May 21, 2025; Pokemon Call
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvyXT2LKTCU
Summary
The ~1 hour 53 minute Discord session is a compressed master-class on modern Pokémon TCG investing aimed at resellers who already flip sneakers, Amazon inventory, or collectibles.
1. Product hierarchy & basics
Two set types: mainline (includes booster boxes) and specialty (no boosters; top SKU is the ETB).
Within any set, sealed booster boxes (or Pokémon-Center ETBs for specialty sets) are the “crown jewels,” followed by booster bundles, then miscellaneous tins/binders.
Pokémon-Center exclusive ETBs carry extra packs, a stamped sleeve, often a unique promo—and come in far lower print runs than retail ETBs.
2. Economics of print & distribution
The Pokémon Company needs 8-10 months to run a print cycle; therefore hot sets rarely get reprinted before secondary prices spike.
Print windows average 12-24 months; once a set is OOP, sealed supply only shrinks.
Distributors ration allocation strictly by annual spend. In bull markets they shut out new accounts; expect 10-50 % of what you request.
Canadian wholesalers: Echo, Grosnor, Prince, Universal; MJ-Holdings mainly feeds Walmart and now scalps online.
3. Market cycles & current bull run
Present bull market kicked off Nov 2024 with Surging Sparks and shows no sign of “easy money” stopping until the 30-year anniversary (2026).
Supply crunch is the root cause—Pokémon under-printed while retailers and scalpers (plus Yakuza in Japan) stripped shelves.
Host predicts a cool-off after the Black-and-White anniversary sets once printing catches up and speculators leave.
4. Strategy: buy what others ignore
Case studies:
Obsidian Flames boxes $90 → $300
SV Base $80 → $280
Crown Zenith ETBs $31 → $200
Upcoming bets:
Prismatic Evolutions PC ETB—still undervalued (~$300 CAD) thanks to high-value Umbreon ALT and low print.
Destined Rivals boosters already $370; tread carefully at inflated retail.
Black-Bolt White-Flare specialty ETB ($170-200 pre-launch) expected to fly due to hundreds of Master-Ball/Poké-Ball foils.
5. Tactics & tools
Ungating on Amazon: buy 10 Pokémon Funko Pops from E-Distribution, submit invoice, done.
Facebook & raffles: faster flips but watch reseals; always use PayPal G&S.
Costco insider in server will leak restock SKUs (Blooming Waters, window tins).
Group-buy proposal: pool server funds, maintain distributor spend through board-games/TCG slack, reap huge allocations in the next bear-to-bull swing.
6. Q&A nuggets
Japanese sealed does fine but English outperforms; avoid loose JP packs due to “weighing.”
Vintage holds value but lags modern ROI; peaks follow hype cycles (25th → 151 → 30th).
Buying sealed cases boosts premiums and avoids customs “opened and retaped” issues.
Bulk buyers funnel product to UK/AU or rip-and-ship on Whatnot.
Take-away: Pokémon sealed product behaves like slow-burn tech stocks—consistent 10-20 % annual returns—punctuated by explosive bull spikes. In today’s froth, flip hot exclusives fast and stash unloved sets below MSRP. Keep allocations alive, watch print cycles, and don’t over-leverage: the bear market will separate real investors from hype chasers.
Video Transcript
(00:00) But as with most of the sessions that we have, I like to keep it kind of casual. So if you have any comments, questions, concerns about anything as we go through it, always feel free to stop, ask, and have conversations about these things. But like my main purpose for having this call is to one discuss like all the hype around Pokemon because obviously it's been very hype for a very very long time and there's lots of potential money to be made but then also discuss on where I believe the market is going to be going
(00:31) in the very near future. And then also discuss um how and why you can actually get into investing into Pokemon whether that's in the current bull market that we're in or even into the bare market. So before we get started, did anybody have any questions, comments, concerns, anything that they want to cover in today's session at all? Okay, cool, cool, cool.
(01:07) So to begin with, um you may ask like why would you care about what I have to say? Um and you may you may or may not. Uh, I just I when I get in involved in some things, I go relatively deep. For full disclosure, um, I had been into Pokemon when I was a kid, basically when it first released in Canada. Uh, and then I got out of the hobby since I was like, I don't know, probably like seven, eight years old.
(01:32) And I've only been reintroduced into it recently when all the hype has happened. Okay. So, I'm not a large investor as of right now. I don't have a large position, but I have looked into things very very deeply and I understand it enough and I have started to put some of my portfolio into Pokemon because of the information that I've been able to obtain and how confident I feel in the franchise.
(02:00) So, I don't have a super large position in Pokemon. It's about low to mid five figures. Um, but I can definitely see that growing over the next couple years, even probably more so when we come out of the bull market. Uh, but as with anything, so I do my research based on the criteria that I personally am interested in and want to know about, but as with anything, you should always do your own research before you're putting your money into anything.
(02:28) The purpose of this today is just to broaden your horizons, give you some information that you may not be currently aware about. So, the first thing I wanted to get started with is just kind of a brief introduction on the different types of Pokemon products for those that are not familiar. Uh, this session is going to be primarily geared towards sealed products.
(02:49) We're not going to be really discussing a whole lot um when it comes to singles or graded cards. That's kind of a whole other world. And a lot of this discussion today is going to be focused on more modern-day sets. Uh vintage sets are a whole other thing as well. Uh but what we're looking for in this conversation is kind of more more I don't want to say guarantee because it's never guaranteed, but more likelihood of your money growing over time.
(03:21) With vintage products, that is still always a possibility. Uh but vintage products have to be very selective and they don't always tend to grow as quickly because a lot of their markets are already established. Okay. So the first thing I want to discuss is that for Pokemon products, there's two different types of sets. There are what we call mainline sets and then there's also called specialty sets.
(03:44) So your mainline sets are sets that have booster boxes included in their sets. So a booster box looks like this guy here. So, it's a box of 36 packs of cards for the English uh Pokemon franchise. And when we have specialty sets, those specialty sets do not have booster boxes in those product lines.
(04:05) And so, a specialty set, typically the highest tier of product that you would see is a ETB or elite trainer box. So, an example of that would be something like Crown Zenith. Okay. Um, so the reason why I make that distinction is because almost always when it comes to sealed collecting, there's a ton of different products that we can get into.
(04:28) Uh, but kind of the crown jewel of the quote unquote investing side is the top tier product for that line. So, if a line has a booster box available, that's typically what most people are wanting to invest in and that typically sees the best returns overall. And if we have a specialty set, typically most people are investing in the ETBs that are available because that's typically the top the top-of-the-line product that we can invest in.
(04:57) There's always um there's always exceptions to all that, but that is a kind of general rule of thumb. Um for ETBs, we have two different types of ETBs or elite trainer boxes. So we have standard elite trainer boxes. So, these are just what all your regular retailers, your local card shops, etc. get. And then we also have exclusive ETBs.
(05:20) Exclusive ETBs, I don't know if I have a picture of one up here, but those are the ones that uh Pokemon Center releases directly themselves. The main difference with the exclusives for Pokemon Center is number one, it has a little Pokemon Center stamp on the front of the box. Two, they typically have more packs than a regular ETB.
(05:37) With a regular ETB, we're typically looking at about like eight packs or so. And then with the Pokemon Center exclusives, we're typically looking upwards of like 10 11 packs. And quite often they also have an exclusive promo card included in those boxes as well, which helps drive the value up.
(05:54) The Pokemon Center ones are also more limited because they are exclusives. They're only released through Pokemon Center. So those also tend to have a much higher secondary market than regular ETBs as well. And whenever we're buying from Pokemon Center, uh, their ETBs are always going to be the exclusives. As far as I know, they never actually sell directly the regular ETBs.
(06:15) It is possible that they have in the past, but in recent history, I don't believe they do anymore. And then I also wanted to mention um, just as some housekeeping that some sealed box uh, sealed boxes almost always have a premium versus individual packs. So if you have like say a full booster box that typically sells for a much higher premium than individual packs and that is one for the collectibility but two a lot of people see individual packs as a higher risk of tampering resealing people weighing packs etc which weighing packs is not
(06:48) possible in every set. It is possible in some a lot of modern day sets they've made it more and more difficult but the process of weighing a pack is if somebody finds a pack that is heavier than average uh historically that has always typically meant that that pack is more likely to have a hit in it right some people nowadays are also doing like CT scans on packs to see if they have actual hits in the pack itself um that's a little bit more extreme but that's why A lot of sealed product typically has a much higher resale
(07:23) price. And then also sealed cases of products. So actual sealed cases with the tamperproof uh seal on them. They also have a bit of a higher premium attached to them than individual sealed boxes as well. So often you'll see places like on eBay or sometimes even stores selling full cases of uh booster boxes or ETBs.
(07:44) And typically on the secondary market, those have a bit of a higher premium attached to them. uh because again it's even a less likelihood that things have been tampered with. Um and they are a little bit harder to obtain. And for some full sealed cases uh quite often we can see like a 10 like anywhere from a five to like a 15% premium attached to them depending on the set that we're looking at.
(08:11) I also wanted to briefly discuss uh Pokemon's print print times for their cards because this isn't something that everybody's aware of. Uh, but generally speaking, it's discussed and acknowledged that Pokemon Center typically takes about 8 to 10 months to print any given set. And they, as you can see, as of recently, they always have new sets that they are actively working on getting released, right? We've had a lot of recent releases.
(08:35) Like, it just seems like we just got past Journey together, and now we we've seen uh we're seeing Destin Rivals right away. We're seeing more ancillary products for Prismatic. we have black and white that's already getting released. So it seems like sets like Journey Together, they just come and go and they're not even talked about anymore, right? And so Pokemon, although it's not fully known, it's acknowledged by most people that it typically takes about 8 to 10 months for a print cycle. So that's also one of the
(09:05) reasons why we see when restocks happen or when releases happen like say Prismatic for example, we don't see quote unquote reprints happen for quite some time. So when Prismatic first released and it sold out immediately, uh, a lot of collectors were super pissed because it was very hard to obtain and the secondary market had a super high price point because of that.
(09:26) A lot of people were saying, "Oh, don't worry. They're going to be printing more. It's going to be fine. Just wait." I kind of laughed because I knew that it would take, you know, 8 to 10ish months for Pokemon to even potentially catch up. Uh, but with everything that they have going on right now and coming into their 30th anniversary next year, it's also just less likely that they're going to be able to put out the numbers that are wanting to meet the increased demand for any individual set right now to make
(09:53) any significant impact. Um, so does anybody have any questions, comments, concerns about anything that we've discussed so far? If you do, certainly feel free to butt in. Cool. So, now I just wanted to do a brief history on Pokemon investing. So, Pokemon does have a 30-year track record, and now, especially as of late, especially over like the last 5 to 10 years, it's now basically considered as its own asset class.
