Hello and welcome to season 3 of the Geeked Out Collecting Podcast :)
For this episode I wanted to bring on a Pokemon and vintage video game collector and fellow podcaster Ryan from @0gretro. It was very fun to have him on because we talked about the ins and outs collecting video games and how he's expanded his collection over the years. Very knowledgable collector!
Show Notes
Here's where you can find Ryan:
You can find me here:
IG:@geeked_out_collecting
Twitch:/feliwankenobi
Website:www.GeekedOutCollecting.com
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Patreon: www.patreon.com/Geekedoutcollecting
What is Geeked Out Collecting?
At Geeked Out Collecting podcast we apply financial and investing principles to our hobby collecting - from trading card games like Pokemon and Magic the Gathering to Comic books and Funko Pops, we do it all. The goal is to turn dusty hobby collections into profitable nest eggs.
Let’s go!
Find us on: www.geekedoutcollecting.com
Kind: captions
Language: en
uh my girlfriend and i just got engaged now my
fiance congratulations thank you um so that's
crazy so then also planning a wedding trying to
find a house to buy because we just moved out
of our least places because we figured not signed
another lease we just got married that'd be silly
let's try and find a house to buy so that's kind
of stressful but it's exciting so just a lot of
um temporary move temporary office that's why it
looks shame i'm in shambles i got like i don't
know it's fine though it is what it is yeah no
gosh i mean like i i love that you guys are you
know planning the wedding stuff um are you guys
planned for next year did you guys pick a date
yet yeah uh uh april 30th april 30th so april
thursday i don't know it gives me some time but
that's awesome are you guys gonna get uh married
in new york in in russia yeah uh no no no um so
we're actually from jersey um we lived in
ithaca new york uh because katrina my fiance
uh went to school there then got a job
there right after college it's like deep
into her job now there and doing really well
which is cool but now they went fully remote
so we can pretty much move anywhere which
is awesome yeah yeah seriously fantastic so
that's that but yeah no wedding will be in
jersey where our families are from um be in
the in a church she's deep in the catholic
church what's cool we'll do a church wedding
then uh reception backyard uh big backyard and uh
it'll be nice oh hell yeah that'll be nice yeah
yeah are you are you looking for a house then in
jersey to move back closer no actually no so we're
coming home we're coming home only to hopefully
move further away um we're looking at either
houses in vermont which we have a lot of friends
in uh i went to school up in vermont uh which
was awesome so i have a bunch of friends up
there but then also uh around portland maine
which oh okay cool wow really really cool yeah i
love that area i've never been there but i always
think of like forest open spaces really cool chill
people and seafood which is like i love seafood i
can get some seafood here because i'm in chicago
but it's a little harder right so yeah you know
and it's more expensive i don't
know it's just not as fresh like
i'll eat a raw oyster you
know that's how much i love
yeah oh yeah oh yeah um i have um some friends
that live down in houston and we go to this place
i can't remember what it's called i think
it's called like the boat or something and
and i love going there because they'll make it
like like we do it real mexican style oysters i
don't know how you do it but what we do is we
get valentino sauce have you had that before
probably it's a red sauce or yeah yeah it's a red
hot sauce yeah yeah 100 yeah so what we'll do is
we'll order um like oysters and we'll put you know
valentina sauce and salt on it and then what we'll
order is a michelada which is like a red beer
right okay but just with like modelo so so you
put modelo in it and you put like you know your
uh crap your tomato sauce crap what do you call it
um like bloody mary miss yeah like a bloody
mary mix and then what they do is they put an
oyster inside of it so they put it at the bottom
it's so good i love it it's probably delicious
oh yeah i suggested if you haven't had
it um so absolutely if and when you move
but um but yeah you know anyways i appreciate
you know you being on today i figured you'd be
uh a really awesome person to have on because i
love your collection like i i don't know whether
or not your instagram does it justice but
because of the fact that you like video games
yeah right you like the video games you like
pokemon i did also see that you collect some comic
books right so so tell us about your collection no
okay so yeah comic books not so much i have uh i
like the nintendo power magazines so like some of
the original nintendo power stuff i'm really into
not too many i've never really been a big
comic book guy but in terms of my collection
uh so i guess i've always been collecting
pokemon cards right like i grew up on like
jungle i'm for anyone listening i'm 25 so i'm kind
of young but i'm turning 26 this year but anyways
i remember getting my first pack of pokemon
cards jungler base set i think it was jungle
to be honest um when i was like five years
old and then from that moment that was it
that was it i was hooked on pokemon had to get
and with the cards like i had to get the games
too i got a game boy color when i was a kid
like that was the first handheld system i had
and my aunt she got me pokemon red and it was
that was it again hooked like and it coincided
perfectly the cards in the in the game and so
since then i mean i i collected pokemon cards
heavily as a kid just remember trading and stuff
and all like i never played the tcg as a kid um
interestingly enough like this is just another
aspect i got into magic the gathering when i was
uh i was probably in like second grade so i was
like 10 or i don't know how old you are in second
grade but however how are i was pretty young and
so i played that and i thought that tcg was like
so much cooler than pokemon but i loved playing
the pokemon video games so yeah so i don't know
but that's where my collection comes from
yeah yeah do you still have your magic cards
sucks so there's so many so many things i
wish i kept from when i was a kid i had such
an incredible magic gathering collection which
i sold for a lot of money at the time like my i
was i was really excited and i was like whoa and
that honestly could have been a really like good
mental mindset important moment like it sounds
cheesy saying it but like like now i look at
pokemon cards and stuff is you know an investment
stuff it really has like crazy monetary
value monetary value a lot of it which
is just insane to me but i think that
first time where i sold my magic cards for
like four figures i was like whoa like this
these cardboard you know this cardboard can
be worth a lot of money and not only did i
like get so much enjoyment out of it but it
felt like it was like worthwhile in a way
so i i think that like showed me the potential
of it almost and i was i was like young i think i
sold them i know exactly when i sold them actually
i sold them right before i became right before i
was a freshman in high school so like right
before was not cool anymore yeah i was young
and if i had waited just even five years it would
