Do your friends/family know the full extent of your Pokemon card collecting?
Since my reintroduction to the hobby, I’ve been a closet-collector.
6 Likes
I’m halfway. Everyone knows I buy and sell pokemon cards part-time for some additional income.
Only a select few know that I make no money, only build inventory, and am passionate about the hobby.
Although the question is a little misleading. A lot of my best friends come from the hobby itself! Haha.
3 Likes
can i be your bestest friend?
Yeah sure. What could go wrong?
I am two-fold… All of my friends know about my Pokemon eBay Business! I have no issues telling anyone about my eBay Business and how well I do selling Pokemon Cards on eBay. No lies; I have used my eBay Business as a conversation-starter on a few occasions. Just recently I went to the bar with my buddy and a few of his friends; when one of them asked what I did during my time-off from my “real-job” I told him about my eBay Business and spent a good 20 minutes or so with him shooting the shit about “back in the day” with Pokemon Cards LOL
On the flip-side; the only people who know I collect Pokemon Cards are my family - and that’s even a stretch… While they know I collect cards; they really don’t have any idea on the amount of money I spend purchasing cards for my collection and/or how much money I have invested into my collection! God Forbid anything happens while I am at-sea, I have included an Excel Spreadsheet within all my collection binders with estimated values of all my completed sets, booster packs, loose cards…
2 Likes
step one complete.
gained trust.
now, we wait…
*evil laugh grows in the distance.
I’m definitely a closet-collector. Almost nobody knows I collect cards. I guess if someone was to ask, I’d definitely tell them yes, but I generally don’t go around telling people about my latest finds to my collection. 
Yeah, that’s spot on. I keep a separate bank account for my pokemon stuff so the finances are entirely separate. My gradual investment into the hobby is the money I spend shipping things I sell.
I am out in the open about it with friends and family. The level at which I do eBay sales it really can’t be hidden. Anyone who has come into my house has seen the mountains of packing supplies and Pokemon cards as far as the eye can see. All my co workers also know about it and I actually buy and sell some stuff for them here and there as well. Some are genuinely curious in a positive way and interested in it all. A few think its a little weird but that doesn’t bother me.
1 Like
My family knows (of course) and so do my close friends. If someone asks me about it I’ll say yes. I don’t broadcast it though, I don’t really see the point of doing that.
However, if anyone asks I will gladly deliver a 3-hour lecture on the intricacies of purchasing, grading, and selling children’s trading cards.
7 Likes
So I headed to this thread when I read Closet and Collector thinking it was about gay Pokemon collectors…
I guess I went from one closet to another one… jk some of my friends do know… but a lot of them don’t know the extent or value of some of the cards lol.
1 Like
That’s a great point.
It’s hard enough to find someone passionate about any hobby to the extent that I am. Pokemon specifically just doesn’t happen.
Yeah, this is me too. Impossible to hide and too old to care:)
2 Likes
Family and close friends know that I collect, but I don’t go telling every random I meet, which reminds me of a story;
I use to volunteer/work in a second hand shop/op shop
Someone who I would describe as loud and proud came into the store and out of no where proclaimed his love for Pokemon cards to me. He claimed to own 1 of only 4 complete base sets in all of Australia, and that it was worth thousands :\ little did he know he was talking to probably the only guy in my suburb that’s knowledgeable enough to know he was full of shit lol
7 Likes
This pretty much sums it up for me.
My Dad always takes interest because he likes to know how much money I have made on a sale. He’ll ask my sale price and then ask what I made on a card. He understands what grading is and always asks if I think a card I have would get a 10 or not.
It’s always a risky play talking about it in a public setting. You get the ‘I have a 1st edition Charizard at home whats it worth?’ then you have to go into the inquiry asking whether it is actually 1st edition or they just mean it’s from Base Set. 75% of the time they swear black and blue that it’s an actual 1st edition, but then they send you a photo of a beat up Unlimited Charizard that looks like it was kept in a kids pocket… and probably was.
3 Likes
AND I PULLED OUT MY GUN
1 Like
I don’t talk about it publicly to people unless they ask. I don’t gloat about it randomly or try to show everyone I meet my 1st Edition Charizard. Not ashamed of it either. Love talking about it to anyone that is interested or curious. If anyone visits my apartment they will see my “man cave” decorated with video games and Pokemon cards everywhere. So I’m not a closet collector but also not Loud and Proud. Parents and fiance like to hear when I’ve made good money on it but that’s about the extent of that.
Loud and proud, everyone knows about it and nobody judges me, anyone who doesn’t get it at first understands after any sort of financial aspect is discussed. I think a lot of you keeping it in the dark don’t realise that if you surround yourself with good enough people then you will be encouraged to continue as people see it makes you happy. All of my friends are supportive and my girlfriend is even planning on buying me a graded card or 2 that I need for my birthday on Saturday
3 Likes
Everyone who asked me what I want for Christmas this year got “Pokemon cards!” for answer.
2 Likes
As far as I’m concerned, this is a grown mans hobby that kids recently discovered.
7 Likes