So thought I’d start a thread off to document my impossible journey of amassing every English set. I will also include promos and extra cards, but won’t target Trophy Cards (that’s a step too far!!)
I’ve finished the following (will edit as I go!)
UPDATE: NOW ALL COMPLETE!
#1: Base Set #2: Base Set (1st Edition) #3: Jungle #4: Jungle (1st Edition) #5: Fossil #6: Fossil (1st Edition) #7: Base Set 2 #8: Team Rocket #9: Team Rocket (1st Edition) #10: Gym Heroes #11: Gym Heroes (1st Edition) #12: Gym Challenge #13: Gym Challenge (1st Edition) #14: Neo Genesis #15: Neo Genesis (1st Edition) #16: Neo Discovery #17: Neo Discovery (1st Edition) #18: Neo Revelations #19: Neo Revelations (1st Edition) #20: Neo Destiny #21: Neo Destiny (1st Edition) #22: Legendary Collection #23: Expedition #24: Aquapolis #25: Skyridge #26: Base Set (Shadowless) #27: Base Set (2000 Print) #28: Fossil (2000 Print) #29: EX Ruby & Sapphire #30: EX Sandstorm #31: EX Dragon #32: EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua #33: EX Hidden Legends #34: EX FireRed & LeafGreen #35: EX Team Rocket Returns #36: EX Deoxys #37: EX Emerald #38: EX Unseen Forces #39: EX Delta Species #40: EX Legend Maker #41: EX Holon Phantoms #42: EX Crystal Guardians #43: EX Dragon Frontiers #44: EX Power Keepers #45: Diamond & Pearl #46: Mysterious Treasures #47: Secret Wonders #48: Great Encounters #49: Majestic Dawn #50: Legends Awakened #51: Stormfront #52: Platinum #53: Rising Rivals #54: Supreme Victors #55: Arceus #56: HeartGold & SoulSilver #57: Unleashed #58: Undaunted #59: Triumphant #60: Call of Legends #61: Black & White #62: Emerging Powers #63: Noble Victories #64: Next Destinies #65: Dark Explorers #66: Dragons Exalted #67: Boundaries Crossed #68: Plasma Storm #69: Plasma Freeze #70: Plasma Blast #71: Legendary Treasures #72: X&Y #73: Flashfire #74: Furious Fists #75: Phantom Forces #76: Primal Clash #77: Roaring Skies #78: Ancient Origins #79: BREAKthrough #80: BREAKpoint #81: Generations #82: Fates Collide #83: Steam Siege #84: Evolutions #85: WOTC Black Star Promos #86: Southern Islands #87: Best of Game #88: Sample Set #89: WB Promos #90: Nintendo Black Star Promos #91: Diamond & Pearl Black Star Promos #92: POP Series 1 #93: POP Series 2 #94: POP Series 3 #95: POP Series 4 #96: POP Series 5 #97: POP Series 6 #98: POP Series 7 #99: POP Series 8 #100: POP Series 9 #101: Pokemon Rumble #102: HeartGold & SoulSilver Black Star Promos #103: Black & White Black Star Promos #104: McDonalds 2011 #105: McDonalds 2012 #106: Dragon Vault #107: XY Promos #108: Kalos Starter Set #109: Double Crisis #110: McDonalds 2014 #111: McDonalds 2015 #112: McDonalds 2016 #113: Sun & Moon Promos #114: Detective Pikachu #115: McDonalds 2017 #116: McDonalds 2018 #117: McDonalds 2019 #118: Sun & Moon #119: Guardians Rising #120: Burning Shadows #121: Shining Legends #122: Crimson Invasion #123: Ultra Prism #124: Forbidden Light #125: Celestial Storm #126: Dragon Majesty #127: Lost Thunder #128: Team Up #129 Unbroken Bonds #130 Unified Minds #131 Hidden Fates #132 Cosmic Eclipse
Bit of an update, managed to acquire both Pokemon Center and Lucky Stadium (FINALLY!) and even managed to scoop them both PSA 10 (pics when they arrive!).
Also bought the Southern Islands set - one of my favourite sets! The cards are in amazing shape, tempted to get the whole set graded, although not sure if it’s worth that hassle (maybe!).
Also finally managed to individually sleeve and categorise my 4,500-5000 cards and separate numerically into sets (that took FOREVER lol):
I’m still working on my master spreadsheet to track them all, will share that in the first post when I eventually finish it!
Last update for a while from me - we move house on Friday (20th) and then Christmas and then a new baby 9th January (separate thread for collecting that ).
I’ve managed to finish off another 3 sets (technically 4 with Detective Pikachu): Base Set 2, Gym Challenge and Gym Heroes. I’m now also pretty much complete all the rare/promo cards from WOTC (aside from that Fossil 2000 Golduck). I still haven’t moved over to my proper Ultra Pro Pro Binders yet because I’m having an OCD freakout on how many spaces to leave/how to organise lol - I’ll sort that post-baby!
I’m between 60-80% of master setting the majority of the XY-Sun & Moon sets now too thanks to my bundle purchasing, I may move to finishing those off to be honest as they’re really cheap to pick up at the moment because no one has much interest in them (as opposed to Neo/E Series/Legendary that is).
So I’ve managed to finally master WOTC through to XY and am currently ~140 away from mastering Sun and Moon, so I’ve started documenting the collection on both Insta and YT. I’ll hopefully finish off Sun and Moon, then consider my collecting journey completed. It’s been a bloody long and expensive journey so far and I’m over 99% of the way there, last push now!
Started uploading them today with the first set mastered - Base Set
Why did you decide to start collecting these master sets and why stop at Sun and Moon?
Why did you decide to run the sets immediately after the prior one ends?
For the latter, I guess you did all your research before you started but still, 1 undiscovered promo/card/variant would be unthinkable in terms of how much would be needed to be shifted (basically everything!)
It was a dream as a poor kid back in 99’ to have completed sets and I guess that’s always lived in my head that one day I’d do it (as corny as it is, that used to be my “shooting star wish” when I seen a shooting star hahaha, kinda odd that it has come true though right!?).
Probably the single biggest mistake I made to be honest, purely for the reasons you’ve said. Although every era is separated, I’ve had instances where I’ve had to move many hundred cards because I missed a card/miscalculated lol. It’s purely from a folder-saving perspective though, even stacking them like I do I still have around 65 folders (if it was 1 for every set there’d be WAY more lol) and they’re all like £20 a pop so the cost adds up lol.
In terms of stopping at Sun and Moon, I guess I needed to draw a line in the sand of when I’d stop, they’re never gonna stop printing them, so I’d never be finished. I have to ultimately complete the goal and then move on and sell them. Which I get some people find odd, but for me it’s just about completing the goal itself, rather than holding on (completer/finisher personality type!).
#85 WOTC Black Star Promos #86 Southern Islands #87 Best of Game #88 Sample Set(!!!) #89 WB Creator Set #90 Nintendo Black Star Promos #91 Diamond & Pearl Black Star Promos