Why Pokemon Cards stopped being Fun

collecting Pokémon cards isn't fun anymore which might come as a surprise after all they only just re exploded around the world thanks to a SLE of influencers opening vintage packs transporting us all back to the '90s reigniting the hunt for those rare holographic cards we just couldn't find when we were kids but that was 2020 and the influencers who brought all that attention have moved on to new schemes and scams and the record-breaking sales of Charizard and Blastoise are now a thing of the past so what exactly changed why is that flame from 2020 started to dwindle well at first glance it's easy to point to the hype of 2020 being a bubble and blame it on the influences who pumped Pokémon cards back up simply leaving and deflating all that hyp but this just isn't the case because Pokemon cards continue to thrive through 2021 and 2022 reaching worldwide sales peaks in almost every country and the game itself has never been more popular offering winners of tournaments over $50,000 yet despite that in 2023 when some of of the best sets of the Year releasing like Pokémon 151 a literal Nostalgia trip designed for fans from the 9s filled with Bas set Pokémon that momentum has started to waver and while I personally think collecting is still fun if you know how to adapt there's definitely an unspoken feeling that Pokémon cards these days just aren't the same whether you've recently returned to collecting or you've been here the whole time it's hard to pinpoint an exact reason or the moment when the fuel ran dry because there isn't one sole reason in fact I'd argue It's a combination of reasons creating a perfect storm that might have smothered the collecting fire for good some will say it's because the new Pokémon aren't as interesting despite this year being filled with new Scarlet and violet Pokémon together with reimaginings of nostalgic favorites the general Vibe is that the new Pokémon just don't hit the same there's a growing feeling that the cards inside are less about Pokémon and more about trainers and Gym Leaders a trend amongst Japanese collectors which has bled over into the west but it's a flawed Theory when you consider that the new sets are filled with tasteful art rares and stunning special illustration cards of the Pokémon themselves and finding those rare cards well depending on the set it's either way too easy overpopulating the amount of hard defined hits and diminishing the value of the toughest to find Pokémon or it's punishingly difficult leaving you questioning whether it was worth the money you'd spent at all now all three of those reasons are valid and while they carry minor flaws their feeling scattered across the cting landscape feelings culminating in the awkward Vibe surrounding Pokémon's newest set Pokémon 151 in reality these three reasons combined to create a fourth phenomena the underlying root of our problem and of Pokémon 151 the hardest set to find rares from in 2023 and while that's actually helped it strike a cord with collectors for others the longevity and interest of1 is starting to come into question at their core all those reasons sound sound like fun things except for the brutal hit rates unless you're into that of course reasons for waking up early rushing be the first at the store so you can buy some booster packs before the shelves are cleared only to find that these days nobody's buying anything at all the most hardcore of collectors will tell you it's because the hit rates are broken in a nutshell that's the rate at which you'll find a rare card when opening packs some say it's too high and finding rare cards is too easy While others will say it's too low turning people off and while there's some truth to that it's just one part of a more intricate problem to understand that problem we first need to understand what makes a Pokémon Card rare now your first thought is probably that it's hard to find and if you said this you'd only be partially right because sure finding a rare card is difficult and usually requires opening a lot of packs but in Pokémon it's just as tough to find a gold fishing rod as it is to find a gold Charizard which doesn't exactly sit right after all there's a pretty Stark difference between those two and their prices on eBay and that's because for the most part rare cards are printed equally there's just as many fishing rods as there are Charizards so the only thing differentiating how rare they are is how badly collectors want them that want can be for a variety of reasons collectors might want to add the card to their collection investors might want to find the card first and sell it to the collectors and players and long-term speculators will want to buy the packs and boxes keeping them sealed for years to come waiting for that next big Pokémon boom so they can profit big time just like in 2020 all of those wants Drive demand demand that sends each party into a frenzy search for the rarest cards until they finally find the pack hiding it within and when everybody's after the same thing inevitably the supply dries up amplifying that hype even further now the concept of supply and demand isn't anything new the more people want something and the less of it there is the more expensive it becomes and while it's semi-relevant to our problem here it just isn't the root cause because what if each party found what they were chasing easily what if there was enough Supply to every collector and investor and then some well much like