Taking a step back from the Pokemon hobby.

Oh my god, look, it's me. I'm alive and not a carcass in the swamp lands of Ohio. Who'd have guessed after all this time of inactivity? This is probably a random post for me to come back to make. But, I decided to pop back on here to yap a bit about why I'm dipping out on collecting trading cards for the most part for the foreseeable future. I mean, mostly just as a way to vent about how turbo aids the entire scene of collecting Pokemon, One Piece or whatever your flavor is fucking sucks right now. I would assume anyone who pays attention to the news in some shape or form is aware of how crazy Pokemon is right now. Hell, even if you're not in touch with the news I'd guess you've heard at least one or two people mention it in someway.

There has been article after article written about the investing potential of Pokemon and how people are making so much more than they would on the stock market. We've had betting market pump and dumps centered around social media influencers in the scene trying to hoard every copy of a specific card. Content creators on Youtube, Instagram, Tik Tok and the like have been pumping out video after video showing off and talking about the absurd scalping craze happening. And, the most recent trend is covering the fist fights that seem to happen daily now at Pokemon restocks. It just truly never seems to end. The Pokemon card game has been on fire for quite awhile now, but I would say over the past year to year and a half it has been taken to an entirely new level, even compared to the Covid days. In my opinion, things have become an utter cesspool to be around and I've decided enough is enough for me, at least for now.

Trying to be a normal collector right now has become impossible. If you do not have entire days worth of free to waste, it is neigh impossible to acquire product from retailers during restocks. As the people you are competing with are the most unemployable losers you've ever seen. People camping outside of stores hours or even days before a product release is going to happen to try and make sure they can get their hands on it, even when they don't know what is being stocked or if it's actually going to happen. You might not think people have the time to do this, but some people have chosen to make this their entire life basically. I'll even throw you an example.

A few months ago through a friend I made waiting in a restock line, oh, probably a year ago almost, I became aware of another guy in the local area that we'll just call J. My friend saw J for the first time while checking the local Walmart for cards, as he was sitting in the isle waiting. He came back 8 or 9 hours later to check one more time and low and behold, J is still there. My buddy goes back the next day and the next day to check, and still no restock. But, you know what was there every single time? J was there. On the 3rd attempt he even saw J taking a snooze in a folding chair across the way from the cards. This is when he began talking to him and getting to know him. Turns out J is on disability for his back, and spends all of his free time stalking the local stores for pokemon and one piece TCG restocks to clear them out as much as he can.

And, I do mean that he spends all of his time doing this. Now, unlike your normal scalper J isn't doing this to flip the sealed products to make money. Honestly, if he was it would probably be better. J has an actual gambling problem and is chasing dopamine, so much so that my friend has seen him run out of money while trying to purchase packs with his card during a restock. J doesn't have a working vehicle and has to hitch rides with his friends or other scalpers he's befriended in the scene, because instead of putting money into fixing his vehicle he would rather chase shiny cardboard. I'm not trying to shit on the guy too much for what is quite clearly a gambling problem, but he is a small part of a huge problem. Every week there are dozens of new people trying to find pokemon to either resell or open, and this is on top of the hundreds or thousands of scalpers in your area across every inch of the USA. (Assuming you live in our current patriotic cesspool)

I have encountered person after person over the past year or so that will happily talk about their scalping being how they're trying to live and it gets tiresome to be around. One of these guys who was riddled to the bone with ADHD actively bragged to a shop owner he was selling product to that he has made it his job to flip retail products, and while he could go back to working a normal job he chooses not to, because he can just drive anywhere within 100 miles to clear out the shelves to make money. It's fucking pathetic hearing these dudes describe how they make their living and seeing it first hand. If you ever stand in a line trying to get product during a restock, you should try and talk to some of the guys in the line with you. Because chances are almost none of them know fuck all about Pokemon, One Piece, Magic The Gathering or whatever is hot that week. They're just there to try and make a quick buck off whatever delusional fucking people out there are happy to pay 3 times the MSRP.

You have to quite literally be unemployed to have a chance to enjoy this hobby these days, and still spend hours of your time waiting in a fucking line to do it. Or, the other side of it is you're super rich and loaded and can piss away your money without care. You can see this happening on Whatnot streams all the time. Well, and people burying themselves into crippling debt. It is beyond grating, at least to me. One of the bigger developments that's giving me the yuck feeling with trying to collect as well is the aggression and bitterness that has seeped into all these greedy fucks. It has become a daily occurrence for fist fights to break out at restock lines, which is pathetic. We've got dudes out here acting like we're in ration lines about to starve if we don't get the next slice of bread. All because they need to make sure that they can make an extra $30-40 that day flipping some cards. There's even been 2 or 3 shootings over this shit, just in the past few weeks. Hell, I haven't even gotten into all the armed robberies that have happened in the past year for Pokemon which I could make an entire post on its own going over. But, while I'm talking about this stuff, feel free to check out this account on X if you'd like to see what I'm ranting about

https://x.com/POKESTREETZ/status/2048392506379796826

There are so many aspects as to why this hobby has become a miserable place to be, it's unbelievable. I haven't even gone over nearly everything that makes this scene a toxic shit fire pit, honestly. So, over the past 2 or 3 months I've been slowly selling off my collection except for a few cards that I really like and funneling my money into other hobbies like comic books (I'll probably make a post showing off some of the cool shit I've picked up), video games and musical related stuff. It has gotten too taxing on my soul to waste hours of my time each week trying to get scraps of cardboard to open that will more than likely give me nothing to show for it since pull rates are not your friend. And, while I used to believe in buying singles, even that has gotten insane from speculator/investor bros pumping cards like they're fucking crypto coins. And, the idea that any day now one of these dickheads is going to start swinging on someone around me or maybe pull a gun over some shiny cardboard is too much for me. Fuck Pokemon cards and fuck the hobby, at least for awhile.

Maybe by the start of next year things will have cooled off, or the economy will have collapsed forcing everyone to dump their shit or starve. Who knows. But, I'm good for now. I am curious if I'm the only one on here who has been frustrated with this shit. Feel free to yap at me in the comments if by some chance you're also a goober who likes cardboard. I just needed to vent a bit, and what better place to shitpost like this than good ole Hive.

Any who, hope you've all been well! Until next time, doods!