they probably would have been worth you know 5x
like those cards now or just what did you have
did you have like alpha beta set i had a bit of
i had no like of the power stuff another crazy
like alpha beta stuff but like i definitely had
old cards and like a lot like i mean i remember
selling my rare binder which was just like just
insane like i don't even want to talk about it
but i since then i've gotten back into magic
like a couple of times and now i've i've
not sold any of the physical cards i bought
since selling those so i i have a couple of decks
that i still like will play sometimes if i if i
meet someone that likes to play and like it's
like a very it's it never i never planned to
play magic you know it's always like oh you you
play like next time we get together let's let's
get a game or something so yeah i like it i
like it because of that and i still play the the
online i'll hop on magic the gathering yeah and um
and play that because it's super easy to get some
games and i like seeing the new card sets it's
easy to see like what they're doing in the game
so i don't have to spend that much money honestly
because i i spend too much money on other stuff
so well did did your uh original pokemon
collection survive as well also no and that one's
a sadder story i didn't even benefit from this
in any way except maybe a hard lesson i guess uh
i unfortunately were moving uh and this was in
second grade same time maybe i picked up magic
because of this i didn't even think of this
but we were moving and i had like an idiot
i mean this maybe i deserved to lose my pokemon
cards i stored them i had like nice cards and i
stored them maybe in sleeves maybe not in sleeves
but in like a gallon ziploc bag and i thought no
yeah yeah that was i don't know and i uh there
were definitely some that i probably thought
were like really special and i kept them separate
but most of my cards were in a gallon ziplock pack
whatever form of fashion it was cute it
was like a cute kid thing but then they got
they they were lost during a move
or stolen during a move and i lost
all my cards and i have one i've won it was
dev saying but i have one card that survived
uh somehow and i don't know how but it's a
shadowless chansey uh hollow from bayset and it's
it survived like i remember it surviving through
the family junk drawer and like it was in the junk
drawer forever like was in the junk tour of our
childhood home forever and i always just thought
it was like oh like that's cool this is a pokemon
car they're just chilling whatever and that's like
when i wasn't that and i was like going through
high school and i went to where you know these
like phases of my life where you're not that into
it and then like we moved out of that house and
i i was like i have to take this i can't take i
can't let this this is like part of my childhood
i'm definitely keeping it and now it's like it's
in my basement binder like that is the that's the
you know i have that set complete now because i'm
a nerd and everything but it's that is like easily
one of my favorite cards in the collection because
it's sort of it survives somehow and the chansey
like a chancy is like known for survival it's
like it went it took a rest it got some sleepy
eggs or whatever that move is called annoying
move is called when you play it in the video game
never dies yeah yeah oh man so then what do you
think it would grade if you ever decided to get
it great if i decided i couldn't see it getting
higher than like a three or a four oh it was raw
and unscened in a junk drawer yeah it's gonna
take a pretty card like it's also a binder yeah
but i couldn't see i i reached five like and i
i should make maybe i will grade it eventually
that'd be cool and i feel like i say that every
time and then i just forget when i send in
subs and because it's in the binder because it's
in the binder and it doesn't like but yeah it's a
it's a cool card you know no that that's a that's
a card with a great story behind it so you gotta
you gotta love those cards and those are probably
some of the more precious ones i would say you
know the ones that have a really cool story i mean
would you say that's your like most beloved card
i would say it's definitely like it's gotta be
like top three or top five maybe like there's a
there's a couple other ones like i've last year
on my birthday i was streaming and i got a i was
streaming champion's path opening i pulled the
charizard and that that was a fun that card means
a lot because it was like one of the first live
card openings i was doing it was on my birthday
it was super hype it was like maybe a couple
days after champions path released two so like
it wasn't overplayed yet it wasn't it wasn't a set
that's been just absolutely opened into oblivion
so opening down my birthday i got created a 9.5
at bgs which is cool oh oh okay i hyped on that
um that was awesome yeah and i i pulled like
three of those rainbow charizards and sold
out sold two of them i sold i pulled one the first
day the set came out sold it the same day because
you got to take advantage of that uh those early
early sales when sets released people paying crazy
premiums on release day it's a little silly if you
ask me but oh yes it is what it is especially with
modern and how many there are even though it's
really tough pull rates don't get me wrong like
it's insane you've got some hot hands like connor
sheesh he's always pulling he always wants myself
and it's interesting it's interesting because i've
i've felt that way a lot with modern recently like
how it doesn't really make sense uh you know
how how much is printed and what people are
paying but i feel like they're starting to adjust
with the with the most recent set chilling rain
and seeing some of the poll rates that are coming
out about it i feel as though they're starting
to adjust and trying to find the balance between
like the the amount they're printing it the supply
and like the the uh the actual amount
of like awesome special cards pulled
and which is cool like i'm all about that like
people are really complaining i think about
how hard it is to pull some of these cards
but like make cards hard to pull again like
i think there's a good transition from like
the the champions patch charizard it's like
that card was i pulled three of them and ever
so did everybody else there's like ten thousand
psa tens already yeah i'm literally looking
at it right now the full art uh charizard v
is fifty there's fifty three hundred and then
for the remax yeah it's 5700 and i'm like
it kind of reminds me of the mba uh nba cards like
like i don't know if it's hype and people feeling
fomo and there's just they don't realize the
supply and that they you know and that demand is
is like i don't feel like demand is really i don't
know i don't know it kind of makes me feel like i
don't actually know the demand out there like for
nba cards well just i guess for modern in general
because like because nba there's so much
supply how is there that much demand
you know meeting that crazy supply and i kind
of think of the same thing similarly with modern
yeah uh with some of the chase cards you know
i don't know yeah and i i was talking like
i don't think we'll ever s or it's gonna take
a really no you know what i might double down
i don't think we'll ever see the prices on the
modern psa 10 charizards like the v-max or the