a little kid that finally gets their toy eventually they get bored of it and that's because for most collectors it's not about the card or the booster boxes at all it's about the hunt if a particular set is too easy to find too easy to buy online they'll lose interest and the investors who take note of this are smart enough to see that nobody's interested right now and so they move onto other opportunities this doesn't mean that nobody's buying Pokémon cards from that set players and Casual fans will buy packs here or there but collectors make up a large portion of the market so when they aren't buying packs sit on shelves by this Logic the oldest sets of Pokémon cards should be the only booster packs collectors care about after all they're the hardest to find long since out of print and paraded by influencers as the Holy Grail of Pokémon cards and while it's true that vintage Pokémon cards are some of the most valuable out there for collectors it comes a point where some packs and cards are just too difficult and too expensive to find for the hunter feel engaging there has to be a belief that reaching the end goal is possible but for the typical collector it simply isn't realistic to buy vintage cards especially with most Bargains having already been bought up pre-2020 and finding vintage packs on the shelves of Target is the thing of the past vintage cards are an example of something being so desirable too desirable in fact to the point where the occupied interest essentially reaches zero if this sounds irrational that's because it is but over the last 3 years the most popular Pokémon card sets have each struck the perfect balance between easy to find and just Out Of Reach sets like evolving Skies with its plethora of evolution cards and Cosmic Eclipse carried by new character rare cards without diving too deep into these sets just yet they both entertain the thought that your store might have some in stock or you'll catch a a deal on the Pokémon Center if your fast enough and that then you'll be in possession of Pokémon cards that somebody else wants further fueling the hunt for another collector but what good is a set of Pokémon cards if nobody wants the cards inside up until now the Chase and the hunt has essentially been for a blank box that has a finite Supply and while it's true that scarcity and hype are a driving factor in collector's demand the artwork and Pokémon inside are equally as important which brings us to reason number two the cards and artwork just aren't the same and this is a major problem for Pokémon cards released so far in 2023 not because the artwork is boring no that couldn't be further from the truth after all scarlet and violet block introduced iconic s Pokémon spatio quackley pcoo who each evolve into incredible special illustration cards plus we saw a return to traditional simplified Pokémon designs that remind you of what Pokémon is all about about that's on top of reimagined classic favorites from Generations past be it one of the many new Paradox Pokémon or design as simple as wiggler despite this year being one of the best for Pokémon card artwork the scarlet and violet cards are boring is the reasoning that many collectors will use to justify skipping and criticizing sets like palde evolved and obsidian flames and instead shift their attention to the proven and safe formula of the original 151 even though we've seen the Gen one designs plenty across the last 25 years collectors keep turning their back on the fresh and the new which doesn't make a whole lot of sense cuz when we look back at older sets from 2020 which were consistently wiped off the shelves they're objectively more boring than anything we've seen this year just take a look at sword and shield the most interesting card you'll find in this box is the hyper rare Snorlax Vmax no contest when you compare it to the maridon or the cidon ex special illustration rare or the set that followed it Rebel class the hyper rares are all fairly mid so it's a gold Frost moth going up against the vibe of skadge EX from palde evolved pretty clear winner if you ask me not to mention darkness of Blaze where the best you could hope for is a big umbrella and sure the argument could be made that earlier sword and shield sets plays a bigger emphasis on gen 1 to three Pokémon boosting their appeal but then again so of sets from 2023 and they do it better too with cards like gav War EX Charizard ex and Pidgeot ex so that rationally can't be the reason either these older sets also place just as much attention on trainers and Gym Leaders as the scarlet and violet sets have which brings us to reason three full art trainers have ruined Pokémon a claim we can easily debunk after all it was Full Art trainer cards like man from sword and shield and boss's orders from Rebel Clash that basically carried these sets they were the only cards that both collectors and players wanted to find inside granted a it does feel like there's an abundance of these cards as newer sets feature two variants of Full Art trainers and the wfu problem is a real dilemma complex enough that it probably deserves its own video but new cars like iono and Penny aren't able to carry the new sets on their back the way that mani and boss's orders did instead they're blamed for the shift in waifu culture which is kind of strange when releases like Pokémon 151 get a free pass after all Erica's invitation is one of the most sought-after cards of 2023 and it's not even good in the game to be