(10:31) It has been for a very long time, but it's becoming more and more known. So, some collectibles that are like more widely talked about in the investing world are things like Lego. People have been investing in Lego for an extremely long time. Uh now the attention is being put onto Pokemon, especially like with this recent bull run, people are starting to see the kind of potential that Pokemon has long term and what kind of track record they they've had.
(10:58) They've been a very successful company. They're one of the biggest media franchises in the world. Uh it's estimated that some people say that it's worth like a couple like a hundred plus billion dollars for their company. And it seems like ever since they've been around, they've had really good logistics and management behind their their TCG, which not all companies do.
(11:22) Some companies just completely fail their TCG like a Yu-Gi-Oh and just make it kind of go to whereas Pokemon has never had that, and they've always managed it very, very well, generally speaking. Um, and then also most Pokemon sets, they tend to stay in print anywhere from about 12 to 24 months. That certainly can change.
(11:44) Uh, and the average is typically about 18 months, although it can certainly vary. And sometimes even after a print run is quote unquote finished, we can still see some small reprints or restocks come to the market. But as a general rule of thumb, that is typically what we see with most sets that exist. And because of that, um, it's a product that has a limited lifespan and it has a lot of consistent demand behind it.
(12:11) And that's one of the main reasons why Pokemon can be investable long term because the demand typically stays relatively the same after the initial hype and release in a regular market where the actual supply just depletes over time. And then I also wanted to mention I seen a story here recently that even crime families like the Japanese Yakuza, which is the Japanese mafia, are now involved in Pokemon uh typically to launder money.
(12:43) There's a news article here that somebody that was associated with the with the Yakuza um shared information about the how they're actively utilizing Pokemon to launder money. And usually you don't see that from crime families and places like the mafia unless they they themselves are confident in their value and their potential.
(13:08) Right? The main reason why they do that is because Pokemon is easy to buy. Some cards can be very very expensive. They can be easily transported and they're also recognized worldwide. So, Pokemon cards will typically have the same value in Canada or the United States, and they'll have the exact same value if you go over to like somewhere like Japan.
(13:28) Of course, there's differences between English and Japanese, but there are it's a widely recognized franchise, and it has demand all over the world. I've also heard as of recently that there were a lot of back doors that happened with a lot of 151 Japanese reprints and the Yakuza ended up controlling the market on a lot of those products.
(13:49) and a lot of people that were expecting to get products at a certain price point um were not able to because the Yakuza actually took over the market and backed a lot of stuff. So, it's very very interesting. Uh I mentioned here that every Pokemon set has a lifespan and once out of print, no more are made, but sets are consistently opened, meaning less and less product for seal product is available on the open market, which typically tends to drive price up over time.
(14:16) So this m and I mentioned this this makes Pokemon similar to Lego in that it it's almost always guaranteed I don't like to say the guaranteed word when it comes to investment but it's almost always guaranteed based on their history that any sealed products you will buy will always eventually increase in price.
(14:33) It Pokemon has a track record of something like 95 to 98% of all prior releases if they've maintained uh being sealed have increased in value over time. We can't ever predict on how fast they will increase or when, not always, but they always will eventually. And a lot of sets keep pace with the S&P 500 and many of them outperform the S&P 500.
(15:01) Typically speaking, uh, Pokemon investing is a little bit slower than, you know, what we see with Pokemon today where you can basically buy a set and one and a half to 2x your money almost immediately. that is not the norm. Um, so what I'm kind of discussing when it comes to Pokemon investing is more so longer term, but it's not uncommon for Pokemon investing to see an average return of anywhere from like 10 to 20% per year, which is quite good for a asset class outside of the stock market.
(15:32) Uh, I mention here that as with every investment, some products and investments perform better than others. Although it's easier in Pokemon to spot patterns based on prior history and public discourse, no investment is ever 100% guaranteed, and we cannot predict with absolute certainty on how much a set will increase or when it will. But for a lot of sets, we can make some very educated guesses and assumptions.
(15:58) Um, prior to the recent bull markets, products could easily be caught from uh other retailers for less than MSRP, which made about $160 to $180 booster boxes in Canada commonplace. Whereas like the MSRP for quite a while has been around 210. Uh, it wasn't that uncommon a couple years ago to be able to get booster boxes for much less than that from places even like Walmart because the they had a lot more supply than demand available at that time.
(16:26) So, when the bull market didn't exist, Pokemon generally speaking, wasn't a super easy quick flip, but it was, if you were willing to be patient and invest in things a little bit longer term, we could get a lot better pricing on a lot of sets and have a expectation that those that's going to increase over the the next coming years.
(16:48) And then I mentioned here that singles and greater card investing is a whole other ballgame, which is not really going to be something that we cover in the session. Uh Tom mentioned at the top of the conversation that he invests in some greater cards. So if he wants to share his experiences uh later on, he certainly can.
(17:02) Or if anybody else has as well. Any questions, comments, concerns about anything that we've discussed so far? Uh something I can hear is that like when it comes to the sets, the most important part is really finding out what the chase card is. And a lot of times like certain sets gets more value because uh for example like the P uh Pokemon Center ETBs the uh promo cards uh if they go really high in value for graded card or even just raw singles it really also pushes the set up in prices as well.
(17:44) So like yeah just watching out for the chase cards is a big thing. And also the other thing too is uh looking at how some of the cars are used for TCG because of the tournaments. Um certain cards when they're more in play or more playable, those also drive up the prices as well. Definitely. And I appreciate you sharing that. Thanks, Tom. Cool.
(18:12) So then I wanted to discuss a couple additional things before we start discussing the current bull market that we're in today. I wanted to discuss how Pokemon distribution generally works because some of you may have had the thought process when you see this bull market. It's like oh I run other businesses like say like an Amazon business.
(18:30) I have the capacity and I know how to open up accounts with distributors. Maybe I'll find a distributor for Pokemon. And so I wanted to touch on some things on how Pokemon distribution generally works. So, Pokemon distribution, it is certainly more easily accessible in bare markets. Uh, right now, which is something that we've kind of, it's been unprecedented, but almost every place that you look that has some type of physical or online presence has been trying to get Pokemon cards.
(18:59) I've even seen cases of like random hardware stores and like tile stores attempting to get Pokemon cards just because the hype is so real. Um, oftent times we cannot even open accounts if we're looking specifically for Pokemon in the middle of bull markets or or often we will get act like next to no allocation.
(19:20) Uh, allocation is typically a percent of what you request for mainline sets in a bull market. So, as an example, if you request a thousand booster boxes from your distributor, you may typically get 10 to 50% of what you request based on current supply and demand and your personal history with that distributor. And we're going to touch on that in a moment here.
(19:44) Uh, preferred customers are always given priority and have more allocation. So the more you spend throughout the year, the more less hyped ancillary products that you buy from them, you'll typically earn more allocation on mainline products. And that has always historically been how Pokemon distribution has always worked. There are certainly except going to be exceptions to that rule with certain distributors, but as a general rule, that's typically how it works.
(20:09) And it makes sense because distributors when they have more than enough demand for the product, they don't care about opening up more accounts and they want to make sure that they can keep their current customer base happy. And as we know, if you come from the Amazon world, if you come from wholesale, money certainly talks.
(20:27) So they want to keep their customers that uh have spent a lot with them over the course of many years and over the course of the bare markets. They want to keep them happy and they want to try to provide as much allocation to them as possible. I talked to somebody just recently in our server who has had a Pokemon distributor for a very very long time for a brickandmortar store and they're trying to order products for, you know, the recent hype that we've seen and they order things for like black and white and they place an order for like 30 grand for black and
(20:56) white and they're told they literally get zero boxes and that's not uncommon because that I know that particular store they may sell Pokemon on a regular basis but it's not in any any large quantity. So, black and white is also it's more dispersed across a lot more people and we're going to discuss that as well a little bit later on.
(21:20) So, it's even more hard to get right now than regular sets. So, you know, a regular convenience store that typically spends, you know, a couple hundred bucks or thousand bucks a month on Pokemon, they're going to be lucky to get one, two, three boxes at the most. They're going to be very, very lucky. And obviously if you're trying to integrate Pokemon as part of your business or even start like a Pokemon business yourself, that's not really sustainable.
(21:46) So typically speaking, if you ever want to look into actually being able to obtain Pokemon products at scale, number one is you typically need to have access to a few different distributors. Usually it's not efficient [Music] or you typically can't get all the allocation that you want with only one distributor unless you have a relatively limited cash flow.
(22:11) And you have to be prepared to be purchasing from that distributor throughout the entirety of the year and even through bare markets. And typically speaking in the Pokemon world, if you're willing to scratch your distributor's back, they are more willing to scratch your back. as in if they have a ton of products that nobody wants at a certain time period and you're somebody that's willing to take those products, they're much more willing to give you more allocation when it really matters.
(22:45) And so I also wanted to mention that uh I do have a list of some main Canadian Pokemon distributors here. So some of the main ones that we see are Echo Brands, Groer, uh MJ Holdings. There's a caveat to that one. We'll discuss that in a second. Uh, Prince Distribution and Universal. So, there are other smaller ones that exist throughout Canada.
(23:05) Uh, but those are the main ones that that provide most of the Canadian market. Uh, with the exception of MJ Holdings. MJ Holdings is a company that primarily supplies large retailers like Walmart. As far as I'm aware, most regular public um, sellers, like the public, can't typically get access to them.
(23:25) And there was also a large controversy as of late with MJ Holdings uh because like they're known to supply Walmart throughout all of North America. They were also discovered to be selling uh as a regular seller account on Walmart.com under a different name and selling products at market price. Right? So, a lot of people were upset about that because they're essentially holding stock back from the regular market and selling it for market price when they should technically be allocating that to their customers.
(23:55) And when it comes to the current prices that we see, we're also going to discuss that a little bit on if that's making a difference in today's market. Anybody have any questions, comments, concerns about any of that at all? for those unfamiliar with some of those distributors that you see in that list, like I have active accounts with.
(24:17) Um, some of them are actually relatively easy to open up accounts with. Um, however, with the caveat being that you may not get access to them today. You might be able to open up account with some of these guys, like say Groener, for example, uh, but chances are it's either they're not going to accept any applications or they're going to tell you that they're not going to distribute any Pokemon Brocks to you.