rainbow i don't think we're gonna see them like
really bright above what yeah this is this this
is the ceiling at this point and it's only gonna
drop lower like i don't i don't see the demand
ever catching up to the supply because think about
like like the base unlimited charizard i don't
even think that that unlimited card i don't think
that even has the demand there's going to be i'm
out because i'm i'm watching ebay auctions kind of
closely now of that card because i'm just curious
and the they're not able to sell like those cards
just don't sell well now which is just they sit
they sit they sit so i you can see the demand
for that car was super popular and it popped and
it's gonna have a maybe a couple more pops but
i don't think i just don't see it uh especially
for modern i don't see it lasting yeah yeah i can
definitely get with you i think that maybe maybe
a few decades from now we might see a
resurgence you know because like the kids
growing up and having income you know and that's
what i'm thinking that's how it happened but to
what extent or yeah it's like yeah is it 10 000
kids are 10 000 kids gonna want psa 10 charizards
in 20 years i it may be maybe you know it sounds
crazy it really does and the other thing too with
the charizard and i was literally so i was talking
to charlie i don't know if you know him charlie
he he runs an account called luca pokemon on
ig and he's got a a really awesome collection
um he wouldn't call himself a whale but to me he
is yeah yeah but anyways we we were talking about
and we were talking about you know how pikachu
is definitely super popular like it's the face
pikachu's the face of a brand and then charizard
and we were kind of comparing you know if we had
to choose between buying a charizard versus
buying a pikachu you know where will we put
our money and we were kind of thinking that
okay well we'd probably put our money in a
pikachu because the charizard is the flex card
you know that's the flex but the pikachu is like
everyone really loves pikachu like how can you not
love the cute one you know yeah i think so too for
yeah however however there are a lot more you
have to pick the right pikachu they're a lot more
common true as well like there's so many good rare
people because i'm like a pikachu and a charizard
collector that's like definitely hell yeah the
predominant amount of my slabs are either of those
two for sure so for me it's both of them like
they answer that questions for sure both of them
but they're like the lebron and the jordan 100
of pokemon so it doesn't hurt it doesn't it
doesn't you're right you do have to be careful
with the pikachu because there's a ton of just
i think for instance the first edition you know
bass pikachu that was crazy high for a while and
now it's a common card it's there's got to be a
lot of them out there you know it's impossible oh
yeah absolutely and and you know one of the things
that charlie and i were talking about as well is
the retrace that we're seeing and it and it
mostly seems that it's only hitting base set
and some of it you know the retrace is kind of
justified honestly because some of that was just
you know just a little bit overpriced especially
for the unlimited cards like i mean i like
i i have some unlimited cards like i have some
unlimited holos but the prices that some of these
cards are getting i'm just like even graded it
just seems way too much you know people maybe
people you know who knows maybe the market wasn't
as educated and they just you know went out and
got it because they had the money for which you
know it's fine it is what it is you know hopefully
i hope people do a little bit of their research
sometimes i'm guilty of that where i buy something
yeah me too 100 i i think you're right in saying
that people might it was a lot of impulse buying
uh we were people were bored during a pandemic
people there it was it was like a perfect storm
for this to happen you know and no market can
just can sustain that type of like perfect storm
um for forever it had to end so i think we're
seeing we're seeing the end of the perfect snow
the storm and um it's nothing to be uh i don't
think it's anything to be alarmed of like it's
normal and it's good it'll allow a lot more
people to enter the hobby that actually want to
be here you know who aren't just in it for like
the quick flip i think people who've like saw
seen the hype and have like gotten interested
in it the last year but just haven't been able
to be a part of it you can finally like buy the
cards they want to buy which is cool that makes me
yeah yeah this is definitely a buying time
right now um definitely a buying time and i mean
you know these things like like what you
were saying it's healthy for the market to
you know go through these ebbs and flows and and
you know we'll we'll see we'll see what happens
but i think a lot of people are gonna still you
know enjoy the hobby and if they you know if
and if they're coming back to the hobby because
you know they left it for a while and then as
adults now they have you know a little bit extra
income to spend on luxury goods you know this is
this would be a great time to do that so i'm
hoping that we have more people in the hobby that
stay yeah i mean you know when it comes to pokemon
content compared to you know even six months ago
maybe maybe seven months or eight months you know
there's not as much pokemon content out there
uh i don't know if you noticed that but you
know not as many people are doing openings
like compared so it's kind of going through a
lull like you know there was a wave and people
wrote it and it's all good um but but you know now
now we're getting into the more it seems like more
of the quiet phase and so we'll we'll probably
see a resurgence at some point and we'll be here
exactly here i'm it's going to be interesting to
see how much the like the 25th anniversary fall
sets kind of do if there will be another
like quick pop or but we'll see but uh
like you said we'll be here and i'm still like
actively kind of buying and trying to grab cards
that i think are gonna like good deals and just
stuff i wanted to add to collection like while
i while i can do that while planning a wedding and
also trying to buy a house like yeah seriously you
know you might have cards you can you know sell
for a down payment you know who knows honestly
that'd probably be the only reason i would
sell cards yeah like sell pc is for that that's
probably serious yeah a serious purchase like that
i agree there's yeah and i'm waiting so i have um
uh the entire reverse holo legendary collection
set at beckett right now so 109 cards
at bgs well the charizard i already have and
the pikachu i actually already have graded but
the rest of the set is there which is insane so is
that the only thing you have that you're waiting
on right now no i have like i probably i have
nothing at psa at this point but i have another
i think like 20 cards sub it because separate
from the legendary collection so like just like
different cards uh and i think that's it yeah i
don't have it sometimes i'll have stuff at cgc2
but nothing there yeah just beck it right now just
waiting on and it's kind of a black hole but uh
it'll be like i saw him we were talking about
down payment and like the legendary collection
is something i'd consider piecing out like pieces
