything to be kind. And it’s so true. Right. Um, and so I, I don’t want people to emulate it in the sense of like, I’m doing this just to like, [00:17:00] Try to like get a viral short, right? I want people to be kind, to be kind and to spread joy because it’s the right thing to do and it’s what makes the world better.
So, and I’m, I, I feel like I’ve said that twice now, but I don’t want to say like, I’m changing the world, like I’m making it a better place, but, um, I do think a little more kindness goes a long way. I’m
Oliver: sure you’ve changed the world a little bit because it is very inspiring.
Coop: The one thing I have changed is I’ve gotten texts from people that was that like I haven’t talked to in a long time That’s like is this you on youtube and i’m like, I don’t know how this came up on your feed, but yeah It’s so funny.
Yeah, I had um My brother’s friend who i’ve never met texted him and was like, is this your brother? And it’s just like I guess with 10 million views like it’s gonna make its way to people who you never know Yeah So, I actually, I posted, I, because I have a Facebook page of Coop’s Collection and I posted, I post my shorts there too, and actually that same viral short, it has like over a million views on Facebook, [00:18:00] so in my mind I’m like, the content seems to be translating like across platforms, in the sense of like, this was a video that really resonated with a lot of people, whether it was from a YouTube short or a Facebook reel, um, I So it’s just, it’s been wild.
And I’ve been reading the Facebook comments too. And it’s just, again, like people are so positive. There’s always the one or two people that are like, ah, this is fake. This is staged. This is, you know, you know, let people think whatever they want. Yeah. It doesn’t, it doesn’t really impact me. So
Oliver: yeah, I get the same thing, like lots of, lots of positive comments and then out of the blue, just, you suck.
It’s like, okay,
Coop: thanks for taking the time to write that smiley face. You know?
Oliver: Um, so you’re closing in on 40, 000 subscribers right now. What were you at when you, when you posted that?
Coop: Man, when I, cause when I posted the shorts and like the vendor POV, I’m kind of just, cause I’ve done like six or seven shorts now, so I’m just kind of like lumping everything [00:19:00] together.
Cause, um, I think the blue eyes short has over a million views. And then there’s another one where a kid, um, he, he bought a car, I gave him a 2 car bill. And he’s like, oh, I already have one. And that one’s got almost a million. So between all the shorts? Yeah, I mean I, when I first posted or started posting around this, this one event, I had like 1,050 subs.
Um, and I was like, oh, maybe I’ll get a thousand views on because, excuse me, some of the vendor POVs I watched get like 10,000, 12,000 views and I was like, oh man, that would be so awesome if I were to get like a couple thousand views. Because at the time I think my. Most viewed video was the one I had like on my landing page for my YouTube, which was like my collection of Dragon Ball cards.
And it had like 6, 000 views. And that was from four years ago. So a four year old video of mine, my most viewed video had 6, 000 views and it was just a collection video showing off my Dragon Ball cards. So I posted the vendor POV and then started making [00:20:00] shorts. And when I started seeing the engagement on it between like the number of comments and the number of likes and just the views.
You know, when it hit a thousand, I was like, Oh, that makes sense. Like usually, you know, I anticipated like shorts do like 10 times better than long form videos, because it’s so much easier for someone to stop, watch 20, 30 seconds and then keep scrolling. And then when it started really creeping up and getting into like the tens of thousands, I was like, what is going on?
Like, why is this video doing so well? I mean, I posted it because I thought it was a good video and a good experience. I want to share that, but I didn’t think it was like, Because when I think of a viral video, I think of like viral dance trends and someone’s like doing a dance that everyone’s doing or a certain song clip that people are doing something to.
Not like an IRL or in real life thing like that. And then I started keeping it to a hundred thousand. I remember when I hit a hundred thousand, uh, my [00:21:00] brothers and sisters and my, my parents were in like a group meet together, like a group chat and I post, I was like, I’m about to hit a hundred thousand views, like on a video.
And my subscriber count had started ticking up a little bit. And I went to bed at like 3000 subs and I was like, I’ve tripled in a day. Like, what the heck? Like, it’s gonna be five years to get a thousand subs and I’m at 3000. Um, and then it just kept going. And then I was at 8,000 subs and then I was at 10,000 subs.
And here I am at, I think I’m like a little over 39,000 in 12 days. So I, I was joking. I said it took me. Five years to get to a thousand and five days to get to ten thousand and it really is just this Cascading effect of and I think it’s easier for people to see Someone who already has thousands of sub and being willing to subscribe than someone who has a couple hundred and subscribing There’s something about like that Almost like a herd mentality that’s like i’m willing to subscribe to someone who I feel like has already done well than someone who I have to invest my [00:22:00] subscription into and maybe, maybe they don’t do well.
It’s kind of a weird thing to think about, but it seems a little true. And then it just, it got the ball rolling and it just kept going and. Um, yeah, I look forward to fumbling this opportunity.
Oliver: Um, that’s called social proof, by the way. When you see a video with lots of subscribers or views, you’re more likely to click on it.
Coop: Yeah. So yeah, it was, I mean, it’s still surreal, like watching it’s, it’s. I think I’ve kind of peaked out with, um, with that video, but I mean, 10 million views and 39, 000 subscribers across five or six shorts. Like I couldn’t ask for a better response, you know? So, um, I’m going to keep, like I said, I’m going to keep posting whether or not it keeps, I think there’s definitely a good percentage of folks who just like TCGs who had just never seen me before.
And they’re like, now that I have like, that’s someone I will subscribe to and I will watch their content. Exactly. Yeah. It’s like, you never know who’s it’s so hard [00:23:00] to, you can’t just search like Pokemon cards on YouTube because it’s going to be, it’s going to be the Poke Revs and the Leon hearts that pop up.