(24:40) You can buy other things, uh, but not specifically Pokemon. And you probably won't get access to it until the current bull market is over. Cool. So now I want to discuss what determines if a set is investable, quote unquote, investable or not. And so some of these things were what Tom had mentioned earlier as well.
(25:06) So, it largely comes down to the public perception as more desirable sets slash more desirable cards will increase singles prices on the secondary market which will then in turn pump up sealed products value. Right? Uh certain sets that have a lot of nostalgia attached to them such as 151 or black and white are almost guaranteed home runs.
(25:28) And again, I don't like to say the guaranteed word when it comes to investing, but it's very likely that a lot of those sets are going to be guaranteed home runs. And also, sets that are focused around crowd favorites, such as like EV with prismatic evolutions, also have a much higher chance at success and especially in the very very short term.
(25:48) Other sets are going to be based on pure public perception and how much they like the cards included. So, the perception of certain cards, certain chase cards especially, uh are going to determine the value of those cards in the set. And as Tom mentioned also as well on how playable certain cards are in the actual TCG.
(26:10) So, Dremont asks, "Does it make sense to open an account and wait to get access to Pokemon?" I would say you can certainly try. Um it doesn't hurt to try, but be prepared for a lot of rejection. Some of these guys might not even respond to you right now, but guarantee you once we get back into a bare market, they're going to be a lot more receptive to you.
(26:31) And you might even find some of these guys that have viable products for you in your uh other businesses. So like on Amazon or on eBay, right? So it's certainly worth a a gander if you don't have accounts with them. Tom is just typing something here, so I just wait until he types it out so I don't miss it. If you want to pop on the mic, Tom, you can.
(27:05) I was just going to add that like usually with some of these uh sets like you mentioned about the Eevee. Uh within the Pokemon community, like anything that has to do with Pikachu as well as Charizard will usually do really really well as a trace card. But there's other ones like Gengar, Mewtwo, Mewu, uh, and certain like Snorlax.
(27:23) There are also like very small niches that get really, really popular and then have hold a lot of value as well. Definitely. And I appreciate you sharing that. And having information like that and learning about those types of things will certainly help you have better success if you're investing long-term in the franchise.
(27:45) Of course, if you're only here for just like the the hype and the quick flips, doesn't really matter. Uh, but if you are looking at introducing Pokemon as part of your actual investing portfolio, I would encourage you to learn some of these things. Check out some channels, check out what people are interested in, uh, watch Pokemon investing YouTube, a wide variety of different channels to gain some of this knowledge.
(28:10) You don't necessarily have to be passionate about it, but I think it can go a long way if you know and understand some of these things. It'll help you have a much better feel for what is going to have potential or not. And we're also going to discuss right away here as well um the sets that go against the grain and why I think a lot of those sets end up actually being better investments in the long term.
(28:39) Excuse me. Okay. So, I want to talk about the state of the current bull market. So, although we have certainly seen ups and downs, the current bull market we see in the state it is today started around the release of surging sparks. Some will argue was a little bit earlier. Uh but that is generally kind of where we've seen the market take off like we have seen it where it is today.
(29:03) And that started happening around November 2024. uh in peak COVID when Logan Paul surged interest back into Pokemon which was around 2020 there was certainly a bull market and there like there was singles and uh greater cards especially Charizards and stuff that absolutely popped off and reach record highs.
(29:23) Um, but we did see a corresponding dip afterwards. But there was a large hype around COVID and that was like with most things with COVID because people were inside, they were bored, they were looking for things to do, put their money in, invest in, have fun with. And we seen a lot of different franchises, a lot of different collectibles increase in price around CO.
(29:43) We've seen a large surge even in uh things like Lego, which Lego we don't typically see large surges in. It's more so steady. And in CO, we've seen that with Lego as well. Um, since November 2024, we have seen the current market maintain record highs and there have been basically no products to be found on store shelves. Once stores stock them, regular retailers, they sell it almost instantly.
(30:10) Some of our local card shops certainly have stock, but every mom and pop shop now, almost without exception, is selling for quote unquote market price now. So, it's very very hard to find product for what you would typically view as a regular retail price. A lot of people assume that this is only due to quote unquote sculpers, as in us.
(30:35) But the main issue is that Pokemon has not been printing to demand and has struggled to keep up. This is also coinciding with a massive instant increase in interest. large distributors like MJ selling cards themselves for market and the mix of sculpers, rip ripen shippers, poke tubers, etc. have all attributed to the current market we are in.
(30:56) But if you really look at it, the main issue comes from the big boss from the top down. Right? If Pokemon got their together and were able to print to the current demand, we wouldn't be in the market that we're in today, right? And so there was a kind of a lovely mix of everything that coincided with the market that we see from like sneaker heads coming over from uh not being able to make profit with sneakers anymore.
(31:22) So putting their money into Pokemon, people wanting to get into investing. Uh 151 releasing, releasing a lot of nostalgia, getting a lot of people back into the hobby. a mix of a bunch of stuff. But the main issue still comes down to Pokemon not printing enough to meet the current supply which is causing the demand and the corresponding price to skyrocket.
(31:48) And then of course when we see that then it gets even more and more interest and you have people that you know have large capitals wanting large capital wanting to get into it. people that are bought getting into it and just keeps driving and driving and driving it. Right? So, I also wanted to discuss um investing where others do not.
(32:09) And this is specifically outside of bull markets, but this is something that I've observed over the last probably 6 to 12 months and done quite extensive research on. But if you are looking at investing long-term into Pokemon, I think going against the general public perception can typically be a much more viable investment.
(32:33) So I mentioned here that oftent times we can yield the highest returns in Pokemon if we go against the general public opinion. And of course there's exceptions to that rule like evolving skies for example uh from last generation were was a It was basically a unicorn product. Evolving skies today booster boxes, I think like they're over like two, three grand at this point. They're insane.
(32:58) Um, it's one of the best performing products in like the last 10, 20 years. Uh, so there's always exceptions to that, but generally speaking, most products will perform similarly. And so from my thought process is I personally prefer to find the sets that nobody is interested in and that we can attain at a discount and then we can typically see higher gains in the short term instead of having to buy sets at market price or say even MSRP outside of a bull market.
(33:32) If we find the sets that nobody's interested in, quite often we can get a hefty discount on those products. And we're going to look through some examples here in a little bit as well. Um, I also mentioned that this is because we know that every sealed Pokemon set ever has increased over time.
(33:50) And if we focus more on the sets that others do not want, we can often get higher quantities and often at a much more discounted price. And so this would be at both retailers and distributors alike because if sets are less desirable, they're going to just be more readily available. So this is more so for those that are wanting to invest a larger amount of capital into this type of investing technique.
(34:15) It is not uncommon in bare markets to obtain products for significantly less than MSRP on the open market which this can certainly lead to bigger returns once the sets are out of print. We have seen some less desirable sets uh have booster boxes and ETBs sell for like almost half of what your standard MSRP is. And if we look at where the market is today, those sets have realized quite a significant gain.
(34:44) So I just have some note here for some recent sets that had little interest on released include and some of these had mixed opinions, but generally speaking, these are considered sets that most people were not super interested in. So number one is Obsidian Flames. So Tom mentioned that a lot of sets that have crowd favorites such as Charizard tend to do a lot better which this is basically a Charizard focused set but even with that a lot of people didn't have super high interest in Obsidian Flames for a very very long time but that interest has since
(35:15) increased substantially and we have seen a booster box low for Obsidian Flames as low as $90 Canadian and the current market today is around 300. 00. And so I have a couple examples here. I'm going to close this guy. So where we're looking at market is I'm looking on TCG player, which is strictly US pricing.
(35:37) So the price that you see here is US. The listings that you see here are not accurate because these are listings that will ship to Canada. If I connect to a USVPN, you'll see these listings increase substantially, probably a couple hundred. But we can see the lowest price on TCG Player right now is about 250 US.
(35:55) And I have price charting pull up here just to generally see the eBay listings. Uh I still prefer to look at sold eBay listings over looking at price charting, but this can give us kind of a quick overview. And so we can see that we've have a lot of recent sold for Upsetting Flames booster boxes for around the $300 Canadian mark.
(36:11) And if we look at TCG Player here, they have a better price graph, but we can only see a year history. Uh we can see that even back in May to 2024 uh Obsidian Flames was about $100 USD and we see that in a very very short period of time right through the bull run we've seen that more than double. This isn't typical.
(36:38) This isn't normal, but I would have expected Obsidian Flames to increase regardless. It's just if outside of the current bull market that we're in, it typically would have taken a little bit more time, but that is a substantial increase and that's a whole lot higher return than the standard S&P.
(36:58) And if we look at a set like Scarlet and Violet base, so that's the base set that is the current generation that we're in today. We have seen booster boxes as low as $80 Canadian and the current market is around $280 Canadian. And everybody said that Sky Violet Bass was an absolute garbage set. Nobody liked it. Nobody wanted it. Even so, this is a set that nobody wanted.
(37:20) And we see on TCG Player, uh, market price is 2 208 US. And we can see plenty of sales around the 200, 250, 225. Lots happening around that price point. And Scarlet Base, um, as far as I'm aware, I don't think it's going to be reprinted at all. It's always possible because we're not out of this generation yet.
(37:45) So, if we don't even see any reprints, we're we're going to see this increase more and more and more as time goes on. Gafar, you want to unmute yourself there. Thank you. And then another one that had not super great interest on release was Crown Zenith. Crown Zenith was a set that not a lot of people liked off the rip.
(38:13) Uh now a lot of people have come around and now Crown Zenith is considered not a great set but for some people it's considered like their favorite set, right? And Crown Zenith is a specialty set. So we only have ETBs. We seen a low price of $31 Canadian. And keep in mind that the MSRP for ETBs is like 80 bucks. And we have a current market price of Crown Zenith for the regular ETBs, not Pokemon Center exclusives, around $200 Canadian.
(38:40) So this is Crown Zenith here. Uh we see the market price here, which is USD, so 159. And these are recent sales that we see on eBay as well. And these are non Pokemon Center exclusives. So it's been performing extremely [Music] well. Anybody have any questions about any of that? Any comments at all? I just kind of want to add on the thing that you were mentioning about the Obsidian Flames.
(39:10) One thing to note is that the PC version of it did really really well for that as well as 151 just because the promo card. I think like for example uh 151 PCB right now is about $600 700. Yeah. uh because of the Snorlax uh promo card which is selling about like a PSA 10 is roughly about a grand and then the regular ETB version is only 150.
