Anyone feel the same way?
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Well the free money draws a certain type of person like blood in the water. It sucks having to deal with them, but it’s natural and they’ll be gone soon, never fear.
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It’s probably extra difficult for you moderating this site 24/7 and being constantly exposed to everything. I feel for you and hope the joy returns to you soon.
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Actually though, yes. Theoretically, you just need to avoid the noise, but that’s been harder and harder to do lately when the noise:joy ratio is so out of whack.
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yeah taking a break helps. not worrying about promos, drops, and availability of products etc is just pretty nice. i occasionally will buy some vintage/modern stuff for myself maybe once or twice a year, but that’s about it.
i was feeling the burn out a year+ ago. a lot of cool people in the pokemon community, but also a lot of toxicity and greed (well, i guess that’s everywhere) which can be exhausting to be around. now i just occasionally check and look around to see if there’s anything interesting. def a bit happier keeping this hobby at arms length instead of balls deep.
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- Joy from purchases - More difficult, requires more discipline to buy what I actually want and make sure.
- Joy from exploring new goals - This is more stressful. I’ve just decided my collection is what it is and I’ll get what I get. Some old mofo said this is moving collecting from lymbic system to the frontal lobes, whateever that shit means.
- Joy from examining collection - More enjoyable, but with vaults and growing collection it gets kinda clutter and hard to view.
- Joy from day-to-day E4 visits, ebay checks, Buyee checks - Sometimes its like endless scrolling on social media so I am trying to cut back
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Honestly this is not a new feeling for me, it’s been this way for years. And I don’t really want this thread to be about me at all.
But I did notice a few people bring up this sentiment in the last few days so I just wanted to take a vibe check overall of what people are thinking and experiencing.
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Last year, I made a singular purchase for my own collection goal. When I started collecting few years ago, I do not think i would have seen myself doing this in 2024. I mean how do you be in a collecting hobby without the collecting. However, I think my this approach towards the hobby would never have been possible without the ecosystem built in by E4.
I have had the most fun interacting with friends on E4 and I have participated in everything E4 had to offer last year. I am actually never been happier because I truly did not think about buying cards every waking moment or how will I reach my goals. I did spend an insane amount of time trying to make my team for the E4 VGC tournament or planning for Secret Santa.
I think this hobby for me is now evolved to the people I interact with more than the cards I buy. Even if it is purely online, there is still a lot of happiness to be found in the relationships I am building and the friends I am making.
Love you all 
Cheers!
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I’ve only bought a single card this year. There are still so many cards I want to pick up but it’s depressing seeing prices go higher and higher each week. I just can’t justify paying 2x - 5x what cards were going for a few months ago.
It’s not just vintage as I love a lot of modern art but can’t justify raw card prices or opening product (due to how much some of these sets release for).
I just wanna enjoy piggymens again… 
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So if we are talking about the hobby in general I think it’s getting harder for all collectors whether or not they are serious or not, ten years ago this wouldn’t have been much of a problem but now we have all these things going on in the hobby, with the current bubble that we are in, the prototypes, social media in general telling people to buy more packs and increasing the FOMO, and just all the negativity and people focusing to much on value and hype. I will say though there are a lot of people that are really good and just nice people in this hobby, I went to a convention earlier last year (small local conventions are the most fun) and met some of the nicest people I have ever met, a lot of people in this hobby won’t be here to stay once the bubble pops most of them will move on to the next thing, it will end eventually just depends on how long TPC and social media can drag this bubble on.
Also for anyone who wants to stay in the hobby while taking a break from all the stonk bros and what not I suggest trying out the battling it’s a lot more fun then you first think and most of the people enjoy it there’s not a lot of money to be made from tournaments so it’s genuinely fun because most people are playing for fun
This is just my two cents though please argue differently and correct me if I’m wrong:)
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I’m struggling at the moment, too.
Across the board, it’s just hard to find small wins or joys in the hobby.
I found a lot of joy back in 2020-2022 going to events like Regionals and Collect-a-con. Seeing like minded friends for a weekend, meeting an artist and getting autographs was a BLAST. Unfortunately I have no real reason to go to Regionals with the dropping of Artist events and CaC is just a place for investor bros to meet up and shoot content for social media. (Speaking of social media, everything on social media just sucks at the moment. No content is fun anymore or unbiased).
As far as purely collecting goes, I had taken a step back a few years ago to focus more on cards I liked purely for the art. That was great for a while, but I prefer graded cards and with the rising cost of grading, I can’t really justify grading anything under a certain dollar amount. Collecting raw cards is fine, but just not my thing.
I would be lying if I didn’t also say I miss the easy money that was to be made back in 2019-2023. It was never my main focus to make a living off Pokemon, but the extra and consistent side income was nice and that’s starting to become harder to maintain.
At this point, I’m not sure why I’m in the Pokemon hobby anymore. I feel like I need a hiatus or something has to change for me, whether that’s internal or external.
