Alright folks, gather ’round. Got another real-life adventure to share, this time about collecting the Pokémon Celebrations cards. Felt like chasing childhood memories, honestly. Started completely blind, no clue where to begin beyond wanting those shiny cardboard critters.
Where the Heck Do You Even Find These Cards?
First thing? Wandered into local shops. Physical cards, you know? Checked big box stores, wandered aisles like a lost Zubat. Found basic booster packs sometimes, hiding near the registers. Mostly modern stuff though, not the classic reprints I craved. Hit up hobby shops next. Owners were usually cool. Asked directly: “Got any Celebrations?” Got shrugs mostly. “Hard to keep stock,” they’d say. Supply chain blues hitting cardboard battles too, apparently.
Figured trading might work. Pulled out my battered childhood binder – showed some older cards to other collectors hanging around. Eyes lit up sometimes. Managed to swap an extra Wobbuffet for someone’s spare Surfing Pikachu VMAX from the Celebrations set. Felt good, like old times. But getting full sets like this? Nah, too slow.
The Online Treasure Hunt (and Minefields)
Then it hit me: Duh, internet exists. Didn’t just dive into random sites. Asked collector forums first. Simple stuff: “Where’s reliable to buy these without getting ripped off?” People pointed towards known seller platforms. Mostly word-of-mouth trust stuff.
Started browsing listings. Man, the prices! Some sellers wanted crazy money for singles. Especially that golden Mew card – ouch. Got lucky snagging a bundle listing someone was clearing out. Celebrations Pikachu V-Union pieces? Got those.
Here’s the real headache: Authenticity. Saw listings with photos looking… off. Colors washed out, card textures weird. Remembered forum warnings about fake holos. Started comparing seller photos hard against official images. Did reverse image searches too. Paranoid? Maybe. Didn’t want bootleg cards.
Bigger Problem Than Finding Them: Knowing What the Heck Exists!
Cards started trickling in. Felt awesome. Opened a booster pack – pulled the Charizard reprint! Pure luck, pure joy. But then… spread ’em all on the table. What a mess. Biggest hurdle became painfully clear: What cards are actually IN the whole Celebrations set? I had pieces, but no complete picture.
Searched online for “Pokemon Celebrations full card list.” Found lists, sure. But oh boy, they were either:
- Super messy spreadsheets with confusing codes
- Fancy database sites needing accounts or hidden behind walls
- Wiki entries with way too much info overload, including Japanese sets I didn’t need
Frustrating! Just needed a clear, simple checklist for the main English set, 50 cards or whatever. But no guide. Had to piece it together myself.
Building My Own Stupid Simple Tracker (Low Tech Wins!)
Got fed up. Went full low-tech solution.
Opened my Notes app. Seriously. Started typing out every single card name I knew belonged, based on what I had and cross-referencing a couple of the less chaotic online lists. Split them into sections:
- The Classic Reprints (Like Charizard, Blastoise, Birthday Pikachu)
- The Shiny New V Cards (Umbreon V, Rayquaza V, etc.)
- The Giant Multi-piece V-Union cards (Pikachu, Greninja, Zacian, etc. – listed each piece separately)
- The Big Specials (Like Gold Mew, Gold Star Umbreon)
Took forever manually typing it all out. But doing it card-by-card made me actually learn the set, honestly. Finally had MY list, custom-fit to my goals.
Now, the real collecting begins. Got the physical cards slowly building up. Got my own handwritten (well, typed) checklist to track them. Hunting down specific singles feels way more targeted now. Still missing that dang Mew though!