(39:34) I think the Obsidian Fains um I think the PC ETB is about like $500 $600 too and the regular one's only 120. And then the main difference between that is really just cut to the promo card. Definitely. And yeah, so we can obviously see like those types of things can obviously play a large part in how the market is going to perform.
(39:59) But even with that being said, even just general sets, sets that people have not liked at all and that don't have super great promos, they have still performed consistently well. We may not see, you know, a doubling in 12 months, but we for most sets, especially once they're out of print, we see consistent increases.
(40:19) Even with the 151 ETBs, uh, the standard ones, which I have right here, this is the standard ETB that is not the Pokemon Center exclusive. So, this one doesn't have a promo in it. We're currently sitting around 225 US, uh, about 300 or so dollars Canadian. And this is for a product that again, MSRP was 80 bucks, like $78. It's performing extremely well.
(40:45) Uh 151 was a very very desirable sat off the rip, but it's still performing very well. Cool. So, I also wanted to discuss my prediction on the near future market. Some people may have mixed opinions, some people may not agree with me, and that's fine. But this is my opinion on the upcoming market. So, I mentioned that the market that we're in right now is nothing like we have really ever seen before in Pokemon.
(41:17) Uh, yes, sealed Pokemon has always been a very consistent and generally safe investment, but it's extremely uncommon to be able to take a drop right on release and then one one and a half to two extra money like I mentioned earlier. So, this is something that I want to state very clearly. Do not get used to this.
(41:39) This current market is the exception. It's not the rule and I do not foresee it lasting forever. Of course, if it does, that's excellent. We can make easy money forever, but easy money doesn't really exist. When it does, it's typically for short periods of time. So, that does not mean that we can uh we that we can make some extremely healthy profits in a relatively short period of time right now.
(42:03) But do not overlever yourself because when the market does correct yourself uh when it corrects itself rather you may stand to lose a lot if you do. Pokemon is very liquid right now. It is very easily movable right now but you do not want to put yourself in a position of debt in order to keep up with the hype. Uh, I don't foresee the market dipping overnight, but if and when it does dip, you do not want to be in a position where you're going to regret or have a mass amount of debt to do so.
(42:40) Always invest in your means. Uh, Draymond says, "What's the normal time frame for a Pokemon set to turn a profit with Lego?" Usually, it's like 6 months to 12 months after a set retires. It really with Pokemon, a lot of it has to do with the market supply. So, Lego is really good with keeping supply at a certain amount. Pokemon, they are generally pretty good at that, but there are some sets that I've seen where they've overprinted.
(43:12) Uh, some intentionally, it seemed like intentionally, some not so much. So, some of those sets takes a lot longer to recover and turn a profit than others. Um, generally speaking, like I said, you'll see a lifespan for a Pokemon set at about, you know, 12 to 24 months. Generally speaking, you'll start seeing healthy returns on a Pokemon set once it's out of print for about 12ish months.
(43:40) Um, and with Pokemon as well, it's hard to say when a set is fully out of print. It's very rare that Pokemon will confirm if a set is out of print. Like recently, they mentioned that they're not printing any more 151. However, I've heard that a ton of stores in the US are getting a ton of stock of Blooming Waters, and we might see that in Canada as well.
(44:00) Uh, so that could be leftover stock in warehouses, that could be retailers that just had a ton of excess inventory, whatever the case may be. And so in cases like that with sets that can't support that volume, it's going to take longer for them to be able to come back up to a positive return on your investment. But I would say generally speaking for most sets about 12ish months after no longer being printed where we start seeing reasonable returns.
(44:28) And when I'm saying reasonable return for most sets, that's typically like on average about 10 to 20ish percent per year return. Does that make sense? You have any questions about that? Cool. So, I mentioned that coming into 2026, we are going to Pokemon's 30th anniversary, which is very, very likely that the sets that they're going to release will perform very well, especially like limited sets, sets that have very hyped promos, if they have metal cards.
(45:05) A lot of it will probably be focused around Pikachu Eevee. That's like what they did with their 25th anniversary. Uh, it was very heavily Pikachu focused. And so, people love that stuff. And so it will probably perform very well. But with that being said, I will not be surprised at all if we see a major cool off after the upcoming Black and White release for the market as a whole.
(45:29) So I I personally believe that Black and White is going to perform extremely well. It's a nostalgic set. It's more or less like it's not a reprint, but it's a nostalgic set similar to like Destin Rivals, similar to like 151. It's not as nostalgic as 151, but it has a lot of a lot of already existing customer base for that for for those sets that are already interested.
(45:54) It's a specialty set and it's already being announced uh that allocation for most LGS's, local card stores, etc. are going to be much lower than expected. A lot of locations are getting almost no product. even locations that typically get hundreds or thousands of boxes. So, in the short term at least, I believe it's going to do perform very well.
(46:22) Uh even in the long term, I think like if we see a large reprint with kind of market fatigue, I could see the price dip in the longer term. And when I say longer term, probably like six to 12 months out. Uh but I have no doubt that it will make a full recovery. Uh, where was I in my thing here? Um, I mentioned that Pokemon has now had time to catch up with their print cycle and enough time to observe the current demand.
(46:51) So, I'm speculating they'll begin to be printing to demand more, which will make cards more readily available, making quick money in Pokemon no longer common place. So, this is pure speculation and of course we're going to take the quick money as as much as we can for as long as we can. But I'm betting that on the sets that are coming up after Black and White, we're probably not going to see the same profits as quickly as we have seen with recent releases.
(47:23) Anybody else have any opinions on that or any different thoughts, comments, anything? Tom, I know you mentioned that you're you've been in Pokemon for a little bit. Do you have a similar thought process or do you think something completely different? Um, for me, I think uh the same thing is roughly about the uh 30th anniversary. Like for me, I think when I joined it was right before the 25th anniversary and then from the 25th anniversary, um I think everybody got out of Pokemon just cuz like the hype was like everyone that was like the peak and then it only came
(48:01) back at 151. So a lot of during that time like Obsidian, Flames, Stellar, all these sets were not doing really well until 151 like kind of blew up. And then from 151 it came to surging sparks uh and then the prismatic was pretty much evolving sky 2.0. So that dragged a lot of the in between sets uh and bringing all the prices up.
(48:26) So I do think that like probably sometime like around the 30th mark um people might be super exhausted and then there might be a little bit of a cool off period as well. Yeah. Yeah. And so when that happens, like if you have positions in any certain sets, like some sets are going to weather it a lot better than others, but don't be surprised if you have decent sized positions in certain sets that you see some market adjustments and some market decreases in some of these sets.
(48:54) Uh assuming that your average cost basis is good, you shouldn't have to be worried. If you got in, you know, and you're buying everything at market price, it may be something that you want to consider like market price today. Uh, but if you're getting it at most products and your adjusted cost basis is a good price, it shouldn't be something that you have to be concerned about, but it should be something that you have to consider that it may not be at the liquid point that you want it to be when that market adjustment comes.
(49:23) So, you either have to be somebody that's willing to hold longer term in my opinion and weather that storm or you might want to consider uh liquidating sooner rather than later. Depends on your personal risk tolerance and how long you're able to invest your capital. And then one thing that I want to also add is like I know I see a lot of people what they do is join uh Pokemon Facebook groups just to be able to sometimes like sell some of the products.
(49:54) Uh it's easier to kind of offload. Just be very careful because uh in this community they're very against sculping or people who uh buy these kind of stuff and then try to do a quick flip. So, just be if you do kind of I see a lot of people who just like have like buys 10 20 of the blooming water and then try to sell it and then instantly get they get like blacklisted.
(50:17) Just be careful when you joining these uh Pokemon groups. They're very sensitive. Yeah, that's a really good point to share. Um, and also because Tom mentioned it, um, a lot of Pokemon communities I believe are really good places to buy and sell product because we can skip places like or we can skip fees on places like eBay, right? But there's obviously a couple things that you need to consider.
(50:46) A lot of the time on those marketplaces, they typically sell for a little bit less than market to adjust for those fees that you're not incurring. Uh, but you also want to ensure if you're buying product on those marketplaces that you are familiar with the product and you know how to look at seals and you know how to examine products to ensure for authenticity because it's actually relatively common place unfortunately that people try to scam and people in this industry just like anything else, right? And so a lot of product does get resealed and if
(51:15) that happens and you're your your sets are essentially worthless and sometimes they get resealed with packs that have been weighed. Sometimes they get resale with completely not even Pokemon products or old sets or rocks or whatever the case may be. So make sure if you're ever buying something from anybody, you inspect goods thoroughly.
(51:33) A lot of those communities, they have places or they have quote unquote verified sellers that have been doing it for a very very long time. They are tend to be more trustworthy. But I've even seen cases of some sellers that have been around for a very long time still scamming people and they're just piecing out just kind of like a one last harrah.
(51:52) Right? So, always be cautious with that. And if you're ever making payments to somebody uh obviously in person, try not to have cash if you're buying something. If you are selling something, it's always more advisable to go somewhere public, police station, etc. So, because robberies can and do happen. And um if you are doing transactions online outside of market places like eBay, always do something like PayPal and do it with goods and services.
(52:22) If you are paying somebody, uh expect that to happen if somebody's buying something from you as well. Uh but if somebody's buying something from you and you and they are willing to pay you via friends and family, I think that's fine. But you want to make sure if you are spending money, you do it via goods and services because you're going to have more protection from PayPal's end if they attempt to you at all.
(52:44) So just really try to use a lot of common sense if you are using thirdparty marketplaces. And I also I think there's a lot of opportunity in there's a lot of arbitrage opportunity buying from eBay, buying from local marketplaces. um if you are finding sets that have really good short-term even like decently mid-term potential. So, I made a post in our Poke Investments channel.
(53:08) I think it was yesterday specifically about the Prismatic um Pokemon Center exclusive ETBs. So, those guys, um let me just see if I have them here. I think I have the regular ones. Let's open up the exclusive for a second here. I think there's really good potential with the Pokemon excl or the Pokemon center exclusive even at the current prices that we're seeing today which is you know 3 4x the MSRP.
(53:43) Uh let's go here. Where am I going here? Yeah, especially if you can also get a sealed set because I think Prismatic Pokemon Center is the last uh sealed set of four that you can get. So this is the Pokemon Center one. So we see the current market price is about 286 US. And so we see a couple things happening here.