of it like because each of those cards is like
they're expensive it's crazy yeah and i it's one
of the things i i like paddy like i don't bra i
try to humble brag but i don't like bragging
often but that is the one thing i that was such
a good investment for investment play in terms of
pokemon like i bought that a couple months before
the pandemic kind of took off so so like maybe
like early early 2020 right so like uh and for
just way too cheap like way too cheap and
and the cards are near mint every single card
near mint sleeve top loader perfect the guy
was like super collector um and so i had to
i had to send them in for granted i sent him in
bulk whatever so now it's just a waiting game
but that's something i would keep a ton of those
cards and just kind of peace out little bits here
and there because just it's worth too much like
right simply but it's worth too much especially
graded it's not many people there aren't many
complete sets created i don't even think like i
maybe three or something i think i was looking
i was looking at the pop report just seeing like
there's some like only pop three or so you just
look for the card with the lowest pop and that's
that's the only that's the only that's the
most amount of possible complete sets is the
lowest pop card in the legendary collection
in the yeah that that that makes sense um
so i have i don't have much from the legendary
collection i don't think i definitely don't have
any of the reverse foils but um so i don't have
any experience with it but is it similar to like
the chansey and the clefairy and the base set
where it's just you know very easy to scratch
it kind of reminds me of uh southern islands
too 100 southern ireland oh my god like i
might be i have i have three sets right now
with cgc two english one japanese and i'm
i'll be lucky if maybe i'll get like something
near mint you know for for like cgc is tough too
yeah i love those sets though gorgeous
cards i connor loves those sets too
yeah yeah we're waiting on the conversations
because yeah he's he's great he's definitely
great he's taught me a lot about like collecting
from a financial perspective um so he's been yeah
seriously seriously and and like and we've had a
lot of conversations about the southern islands
too because um i think he's got both now at least
one japanese and at least one english but for a
long time he was having he was having trouble like
closing deals uh for some of the southern island
sets i know like god i don't know like deals
cancelled and [ __ ] stupid [ __ ] on ebay but
but i think he finally has his sets but yeah it's
crazy it's it's probably like my favorite set
okay because it's easy to complete not gonna
lie and like that was attainable for me but
those are great i love the art on those
those are so cool i don't know fantastic
i mean is it technically considered a promo set
or like an actual actual set is it i think it's
considered a promo set it's a southern ireland's
promise that they released it i don't know when
it was between the jungle and the fossil sets
i believe i could be wrong sometime in that era
but it was released as a promo and yeah beautiful
cards i love i love the art oh yeah oh yeah have
you seen what the uh what the sealed english
was at least trying to go for like eight ten
months ago like sealed english for that was
trying to go like eight eight four thousand
it was listed at four thousand for a while
yeah i sold a couple of complete english sets
for not sealed but i sold a couple uh like near
mint sets and a light place that i think i got
maybe four or six hundred something like that
does that sound like i don't know i think it was
something like that for a complete set and
kind of the kind of the middle of the hype
oh really see that that's that's a
pretty good that's a pretty good price
uh price range that you got them because i think
i probably spent no more than 450 on on uh each
english set that i got so so i was paying a
little bit lower but i mean [ __ ] you know
whatever you can get uh you know squeeze out yeah
whatever you can but but i know i i know like so
i was looking at this is a long time ago this
is last year but the psa 10 merrell and mew
they were on ebay and and the dude was trying to
sell them for like 10 000 plus each like these
cards and i'm like are you serious dude yeah uh
so so i i hit him i hit up the seller on ebay and
i was trying to talk to him to see if like he
could you know like what would he offer me if i
you know was trying to get the whole set right
right his whole entire psa southern islands and
he said you know he couldn't even calculate it
he couldn't even do it he couldn't even give me
a number and i'm like what that doesn't make sense
dude i'm gonna i'm gonna go now i know i know he i
know exactly exactly so so but but what i like
what's i like that like with your collection
because not only do you have pokemon cards and
that cool stuff like that but you also have some
video games and specifically you have graded
video games too yeah i got a couple of those
yeah when did you start when did you start
getting into all that side of collecting hmm so
i guess i degraded video games came just
i feel like it was a natural progression
right so i started getting into just like physical
collecting kind of my childhood retro video games
uh like getting that stuff back i had as
a kid maybe like three four years ago now
i think i still i think no i started og retro
it's gonna be like the three year anniversary
in august so it's still only two point something
years old which is pretty cool um dude and it's
and it's big it's huge it's yeah it's uh we're
having fun with it we're having fun with it
and so i started then got in the retro collecting
thing and i think the i saw like rated video games
kind of i think the first time i saw it maybe at
a convention and i was like whoa that's pretty
cool like because it's just in my opinion a lot of
people it's like a hot topic it's controversial i
feel like people sometimes hate the idea of like
great video games encapsulating something that's
meant to be played um but i don't know i see it
as like if you have something that's sealed and
i actually i agree with those people when they're
talking about like games that aren't sealed like
i don't really fully believe in grading a
complete and box game like i think that is
meant to be it's like ready to be played like you
should maybe preserving is one thing and you can
preserve it in other ways than like fully
encapsulating in a box you can't take out
but anyways sealed collecting is a little
bit different and i think like if you
have something sealed that's like a moment in
time that it's just captured that's it's just
for me that's cool like knowing that this has not
been tampered with or touched with since it came
out of you know that factory box is is a pretty
cool idea and so i think that's what got me into
it i just like the idea of it i think because i
bought and sold great again i only have two in my
collection right now because it's kind of a buying
and selling uh you know niche as well there's a
couple that these two i'll never get rid of um and
i'm adding another permanent one to the collection
soon can you announce like yeah it's already or
do you want to keep it quiet no i've i don't know
the grade yet but i've already kind of announced
what it was it's got a war 2 on the playstation 2.