Right. You already have a million, 2 million subscribers. It’s not going to be me who has. 900, 1000, 1100 or whatever. Um, and so, yeah, I mean, it’s like, I don’t anticipate getting tens of thousands of views on every video I post from now on. Um, but it, it’ll be nice even to just get a couple of thousand on just Pokemon stuff or TCG stuff, because I’ve gotten subscribers who just had a chance to find me in a really weird viral way, which has just been wild.
So
Oliver: you’ve got this. Gifts now are, are you feeling a lot of pressure and did you have plans on what to do with all this? Ah,
Coop: yes and no. In the sense of like, so I’ve always told myself like, I don’t wanna be the person who’s chasing making content. When I first got into YouTube, I was like, ah, I gotta go to Target.
I gotta buy Cosmic Eclipse three packs to open. ’cause I [00:24:00] gotta upload a video every three days or every five days or else I’m never gonna get anyone watching my videos. And I did that for a little bit when I was like really chasing like I gotta get started on youtube and i’m just gonna like make a bunch of because PSA videos at the time, it’s like, it took me a while to get cards I wanted to send.
Then you’d send them off and it would take at least three months to get them back. So it’s not like I had this inflow of content that I liked making. And then especially when COVID hit, it was taking 15 months to get cards back. So PSA returns were not helping. Um, and so I don’t want to be someone who’s like, I’ve got to do something because I have to upload a video.
Um, so I think for me right now. Like, I really like the card shows, um, there’s, there’s one every couple of weeks, at least locally. Uh, I haven’t traveled at all for Pokemon outside of like going to those two events and then going to Japan. Uh, and I have a full time job, so it’s not like I do YouTube full time, I don’t think I ever will.
I mean, if I could give [00:25:00] away cards to kids for a living, I would absolutely do that, right? If I somehow had enough monetization, um, to be able to do that and not work and just be able to do card shows and, and help, like, foster the hobby, that, that would be a dream, but I have no grandiose, like ideas of that actually become a reality.
So I’ll probably just keep doing things that I like doing. Like if I want to open up a booster box of Japanese 151 or send off PSA subs. Um, but yeah, I think I’ll keep doing. The vending videos because I like going to those events for the day and interacting with folks and doing shorts and stuff And just kind of seeing where that goes.
But who knows? I mean, I’ve had people reach out about Like being a video editors and stuff, which I mean it’s it’s sales pitches, but If I could take some of it off my plate too, to be able to do more stuff, I think that would be kind of cool. Not that anyone listening, like, I’m not looking for people to reach out about being a video editor.
Um, my brother’s actually in film, so I’d probably have [00:26:00] to lean on him first. He’d be, uh, my first, uh, right of refusal for that. Um, but yeah, I mean, I’ve thought about, you know, like, whatever, do, like, vlogging, like, other Pokémon events, like, if I go to a regionals and try to do, like, get cards signed, or, uh, or if I meet up with other Pokémon.
Pokemon people that I’ve met online and that sort of stuff. But yeah, I think for me right now, just keep on doing what I’ve been doing. Again, if it, if it takes off, it takes off. And if not, then I’m back at the, uh, the one yard line on the wrong side.
Oliver: I think you’re a vendor channel now. It
Coop: seems like, I mean, which is so funny because I don’t buy, I mean, like I’m never going to be a vendor that’s like buying thousands of dollars of product.
You know, I don’t know how much you’ve watched of it, but people like the mobile store or. Uh, there’s another one, DittoDudes, and, uh, Danimals, I think I watched one of his, he put out today. I mean, they’re buying like thousands of dollars from people, and I’m [00:27:00] like, I, I don’t really want to be doing that, because I don’t want to be trying to be a vendor full time, but I like the option of, Like everything that I have at shows is me consolidating my collection, right?
It’s cards that don’t bring me joy anymore, or it’s cards I have now picked up at shows I’ve been to. Um, I’m not looking for a distributor to try to get a bunch of sealed product to then sell. Um, but I wouldn’t mind being a vending channel in the sense of like, I’m at shows that are vending TCGs and I’m.
I feel like I’m more of like a hobby interaction channel. I’m just sharing my experiences of interacting with people who love the hobby like I do. Um, I know most of the stuff I’m posting is just like me giving away stuff to kids because I like helping them experience a joyful experience in the hobby.
And I, I, it brings me joy to see that. Um, but again, I don’t know. I mean that feels like [00:28:00] something people would get tired of, right? Oh, you, uh, every single video you post is, you’re just giving a card or kit. That’s going to get tiring after a while for them, but I’m not going to stop doing it and stop posting it because that’s what I like doing.
So, I don’t know, long term, I don’t really have plans. We’ll, I think we’ll definitely see. Like, if things keep going, you know, I’ve, I’ve, some of the people on the E4 discord are like, you’re going to be at the silver play button in a month, which is 100, 000 subscribers. And I was like, I’ve never, has it ever even crossed my mind?
I would get anywhere close to being eligible for like a YouTube play button. So who knows?
Oliver: You might have your own niche carved out here on YouTube, because like, I’ve watched a lot of Bulbasaur and, and these other like reels I see on Instagram. And these guys are sometimes doing like six figure deals.
Like, like it blows, it blows my mind. Right. But that, when I see that, I think. I’m not on that level. So I’m not a vendor. And that seems to [00:29:00] be where the trend is going is like seeing these bigger and bigger deals. Then I see your channel, and I watched a handful of your videos, probably a few hours this past couple days.
It flipped my perspective on the whole thing, and I thought for the first time, I was like, Hey, I can be a vendor, you know? This guy’s just bringing his collection to the show. I actually never thought of it that way. I thought I had to bring, you know, like five figures worth of inventory or something.