(54:09) And this is why I like these graphs on TCG player. Again, keep in mind that this is USD. Um so first released back here uh back in late 2024. A lot of initial interest uh market gets flooded by on the secondary market. we see a quite a significant drop but still selling for substantially higher than MSRP and again this is US pricing so US MSRP was I believe I want to say it's like around $50ish dollars and then we see a steady increase okay and then we see a recent decrease right around the recent reprint or restock from Pokemon Center back in
(54:49) April and so it's expected when we see more inventory come into the market we're going to see a corresponding decrease Um, so it went from about 350 or so and it dropped back down to a a low of about 240 US. And now we see a very relatively quick recovery. So recently TCG Player twice a year they run a sitewide sale where they basically give you 10% back in store credit on your entire purchase.
(55:18) Uh, they do that every year in May and they do that around Black Friday every year as well. on TCG player, we see a lot of product move and a lot of markets adjust and increase after those sales happen. And that's exactly what we've seen happen here recently. A lot of the underpric inventory has sold out and the market is coming back up.
(55:40) And so if we compare this this guy, so the Prismatic Pokemon Center exclusive ETB and we compare it to like the ETB that Tom talked about earlier, the 151 Pokemon Center exclusive, the Pokemon Center uh 151 exclusive, that one is currently like around 6650 Canadian. Okay, arguably speaking, Prismatic Evolutions has a higher potential.
(56:07) So, the promo in the 151 has very, very high value. That's going to attribute a lot to the secondary price. But, Prismatic Evolutions, the set itself, has a relatively high volume of highv value cards at a much higher scale than 151. 151 has a good a good set of decently valued cards, but not nearly as many as prismatic evolutions.
(56:35) And so, we can use this guy as well. We can come on TCG player and we can look at the what the the market is for the cards, the singles. One second. Uh I want to look at the price guide. Where's my price guide? Here. Prismatic shop set. This is where I'm looking. This isn't where I normally look. Where's my price guide? Uh, product type.
(57:19) I want to look at cards. So, we can see here, and again, these are US prices. So, obviously, like a lot of these have relatively low hit rates, and people are aware of that. People know that. But look at the amount of cards that we have in the values that we have, right? And again, these are all USD prices.
(57:40) So, we have a card that is worth over about $1,300 US raw, right? Very rare card, but it has a very, very high value, which 151 does not have, minus the promo and that that to get that value has to be graded, right? This is raw pricing. And we have a variety of cards that are at 150 USD plus, right? If we look at 151, let's get rid of Prismatic.
(58:13) 151 has substantially fewer cards at that high of a value. So, they still have a variety of cards that have a decent value, but their highest card raw is 230 US, 240. Whereas with Prismatic, we have many, many more cards that have that potential value. So, that's why I said in my post that I think Prismatic has more than enough potential to match the current 151 Pokemon Center exclusive ETB, if not blow past it.
(58:43) So, I do believe that there is still very a lot of good opportunity to invest in the Pokemon Center exclusive even at the current market price. And if we look at the sets that are available right now on the open market on Facebook, on uh eBay, their prices are trailing behind TCG Player when we account for um exchange rates. That's not uncommon either.
(59:05) We can get a lot of local for and on eBay for sub $400, quite a few for even like 350 or less. And if you're somebody that wants to get into this hobby and get into investing and you have a decent amount of capital, I would say that is a pretty good place to park some money right now. Of course, I can't ever say I'm I can guarantee anything, but it has a really really good potential.
(59:37) Yeah. And also, if you can get a sealed case of the PC uh ETBs, that would be great because I think that's going to be the last one that you can get a sealed case of four. Yeah. And because of that, so like we we like as we discussed kind of at the top of the conversation, usually we'll see a premium for sealed cases of like five to 10ish%.
(1:00:00) With that knowledge, that premium will probably be even higher. Maybe not right now, but in the near future that premium can be 20, 25, even higher percent premium on the individual cases. But if you're buying those cases and you want that premium attached to it, keep them sealed. Do not open them because as soon as you open it, as soon as you crack it, that premium goes away.
(1:00:22) Yeah. And then also to add like I've seen a lot in the Pokemon groups that uh with people who recently got the seal cases uh with customs uh customs has opened a lot of them and then just to put it into the uh also when Pokemon Center they put in the invoices and stuff. So there's a lot of uh let's say not really sealed cases.
(1:00:43) So if you find one that's completely sealed is actually very very rare. And that will of course attribute to even higher secondary prices of course. Um, anybody have any questions about anything that we've discussed so far? Any comments, concerns about anything so far? Cool. So, I wanted to compare a couple of recent releases and a couple of upcoming releases as well.
(1:01:19) So, let me get back to where we need to be. Let me close out some of these guys. So, I just wanted to show you kind of where release was, where MSRP was, and compare uh compared to the current market. Okay, so these are some of the recent releases that we've had. So, we have Journey Together, and the MSRP for Booster Box was about 210 was 210 Canadian.
(1:01:46) And for all intents and purposes, Journey, Journey Together was considered a flop. Uh but the current market for a booster box is still around $280. And that speaks volumes for where the current market is today. So in prior markets like say about two three years ago, Journey Together would probably not be at the price it is today if it was considered a quote unquote flop.
(1:02:12) It'd probably be sitting at if not under MSRP. But Journey Together had a lot less interest than some of the other recent releases. And the current market price for Journeying Together is still around $280 Canadian. So this is USD, so 216 for booster box. This is the unenhanced version. So this is not the enhanced version that has the additional uh box topper card.
(1:02:39) And we can see some recent sales here on eBay as well. So again, around $280, $300. And that was considered a flop of a product. Still profitable. Uh we have prismatic evolutions. So for the regular ETB, the MSRP was $78. Not and we're not talking about the Pokemon Center exclusive. The current market on this guy is already 150.
(1:03:05) And this guy wasn't released that long ago. So we can see that it entered the market November 2024. and we're already at 114 US and we're we're looking at about 150 all the way up to like 180 Canadian. So that's already double if not a little bit higher than what the regular retail price was. You can't tell me any other investment has those types of returns that quickly.
(1:03:37) Again, just keep in mind that's because of the current market that we're in, as I mentioned earlier. Uh, and then also 151, the regular ETBs. Again, MSRP of about $78. The current market for regular ETBs is currently sitting around about $300 Canadian. So, this is the regular ETB. So, we see a market price of about 225 US.
(1:04:01) And these are the sales that we see on eBay for Canadian pricing. And this is just again a regular ETB, not the Pokemon Center exclusive. There's a quick question. Yeah. What's up? Hey, so why is it that the 151 is more expensive the ETB than the Prismatic when they're Chase cards for the Prismatic or higher? So, some of it has to do with the prior nostalgia demand.
(1:04:32) So, like Tom mentioned, like a lot of interest came back into the hobby with 151. A lot of people are very nostalgic with 151 because they are essentially reprints of like the original cards. Some like obviously adjustments, but they have the original 151 Pokemon, right? So, a lot of that is behind that. And then because there was a lot of organic interest, there was also a lot of secondary interest.
(1:04:57) So, investor bros, flippers, sneaker heads, all kinds of things which helps drive up the price. And we're also at the end of the lifespan of 151. So we're not really seeing a whole lot of printing printing for it as well. So that's also a really good question because with that being said, I believe that prismatic has a lot more potential than where we're at today.
(1:05:21) I believe prismatic for the current market is very undervalued for the reasons that I mentioned earlier. So we're kind of at the end of the life cycle 151. Prismatic, we're still we're still relatively early in the life cycle. We're like not even probably like halfway through the life cycle of Prismatic. So, we still have a lot of things to see for Prismatic.
(1:05:42) And the market for their singles have been established. So, of course, we can always see price manipulation. We can still see price changes, but this set has been out enough that the singles are relatively established for pricing. So, we're probably not going to see large fluctuations for like the very expensive chase car like the Umbreon, which should still which should drive consistent demand for the set and pump the secondary prices back up and like I said, probably higher than 151.
(1:06:17) Does that make sense? Yeah. So, one other question. So, when you said the 151 is ending or it's nearing its uh end of its life cycle, does that mean that they will no longer print any of the 151 Pokemon cards like the original 151 or they will, but it would just be like not a separate release. So, 151 is the name of this specific set.
(1:06:43) So, like if we come on here, you can see like the names of all these sets. So, when we see SV, that means that that is Scarlet Violet. So, we're currently in the Scarlet Violet era of Pokemon cards. And we can see that 151 was part of the Scar Scarlet Violet era. Okay. And if we look at other sets, like we come back here, uh, SWSH is Sword and Shield.
(1:07:06) That was the prior era of Pokemon cards. They're kind of like chapters, I suppose you look at it that way. So, what Pokemon Center, from my understanding, from what I've heard is Pokemon Center actually mentioned that they're no longer printing this specific set. So, this 151, they still might come out with sets that completely reprint the actual original Pokemon, which they've done multiple times.
(1:07:32) Uh, in the future, they may actually like come back and revisit and like re reboot, remaster this actual set, but this specific set from this era is at the end of its life cycle. is not going to be reprinted as far as well. the art. So, the artwork is not going to be repainted, but the Pokemon themselves might be in a later edition.
(1:07:50) The artwork maybe like the artwork like Pokemon has done that a lot in the past where they basically re reboot the the artwork exactly as is. Like they basically reprinted like the like the original like the actual original set has been the exact same artwork has been in multiple different sets, but it's considered its own separate thing.
(1:08:08) Like even when we see that happen, it almost never impacts the prior sets because this is from a specific era. It doesn't matter that that artwork is available in a in a new modern day set. People want this product because this specific set, this this specific era doesn't exist anymore, even though that the artwork may be available in future sets.
(1:08:30) But I also probably wouldn't expect like this era, Scarlet Violet 151, to be reprinted for probably like 10, 15 plus years. That's usually like when Pokemon starts looking at things like that if they do. Gotcha. Makes sense. Yeah, I think uh so Blooming Water is the last product that is supposed to hold the 151 and then after that is done, the set is pretty much not going to be reprinted.
(1:08:57) And I think like with the newer sets, they're being introducing all these like alternative artworks, which is kind of what the chase art is. So I think like with these uh 151, like those artworks will just be for that. Um but I think like they do reuse some of the vintage ones for some of the newer sets, but those artworks are usually um they're going to stay with that set. Yep.
(1:09:26) Did you have any other questions or comments at all, Chillan? No, I think I got I got the gist of it. Makes sense. Cool. And then I also wanted to compare some upcoming releases that we have that are coming up right away here. So, we have Destin Rivals that's coming up. I think the official release is end of this month.
(1:09:47) So, for Destin Rivals, MSRP on booster boxes was 210 Canadian. Our current market price for Destin Rivals is currently sitting at about 370. Uh Destin Rivals is for all intents and purposes a set that should undoubtedly perform regardless because this is like a remaster of a vintage set, Team Rocket, right? So, people love that stuff.