honest the variety that cards like iono and Penny bring to the table should boost interest in these sets the expression of creativity which each artist pours into these illustrations helps bolster the array of cards you can find ensuring that every set remains interesting which is exactly what made the 2021 and 2022 era of Pokémon cards one of the most popular since 1999 with the return of special Arc cards in battle Styles and chilling rain beautiful illustrations of Tyranitar imp poon Moltres Articuno and Zapdos the U and Blazin just the name a few finally there was enough variety to maintain the thrill of opening up your packs instead of keeping them sealed not only were these new cards breathtaking but they were also tough to find too driving collectors worldwide into a frenzy all over again and it wasn't as if alternate Arts came back for just one or two sets no these cards kept coming out in every set thereafter in November 2021 Fusion strike brought us the celab V the Gengar Vmax and the me Vmax alterate Arts each illustrated by unique artists followed up in February 2022 with brilliant Stars alongside the Charizard V and arus V alternate arts and continuing into September 2022 with lost origin introducing the historical gutina V alternate art rodm V and the illusive Aerodactyl V speaking of elusive they only got harder to find so hard that at one point Point many speculated that the rarest cards had been stolen from the factory line never even making it inside the booster packs to begin with a claim that was quickly put to rest by the Pokémon company themselves so it's no coincidence that with the surge in interest and popularity the frequency at which you could find rare cards ramped into overdrive because scarlet and violet introduced a new type of card to find into standard sets the illustration rare while maintaining the secret rare special illustration rare and hyper rare cards you could find inside this variety and these hit rates were simply unprecedented for collectors and the disappointment of leaving empty-handed seemed to be a thing of the past so naturally by producing even more rare cards as well as boosting the chances of finding them collectors would be incentivized even further to keep opening packs after all the more rare cards you have the better your collection right well the reality couldn't be further from the truth instead of being drawn in collectors have pushed back claiming that it's to too easy to find rare cards now diminishing the value of Chase cards across the board and prompting collectors to shun the scarlet and violet block the hunt has well and truly become too easy leaving little desired open packs for cards that are essentially deemed worthless this phenomena is proof that when it comes to Pokémon cards too much of a good thing can drastically halt momentum no matter how good the Pokémon inside are or the artwork bringing them to life in fact this phenomena is the reason why older sets continue to steal the focus of Pokémon card collectors despite lacking in Pokémon inside despite having legitimate fewer rare cards and despite outright having significantly lower chances of finding a rare card older Pokémon card sets give collectors The Thrill of the hunt even if they're objectively worse a perfect example is evolving Skies a set that for the most part is a nostalgic collector's dream released in August 2021 the entire evolution line is the target here each featuring their own V special Art card with Leafeon glacon Sylveon and Umbreon getting the Vmax treatment there's also Rayquaza which has both a v special art and a Vmax not to mention Dragonite V too now sure there's a decent variety of Pokémon but they're mostly recycled Classics not to mention they're lumped together with boring Pokémon few have interest in with over 72 different rares to find bloated by gold cards like Boo shake and toy catcher you're extremely unlikely to find the special art Evolution you're chasing after evolving Skies is one of the most brutal modern sets often nicknamed evolving cries but 2 years on collectors still do whatever they can to find packs of it even though it's well and truly out of print occasionally stores restock it and seasonal themed boxes run the chance of having one or two packs of it inside the chance of stumbling upon evolving skies in a store is a very real thing and if a Col leor had to pick they're almost always going to take evolving Skies over scarlet and violet despite the fact Scarlet Violet objectively offers a better time and how about the set that introduced the concept of art rares as we know them today Cosmic Eclipse being the last of the Sun and Moon year of Pokémon cards its lackluster released in November 2019 so it sit on the shells for years and it's Japanese counterpart Dream League followed the same Trend indicating that it too was plagued by offering too much the fresh and Innovative character rares the hyper rare GX Pokémon spanning Blaster and pipop through the Venusaur and Snivy or the incredible special arts of solo and lunala and arus Diga and pcho Cosmic Eclipse really had it all but at the time it was a bit of a sleeper flying under the radar till it became a little bit tougher to find and then collectors started to appreciate how refreshing the character rares really were even if they were a little common Pikachu part it up with Red Dawn side by side her pipop or acerola and her beloved mimikyu you know originally I wanted to say it's hard to see how these