Yeah, I think you might have your own little niche there of like, just the average Joe vendor.
Coop: Yeah, because if you think about it, like, not everyone who’s going to the card shows is trying to buy 1, 000 Moon Breon or whatever, right? And so there’s people who want a 10 Snorlax. I sold a, uh, you’ll, if you watch the POV, POV video I post tonight, you know, I sell a guy, he’s like, I’m a big Snorlax collector.
I was like, let me look at my binder. And I had the Vivid Voltage Stamp [00:30:00] Snorlax from like the build and battle kits sold at June for 10. And it’s like, that’s an interaction. I feel like is, is missing a little bit, right? Like you said, there’s a, there’s a bit of a gap in kind of the lower end. Just not everyone’s, um, uh, uh, Fuller, Moonbryon, BGS, Black Label Collector, or You know, PSA nine first at Charizard base set, whatever.
Um, and especially like the kids, right? I mean, this is a hobby where you, you, you start eventually and. In the sense of like not everyone starts at the same time, right? And so there are kids in the hobby that you know, they’re gonna They’re gonna be the moonground buyers in 20 30 years, right? That’s gonna be what they’re looking for But if they never get there, they never get there And so there’s building blocks along the way Now that I’m like we have to get these kids hooked So that they’re buying our collections when we’re ready to retire But there’s experiences at every level of the hobby, right?
And a lot of the YouTube and the shorts are [00:31:00] the, the, the upper echelons. And I think for a long time, that’s been really popular because, you know, there’s the Logan Paul stuff and he’s buying first ed based booster boxes for 350, 000. And there are things that I, you know, I’ve never, there’s like this hustle culture and this making money culture.
And, um, not to say that any of that is, is wrong. It’s just not, nothing that has ever been. A part of my collecting journey, um, and I’ve had an eBay store for a long time, but usually it’s just like for a long time I was I was getting multiple copies of cards I liked, you know, and I was collecting a lot of full art trainers And so it’s like, oh, I really like this art of Lance or Brock or whoever so I’m gonna buy two or three copies I’m gonna grade them I’m gonna keep a 10 for my collection and then I’m gonna try to sell A 10 or a 9 or whatever graded for on my eBay And that usually ended up being, I get a 10 for free because I sold a backup 10, right?
Because I sent two copies and then sold it and that covered all my costs. So I’m effectively just growing my own collection for as minimal of a [00:32:00] cost to me, right? Never trying to actually Say, I’m selling 800, 000 of Pokemon cards a month, and I’m living off of this as a, as a, a job, right? And again, if some people are really good at that, I’ve got a buddy who sells a ton on eBay, and he, he does it full time.
Sells Pokemon cards on eBay full time. Um, but that’s not something I’m personally interested in doing, and so, yeah, I think being able to not be focused on, I’ve got to show 1, 000 sales, I’ve got to make these big buys, I feel the pressure to get more inventory. You know, I’ve, I was watching, trying to think of what the channel was, but one guy who’s like, I’m here.
We didn’t bring anything to sell, but we’re going to try to buy a ton before the show starts and then try to sell that. Or I just need a bunch of inventory and. Um, I don’t like thinking about Pokemon cards as inventory necessarily, because that takes some of the joy away from, like, my collecting hobby.
Um, but again, if you treat it as a business, it just, it’s a different lens. It’s a different experience. [00:33:00] And I like to be able to show the interactions you can have as, like, living in that world without having to thrive in it, if that makes sense.
Oliver: Yeah, that does make sense. I can respect that.
Coop: So, so what event are you gonna go to then?
You feel like you can Venn now, so what, are there, are there ones in Canada that happen on your side?
Oliver: I live in a small town. I’m about three and a half hours away from Vancouver, so I’ll have to keep an eye out what’s going on down there.
Coop: Gotcha. Well, fingers crossed you’re able to attend something. I mean, it is so much fun.
I mean, it’s such a blast to like, just be able to interact with people and, Um, but at least, I mean, it sounds like you’re able to get some of these experiences just through your podcast, which is really cool. Get some face to face time with folks. So that’s really neat. Yeah, of course. Of course. Do you know, um, I’m going to blank on his name.
I’m in his discord. Let me check. I look at my other monitor real fast. There’s a Canadian video game collector. Um, Name? Greg. Greg. Do you know get the Greg? I think it’s get the Greg games Is his [00:34:00] YouTube. Let’s show
Oliver: Check. Doesn’t ring a bell.
Coop: Okay. He’s Canadian. He’s like, um, he’s got a YouTube channel. He does a lot of, uh, like graded video games.
Um, I’ll, uh, it’s still like another channel, but anyway, sorry. Um, I was just curious. Like every, ’cause everyone in Canada knows each other, right? . Um, but he’s just, he’s in his own like video game collecting is its own hobby too, and. Um, but I know he’s in Canada. I don’t know. He might be in Toronto though, on that side of, of, uh, of Canada.
So, yeah. Anyway, you don’t know this one guy who lives in Canada.
Oliver: Yeah. So one thing that really stood out to me was that you brought a box of singles for kids to pick through for free. I, um, I guess I’m, I’m kind of ashamed to admit, I never would have even thought of that. So how’d you come up with that?
Did you see someone else do it? Or, or is that, um, I’ve had
Coop: seen, I know. Um, I know a couple of vendor PVP videos I’ve watched, usually they’ll [00:35:00] hand out stuff. Um, some people will do packs and they’ll just like, hand out packs. Um, some people will just hand them cards. I really like to give kids like, the choice of one they like instead of me trying to figure out like, maybe they like Jigglypuff or Primeape or whomever and like, here’s a card.