oh yeah yeah oh man such a good one yeah black
label uh first print sealed beautiful seal so it
should be coming back from water pretty soon and
i expect a pretty high grade on that and that's
that's another one of those games that like
that was a defining moment of my childhood
first rated m video game i ever had begged
my parents for me to get it like i remember
the game stop that i got it in it's closed now
which kind of sucks but like our it's so that
game means a lot to me and getting it sealed
that's like that memory in time right like it
that game never change it it was like that when
it first came out so like knowing that is cool
and then it elevates it to like another tier of
collectible when it's it like if you've ever held
a greater game like it feels different like it's
it's archival it's like it's kind of you know
it's like it's serious like it's not just a game
anymore it's more like an art piece or you know
something else and i think i i just like the
idea of it i really like the idea of it so i got
uh i have pokemon silver sealed graded
which is like that's that's the holy grail
uh that was it i mean that is the holy grail
in the collections what i started i would say
that's what i started og retro like if i had any
intentions of ever getting anything like cool and
that's probably it like sealed copy of silver
like silver was the game for me in my childhood
so it just had my my collection is i'd say 90
based on nostalgia and what i enjoyed as a kid
like maybe ten percent based on like cool stuff
now there's stuff i've picked up along the way
like maybe stuff i've gotten into now that i'm
super deep into the retro gaming community super
deep into pokemon that kind of stuff but most of
it's just based on you know what i loved as a kid
and so the sealed games the sealed graded
games are all like that too i have pikmin
uh which the commun community a bunch of people
that you know watch the claim sales that we do
listen to podcasts that i do shout out cards
and cartridges podcast shameless plug uh but
they uh they came together and bought me a graded
copy of pikmin or not a great copy a sealed copy
of pikmin which i then got graded so like that's
a game that has multiple meanings like pikmin is
the one of the first games that i ever beat i
think it was the first game i ever beat and it
was only with the help of my babysitter that i
could beat it because it was so hard but it was
so hard for to figure out how to save omar from
certain death before you know time ran out and
he was eaten alive by the pigment monsters and so
i i just love that game so that's another great
game i have it all the graded stuff i have is like
for the personal collection at least is stuff that
means that's how i go that's how i see graded
stuff it's like i'm i'm archiving it i'm
protecting it forever i don't want the condition
of this to change because like it's this memory if
it's a if it's a cib games and like i have plenty
of cib games that are in beautiful condition
and plenty that would grade like super high
like my copy of pokemon emerald that's like
perfect like literally looks like it's been
on yo peg city what's going on i just saw
the chat i was like that's funny i didn't know
there was yeah yeah it just popped up no yeah
yeah it's right there yeah cool so um what was i
saying that distracted me oh the yeah the cib copy
emerald would grade high but i just never would
i'll i'll put that in a plastic case and that's it
yeah i mean you know i can definitely understand
your your feeling of like archiving a thing
i kind of feel that way about comic books but
i feel like it's it's different still even with
video games because this is a moment and to your
point you know that if you're looking at a sealed
graded thing like that is literally a moment in
time you know what are the chances of that even
existing now yeah like it's so low i mean i mean
so do you think you know i'm just i'm curious
to know do you think it's worth buying graded
product like video games if they're not sealed
for me no but there's also some like that question
it does depend on a lot of things and i could be
this is like i'm contradicting myself like right
here as we speak but like for instance the game
uh stadium events like super rare nintendo game
on the nes and it's worth like i think it's like
twenty five thousand dollars loose right like
five figures loose um wow like sports games
normally aren't like that i don't know anyways
go ahead yeah it's a very bizarre title um very
low print run and nes collectors are savages
um they'll they'll go to the ends of earth
to get their hands on the rare carts
so i understand some people creating
loose carts like that from a financial
perspective and almost an archival perspective
because they're they're a bit more delicate and
like it's plastic's brittle the pcb is old like
it's a little bit different than a disk based
game like and the cartridge like or the like a
gba box is i guess that's cardboard so that's
frail too like so i don't know maybe i'm just
maybe uh maybe i'm wrong like maybe people
i just don't like uh it's not for me grading
uh not sealed stuff unless it's crazy high value
where it kind of makes sense like that that's
your excuse it's crazy high value that's why
it's created uh and not played with because it was
played with maybe it would get broken i don't know
yeah i mean i i can definitely understand that
perspective you know when you're looking at
something that rare especially even you know just
raw going for that much you know i can understand
it from an archival perspective as well because
even for me i sent out you know some cards to cgc
uh in april april may and you know some of the
cards that i sent out i don't think that they'll
necessarily grade high but i want to get them
graded because at that point i'm just looking for
the preservation of it you know at the very least
it won't hopefully in theory you know be in worse
condition when it comes back you know so so that i
can at least keep it because that's the thing that
i don't trust myself with i don't trust myself
with keeping [ __ ] like i had i had david person
on uh he's got an insane collection and he doesn't
grade anything he's one of those guys that doesn't
and i'm cool with that like i don't you know how
you collect is how you collect right so i don't
judge that at all but he is able to keep his cards
in excellent conditions and binders and i forgot
to ask him how the hell he does it because [
__ ] [ __ ] i i can't do it i can't do it like
i don't even know i don't even know like like
i i had some modern magic the gathering cards
in a binder not even like a three-ring binder
it was in one of those nicer binders that you
you take the cards out on the side and i'm
like yeah these cards are going to be good
yeah exactly and and there's this one particular
card that still got messed up on the sides it was
a pack fresh card and and you know i it could have
been that i maybe moved it in and out of binders
too much you know there could have been many
reasons that i didn't notice until like at the end
you know but but like but to your point i i mean
i i do think that it depends and it makes sense
um you know it depends on the situation and
you know what your goal is to because you know
if if if the point is to roi right if you're only
creating something roi well then obviously you
want to only get the best [ __ ] graded you know
it doesn't make sense to get anything you know
not as much greater but but i mean there's other
motivations to getting something graded so that
that completely makes sense um is there like
so so is there other than what you're waiting
to get back from what from from upgraded is are
there any games that you're kind of keeping an
eye out on like trying to trying to add to the
collection yeah i would say i mean like i said
wedding and house plans are gonna put a little bit
of a buffer before i probably go ahead with this
but i sticking with kind of the nostalgia and
stuff i would love to have from my childhood if
i could get there's two games right at the top of
my head i mean a sealed copy of pokemon red would
be insane yeah that is going for crazy prices
there was a point at which it was hitting like 80
000 or something like heritage auctions
