my new PKMN card hobby
About a month ago, I moved into a new city. Right across my place there is a Trading Card Game shop! I decided to check it out and.. Wow is it an entirely different world.
An online friend has been talking about his own Pokemon TCG experiences and his collection, and the online cookies being cookies, my phone listened and started to suggest more Pokemon TCG content. Mainly the collecting part.
For the start of 2026 I kind of saw videos pop up here and there, I indulged in watching the interactions with the customers and vendors. They would trade or donate or purchase the cards. Some binders were filled with specific Pokemon artists, some where one specific card, others were intricately themed. The "Michi Method" binders caught my attention the most. They're coined by a collector named peeplop. I'm a stationery and journaling person, so the moment I saw that people were curating their binders towards a specific theme and get super creative with it, I knew I had to check out cards for myself.
So here we are, about a month later, and my collection is coming together! I have finally dwindled it down to a few artists I'm mainly collecting. However my binder is becoming more coordinated that I'm afraid I'll have to buy another (noOO).
Here is my plan for binders:
- 4-pocket binder dedicated to Togepi, Togetic, and Togekiss alone. Showcasing all the art and dupes I collect of my favorite Pokemon evolution line.
- 9-pocket binder for the full art cards and artists that have less than 50 designs. I'm mainly focusing on Yoriyuki Ikegami, Ayako Ozaki, satoma. Unfortunately I'm just a fan of art in general I'll grab any card that looks remotely pretty LOL
- 9-pocket binder specifically for Saya Tsuruta. Saya Tsuruta has over 150+ cards and for some reason I've decided I wanted to collect a majority of them. I love their use of lineart, colors, and shapes in these cards... They're really cute. So they will be the major artist to collect.
It's silly. I've seen how TERRIBLE scalpers get about this hobby. I've seen the videos and the outrageous prices. I thought I'd never get into this hobby.
But something about collecting your one favorite Pokemon and seeing all the art come together on the binder spread makes me happy. So I will continue to look through the bulk boxes that nobody wants. Collect for the love of the franchise. Not for the money or value.