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I’m not sure if this is relevant or not, but maybe other people feeling the same…
Sometimes I am sitting on my couch, just chatting with my wife, and all of a sudden my brain goes on a tangent and I think the Mario and Luigi Pikachu boxes I kinda wanted to buy for $80 in 2016 are now worth $15,000. I am an ordinary man and have adjusted my collecting to allow saving for retirement and providing for my family. There is such a gutshot feeling when I think that those cards could buy my family a van. 5 sets of those boxes is a downpayment on a house! Or the Scream promos!
I understand there always has and always will be the “I should’ve bought that card”, but this feels different. Its not envy, its not jealousy. Its just this what-if analysis if things played out slightly differently. When it comes to markets, we’re mostly fooled by randomness*. Maybe that’s life.
Am I the only one?
*actual book title
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not really, it is always the same playbook. hype - pause - decline - hype…you just got to blend out the noise.
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I had a similar feeling during the first months 2024 where I did not buy a single card for my collection. However the passion slowly returned and now I am back at happily growing my collection and enjoying the hobby.
As I am not into ultra modern I just try to ignore the current hype but I get that it’s hard for a lot of people to ignore the stuff going on and the dealing with toxic people is super annoying. But I am sure the hype will eventually die down and the situation will get better.
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My experience may be the opposite of most people, but I feel like I’ve actually had more joy from stepping back a bit and concentrating my new purchases on a select few cards. It’s difficult but I just let other cards pass by even if I enjoy them. There’s definitely a learning curve as less opportunities to buy means missing out on auctions stings a bit more. Still, to me, the overall appreciative feeling I get when I do add cards makes up for it.
I also started going to cons recently and while there’s the element of investor bros and pumpers acting up for social media, I have had met good people and had a bunch of good convos. Also, buying and trading in person has been more rewarding than online. I’m trying to meet more people and focus a bit more on the social aspect of collecting rather than the cards themselves and it’s been positive so far.
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I collect what I want and can afford. If I cant make the second point work out then I do what I want to do in the hobby and shut out the noise. It helps that it is strictly a hobby for me and I dont view it as a way to make money.
Stepping back helps view the situation. Weve all seen bubbles before. Most collectors here have taken years to work on their carefully curated collections. Nothing changes in that expectation, but I can see how some people who were ahead of the curve may not be used to being behind now that modern took off. It’ll eventually cool off but if it doesnt then I’ll decide to save for what I want or not, Ive never been one to try master set collecting.
I was just talking with someone how a few years back I didnt like all the misinformation and the way people were advertised to so I decided to try helping the hobby in my own ways. I took on modding some subreddits and have tried to focus on helping others enjoy the hobby. Currently I only buy packs that I can get at about $2/pack which leaves me not opening much, but I have been stocking my local area with bulk cards for years now. I trade old product I didnt get around to opening for bulk and then give it away to schools, library programs, social clubs, youth centers, teachers, etc. Its not modern so the stonkers dont want it but the kids who really like pokemon are always appreciative. I surround myself with the parts of the hobby I enjoy, there will always be parts I dont like to it but that doesnt mean that I have to stop finding joy in ways that mean a lot to me. Besides, the best thing about the pokemon community for me is the endless imagination the fans have, so there are always more crafts to try with cards.
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As far as I’m concerned, the hahbee took a gunshot wound to the abdomen in 2014.
I could write a 7000-page tetralogy about just how I feel about all of this, but that sentence sums it up quite nicely.
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Personally I’m still having a great time, but pretty much 100% of how I engage with the hobby is in the context of WotC errors. Year after year I’ve been excited to see which new cards/errors will pop up, and it’s still a blast tracking them down. I don’t go to in person events or keep up with which sets are currently releasing, but I could understand a sort of tone shift for those things in the whole hype beast culture. Just doesn’t affect me personally.
On a more general note, I think carving out some new habits/routines beyond the hobby is a great idea for anyone feeling burnt out - try to break up the monotony.
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Honestly, rejoining the hobby in 2020, the first and largest hurdle for me was coping with the fact that I simply missed what was effectively the golden age of collecting. Starting with nothing then, there were many cards that from jump were just fully and utterly out of reach. Back in the day, this was mainly big trophies, right? For the newer collector, it’s vast swathes of cards from ultra modern, all the way down to vintage. So, naturally, you must find ways to make less mean more because you will be able to collect far less. And the amount of items that rocket out of the average collectors price range only grows by the day.
All this to say: I spent my first several years of the hobby falling in and out. I would go deep and realize I wasn’t feeling joy, then take several months away from the hobby to reflect on how I was interacting with Pokemon, what I wanted, and what I needed to do to get the joy I was looking for. It’s taken a lot of time and work, but I think I have finally found a place that I am happy. In fact, I am probably in the happiest, healthiest place I have ever been with Pokemon. I buy singles and build binders, I play the games, and recently have even picked up the TCG, which is tons of fun and quite affordable right now. I have also really isolated that the social aspect; meeting and talking to other collectors, is a very special part of this hobby to me. Hanging out with E4 members at Regionals, sharing binders, meeting up for trades and play, it’s all great.
Basically, I think it’s more difficult now than ever, but my solution has been lots of reflecting, taking space when needed, and tripling down on those special things that do bring joy. And do your best to tune out all the garbage, which is easier to do when you got good people close by to talk to. Build a deck and come by the local, man. It’s tons of fun.
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