going insane during the hype of everything
um so that one i don't know how realistic
that one will be unless i find like a sealed
copy in the wild and get a grade myself
which it's very possible i have before um
or and more realistically a copy of kingdom hearts
2 on the playstation 2 which is another childhood
game that i absolutely loved and that one i feel
like is i can i can make that happen like tomorrow
if i wanted but i'll just i'll wait till the till
it comes till the time still a good deal yeah
yeah until a good deal yeah it's on the radar that
makes sense yeah i know that that's awesome um so
so you're willing to try to find something
in the wild and then get it graded um versus
like like going do you prefer going that route
first before actually getting something sealed
because there's a little bit of a premium there
already yeah yeah definitely i definitely prefer
if i can like getting i mean ultimately what i
prefer is like coming into it organically like
there are a couple times i mean so i found a copy
of like fire emblem path of radiance sealed one
time in a lot that was just insane like that was
insane so like my cost basis for that was like
i think like 30 or 40 dollars and i turned
around graded it got a 9.6 or something
a plus plus seal like sold it for i think close
to a thousand or at that time and nowadays
you'll probably get 10k because created
games have really taken off since then but
i i can't i don't regret anything it's cool
when that stuff happens and i i truthfully
hot take i hate fire emblem games i don't know why
they're so expensive i don't understand the appeal
shoot me is what it is but uh do you like fire
emblem games you know what honestly i haven't
played them and that's a that's a jrpg right yeah
well it's a turn-based rpg based japanese rpg
strategy very very strategy based yeah i don't
have any strategy i don't i i don't either
um i remember playing back in the day of
final fantasy demo um it wasn't even like
final fantasy vii it was one of the other ones
but it was like as a kid it was too much for me
and so i think like that sentiment is kind of
held on even though probably as an adult i'd
be fine like i love rpg games you know like one
of my favorite games of all time is mass effect
and that and that trilogy so yeah you know i
i really enjoyed that but yeah not not super
into fire emblem but i know that it's really big
it's got this weird you know kind of cult huge
following um yeah yeah so so so i know i know that
one's got a little bit of a cult following but
you know i'm kind of curious to get your thoughts
on this because i had on rj who is one of conor's
actual friends in real life who also does a lot of
retro gaming collecting and one of the things that
that one of the things that we had talked about
is you know in the comic book world you you
there there's a saying by one to read one to keep
right so you have your one that you're just gonna
let get messed up and then the other one that's
gonna kind of go into the collection you know if
it's a key issue right and we kind of uh we're
thinking about that from a a game perspective
you know because because the vintage sealed
games are obviously very rare and it makes sense
because you know there's a lot that goes against
something being sealed but i was thinking you know
when it comes to the modern games you know because
they're you know their publishers are just gonna
you know push out however many games they can
that they think will sell right so there's a
ton of supply but since now we're looking
at generations of games where these might be
the last physical copies of games that we'll
get you know is it is the market going to react
a little bit differently because of that you know
so so like will there potentially be a little bit
more demand considering that these are going to be
the last few gents that we'll actually see i think
so i think yeah there's already talks you know
there's not even there's already talks but you
already see like games that launches physical and
digital sometimes they'll get de-listed digitally
and then the only option to buy that game or
play that game because the physical version then
you get a decrease of supply because that game's
getting bought out leading an increase in price
or you have uh kind of like the more
natural effect i think it happened with uh
xenoblade chronicles definitive edition where they
did print you know what they thought was a lot but
then the demand completely blew their expectations
out of the water and xenoblade's now like a pretty
expensive game on the secondary market even for
a switch game which is crazy um and what else
i think yeah i i think as we see physical
games start to go away you're gonna see
even switch games become more valuable and we see
3ds games already 3ds is insane right now yeah
which is something i didn't even really expect
i didn't i didn't think it would be this quickly
uh after the life cycle of 3ds that we'd see
this stuff become like really collectible and
a lot of it really valuable um and i think it has
to do with yes i mean the 3ds shop eshop getting
uh d-list and some of the games coming down from
that and the only way to play them is the physical
stuff so yeah yeah and and you know because it
seems like with nintendo and nintendo games in
general and that brand it seems to hold a little
bit more in the secondary market you know just
i mean when you compare like the zelda games um
compare that to some nes games like i know when i
was kind of uh hunting for certain kinds of you
know games kind of like early on in my process
to learn things when i when i go to a secondhand
store i would always just look at the games and i
would see that the the sports games for the most
part at least there at the stores i was seeing
trash just complete trash right um you know no one
no one was really buying those no one was really
really buying the atari you know games the old
school old school ones yeah i mean i know i'm
sure that there are some exceptions to that
of course but but um you know thinking about
that though it kind of made me think that oh
you know maybe i should grab a pokemon snap
i don't plan on playing that game it doesn't seem
like a game that i'd find fun but maybe something
to buy and keep sealed yeah i mean the one thing
too that that i've been trying to keep in mind
of as well is there are more sealed collectors
now in general like across the board so so you
got to kind of keep you know expectations
kind of low right i agree i don't think a
lot of people think about that they're like they
think of sealed product kind of being invincible
in terms of value-wise and a lot honestly a lot
of data backs that up i'll be on like in terms of
what we've seen there's not many boxes i don't
know if there are any boxes of pokemon that if you
have bought then and still have now sealed i don't
think there's any that haven't appreciated so
you know sealed product is is good yeah yeah i i
definitely agree with you i kind of feel like from
um you know if you wanted to buy the thing that
was the safest to get and and it seems like this
is the case across anything across magic across
pokemon you know even with games is sealed product
like complete sealed product um just seems like
to be the thing so so now what i do is is i do try
to just have more sealed product because you know
it might you know i might not be able to you know
it might not see good growth in five years
like that's not even what i'm thinking i'm
thinking like 10 15 20 years you know it'll be
kind of the annoying thing the annoying box of
[ __ ] that you have to bring with you when you
move like it's just going to be like a big box
exactly but it's a good box it's just yeah every
time you move you know you're just gonna have to
deal with it but but it's okay like i'm i'm fine
with that um but yeah yeah sealed seems to be the
safest thing to buy one of the things that is you
know worrisome um you know if you don't buy cards
that you like you run like single cards especially
like slab when you're spending hundreds of dollars
you know i just feel you run such a big risk
because those cards you know there might be some
cards that don't have the chance of really growing
