How do you sort your species in all languages collection?
I was thinking something like this:
Sort by artwork release date. Put all languages of the same art together. In what language order? Here is my idea:
Japanese
English
European Languages (German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Russian)
Asian Languages (Korean, Thai, Indonesian, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese)
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That’s how I’ve been doing it. Pretty much the same order too. But lately I’ve been debating if maybe there should be a binder with just English/Japanese and then a binder for the rest. I’ll probably stick to what I have now though.
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Another option for Eevee in particular is 4 binders:
- English
- Japanese
- European Languages
- Other Asian Languages
I don’t prefer this option since I like to see the same art next to each other in all releases that I collect
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Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I’ll probably stick to what I have right now.
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I’ve started into EN - EU - JP - Other, not sure how I feel about it yet.
Sorted on EN release, probably will do promos for that era that don’t match a set artwork at the end of a given era of sets, i.e. WotC promos following the WotC sets, etc.
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I tend to do that kind of ordering for sets before I got back into collecting. But for current stuff, I put in promos in the release order, or if it’s a reprint of an artwork, I put it with the original print.
To clarify, if it’s a true reprint of a card it goes up with the initial print for me as well.
Only thing I’m a bit conflicted on with this would be the full-art base pikachu reprint for 25th anniv set and the PT2/Rising Rivals base pika prints as the cards themselves look different despite having the same overall artwork theme reprint.
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If the artbox is different like you described, I agree with sorting as if it’s new art.
Adding to the release date order, I would look at all languages instead of just English. How do you factor in Japanese exclusives in this situation then?
ive been sorting mine by release date then languages in alpha order splitting the asian languages out.
with the exception of legendary collection.
Im lucky that the mon i collect isnt popular, and therefore i dont need to add 12 cards every 3 weeks.
but its generally
japanese-english-french-german-italian-spanish-portuguese-korean-indonesian-thai-traditional-simplified
the worst one i have had thusfar is roxanne, and i have just grouped the languages over the 3 different asian sets together as i know that theyre not getting anymore releases now
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I sort by English release date too. For current cards, I put the exclusives like the Yu Nagaba promos in between whatever English sets happened around that time.
The only thing I would add at least right now for eevee, leave extra spaces for Chinese since china’s still catching up on releases. Like the CS5.1 and 6.1 are SwSh promos
I go release order, separated by language. It’s the most straightforward way imo. Prevents me from having to do mass shifting for reprints in order to keep artwork together and it also allows me to easily track languages. I can see the appeal for having artwork together for sure, though I also like to see how each language differs by separating them.
For the most part, I go by Japanese release date of the artwork, then all of the artworks together in language order, non-holo, holo, reverse, in that order:
- English
- German
- French
- Italian
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Polish
- Russian
- Korean
- Japanese
- Thai
- Indonesian
- Chinese (Traditional)
- Chinese (Simplified)
Korean is used to bridge the gap between yellow borders and silver borders while having a non-Latin script.
Some pages have cards that are slightly out of order release-wise but look so much better all together, like the Nishidia cards on this page here:
I like having an established organizational system, but I also think it’s important to be able to bend the rules you’ve set for yourself to keep in line with display and aesthetics of a page.
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I don’t collect species in languages outside of English and Japanese, but if I did, I would have a binder for each language. That would more easily allow for language-specific releases without affecting the aesthetic of a page with identical arts.
Good luck! One great thing about binder collecting is that you can always change your mind if you’re unhappy with the initial sort.
I also sort by artwork release date first and then by language, with Asian languages first and then European languages (specifically in the order of Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, (Dutch would be here, but there are no Dutch Staraptors obviously), Polish, Russian)
Same as ragingkraken, if it’s exclusive to non-English languages I’ll slot it in at the release date of the initial release language
In general I do pretty much this. All artwork together, based on their first release. So for Pikachu, I first have Base Set; Base Set 2; and XY Evolution all together, after that the Rising Rivals reprint; and after that the Celebrations reprint. Only then I go to Jungle and Legendary Collection together.
As for language order, I personally have: English, Japanese, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, T. Chinese, Polish, Russian, Thai, Indonesian, S. Chinese.
As to why:
- English: in the past I’ve primarily been an English collector, and it’s for Pikachu still my main focus, so that’s why it’s first.
- Japanese: it’s the origin language of Pokémon and the Pokémon TCG.
- Dutch: I’m Dutch myself, so that’s why it’s third
- German & French: In high school in my country, we have German and French lessons. And although I’m pretty bad in both languages, ngl, my German has always been way better than my French.
- Spanish: I’ve been to Barcelona once on a school trip.
- Portuguese: Last European language
- Korean & T. Chinese: Two Asian languages for which there was a Base Set. And Korean before T. Chinese, because Korean has a lot more sets/promos when I started collecting again (T. Chinese only had the Base Set and EX Legend Maker until 2019).
- Polish, Russian, Thai, Indonesian, S. Chinese: these are simply in chronological order of release date.
Japanese (Oct. 15, 1996); English (Dec. 1998); Spanish (Oct. 1, 1999); French (Nov. 18, 1999); German (Dec. 1999); Italian (start of 2000); Dutch (Feb. 24, 2000); Portuguese (?? 2000); Korean & T. Chinese (Sept. 13, 2000); Polish (Jan. 12, 2010); Russian (Oct. 6, 2014); Thai (Jan. 19, 2019); Indonesian (May 8, 2019); S. Chinese (Oct. 28, 2022).
I’ve actually been thinking of re-organizing my collections so they’re all in their first release date order, in which case it’d be: Japanese (Oct. 15th, 1996 - CoroCoro Comic November 1996); English (Dec. 1998 - Pokémon Demo Game Pack); Spanish (Oct. 1st, 1999 - 1st ed. Base Set ©1999); French (Nov. 18th, 1999 - 1st ed. Base Set); German (Dec. 1999 - 1st ed. Base Set); Italian (Start of 2000 - 1st ed. Base Set); Dutch (Feb. 24th, 2000 - 1st ed. Base Set); Portuguese (?? 2000 - 1st ed. Base Set); Korean & T. Chinese (Sep. 13th, 2000 - Pikachu World Collection 2000); Polish (Jan. 12th, 2010 - Diamond & Pearl set); Russian (Oct. 6th, 2014 - XY set); Thai (Jan. 19th, 2019 - First Impact set & First Impact Ramdom GX Starter Deck); Indonesian (May 8th, 2019 - Detective Pikachu promo); S. Chinese (Oct. 28th, 2022 - Out of Nowhere set). 
Greetz,
Quuador
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My primary binder is a 3x3 binder with every page occupied by a specific artwork and the columns divided between German, English and Japanese with blanks filled in with water energy or trainer cards that fit the theme plus some unique cards from other languages thrown in (e.g. a Korean holo exclusive) while my second binder is a 4x4 binder with the cards sorted by artwork (in order of release) and then language (first tpci and then tpc: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Korean, T-Chinese, S-Chinese, Thai and Indonesian).
Here is an old video of my primary binder, I’ll make a collection thread some time in the future
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