Um, and sometimes kids don’t want anything. I, I, I’ve had kids who are like, they’ll look through and be like, no thanks. I’m like, that’s fine. Like, you don’t have to take anything. But, the option’s there if you see anything you like. Sometimes I’ll ask like how much things are. And honestly, if a kid wants a card, if it’s not like.
Ten, I mean even sometimes if it is tens of dollars, but like if it’s nothing Gratuitous, is that the right word? I’m just gonna give it to him. Like I’m not gonna take a kid’s money because Like it’s a couple bucks, right and it’s nothing again. I’m not trying to living off of this So it’s not like if I give you this card, I don’t eat tonight So I don’t mind not charging kids, but then when adults want to buy [00:36:00] stuff, like I try to be fair to, I’m going to upload some shorts.
I’ve got one. I want to make it to me in this. Her, her name is Sue. She’s bought from me at every show I’ve been to. She she’s come to all three shows I’ve been to and she stopped by and she’s bought from me every time. And then this most recent POV, um, that’s going up tonight. She wants to buy a PSA, 10 glaceon altar from V star universe.
I have it listed for 45, and she’s like, what’s the best you could do on this? And I was like, oh, well, you know, where do you want to be? And she, she laughs. She goes, you tell me. And so I was like, okay, I’ll come down to 35, right? So 45 She’s like, that’s too nice. I’ll, I’ll pay you 40. And I, I laugh and I’m like, I mean, that’s the type of haggling I like, right?
We’re, we’re both like, don’t really care too much. Like. What it ends up being, um, but it’s like, I’m going too low and then she’s coming too high. It’s just fun and, and funny at the same time. So I’m not a sales guy. I’m a horrible negotiator. Um, usually if people want to make an offer, I ended up taking it.
Um, but I [00:37:00] try to be fair in like, I’ll check eBay comps. I know that if I sell on 30%. I’ve got to ship it, which costs me at least 450 US. Um, if it’s international, even more. Um, and then there’s value in like doing a trade in person. Like they’re not going to do a charge back. It’s not like they’re going to come back to my table and be like, I don’t want this anymore, give me my money back.
Um, so I understand the value of like in person transactions. And so I try to be like super fair and. At the end of the day, like, as long as I’m not taking losses, selling to people most of the time, like, then that’s good for me. Like, I don’t have to make top dollar on this stuff. So
Oliver: that’s cool that you don’t take it too seriously.
I saw someone say that on E4, um, a couple of days ago said something like, I don’t take Pokemon cards too seriously. And that really resonated with me. I was like, Whoa, maybe I should not take them too seriously too.
Coop: Yeah. I think if at any point, like Pokemon cards are bringing you stress or frustration, You need to [00:38:00] rethink, like, what is, what are my goals?
What am I doing? You know, and some of that comes from, like, I’m in Pokemon to hustle and try to have a business and do really well buying and selling. And that, whether it’s Pokemon cards or something else, like, that drive has its own challenges. That sometimes don’t translate very well into like the interactions you’re having with people, right?
If i’m like I have to sell this card for twelve hundred dollars because i’ve got 1150 into it, but the market has dropped and now i’m fighting with a guy who’s pulled up Ebay sales and is like I can’t i’m gonna give you a 900 and that that’s not fun, right? I don’t think it’s funner for anyone. Um And you know, that’s the position i’m just i’m super bad with conflict too and not that negotiations are conflict You But I’m a people, I’m definitely a people pleaser.
And that does not go well with like trying to be a good salesperson. Um, so it’s funny cause it’s other people have posted on like some of the shorts that [00:39:00] are like, do you ever actually like make any money? Like how is your business still afloat? And I’m like, well, it’s just a side hobby and I don’t need it to keep the lights on.
So I’m able to not have to worry too much about how much I’m selling. And I don’t do like too much sales, like even at the events. I do a couple hundred bucks, you know, I think I did like six hundred dollars at my first one and maybe a couple hundred So it’s funny because like there’s a table fee, uh, which is like 65 So if I sell six hundred and fifty dollars worth of product I basically, that’s the same I do on eBay, right?
That’s, that’s my, there’s my 10 percent fee. I didn’t have to ship anything, which is good. It’s not like, this is such a much better, like, economic experience, so. But again, like you said, if you don’t take it too seriously, you don’t have to worry about it causing too much stress in your life, so. A again, as soon as it becomes Like a, uh, a sink or swim.
Like, it’s not really a hobby anymore. Like that’s where I’ve got to be like, all right, I’m out. Like, I can’t do it. Like it’s taken all the joy from [00:40:00] it. So, I mean, have you done much buying and selling yourself or? I do a lot of buying. Okay. A lot of selling. Okay. So you’re a collector.
Oliver: Yes, yes. Um, so I was going through some of your your older videos before you, you know, blew up Oh, yeah, and a lot.
It looks like you buy a lot of cards and you do a lot of PSA submissions, right? So I want to hear a little bit about your your buying process.
Coop: Yeah, I was for a long Time I think the last I’d say the last year so has been kind of slow If you look at like when I uploaded If you go like down a couple of videos, it’s like four months ago, nine months ago, a year ago.
So it’s like, I really slowed down. On YouTube because I slowed down in, in the hobby itself. Right. It’s not like I was doing a bunch of buying and selling and grading and just not doing YouTube. It’s just, I wasn’t doing that stuff. Um, and so, but yeah, when I buy it’s like, I don’t, I haven’t had any collecting goals.
It’s always [00:41:00] been for a long time. Like, do I like the artwork? Do I think the card is cool? Do I like the history behind it? Um, so. I’ve really been into like Japanese exclusive cards because the artwork is unique to those most of the time. Um, so like the Game Boy Lugia or the Game Boy Mewtwo, the Ponchos we’ve talked about.