(1:10:12) People love nostalgia just like 151 did really well. Um, for all intents and purposes, this is exactly what that is. Um, it is performing a little bit under what I would have expected in today's market, but it's still performing very, very strong. Um, but if you want to be able to make quick profits with Destin Rivals, you obviously have to get at good pricing if you want quick flips because, um, I was talking with Med earlier before uh, anybody popped in the call, some Destin rivals sets, even at like Walmart, they're being released
(1:10:49) for quite a high price. like the Walmart's going to be releasing ETBs, their pricing is about $103 where MSRP, quoteunquote MSRP is $78, right? So, you have to ensure that if you're looking for those quick flips, you're getting preferential pricing. But keep in mind that when we see pricing like like Walmarts, like major retailers are stocking product for higher than MSRP, which is very very common place now due to multitude of factors.
(1:11:20) um that will typically help drive the secondary market accordingly as well. So, the booster box for Destin Rivals, we can see here 360 380, it's still performing very, very strong. But if you're attempting to cop inventory from your LGS that is selling for market price, there's not going to be any room for you to profit.
(1:11:44) There might be room for you to purchase it and support those local game stores and hold for longerterm investments. Um, but obviously that's not super preferred pricing. And then the other major set that we have upcoming here shortly, uh, not too long away, I think it's, what is it, July, is the Blackbolt White Flare.
(1:12:10) So, this is a another quote unquote reprint remaster of older sets, older eras, black and white. And this is a specialty set, so no booster boxes are available. The highest tier in investable product that we have is the ETBs. And we see the current market for the non Pokemon Center ETBs currently sitting around 170 Canadian.
(1:12:38) So if we look at Black Bolt here, we can see market price. Market price on this guy on TCG's player is actually showing 170 for the regular one US. So it might even be a little bit higher. But we can see sales happening here on eBay for about 170 to the Pokemon Center is 220. So we're looking at about like 170 to 200 for regular ETBs.
(1:13:01) Not a whole lot of sales yet because there's not going to there's not a lot of stock available and it's still a couple months out. But I have full expectations that this set's going to perform, especially with recent indications that it's going to probably be even tougher to get for a while. I think we've started getting information about the cards for Black and White and there's a ton of cards that are being released.
(1:13:28) Um, it's going to be interesting to see what the market establishes itself at. Um, Tom, you probably know a little bit better, but from what I gather, there's a lot of a lot of Chase cards in black, black and white. Is that correct? Yeah, I think that one is probably one of the biggest sets cuz they're not only doing the alt art, but also the regular and then also the Master Ball.
(1:13:52) So, the Master Ball, oh, sorry, the Pokeball version of it and then the Master Ball version. The Master Ball, all that uh was introduced in I think in 151. And there's a lot of people chasing those as well. Yeah. And so what Tom, for those that are unaware, means for Pokeball Master Ball, there's special versions of cards.
(1:14:12) So in some sets, it's specific cards. In black and white, I believe they're doing it with every card in the set. So there's like literally going to be hundreds of like hundreds and hundreds of cards available. Like I believe it's like five or 800 different cards available in the set or something ridiculous. It's crazy.
(1:14:28) Um, but there's some hollowos or reverse holo cards that have a little Pokeball um near like the text box, right, where all the the moves and powers and are. Uh, then there's also some sets that have the master ball version. So, it's not a Pokeball that that shows there. It's a master version of the ball. So, like the M on it with like the little kind of bumps on the on the sides, those are considered more rare and they have a higher value on the secondary market, right? So that helps increase interest.
(1:14:59) People are chasing those cards. It's going to help on the sealed sets on the secondary market as well, most likely. So, I've been talking for a while. Anybody have any questions, comments, concerns about anything that we've discussed today? Did anybody learn anything today? we can kind of open up into like a Q&A. We can discuss any other things if anybody would like.
(1:15:30) But uh yeah, let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns about anything. Ethan, you catch a Walmart restock? No, Walmart US didn't drop. Ah I know. I'm sitting here waiting, but thank you. That was very informational. I'll definitely be hanging out. I got a couple of the prismatic ETBs from Pokemon Center.
(1:15:53) I was thinking of offloading until I saw your your call the other day. So, I appreciate that. I So, full disclosure, after I made that post, I've been looking at places locally. In the past week, I've spent about two grand on those ETVs locally. I've been buying every single one that I could find locally.
(1:16:11) Uh, so I'm not just I'm not just talking about these investments. I'm actively investing in these because I actually believe in them and I fully believe that that ETB has very very very high potential. Same here. Um, I would say right now try your best to get sealed cases, if not the loose packs. Um, but I think like you can easily find them roughly about $300 or less on Facebook Marketplace.
(1:16:36) I haven't been able to find anything less than 350 locally, but if you can, I think it's a no no-brainer. Which one specifically were you talking about? The prismatic. Which one? The Pokemon Center. Pokemon Center one. So it' be this guy here but with a Pokemon center stamp on it. Okay. Honestly, in my opinion, the biggest priority for any kind of set is always get the Pokemon Center ones cuz be because recently they have done it with the uh promo cards.
(1:17:06) So the promo card itself usually uh jack up the price quite a bit. As you can see, the 151 just the difference between a regular ETB and then the uh 151 version of it is almost like three times I think, right? Um so always prioritize getting the Pokemon Center ETBs. The second one would be uh booster box or the regular ETBs. Definitely.
(1:17:31) What are your guys' thoughts on Prismatic outside of the like Pokemon Center ETBs like the pouches and the booster bundles and things like that? booster bundles would be the second one to go to uh in my opinion just because it has the most pack to uh sealed product ratio. I think the uh accessory as well as the uh binder only have five and then the other one has less.
(1:17:58) So the booster bundle also has the most amount of it. And then the other one would be the surprise box just because of the promo card itself. there's the chance of the Umbreon uh that you can get, which right now I think it came down a little bit. It's still about like 90 to 100 uh dollars for just that promo card itself.
(1:18:17) So I think outside of the ETB will be the booster bundles and then the surprise box. Um yeah, and I think like the stickers, all that it's going to be a little bit tougher to move just cuz you're only getting like one or two packs. So all those other products though, like don't get me wrong, like almost every sealed product is still going to increase in value over time.
(1:18:42) It's just those smaller ancillary products typically don't increase as quickly as the more pre preferential higher volume pack products. I think the other thing that I could suggest or maybe like I don't know how you guys thought but right now I think uh journey together the regular ETB is only the only problem that the only product you can probably find on the secondary market for below MSRP like I picked up some for $75.
(1:19:19) So that could be also potential as well just like uh how Jordan mentioned how it's the sets that people don't really like. Uh but over time it will definitely uh pick itself up. Hey, thank you both. I'll definitely hold on to some of this. Normally I I just quick flip. I hardly ever hold on to anything. So I'll throw these at the back of a closet and come back in a couple years and see what's happening with Prismatic.
(1:19:42) See, like these are things like if you're investing in things like this, collectibles, like whether it's Pokemon, whether it's Magic's Gathering, whether it's a Lego, whether it's One Piece, Flesh and Blood, all these major established collectible franchises, they're going to, if you're willing to invest the time with them, they're going to treat you well, right? uh as long as you're not going into debt to do so, these products will treat you well and it'll be almost as close as you can get to quote unquote passive money as you can because you
(1:20:18) literally buy something, you put it away. You don't need to look at it for years and it's going to just increase in value as you just let it sit there. And if you get into a position where you're able to build larger positions in these types of collectibles, a lot of people, most people don't do that, but if you look at the people that have been building large positions in these franchises and have been doing it for a very, very long time, every single one of them has done extremely well for themselves.
(1:20:51) And chances are they're going to continue to do so. And some people have become multi-millionaires just by investing in cardboard facts. Uh another thing I can suggest is that on uh so I'm from Toronto so like uh on Facebook market there there are people who actually actively buying like the Ray Paul says like for example like if you search like uh 151 tins or 151 blooming water or even like the prismatic there's a lot of people that is cashing people out at those like a certain rate.
(1:21:26) I think they're very close to market. They're slightly like maybe 10 15% less. But if you see those, that means there's a huge demand. So right now, Blooming Water 151 Mini Tins, uh, uh, Pokemon Center, uh, Prismatic ETBs, there's a lot of people buying mass. Even the SPC, there are people right now buying, uh, at 300 for bulk purchases.
(1:21:50) So those are hot items that people are buying right now because they just dropped and I see a lot of people selling it for like 300 or below 300. So those are probably also good items to buy. The SBC is also the other item that I think totally forgot it just dropped. But I think that's also another big item to buy as well.
(1:22:10) Yeah, with the SBC's even at current market price of like $300, I think it's still a good deal cuz like that has a lot of room to grow because of one the set behind it, Prismatic by itself. But it's also a relatively limited product. Like it's hard for a lot of places to get. A lot of places did not get a large allocation for it and it's a very very nice very it's a very nice set and it's very collectible and a lot of people are going to want that set.
(1:22:36) And so if you like compare that to something like the 151 ultra premium collection, that guy is sitting around like I don't know, I think it's like $500 Canadian today. I believe that that prismatic probably has potential to overtake that one in the relative short term. Yeah, I agree. I think prismatic is going to be evolving sky 2.0.
(1:22:57) So like even the super premium collection, the prismatic super premium. Yeah, that's one that's what I was just talking about. Oh, okay. Okay. I got confused by all the different names sound they all sound so similar, but they're different. There's a ton of product in this franchise. But yeah, like I think it has very very good potential.
(1:23:20) Um, but yeah, like over the over the the course of the next couple months, year, I will regularly share my thoughts on sets and products that have really really good profit potential. And quite often you'll see me post things about sets that are absolute quoteunquote bricks. Like the first major write up that I did was for Battle Styles, which nobody wanted that set.
(1:23:41) But when I made that right up in the Pokey Investments channel, you could buy product at a reasonable price. I would assume that some people in here probably bought it and we can already see in a very very short time that that product is on the rise and just because it doesn't exist anymore. It's completely out of print. Nobody wanted it.
(1:24:00) If you made a position in Battle Styles a long time ago when you could buy it for M under MSRP, you'd be even in a even better position. Yeah. And then recently there has been a big craze for fusion strike as well. It's been going crazy right now. Gafar, I'm not 100% certain if Echo shut down.