in population over time but like a sealed product
is never going to be higher like you're never
going to be able to recreate a sealed product it's
always going to go lower i mean you know i know
there are people in the market that have a ton
of sealed vintage pokemon right it's insane what
they've got so you know knowing that it's kind of
hard to justify putting so much in a single card
i know some people still do you know charizard
for example goes for so much but it's just so
risky to put 500 plus to me at least based on
on what i've got and and where i'm at like
yeah i'm with you it's a it's a lot of money
and i'm way more okay with spending that amount
of money if we're talking 500 plus on sealed stuff
mm-hmm yeah yeah like there are not many cards
i've spent over i if any over 500 i have a couple
worth that much but it's only because i've been
smart about getting them or bought them a while
ago and now they've been graded high and whatnot
but yeah it's rare that i spend that kind of money
on a single card but i've definitely
spent that kind of money on sealed product
oh for sure for sure i think it's definitely a
little bit more justifiable and then of course
you know you got to pay a little bit more when
you're when you want to make sure that it's real
you know sometimes like the legit sellers you
know you got to spend a little bit more but
that yeah you know that's okay in my opinion
so then so then okay so you were collecting
as a kid and then you got back to it as an adult
how many years have you been collecting recently
it's probably just like three three and a
half so since i kind of started og retro and
that whole thing i've been collecting both
video games and pokemon cards pretty much
since then yeah okay okay yeah yeah that
that definitely makes sense i feel like
you know that kind of age range within like the
last several years and i mean gosh it was a great
time too honestly to get back into collecting
just because you know cards are so cheap now
yeah i think that and like it was around pokemon
go too pokemon go came out like four years ago
four and a half five years ago now and that was
huge that that game brought like back at least
some of the love i have for pokemon and then
let's go came out on the switch and that game
was a remake of yellow and like that definitely
you know so all those things contribute to just
the snowball effect of where we are
today with the massive collection that
you know i try to you know i really try to
keep it quality over quantity still like i i'm
i'm not so into like hoarding lots of stuff
rather than just like collecting really cool
good stuff yeah yeah for sure for sure do you
like when it comes to you know the market and
you know seeing what you see and what people
are doing like do you think that there's
you know any like bad things in the
market that we need to watch out for
that you see that's happening that's kind of
like you know you're gonna kind of stay away
from
i don't know i guess i think like we were saying
before like people just got to be educated i think
the only thing the bad thing is like people going
into it blind you know like i think i've seen a
bit of that like and i think that's with anything
like i think this can go for literally anything
you're about to and put money into right like
unless you're some crazy billionaire and you know
money just doesn't matter to you you know like the
you know millionaire millionaire whatever but like
if you actually care about money i
think it's important that you know
that this hobby isn't isn't cheap right like
oh definitely not pokemon's not a cheap hobby
gaming can be like you can do it on a budget
for sure and a lot of my collections been
built very much so on a budget like i've done
it in a very like thrifty way i'd call it um
like buying large collections reselling
doubles that kind of thing like um but
i lost my train of thought but yeah i don't know
so no no you're good so do you think that um like
box breaks because box breaks can be fun do you
think of those as like someone buying into a box
break as an investment no no no like the only way
i don't even think there's not many ways pokemon
it can be an investment like it's pretty rare i
think the in or they're not rare but they're just
like very few ways that it actually is i think
the sealed product thing they're very legitimate
like investments there even for even modern sealed
product almost it's like a like a penny stock
compared to like a blue chip stock there's like
a like a fossil box it's like that tried and true
value there that's has history of prices going up
where like these modern boxes have kind of crazy
highs and then low like the you know battle styles
was selling for 70 now selling for 35 at etb it's
just like up and down this kind of it's it's weird
it's like a volatile penny stock almost and uh
i think so we were talking about box breaks right
yeah and if they have if there's any investment
yeah so like investability no it's just it's just
uh i enjoy doing them so i i've definitely and
i have box breaks on my channel on twitch and but
it's always i personally always try to charge like
very fair prices like basically what retail
is like you know cost plus tax plus shipping
or whatever which well yeah it's basically
retail so it ends up really just being like
i do it for fun like i love opening pokemon cards
and i think there are like i'm not definitely not
saying i'm the only one who does this for like
with good intentions there are a lot of like
good uh good intentions because it is fun it is
a way to like open cards as a community almost
whereas like you could just open them by yourself
like i guess in your room it's kind of depressing
but unless it's it's exciting every now and then
i like doing it every now and then because it
reminds me of being a kid right but like i also
i like i'll buy into box breaks myself because
i think it's exciting and like it is like
opening up packs with the community everybody's
watching kind of thing and um so it's not an
investment it's maybe it's an investment in
your own entertainment like the investment
in your happiness but it's not a monetary
uh shouldn't be especially in
modern stuff like get out of here
yeah i know no i i definitely i i can definitely
agree with you there especially you know
considering some of the more expensive box breaks
you know where your chance of pulling you know the
gem mint special like chase card is so freaking
low that you know you would have to pull that in
order to make any kind of money back but yeah but
but i'm i'm definitely i'm definitely with you on
that i i feel like there are newer people out
there that kind of um you know so sometimes box
breaks can be over hyped yeah i mean honestly i
think it depends on the person who's doing them
but you know i like like to me i i think that
they're fun you know if you know exactly what
they are which is like you're doing it for fun
you know you're going in maybe like supporting you
know your box breaker like that that's fine right
i've been trying to get on a ferrara tron box
break for forever but his [ __ ] always you know
so like sells out so damn quick so i'm like damn
damn dude save me a spot i will i will buy it but
um but no no i can definitely i can definitely
agree with you like you do it for fun like
it's entertainment you know exactly what it is
it's not like a you know a chance to actually get
that chase card i mean you could you could yeah
you know i kind of feel like if there is a
specific card that you want you're probably
better off just buying it just buying it
and that's what i've realized yeah that's
what i've learned even just opening modern
it's like how many boxes do i actually like
if you don't hit it the first box you're better
off buying it pretty much yeah yeah no exactly
you've got one booster box to enjoy pulling and
then if you don't hit it there just buy it right
exactly i'm with you on that i was on um uh do you
know that channel going twice or the the instagram
account going twice okay well you know long
story short they were trying to like calculate
what it how many boxes it took to get i think
it was champion's path charizard okay i think
that's what it was the rainbow and they they
were you know we're watching other box breaks