Um, uh, anything that’s like exclusive, I really like the idea of having. Um, and so when I buy cards, a lot, when I first got started, I, I mentioned, uh, the TCG trade subreddit was a, was one I was in. And I, I would get tons of cards from people on there. Um, cause people would say like, I’ve got these and I’d ask for photos.
And When I was buying a lot of cards, I always have it in my mind, like, if I’m buying a card, it’s because I want to grade it, because I’m exclusively, like, a PSA graded card collector. I don’t have binders of cards. I don’t have, you know, I don’t do master sets or anything like that. Uh, it’s usually like one offs of sets of like, I like this artwork.
So, for example, I’m a huge Stelix fan, so I like try to get Stelix cards. And People like to joke about [00:42:00] how awful the, um, Oh gosh, what’s the set called? Oh my gosh, it’s like a 2015 ish Steam Siege. How bad Steam Siege as a set is. But there is a phenomenal Full Art Steelix EX card in Steam Siege. So I have that in PSA 10.
Um, but I’m not going to try to collect Steam Siege. Nothing else in that set is good. Uh, unless you’re a Guard of War collector or someone else who has found one or two cards they really like from it. So, I think that’s what’s kind of cool about, The fact that you can do whatever you want when it comes to collecting.
So, I’ve already started rambling, but when I buy cards, I’m usually looking at condition. I want to try to get PSA 10 cards, um, and so I was buying a ton on the Pokemon TCG subreddit. Uh, I would go, I would find just a single card I liked, uh, and then go search for it on eBay and go through all the listings, hoping for front and back photos.
You don’t know how many messages I’ve sent to eBay sellers. Like, can you please send me a photo of the back of this card? Can you please add just a little more I try not to be too annoying, like I usually just send them one message, either they do or they don’t. [00:43:00] They send me a crappy back photo. I caught, you know, I move on to the next listing.
I’m like, uh, can you go near a lamp and hold up the card and like tilt it? And, um, but yeah, I w I would ask for back photos for a lot of cards cause I knew I wanted to grade it and, um, I didn’t want to buy a card. And then all of a sudden like get it and be like, crap, now I got to try to sell this again because so I, but I have done that.
I’ve gotten a card. It’s like, eh, probably not a 10. I’ll try to resell it. I’ll take a couple dollar loss just to get rid of a card. I don’t want anymore. So, but yeah, I did a lot on, on Reddit. And then. I got into a lot of the like Facebook groups. So I have a Facebook, but I, so I have a Coops collection, Facebook, and I have a personal Facebook.
And the only reason I have a personal Facebook is to be in Pokemon Group. So I’m in like Pokemon Ones. Back in like 2019, I was in like a Final Fantasy one ’cause I, I thought the final fantasy cards look kind of cool. I don’t, I don’t have any anymore. Uh, I’m in a lot of Dragon Ball groups because I do a lot of Dragon Ball cards.
But yeah, a lot of Facebook buy and sell groups I joined, and that’s where I was buying a lot of stuff too. So, [00:44:00] um, that’s where I got a ton of singles for a long time. And then I finally learned about like doing middleman services from Japan. Um, so Bayi is the biggest one I’ve used. I was able to set up Tenzo is another one where you can actually get a Japanese address to ship to directly so can buy directly from Japanese card shops.
And then I got really into buying Japanese singles. So from, uh, Yahoo! Japan, which is like the eBay equivalent auction site in Japan, and then Japanese Bakari, which is basically the same as US Bakari where people are just posting stuff. And I bought tons of singles, uh, directly from Japan, which has been a lot of fun because you can find stuff that you’d never find in Japan.
Uh, in the US or on eBay, or if it is on eBay, it’s a drop shipper who has just taken a Macari or, or a Yahoo Japan listing and posted it to eBay at a huge markup. Um, and so I have bought a lot of cards directly from Japan as well through like middleman services and directly from card shops. The only actually card shop I’ve bought from directly is called, [00:45:00] uh, Uh, uu te it’s like YU dash YUT ei pay or something like that.
Uh, and they’re a big card shop and I bought a ton of singles. Uh, and it’s convenient to be able to just like add a bunch to your cart. ’cause they only do like, pack fresh cards usually. So it, you can usually get pretty good ones. Uh, if you’re into like super modern stuff, uh, vintage can always be tough.
That that’s usually, I’m looking front and back photos on, you know, eBay or Macari or whatever, so, and I did have a little look on U. S. Macari when it first launched, because not a lot of people knew about Macari, like as a platform. Uh, and so I was able to actually get a couple of good cards off of, uh, a Macari.
And then in person, uh, I actually, one of my best pickups of all time. Um, I posted in like my local town’s subreddit on, on Reddit. I was living in Charlotte, North Carolina at the time. I don’t, I don’t live there anymore. Um, and I posted in the like flea [00:46:00] market Friday thread in the Charlotte subreddit. And it was like, Hey, uh, I buy Pokemon cards.
If anyone has any sell Pokemon on UG or whatever, some guy reached out and was like, Hey, I’ve got a bunch, like in a Ziploc bag, you want to take a look? And I was like, send me a couple of photos. He sent me some hollows. Um, nothing crazy. It was like based at Magnemite. You know, Base Set, Knight of the King.
Uh, and I was like, yeah, I’ll come take a look. And he handed me this Ziploc bag. And it had a hundred WotC hollows. From like, Base Set, Jungle, whatever. Um, and then he had two in card savers. And he had a unlimited shining Charizard and an unlimited shining Mewtwo. And I said, well, what do you, what, like, what do you want for all of this?
Um, and he was like, how many are there? And I said, there’s a hundred holographic cards. And he goes, how about a hundred dollars? Well, you know, a hundred dollars for a hundred cards. And in my mind, I was like, I don’t know what to do because I know [00:47:00] it’s worth a lot more. But at the same time, it’s like, he asked me for a hundred dollars.