(1:24:25) It's very possible that they may have some of these bulk buyers like I' I've pretty much always as soon as I've got stock in within the first couple weeks just flip it to a bulk buyer. And uh some of the people I've been talking to aren't holding on to it. they've been selling it. So, are they importing it or do you guys know are they importing to the US or Asian markets or or where is majority of the product going? It's usually to uh Australia or to UK.
(1:24:49) There's a bit of a premium there. So, I know the the people I talked to, they usually buy in bulk and then they ship it off there just because there's a premium there. I also imagine that there's a small subsection of those people that are also splitting up products and selling them on places like Amazon because Amazon tends to have a relatively higher premium compared to the regular open market.
(1:25:15) Like just recently 151 individual booster packs on Amazon.ca were selling for like around $30 Canadian and the payout was considerably higher than selling on like somewhere like eBay. Yeah. And then I think the other thing too is there has been recently a lot of whatnot streamers. So what they build a relationship is they sell it to whatnot streamers at a uh like a like a per pack.
(1:25:39) They usually break it down and just sell it like by big chunk and then the whatnot streamers usually sell it to their uh viewers for a bit of a premium as well. So everyone kind of wins on that supply chain. The other thing to know is if you look at uh eBay listings, if you see anything that's sold by UK, it's usually a little bit higher than the those that are sold by US.
(1:25:59) So, there's a bit of premium there as well. Hey, that makes sense. Yeah, cuz my my like bulk buyer was making me break it break it all down into single packs. I was wondering why I didn't want them seal the whatnot. Makes sense. just to also like for bulk wires. I know like you just got to do a little bit of research because I see the various in terms of the pricing to be really really big.
(1:26:23) Like for example, Blooming Waters, I see some people still buying it right now for like 100 to 120 and then I see on some people just buying right now at 145. So just make sure that like uh when you're looking at to find the best possible price you can get. Yeah, and there's always arbitrage opportunities in the marketplaces that you're in, right? Depending on who has what available and who's buying at that time.
(1:26:50) So, if you're somebody that is like overtaking like a small local group, like there's lots of like those uh Pokemon uh buy sell groups on Facebook that are Canada wide. There's also local ones. So, like I have one here for Saskatoon that only has like a few thousand members in it. There's not that many active buyers in there. So, it'll be relatively easy to overtake and cop like Blooming Waters Restocks for under market price because a lot of people don't really know or necessarily care about market price.
(1:27:16) They're not probably going to be selling on eBay. They just see that, oh, I can sell this. I can make a quick uh some quick money and you can still get it for a very very reasonable price. Even though it's going to be over what you can get it from like at Costco, it's still going to be a very very reasonable price for either quick flips or longer term investments.
(1:27:42) But yeah, we see Blooming Water is still even holding steady today on the secondary market. eBay regularly 180 some sets selling for over 200 250 and I don't expect them to drop that much. Uh we are going to be seeing like I mentioned a restock in the US for Blooming Waters. I don't know if it's going to hit Canada yet.
(1:28:05) So that may dip the market a bit, but I believe the demand is still much outweighs the current supply. Like how many solds do we have? We have 2100 solds, 323 listed. It's much more demand than supply at the moment. So even with the upcoming restock for someone like GameStop and potentially Costco, I don't see it impacting Blooming Waters market that much.
(1:28:30) I think the other thing to look out for is the there's going to be a wave two for the prismatic ETB that's coming. I think uh some people are already getting the orders in. So there's definitely going to be a drop on the uh ETB pricing, but I think it would be good to pick up for a long term.
(1:28:51) So Inca mentioned all TCD distributors have become very strict as of late. Need a brick and mortar. You're not getting anywhere. One of the distributors I was in talks with mentioned Pokemon allocations are very very tight till the end of 2026 at the earliest 100%. And that's kind of like what we touched on a little bit earlier in the session um was in markets like this.
(1:29:07) It's probably going to be impossible to get accounts with them or if you do it's going to only be for not Pokemon products and it's probably going to be like that that way until we go back into a bare market. But so a couple things I wanted to share is if you're somebody that can do simple p pattern recognition very very simple we seen cycles like this in the Pokemon uh consistently we haven't seen markets like we've seen today um in history but we're going to see these bull and bare market cycles again.
(1:29:41) It's consistently repeated itself over the course of many many years. So, if you're somebody that can see those patterns and want to take advantage of that when you can open an account, do so and start buying products for something like your Amazon business so you can consistently be having a relationship with that distributor.
(1:29:57) And maybe even some of these people want to consider opening up like a Pokemon shop. That's a venture that you can get into as well. But you can certainly buy stuff for something like Amazon or for eBay and consistently buy product and hopefully increase your monthly spend so that you could you can have an allocation when we come back into this market and guaranteed I don't want to say guaranteed but very likely when we come back into another bull market you know five eight years down the road we might even see new record highs compared
(1:30:28) to what we see today. Not guaranteed, but very, very possible. 100%, Jordan. I have to agree with you on that. Um, I was reading an article online recently, and he's actually a YouTuber, and what he's been doing to get his Pokemon allocations up is buying board games to sell for break even on eBay, locally, and whatever else.
(1:30:48) And um, and by purchasing 30 $40,000 worth of board games, your allocations now increase significantly, too. So, that's something to look into, for sure. Yeah. And I think that some people also do like uh mystery boxes as well to help move stuff like some of the like theme decks and all that kind of stuff as well.
(1:31:08) Yeah, a lot of the trading card stores do that for sure. But yeah, we even do that with like regular distributors in our Amazon business, right? So I have regularly bought stuff for favors for distributors because they can't move it and I have an opportunity to sell it for very little money or break even because I know that's going to give me favor with them in the future.
(1:31:29) And so yeah, it certainly makes sense even more so in the Pokemon business. The other way that I've seen also um if you join like Pokemon groups is uh you can also move products by doing raffles as well. And then with raffles usually you can get not only the market price but you can also get like a a bit of a premium as well.
(1:31:50) So, I've seen a lot of people what they do is they buy like a large like maybe three or four different uh let's say prismatic and then they just raffle it in those groups and then uh you get probably the best like turn for that as well. But it's just a little bit of work and you have to get yourself verified.
(1:32:08) But if you're willing to, you know, do a bit of sales, be a little bit involved in the communities, uh that's also another avenue as well. Yeah. So, for those that are unaware, quite often you'll see somebody like a like say a prismatic SPC, they'll release a raffle where you can enter in for only $10 and they have 50 spots available.
(1:32:28) So, they're they're going to end up getting $500 and then you have a chance to get that product at a much lower cost, right? So, that's definitely a way to up your margins on some of those products. Lots of different ways you can get creative for sure. Um, some people might have like the the desire right now to like contact like local car shops.
(1:32:51) Uh, like some people I've I've heard of uh recently and be like, "Hey, you know, you're you're going to have all this stock. I can help you out. I'm somebody that can spend a good volume." That doesn't exist right now because of the market that we're in. uh that is a viable strategy when we get back into the bare market and when we're ready ready into it like a year plus where if shops no longer have the distribution that they have like for for sales they're not moving as much volume as as they have.
(1:33:20) That is a strategy that you can utilize if you get friendly with your local card shops where you might be able to have a avenue where you can take some excess inventory and move it for them and make some money on it. uh don't expect that right now. All local car shops are probably going to laugh at you because they don't need it right now, but when we come back into the bare market, that's certainly something that is viable.
(1:33:42) Uh another thing that I want to mention is thanks to cold chill, and I mentioned this a while ago, we do have somebody in the group that is a Costco employee and not just a Costco employee, a Costco warehouse employee. So they can see stock for Costco's all throughout Canada, not just individual regions like for and employees can see.
(1:34:06) So we're going to be actively monitoring new releases that Costco's potentially getting and also restocks, right? So we are we're watching uh Blooming Waters and the 151 mini because we know that the US is getting more Blooming Waters allocation in the very near future. and we already have our eyes on some of the new sets that are coming to Costco that nobody even knows about yet.
(1:34:28) Uh they don't seem like anything exciting right now. Uh we see some like new window tins coming through, but it's going to be very good information to have for everybody in the server. And also when we get out of the current bull market that we're in, something that I would like to explore is having accounts and doing allocation with everybody in the server.
(1:34:53) So more or less making like a group buy where say I can have an account with a distributor. We can regularly purchase product in larger volume because we have many people in here that want certain product. And then we can do that cons consistently and we can quote unquote have a server distributor where when it comes time when we go back into those bull markets generally speaking because we put our capital together we're going to have a much higher allocation.
(1:35:20) And when some places are only getting like two, three, four boxes of something, we might be fortunate and be able to get hundred a thousand. And in those cases, we can make a lot of money. So if that's something that people are interested in, I think that's something that I would like to potentially do in the very near future when we're out of the current bull market that we're in. Oh, that sounds very mean.
(1:35:52) Because like something like that also wouldn't be that difficult as long as we have interest, right? Because I would like say if it was me. If somebody else wants to steamroll it, they certainly can. But I think it would probably make more sense. Obviously get your own accounts, but for this project, it would make more sense for myself.
(1:36:10) Get accounts from multiple distributors and just regularly order regular releases and volume. Maybe even for different franchises. and the releases that we know that we can sell locally that if people have shops that we can sell on Amazon etc. and do that on a regular basis and have a really good healthy monthly spend because it's going to be split between say dozens or hundreds of different people.
(1:36:32) And then together we're going to have more buying power. And then once you know no allocation exists and we still get allocation, everybody can get certain allocation based on what we can get for distributor pricing instead of the inflated market value that we're seeing and we can make a decent chunk in a very short period of time.
(1:37:01) That sounds great. And even outside of Pokemon on on things like that, like I've heard of other groups doing like group buys for huge wholesale orders and things like that. Definitely. I heard rumors to um Oscar is maybe getting Prismatic Evolutions tins in the summer. Have you heard anything around that? I haven't yet.
(1:37:24) It wouldn't surprise me and it also wouldn't surprise me if they get some allocation of the SPC just because they just because they got those UPCs. I wouldn't I wouldn't bank on it just because of like how limited I've heard it being, but Costco has a lot of buying power, so it would not surprise me. And you you said Costco US is supposed to be getting a Blooming Waters, correct? They're supposed to be getting it.
(1:37:47) Uh Costco, GameStop, and a few other retailers, uh probably within the next week or two. Oh, that's great. You may have to try some Costco US accounts cuz I think for a while there you could buy um Blooming Waters and Costco US without even the membership online. I think now you might need it though. And they regularly uh were selling via two packs as well.