didn't resonate with collectors immediately but when you look at it through the lens of the hunt it's actually quite obvious why it was overlooked until now because just like evolving Skies Cosmic eclipse is a set that collectors Chase hard in 2023 being such an old set makes it even tougher to find but that doesn't stop the most devoted from hunting it down the hunt the th of the chase the satisfaction of finding something somebody else can't sets like these maintain a perfect harmony of just interesting enough just pretty enough and just barely still obtainable the hunt defies logic it's the extra intangible factor that drives collectors to function as a hive mine base set and cards from the 2000s are too far out of reach but the mid 201010 present opportunity so even fundamentally boring sets with only one or two real Chase cards will generate more interest than what's readily available even if opening them presents a little chance of finding what you're chasing the hunt means that it's not about the card at all even if the card you find is beautiful even if it's an equally difficult card to find even if it's of your favorite Pokémon trainer none of those things matter during the hunt because it's the chase that's providing the dopamine hit and Scarlet and violet just can't provide the hunt even if fundamentally it ticks every box that makes a Pokémon Card Set good which brings us back to Pokémon 151 the culmination of the last 3 years of Pokémon cards a return to Cano with new illustrations for all generation one Pokémon packed to the brim with art rares of fan favorites like Charmander Pikachu and Bulbasaur tasteful Renditions of Psyduck polywell and Snorlax not to mention the special illustration rars of Charizard Mew and Alakazam everything that makes a Pokémon Card Set exciting is here and this time they've played the nost ster card leaving no room for failure and by all accounts the hunt should well and truly be back since it's released 2 months ago collectors have universally felt the wrath of brutal pull rates with those ultra rare cards proving to be some of the hardest of Vine since evolving Skies stock is barely lasting on the shelves of retailers and with reports of smaller print runs the fomo train is getting ready to leave the station but this time something feels off there's an awkward Vibe of excitement paired with this interest Intrigue clouded by caution there's an air of regret from those who opened it and fear amongst collectors who are opting to keep it sealed it's almost as if the fatigue from scarlet and violet Pala evolved and obsidian Flames has poisoned the world with so many collectors burned by those sets having already left the demand for the rare cards themselves has dropped off so even if you find a rare card from Pokémon 151 you're unlikely to make back the money that you spent on it instead walking away with a loss and that same fatigue that blight has spread across almost every other Pokémon card set too cards with historically High sales have started to plummet in value whether it's the Umbreon Vmax from evolving Skies the me Vmax from Fusion strike or the Charizard V from brilliant Stars no set is safe not even Cosmic Eclipse with cards like the arus Diga and Pia alternate art beginning their price descent with everything to lose and nothing to gain value driven collectors have lost their prey the hunt seems over for good and their source of fun together with it which is why so often this year we've heard that collecting Pokémon cards in 2023 just isn't fun anymore the amount of collectors who entered the space during the 2020 hype chasing only the highs formed a large majority of the overall collector landscape and it's pretty clear now that Pokémon started targeting them with more Ultra rares than ever before higher chances of finding them and plenty of stock to go around but with this strategy failing to capture their long-term interest now only the core fans remain those who collect for passion who don't care about the daily value movements collectors who just lack the feeling of finding a cool looking card or who relish the thrill of searching for obscure unknown cards their own version of The Hunt collectors who adapted chasing cards with Rich history from their favorite artists collectors who blocked out the noise sad with such a split in ideologies it's difficult to see which type of collector Pokémon is targeting moving forward the sustained interest and success of Pokémon 151 is hanging by a thread and there's a genuine feeling that the Goodwill and hype amongst core fans is well and truly gone so if Pokémon 151 the Pokémon card set of 2023 a set with Nostalgia stunning artwork the right mix of hit rates a set that on paper should reignite the hunt still isn't enough to bring back all that hype of 2020 then maybe the fun of collecting Pokémon cards really is gone for good

Channel: okJLUV

Views: 61,788

Keywords: pokemon cards, japanese pokemon cards, pokemon center, japanese booster box, invest in japanese pokemon cards, pokemon pack opening, vstar universe pokemon, scarlet and violet pokemon cards, okjluv pokemon, rare japanese cards, pokemon 151 booster box, pokemon 151 god pack, pokemon 151 hit rates, pokemon 151 pull rates, base set pokemon cards, base set charizard, first edition charizard, how much are my pokemon cards worth, rarest pokemon card, pokemon card value

Id: V0UE8hJ4jBg

Length: 21min 11sec (1271 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 12 2023