So. I hate to say it, like, I paid 100 for it. Um, and I, I graded the Shining Charizard and I got a PSA 9. And Oh, really?
Oliver: Wow.
Coop: Yeah, so, I don’t have it anymore. Gosh, this, this stinks. So, um, I actually traded it for a graded video game. Um, which I also don’t have anymore. Uh, it, I traded it for a, um, Legend of Zelda, Game Boy Color, um, Oracle of Seasons.
Um, and I got it because it was graded by some no name grading company that I can’t even remember and I cross graded it to VGA and I was hoping so much for a VGA 85 plus or better because the 85 plus is like the minimum for a gold label, uh, and I got an 85 and I was like, uh, so I, I sold it to a guy, but I sold it for 1, 300.
So long story short, [00:48:00] that one deal from that one card. Netted me 1, 300 and then I sold a bunch of the hollows. I think I sold the rest of the hollows for like 600 to a guy in Italy. He bought like the whole lot. Uh, and then the Shining Mewtwo, I thought was like a PSA 6 quality. I traded that at the time for a full art, two, two full art cards, two full art Rainbow Rares.
The Charizard and Reshiram GX and the GX, uh, and graded both of those, and I’ve actually both got nines and I ended up selling those. So only made like, I think 200 on the shining Mewtwo. All of this though was like 2019 ish timeframe, maybe. So still before like the huge, cause I remember. I had the Shining Charizard, and I would like, I looked at the value, and I think when I first got it, it was like three or four hundred bucks, maybe, I think it was like 250 to 400, somewhere in that range, and then it started like really creeping up, and I was [00:49:00] like, what’s happening with Pokemon, then it was 800 sales on eBay, and then it was 1, 000 sales.
It was 1, 500 or whatever it was. And that’s when I knew like Pokemon was really blowing up. Cause I had this shining Charizard 9 that all of a sudden was, I was like tracking the sale prices for it. Cause that at the time was my most expensive card that I owned. Um, and it was the very first post I made on the E4 discord.
There’s a, there’s a channel for like showing your, show off your stuff was the channel. And I post that card. I was like, this is my most valuable card that I got. Let me tell you about the story and how I got it for a lot of a hundred cards for a hundred bucks. So. Yeah, but yeah, I’ve bought a ton. I was buying a ton and I still try to but I’ve been trying to figure out like what I really want to be collecting and I think right now i’m i’m focused on Uh japanese first ed e series cards So like town unknown town on no map when from the sea that sort of thing And i’m gonna make a video when it comes here, but I just bought like my grail card from bayi Or japanese [00:50:00] makari Uh, the First Dead PSA 10 Crystal Nidoking.
I have been, I’ve had that card on my radar for ever. It is some of the best artwork. Like, it’s not, he kind of looks like he’s powering up like a Super Saiyan. A little bit. Um, and it’s just, it’s such a good card. I finally pulled the trigger on that. Uh, so really excited. What about you? What’s your, do you have a Grail or what’s, what’s your, your most cherished card?
Oliver: My most cherished card? I don’t, That’s a good question.
Coop: I watched a reel of yours, uh, or a short, um, you showed off your for alligator you had since you were a kid and then you showed like a new copy you got. So I thought that was so cool. I’m so bummed. I don’t have anything like from my childhood. Cause I kind of gave it all up when I was, You know, in my early teens,
Oliver: right?
So when I was a kid, I was, uh, my friend had a shining Tyranitar and man, he was the coolest kid on the playground because of that card. And we were big into Pokemon, but none of us [00:51:00] had a shining card. And that’s the only one that any of us had ever seen. And I went to a very, very small school by the way.
But, um, I. Took all of my holo cards every holo foil I had put them all together and I said, okay, he’s got to take this for the Tyranitar, right? I’m sure this is worth more than the Tyranitar. I don’t care. I’m obsessed. I want the Tyranitar So I got every every holo card. I had put them together to proposition this kid for the trade And I put him in the pocket of Majid’s Of course, like every good kid would.
And when I woke up in the morning, my jeans were in the clean laundry.
Coop: Oh no!
Oliver: Yeah, yeah. So, my Feraligatr was in that pile. That’s, that’s what happened to that Feraligatr. And then, I think it was around 2016 or 2017, I bought someone’s old [00:52:00] collection off Facebook Marketplace that actually, it had a Shining Mewtwo in it as well.
As well as a Shining Magikarp.
Coop: Ooh!
Oliver: Yeah, yeah.
Coop: I would love the Shining Gyarados. Oh my gosh, that’s a dream card. I love that artwork.
Oliver: Yeah, that’s that’s probably in the my top five grails right there to get a first edition one
Coop: I think what was what is PSA 10 of that like 15 grand maybe something. Ooh, is
Oliver: it more or less?
Oh, I’m not sure. I hope it’s not 15.
Coop: I think as a PSA 10. It’s like I mean it’s thousands Yeah, it’s expensive, but I do like the secret rare from the breakpoint. That’s kind of like It’s got the Shining Gyarados and the Gold Border. I think it’s got Manaphy. No, not Manaphy. Uh. Oh, yeah, yeah. Whatever the Blue Mystic Pokémon is and then Greninja on it.
I always thought that was really cool. Beautiful card. Yeah. I tried for, back in like 2019, I tried to get a bunch of copies of that to grade and I could not find Like a PSA 10. Like that earlier, like mid 2000s, or mid 2010s EX [00:53:00] series, like Breakpoint stuff, I don’t think the, the print quality was super good, like the cutting of the cards, all the ones I got a hold of always had like some sort of whitening on the back, and I didn’t have any luck ever grading one, but I liked that one a lot, that was awesome.
So, but yeah, so you, so you have a Shining Magikarp, or you bought, you said you bought a collection that had one?
