My Pokemon card addiction
I have a Pokemon card addiction. Maybe addiction is too strong a term, but I definitely enjoy Pokemon cards and buy a few each week. I started collecting Pokemon cards very late in life.
It started out innocently enough. My grandsons were always bugging me to take them to the card shop to buy Pokemon cards. I really had no idea what the whole Pokemon card craze was about but they liked it when I bought cards with them. I really had no idea what I was looking at. I just knew what artwork I liked and didn't like. If a card's design spoke to me (and it wasn't crazy expensive) I'd buy it.
The one thing that attracted me to Pokemon cards is that they do seem to hold their value. Unlike modern sports cards, Pokemon cards don't typically have big fluctuations in value. Pikachu won't get cut from a team or suffer a career ending injury. This makes the Pokemon card market far less volatile. The raw card you buy for $10 today won't typically drop to $1 next year. Prices can fluctuate, but in general I never feel like I've wasted my money.
What makes Pokemon cards so attractive to me? It's the artwork and design. I've never watched a Pokemon cartoon or movie (by choice), never played the Pokemon card game and never played a Pokemon video game. There was nothing to attract me to this hobby except for the card art and designs.
Like most collectors I prefer the SIRs (special illustration rare) cards. I normally buy raw cards. I doubt I'll ever send anything in for grading. I hardly ever buy packs to open and buying sealed product as an investment isn't my thing.
Pokemon is popular and with popularity there is a money component to this hobby. For example, if you walk into my local Target store right at opening you'll see a horde of Pokemon scalpers waiting for the cards to be stocked. It's rare to find packs of cards anywhere. So the path of least resistance is buying raw cards at a local card shop.
I prefer to do this for a few reasons. It helps a small business stay afloat. And they start to know what you are looking for... which means they'll set cards aside for you to buy because of your customer loyalty.
I know that Pokemon cards are just colored cardboard. I can't explain to you what the attraction is beyond the fact that I just enjoy finding card designs that speak to me. I know the $100 I spend each month would net more for me long term if I just invested it. But where's the fun in that?
So for me Pokemon cards are my Achilles heel. And I'm the "cool grandpa" who collects Pokemon. I could think of worse things to be. Until next time, take care.