and they're like okay it looks like it's gonna
take ten right and it absolutely was not ten for
them at least it was like easy 20. now these guys
you know you know they're they're a real business
like they know what they're doing so even if they
didn't hit like it was still a good experience but
like gosh you know i'm i agree with you when
you when you say that like chase cards should
be hard to pull but damn yeah but damn there
are so many freaking cards there are so they
they print so much and i think um now chilling
rings 200 cards something 198 cards in the set
oh for the entire set [ __ ] i don't even
i haven't even looked at the new set lists
i don't really i don't really buy much modern
so i don't really keep up with it too much
i need to get eevee heroes though i really like
evie i need to get you you've uh cracked open
some oh yeah yeah i've opened two booster boxes so
far i have a third and i think i'll probably grab
maybe one or two more because that's a set that
i was just talking about not opening cards but
like i i love opening that sets there's so many
cards that i would want that i don't mind like
just opening it and that's that's again just
like not financially yeah like no finance uh no
economics thought of when i'm
going into that just right
for fun you know i i know that you don't
really have magic the gathering anymore
gathering cards but have you been buying any
of the strix haven boxes i bought i have one
booster box and i have i think like two collectors
boxes or something like that wow okay just because
yeah i heard it was going to be really cool like
i kind of i kind of just the car that one yeah
well i i no so i played the i played the set
on mtg arena and it's cool it's super powerful
very very strong set and it was really cool
and i enjoyed playing the cards i was like
yeah like and it was a really hyped uh like the
art size was beautiful i opened one or two packs
um super beautiful cards so i just thought they
were cool so i figured yeah um grab a couple
because like the pokemon boxes behind i have like
a bunch of sealed modern pokemon boxes i just buy
to uh like you said just i think it's just
good to have like i'm it's not anything like
i'm looking at selling tomorrow or a year or two
years like it's 5 10 20 it kind of is what it is
it's just a cool party cool another part of the
collection that is good stored value and also
is appreciating a little bit i think yeah yeah i
mean i really don't think that you can go wrong
honestly with that um have you with the strict
haven one of the reasons why i wanted to get
them was because of those japanese altars i
have a few actual boxes they're not they're
not booster boxes because i wasn't able to like
actually get those i only had access to you know
the 40 ones at target or whatever um yeah yeah
it's been really tough for me to to find them but
um those japanese all cards look so cool like have
you pulled any yet yeah i the i think i pulled the
there's this two drop white card that i pulled i
forget it's not a good one it's like i pulled two
uncommons basically nothing crazy um but just
beautiful cards it's just the alternate art
so maybe it's not i don't know if i got i think
it was an alternate but anyways those japanese
alternates are insane they're crazy yeah seriously
they they they are so awesome i've watched a few i
don't know if you watch uh rudy from yeah
alpha investments i've been watching for
years and that's another like before i was even
collecting like so he again is like another one
of those things that probably got me into it was
watching his videos like oh i got i'm the same way
like he got me into collecting magic the gathering
like i don't really know how to play it i i
don't have like a childhood with magic but they're
still cards so i like them i like them and then
and then like also i like opening boxes so i
was opening like a whole bunch of um core 2019
like a few years ago which was it was really
fun it was really nice um but but yeah he he
was the first one for me put that seed in
my head where it's like these things can be
investible you know you can you can approach it
from that way and i was like what so no but he's
he's been really good to listen to i'm actually
a part of his patreon so i do get some stuff
yeah but but even his like [ __ ] his strict
haven when he had it for sale it went so fast
absolutely missed it yeah yeah yeah but um but he
he recently too started selling the chilling rain
um boxes which i haven't bought any yet
i think i saw them on your ig um yeah
how do you like the set so far have you opened any
of them yet yeah i opened two elite trainer boxes
and four just sleep booster packs
so not so total like total 20 packs
okay so not too many but enough to get a taste of
it and i like it like these are a lot of the same
cards that we saw in uh or these same cards we
saw in the japanese sets uh matches fighters and
black poltergeists and silverlands so there's it's
like three japanese sets combined into one english
set so like i said 200 cards in the set which
is kind of wild yeah but there's some really
beautiful like with that being said there's a lot
of really beautiful cards so it's it's that open
mm-hmm yeah um so so are there any special like
uh chase cards that you that you're going after or
i want that that moltres the the glare moltres
is unbelievable the ultimate art is so cool
so that one maybe the maybe the
rainbow celebi too that card's really
yeah yeah i can i can agree i haven't seen
any of the cards up close but just looking
at the pictures right now the art definitely
looks pretty awesome do you have do you have
any from the japanese version i i know i remember
seeing those yeah months ago let me pop up on yeah
yeah i have uh i think i have the celebi
from the japanese uh silver lance yeah
silver landsat or maybe it's black poltergeist
black poltergeist yeah um yeah and i love the
japanese cards but i like opening both do you
have a preference uh english versus japanese
no i i think it is like pretty 50 50 like i really
i really appreciate both i think do you have any
of uh like the vintage japanese cards like the top
sun um none of though none of the vintage vintage
ones like that like i have vintage japanese bass
and bits of japanese uh southern island stuff and
stuff like that but nothing that far back nothing
as far back as like the top sun oh my stuff yeah
that's the school though it is very cool yeah
yeah um i mean i agree with you it's definitely
it's definitely awesome stuff and it was some of
the first stuff too um i know i've been getting
into the vending series like all of them like all
like all of those series i don't know if you have
any of those but like going back to what we
were talking about you know buying pikachus
like i've been trying to buy pikachu's from those
sets because the artwork is cool but um you know
like like when it comes to the pikachu card it's
it's kind of nice to have those nice rarer ones
but um well you know anyways i i just notice it's
about well eight o'clock my time 805 yeah 905 your
time so yeah i want to be respectful of your time
because you know i don't want to keep you on super
long so if you want to you know let everyone know
where they can find you and i'll put links when
this is uh yeah posted yeah that'd be awesome that
well number one thank you so much for having me
now it's been it's been a really good conversation
a lot of good stuff talked about thank you yeah um
y'all can find me at og retro on everything so
it's a zero but zero g retro on uh instagram uh
twitch.tv slash og retro and my friend koozie and
i cozy retro games run the cards and cartridges
podcast that's on instagram everywhere podcasts
are youtube instagram google play uh all those
things apple podcasts that all the podcast things
so uh check us out there yeah yeah i'll put links
to all of that uh for sure so that everyone um
who has listened should definitely listen but um
yeah anyways well i i appreciate you coming on
shoot thank you um this has been really great so i
guess um you know i hope you have a great evening
and and when i have this uh posted i'll let you
know so yeah likewise thank you so much yes yeah
have a great rest of your night bye you too bye