(1:38:08) So it was even a little bit easier. Wow. Mhm. With all dispatch and everything set up. Maybe it's worth picking up a few Costco US memberships. Might be worthwhile. Um, but yeah, like I think this franchise, like the purpose of this scholar, this franchise has a lot of really good potential. One for our short-term potential, but also a lot of long-term investing potential.
(1:38:36) And then yeah, like I we're going to have a lot of additional resources and information and potential avenues in the server that a lot of people can probably take advantage of in the near future. Uh other thing to kind of note too is like whenever McDonald's have a collaboration with Pokemon, um try to get those packs as well because they have pretty good resale as well.
(1:39:05) Yeah, typically whenever they have a release, we we make a drop channel and talk all about it. We covered the last one as well. It's like a free meal basically. Um, one thing that we didn't touch on in here is vintage. So, vintage sets are kind of their own market. Uh, vintage obviously has a lot of potential.
(1:39:36) In my opinion though, and from what I've seen, it's just we don't typically see as consistent as high of returns as quickly for a lot of vintage. Some we certainly would. Um, but there's also typically a much higher barrier entry because the cost of sets tends to be so high. I I think right now, uh, vintage is picking it up.
(1:40:00) I think usually right now is I think from like 151 started off everything where a lot of uh new investors are getting in and then with the modern uh it's been the price has been like going up. I think like prices right now kind of have uh slowed down a little bit but a lot of the vintage are kind of going higher right now especially with the release of Destin rivals as well as uh the black and white coming up.
(1:40:25) I think vintage um will be something that I think will be going up a little bit in the near future. I think well yeah and we can see that with like Team Rocket and like the old black and white 100%. Like that makes sense. Um, but I could also foresee and again this is just speculation that when the hype dies down the a lot of people that are not serious, which is majority of the population that are trying their hand at investing will just kind of fall off and I we might not see a steady interest in it as we do today. So, I could see that
(1:41:06) not necessarily sustaining what we potentially see over the next six to 12 months. Yeah. Because once we once we get back into the bare market, we're going to have a whole lot of people that are just going to completely lose interest in Pokemon like quote unquote collectors, sneaker heads, investor bros, all all sorts because it's no longer interesting.
(1:41:34) It's no longer the hype. It's no longer the talk of the town. So, we're going to have a lot of people that just go away from the hobby. I foresee that happening. But you never know honestly like I I was actually pretty surprised how far it has gone. Like especially the last like what half six months everything has gone up double or triple. It's crazy. Oh yeah.
(1:41:59) Like the demand is always going to be there. I just don't see it being as crazy as what we've seen recently. Like I don't think that kind of market is sustainable for that long. I don't know. I feel like that that's how I felt about the the last run with the evolving skies, but now it's just like it's even more crazier when like celebrations when they first came out, oh my god, everyone was like I everything left and right and center and then everything was like super expensive and I thought that was the peak. I think
(1:42:26) this peak is blew that peak away. Yeah. But but after that happened, we seen a another bare market and a cool off. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. No, that that was uh it took what two one or two two years before it recovered. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. And we might get we might get into those cycles where it's like we see craziness like we see today and then there's a quote unquote market correction/cooloff and then you know another two three four years down the road we see another all-time high.
(1:42:57) We might get into a a pattern like that. It would not surprise me whatsoever. Yeah. I think the other thing to also if people have the capital um to look into those Japanese uh poncho boxes those things has been a big return. I think when they first released it's uh like what uh like 20 30 40 bucks for one box.
(1:43:22) Right now the Mario one itself is like maybe I think what 15 grand USD or like 15 grand Canadian. It's crazy. ridiculous. All those ponchos are it's one of those uh maybe desirable sets as well. So, if you can get your hands on one of those, those are be worth it as well. Where are those sold? Uh you can't buy them anymore cuz they were originally uh dropped on Pokemon Center in Japan and that was I think 2016 or 17, something like that.
(1:43:57) Um, but I think like over the years if you look at like the price has been going up steady and recently it's been going up uh pretty crazy. I think I've seen a lot of people online just buying uh large uh quantities of them just to hold on to it. Um but yeah, if you can get if you have the capital to get it, I would say those are definitely good holds.
(1:44:19) Oh, so when you mentioned Japanese cards, uh I've seen like some people buy those for just like the regular stuff that we're buying, the Scarlet Violet. Uh are those viable too to buy and hold? So, with Japanese cards, uh they typically don't do as well as the English sets. There's a lot more demands.
(1:44:43) But with Japanese cards, you have to look for the ones like rare like uh like trophy cards or like uh promo cards like ones that like small prints like even like with the uh the recent one with I'm not sure if you saw that like the Team Rocket the little briefcase that was uh huge demand until they started to do like print to demand on it.
(1:45:05) But certain Japanese product do a lot better if they're not available in English. But usually if you compare like exact like prismatic to the uh Japanese equivalent of it like the terra the English does much better for [Music] it. And if you want to like Japanese products are actually typically pretty easily accessible. You have to find contacts in Japan in order to do so.
(1:45:29) But it's not that difficult and you can typically get a quite a large quantity especially compared to English products. So there have been a lot of people that have been like opening like B essentially like Japanese shops in Canada and they can be quite lucrative. Uh but it's again very speculative on how consistent that's going to be outside of the bull market.
(1:45:53) Yeah. And then the other thing to know is uh for Japanese cards packs uh like packs itself try not to buy loose packs cuz the difference between Japanese as with the English is usually with the booster packs there's one guaranteed hit and what I've seen a lot of people do is they usually get the hit and then sell the loose packs versus you can't really do that in uh the English version of it.
(1:46:17) Gafar, so you said you bought some 151 uh five pack tins for 125. what's the future on those? So 151, as we were mentioning earlier, you may have left the the chat, but it's basically at the end of its life cycle. It's it's probably not going to be reprinted really at all. If it is, it's probably going to be in relatively small quantity and 151 does have a very solid decent demand around it.
(1:46:47) Uh but you kind of bought at the current peak, right? So, we have what uh we have 10 151 packs in that bundle. So, that's a average cost price per pack of about 1250. That's not that bad. Um chances are 151 that we see today, like with that product, um I don't see it skyrocketing like some of the ETBs that we've seen, but you'll probably see consistent gains on it.
(1:47:13) It's not like it's not like the the grail when it comes to investing like your booster boxes, your ETBs, but it will probably still be steady considering that we're at the end of its life cycle. I think like the 151 tins has already like uh climbed the uh price back. I think like there was a release at end of was it beginning of April or something like that.
(1:47:43) It dropped the price to I I saw people were selling it for below 100 even like $90 for one. But even right now like the bulk buyers that I've uh been talking to, they're already back at buying like 120 for one. So if you wait a couple more weeks, maybe even a couple more month, it should go up to like 130 140 or something like that for each.
(1:48:06) One thing that you can look at, and it's not always going to work, but in my experience, you can look at something like Amazon that has a, especially in Canada, typically has a large premium attached to it. You can kind of look at those markets to get a feel for what markets have potential for right now. So, like if you look at, say, 151 booster packs on uh Amazon.
(1:48:30) ca, CA, you'll see that recently 151 booster packs were selling as much as $30 Canadian per pack, right? So that means that people were actually actively willing to spend that much money. So you can kind of get an indication that once stock starts depleting, people are already willing to pay that much. So it's not going to be surprising if it gets up to that much consistently.
(1:48:56) It might take a while. Like $30, $50 a pack. That's going to be like evolving skies level, if not a little bit less. It might take a little while to get there. I don't know if 151 has that much potential, but you can see that people are willing to pay that. Uh, hey Jordan. On a side note, like what would be a good way to get ungated for Amazon for Pokemon other than like going through one of the distributors? Cuz right now, like you're probably not going to get any of them.
(1:49:29) Is there another way? Distributor for a Pokemon Funko. No, like just to be able to sell Pokemon products. No, that's what I'm saying. Get a Get a Funko Get a Funko Pop. That's a Pokemon. That works. I know it works cuz I did it. Okay. So, even if you like say entertainment earth or e distributions in the states, even if you have to incur those additional uh costs to bring over the border to just buy 10 Charizard Funko Pops, do that.
(1:50:00) Okay, got it. Okay, good to know. And that will ungage you in both Pokemon and Funko. You can use the same invoice. I'll definitely give that a try. Uh, you'll probably want to do it through EE distributions. I don't know if Entertainment Earth would work. Like, it's the same company. Entertainment Earth is just available to the public.
(1:50:31) Um, it might I'm not sure if their invoices look the same, but E distributions are very easy to open an account with and they will 100% work. X definitely and for something like that like so I guess it depends on like what the shipping cost is going to be uh your say your average cost if you're buying from E is probably going to be like I don't know5 $6 US a unit and you should only need 10 because you're not buying from Amazon.
(1:51:06) Um, it might even make sense to have it shipped somewhere in the US, like say dispatch. Uh, put your Canadian billing address on there. So, you have a shipping address, your billing address, and then just have dispatch dispose of them or sell them or whatever. That even make might even make make might make more sense depending on how much the shipping cost is to get into Canada.
(1:51:27) Okay, good to know. Thanks. For sure. So, we shared a lot of really good information in here. Uh, a lot of people missed out on this because I think there's a lot of a lot of good info you can get from from having these talks. Uh, anybody have any additional questions, comments, concerns about anything? We're probably nearing the end here.
(1:51:53) I'm going to be wrapping up here shortly. chilling. You opening those couches yet? No, that's I got to do that right after. I'm actually going to replace my my couches with these. So, let me know if they're decent. I have 16 of those boxes. They take up so much room. Yeah, bro. My my my uh shoe area is pretty much is like uh you know, a cardboard jungle.
(1:52:20) I can't even see anything cuz they're just you know, in my foyer right now. Like I swear it's like taking up like a quarter of the warehouse right now. These things are huge. Yeah, they're huge. I thought they were going to be a lot smaller than what they were. I'm hoping to move them pretty quick though.
(1:52:37) I think I can probably blow them out between like five and 800 bucks relatively easily. Uh didn't you sell two uh you sell sold two of them already, right, to your friends and family? Yes. Well, assuming that they're actually going to come pay me and pick them up. So, that's another another story. Yeah, I'm gonna assemble them right after this call.
(1:53:06) Cool. So, I think we'll wrap it up there. So, I think that was a really good session. Uh, I appreciate you, Tom, for sharing your insights and knowledge as well. I wasn't expecting that, but I very greatly appreciate it. It's always nice to have somebody that's more involved in the community that shares their their personal insights.
(1:53:21) It certainly helps. But yeah, I hope that that answers a lot of questions for everybody and shows everybody the potential of what we have here.
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