Anyone going to the Gala TCG in Germany in January 2024?

General
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Hi everyone! I was wondering if any of you guys (especially collectors from the US) are going to attend the Gala TCG which will take place in January of 2024 in Germany / Cologne? There are 2 reasons why I am asking :smiley:

Reason 1) I am looking forward to meet many international collectors at the Gala! :slight_smile:

Reason 2) I currently have a card at the PWCC Vault in Tigar, Oregon. I am very emotionally attached to the card and want to avoid any risk of the card being lost or damaged when I ship it overseas to get it in hand. Thats why I am looking for someone reliable who could pick up the card from the PWCC vault and preferably meet me at the Gala in Germany for a hand-delivery of my card. Of course this person would provide a service which I would pay for! I am not expecting anyone to do it for free!

I know the chance is extremely small, but if there is anyone who could help me out, please feel free to reach out to me and we can work things out! Cheers. :blush:

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Update:

Man I love this community! A kind member of e4 reached out to me on Instagram and offered me their help. :blush:

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Nice to hear that you found someone quickly. Figured I would answer anyway that Iā€™ll be there, since I live in Cologne and couldnā€™t say no to attending a relatively big event directly in my city.

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Looking forward to meet you there!

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I would like to add an Arita auto to my collectionā€¦ if heā€™s doing card signings at this event, I will offer a good chunk of cash to anyone who can get a card personalized to me! I would mail you or provide the money for the actual card.

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I am trying to get one spot for the Arita signing for my friend. If I get a second spot, I will let you know! But right now I dont even know when and how I will be able to get them :smiley: I guess they will release more information in the near future via their Instagram account.

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Yes, I donā€™t think all the information is up yet. Thanks for replying!

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Also from a town nearby cologne and attending :slight_smile:
This year it was possible to get one autograph per person per day in Paris.

If thats the the case in cologne, I can also help @qwachansey

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Iā€™d be very interested in working something out along those lines too. More trustworthy folk here than asking on fb.

If anyone ends up having the capacity to try then let me know.

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Thank you! I eagerly await more info

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Also interested in a signed Arita card if that happens and someone can accommodate. Lmk!

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For everyone interested, the start of the sale of Arita tickets has been confirmed for Sunday 10 am CET:

Screenshot_20231215_115147
Screenshot_20231215_1151471080Ɨ1853 131 KB

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Exactly! I will try to buy some spots for the Arita signing event for all those who wont be able to buy them themselve. Lets see how many spots I can get, I will keep all of you updated here. Of course I am not planning to make a profit with reselling the spots, Iā€™m just helping international collectors and E4 members

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Iā€™d love to write a wrong from when I first got back in to collecting but fully accept itā€™s unlikely to be able to be done.

I bought a signed/sketched Fossil Raichu, it looked alright but had a few question marks. Sent it to get graded at a price to get it back quickly, it wasnā€™t authenticated and so I was a bit down about it.

Person didnā€™t fight the refund, just didnā€™t respond at all. I still have the card so itā€™s obviously a fake if they didnā€™t even want it back. Canā€™t get the grading costs back.

Such a waste, would like to get a real one to have side by side with the likely fake. Haha.

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Update: the slots for Aritas signing event were limited to one per person per day and have been sold out after around 1.5 hours after release. Sorry, but I cant help you guys out :frowning:

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Did you manage to get a slot for yourself? If so what cards are you thinking of getting signed

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Yes I got one slot for myself including signature (English or Kanji) and a head sketch. I was thinking about bringing the Stamp Box promo Pikachu with me since I really enjoy the art. But I am still thinking about other alternatives, if any of you have any suggestions let me know!

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eyJpdiI6IlRSUXZ0a3pWM3VLeU5LMUk4aUVLY0E9PSIsInZhbHVlIjoiT2hIcnZzcTRKbnM4QjdGd2V3OUY5ckRGa05RbkhueFgxVU0raj...ZVjUrYU1JVEhiRkE9PSIsIm1hYyI6Ijg0MGNkNWRmYTdiMDZiMWU5ZWE4ZDM5ZTcwYjkyNTA4ZGY4ZmM5YjFkYWIzYzQyNjU5NzcxZDFiNzYzMjFmNjYifQ==731Ɨ1215 155 KB

I am a bit worried that Mister Arita would only draw the head sketch of only Pikachu, and not of the woman as well. That wouldnā€™t look very good imo, thats why I am still thinking about alternatives :slight_smile:
IMG-20231218-WA0012

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At past events, he usually only does one sketch. I know people that brought the same card he already sketched previously to get the second sketch.

There are times however where he has done two sketches on one card (but very rare occurrence).

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Stamp box promo is a great choice

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I come from the discord.

The organizers offered 3 options for signing (1 simple signature in 1 item, no sketch - 1 signature + sketch - a combination of both) and even in Aritaā€™s website they gave this info. The prices were huge too, you could only buy 1 spot per day (2 days), with a total cost of 515 euros for ā€œ4 itemsā€ā€¦ or not?

So as far as a lot of people understood, and what is stated in the website and in the email prior opening the tickets:

  1. English Signature in 1 item
  2. English or Kanji + sketch in 1 item
  3. Combination of options 1 and 2

As it was written, you could understand that option 3 means you can have 2 items, one only with signature, and other one with signature + sketch. The ā€œonly one item per person per dayā€ is not stated anywhere (and wasnā€™t) prior or during the sale of Aritaā€™s tickets, but after, and in a FAQ via Instagram.

But now, Gala says the option 3 (the combination of the first two options) means only 1 single item, but Arita can write his name in both English and Japanesse. That is for another 40 euros fee for a 3 seconds effort (we are paying Charizard taxes!!). So a lot of people is complaining, and more important, GALA organization is looking away. They are not offering to give back the addional fee from option 2 to 3, only full refund so ā€œthey can sell it to other oneā€. And they are not even trying to contact Arita and solve the issue that GALA has created not writing properly the content of option 3.

So what we are requesting, is to give back the fee from option 2 to 3 or allow to sign 2 items (1 with and 1 without sketches).

The thing here is that from the legal point of view (German law) there was missleading information in the sales description and is Gala who owns the responsability (and not Arita) of solving it (because they created it), and more important, Gala is not willing to take any responsability in this moment. One person could be wrong and understand a different thing, but all the people I know that are attending (10+) understood the same thing, and I guess more people is in the same boat.

And please, take note that it was announced 1 ticket per person per day. It doesnā€™t mean 1 item per person per day. Mean you only buy 1 spot per day, not items (again, option 1 (1 item), option 2 (1 item), option 3 (combination of 1 and 2 will lead to 2 items) for 1 spot or ticket.

If anyone is interested in this issue, I can post here pictures of the conversations with Gala Organizers or via Instagram.

Thank you! Long live Metapod, our Saviour and Creator!

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