Oliver: Yeah, yeah, I still have it. That’s awesome. It’s one of my favorite cards. But I did find that Feraligatr in there. Oh, okay. I’m super, super stoked by that. I think that’s Neo Genesis? The Feraligatr?
Coop: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s one of the Neo Or, what was? Yeah, I think it was. I think that’s Neo. I think it’s the
Oliver: Neo. I’m not sure if it’s Genes I just call it
Coop: Neo. Oh, I get all the Neos mixed up, yeah. I just say the Neo series, yeah. Whether it’s, uh It’s Genesis or something else.
Oliver: I do tend to gravitate toward vintage cards.
Right now I’m really into the Bandai Cardass cards. Okay. And, um, right today I was looking at the, [00:54:00] like, playing cards from 1996.
Coop: Like the, like, Ace Jack King playing cards? Yeah, yeah. I had a guy come up to me at a show. He had some, like, CGC graded cards. Playing cards. He was like, were you interested in these?
I was like, that’s a little outside my realm of expertise, but I think it’s cool. I’ve seen like some of them was like the Lugia and other ones that are popular Pokemon on them, but. It’s cool. I mean, you can grade anything nowadays. It’s kind of wild.
Oliver: Those, those playing cards, that’s a heck of a rabbit hole.
Like it, it goes way deeper than I ever expected. I’m going to have a video out on it in a couple of weeks here, but I’m like, I don’t know, I might have to buy some of these
Coop: once you, I mean, it’s so easy to like, get into new, like sub genres of cards
Oliver: that
Coop: it’s funny. Cause like. I know there are the Japanese, um, like Weiss Schwartz and some of the other like Japanese card games that will license tons of different animes.
And I’m like, I can’t [00:55:00] watch a new anime because if I do, I’m going to want to get the cards that they make of it. And I just saw my, my favorite shows, probably, um, Yu Yu Hakusho and Union arena has some like really cool looking. Yu Yu Hakus show cards. And I’m like, I don’t need those, but I really liked the show.
And it’s like, I’ve got, um, I’ve got two boxes of full metal alchemist cards from, uh, have you heard of premium bandai, the website P bandai?
Oliver: Uh, yeah,
Coop: yeah,
Oliver: yeah.
Coop: So they do, um, sometimes they’ll do like special card releases that you can only get on premium bandai. So I’ve got like three collector boxes from like Dragon Ball cards that are, you could only get on there.
Uh, but they did like some full metal alchemist ones that. Really cool. They have some of the signatures on them and stuff like that. Um, but it’s like, all right, I just spent 200 on full metal alchemist cards because I really liked the full metal alchemist show. So whenever people start talking about a new anime, I was like, I can’t watch it because I’m going to want to go buy trading cards.
[00:56:00] And then all of a sudden I’ve got all these cards of a show that I don’t know what to do with. So I tried to get the attack on Titan. Um, the signature cards from Weiss Schwartz of like Aaron and, uh, I think it’s Picasso and, uh, whatever the guy’s name is, Armin. Yeah, or uh, is it Levi, Levy, or whatever. I should know these.
I watched the whole show and I can’t even think of the character names. But they had like some signature cards. I was like, I’m gonna try to get those and then I never did and I think PSA 10’s a couple hundred bucks and I was like, eh, I like the show but not enough to drop, you know, a grand on more cards, so.
Oliver: I just opened a booster box for the Universus Yu Yu Hakusho Dark Tournament cards.
Coop: Oh! Wait, so, is that a new, is that new or is that an old? I think it came out last month. Oh, okay. Is that, wait, so what card game is that?
Oliver: So they’re kind of, they also license out multiple IPs. Nice.
Coop: That’s all. Is anything, anything good?
I’ll have to [00:57:00] check it out. Here I am. I’m going to go check it out. I’m going to start buying singles to grade probably. So
Oliver: I do, I do have the whole video on YouTube. Oh, I’ll go watch it. Yeah. If you’re like me, you shouldn’t watch it cause you’re going to go.
Coop: Oh God. Is it just a pack opening of it?
Oliver: Yeah. Oh
Coop: yeah.
I’m going to go watch it for sure. That’s awesome. Yeah. You
Oliver: hog shows. Great. They, uh, universe. This also has attack on Titan come out later this year. Okay. Chomping at the bit for
Coop: nice. Yeah. There’s a, um, on the E4 discord, there’s a channel about like other TCGs and people post like, A lot of people are really into, like, the modern Final Fantasy cards because there’s some really cool artwork, um, people, not too much magic, but a little bit of Magic the Gathering, um, and some other ones, but people, I posted something from P.
Bandai for One Piece that they were doing a, I don’t know anything about One Piece, I haven’t seen the show, but that card game is super hot right now from Like a buying and selling perspective. Um, I had so many people come up to me at shows, like, do you have any one piece? And I’m like, [00:58:00] no, I don’t, I don’t know anything about one piece, but man, those cards are, and they’re going for a ton.
Like it’s crazy. So
Oliver: yeah, I managed to find. One pack one day at my local Walmart. Okay, kind of kind of sitting like underneath the shelf kind of yeah That’s those are the only one piece cards. I’ve ever managed to get my hands on
Coop: I should I was at Target Yeah, I was at Target the other day actually before the card show I went on Saturday and then the card shows on Sunday and I thought I saw one piece I don’t know if it was starter decks though, which probably are Just their own thing, but I should have taken a better look.
But again, I don’t go into target, like, what can I flip today? You know, so I saw a lot of Lorcana, like the Disney stuff. So I, and that’s pretty, I think there’s some pretty expensive Disney cards now too. But I mean, there’s always people who are just like all about Disney. So I’m sure they love having a card game to go along with that.
So [00:59:00] pretty neat. But I kind of dipped
Oliver: into Lorkana when it came out. Okay. Um, it’s cool, but yeah, I kind of like after, after getting into it for a few weeks, I kind of stepped back and I was like, I’m not a Disney guy. Yeah. You know, like I’m not getting the same, you know, like emotional response that I get with Pokemon cards.
Yeah. Like, Oh, okay. I got Pocahontas. I got the little mermaid. I’m like, ah, you know, they’re cool. I guess.
Coop: Yeah. I think for me, it’s funny. It’s so funny. Cause I was talking to a sports guy. It was a hockey collector at the last show. And, um, I was like, yeah, I’m, I collect cartoon characters on cards. And as you were talking about Disney, I was like, Well, Pokemon and Disney are cartoon characters on cards, but I was like, what really differentiates it?
And I think for me, it’s the games, right? It’s playing the Pokemon games. And I have this. connection to actual Pokemon who I’ve had on my team, who I’ve gone through like a whole [01:00:00] story with, then to see them on cards versus, yeah, I liked watching the Aladdin movie and Lion King and that sort of thing, but it, it’s just not quite the same experience as, you know, I watch a two hour movie versus I just spent 40 plus hours or 60 hours on this game with these.
Characters, right? And so I think that’s for me where some of the connection comes from and I love the games I still play them all the time if I go on if I travel which I’m about to You know, if I’m on the plane, I’m probably playing pokemon, you know, uh, I think Red, uh fire red is my favorite version of a game um and then gold and silver like I like gold and silver but and then the remakes heart gold and soul silver because I’ve I grew up I mean my first game was was red You Um, I remember getting it and playing it, and then I distinctly remember getting gold for Christmas one year and sitting, we were at my grandparents house, and I, they had a, this wind, this windowsill seat, like alcove, and I would just sit in it, cause there was a [01:01:00] window, so that I could have my game, and have the window, the sun, cause I didn’t have one of those lights yet, for my Game Boy Color, and so I’d be like, sitting in the corner of this alcove, like, so that the sun could shine on my Game Boy, and I could play Pokemon Gold.
Um, but yeah, I think it’s that game connection that has made collecting the cards so much easier and more enjoyable, I should say, so. Um, and that could be why the anime cards don’t, haven’t had a ton of sticking power with me, just because, again, it’s kind of the same thing. Um, and I think it’s that longer term game experience that’s really made that deeper connection with the cards, so.
Plus all the experiences I had as a kid, like having cards and stuff, but. That childhood nostalgia.
Oliver: Cool, man. Well, this hour flew by, I don’t really want to, but we should. Um, can you tell the audience where else they can find you?
Coop: Yeah, I’m on Instagram, uh, at coops underscore collection. I think, let me check.
I’ve got my, I’ve got my browser in front of me. Yeah. At coops, C O O P [01:02:00] S underscore collection is my Instagram. Uh, I’m on YouTube, at Koops Collection, uh, if you search for me in the search bar, I use an apostrophe S, so sometimes I don’t crop up, um, but my handle is just at Koops Collection, one word, no, no apostrophe or anything like that, uh, I’m, I’m, and then I’m on eBay, Koops um, I think it’s koops collection, uh, and on eBay, I just, I post stuff, uh, Uh, I do, I scan all my slabs, so I post all my scans on eBay and stuff, and I sell some loose cards that I’ve also scanned in.
Um, but yeah, if you ever, if people are buying stuff, if they ever want to just reach out to me directly, I sell off eBay too, um, help save on the fees and everything. But yeah, eBay, Instagram, Facebook, oh, yeah, I have a Facebook page, but that’s just going to be duplicative of what I post on Instagram and YouTube and stuff.
But, I actually had a huge, this is going to be funny. I had a huge following on Facebook. I had over 10, 000 people following my Facebook page because I went slightly viral in South Africa. Uh, somehow, um, my [01:03:00] parents did, um, humanitarian work in South Africa for years. And I think somehow through that, some people in South Africa, like, got onto my Facebook page and it just like spread.
And I had like, Eight to 9, 000, like South African, um, followers on Facebook, but yeah, I have a Facebook page, uh, Coop’s question on Facebook too, where I’ve started posting, uh, they’re called Facebook Reels, but it’s basically just the YouTube shorts over on Facebook. And I try to link my Instagram to just duplicate my Instagram posts.
But if you only have one of those socials, um, you’ll see the same stuff. So yeah, I will
Oliver: link
Coop: all of that in.
Oliver: Oh,
Coop: perfect. Yeah. I’ll send you, I’ll send you links for that stuff too. Yeah. If you don’t have it. Awesome. As
Oliver: well as Coop’s viral short. So if you haven’t seen that yet, then I mean, you probably have seen it.
Coop: I still can’t believe like it’s, it’s been so wild and I know I’ve said that, but yeah, it’s been crazy. It’s been awesome. But it’s been so awesome. Like all the support people are, are showing in the comments, just the [01:04:00] positivity and the, and the good vibes have just been so, so. Like amazing. It’s been great.
So yeah, it’s a beautiful thing to see. It is. I’m glad if, if there’s something I want to go viral for, like, I couldn’t have picked like a better thing. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So, but thank you so much for having me on. This has been a ton of fun. The hour definitely flew by and I’d be happy to come back and just chat another time if you’re looking to do more, more episodes, but people are going to get tired of me eventually.
They’re like, I’ve watched nine coupe shorts. He’s just given free cars to kids. He’s been on this podcast 19 times. I’m over it. We’ll see. But yeah, this has been great. Thanks again. This has been so fun.
Oliver: Cool, man. Thank you so much for coming on. Yeah, absolutely. And we’ll catch up again in the future. Great.
Sounds good. See you then.