As a counterpart to Sour Grapes, I thought it would be nice to create a thread where we can share our positive interactions with other members of the hobby. I’d love to focus on the good experiences we’ve had, oftentimes we get caught up on the negative. I’ll share two stories to get it started:
Back in 2013 I was looking to purchased sealed WOTC theme decks (Overgrowth, Zap, Brushfire etc) and noticed that a seller from Hawaii had a bunch listed. I purchased 3 for an initial order, and then 4-5 additional over the next month. The seller would include a nice note with each order and we communicated via ebay messages for a while. Fast forward to June 2019 and I had a chance to meet up with the seller and her family for shaved ice while my wife and I were there on vacation. It was nice to chat with someone in person who was as interested in the hobby as I was.
My wife has a friend with two kids around ages 8 and 2. One day, my wife mentioned that her friend’s kids were getting interested in Pokemon. I offered to give them some and put together a small binder of some duplicate holos, uncommons, and commons. The 8 year old was extremely excited and I learned later that he immediately shared some of the cards with a friend of his who comes from a less than well off family. That was a big reminder to me to keep things in perspective.
I’ve had plenty of amazing interactions, from lasting friendships, to meeting people in person, to getting surprise donations.
But what takes the cake is what happened to me in December of 2016. I had posted why I was so inactive around that time as I had been going under some incredible financial stress. The program I had been working with fell through and I was jobless for a couple of months while job hunting. It eventually forced me to take back an old and shitty retail job that I had thought I left for good and so I wasn’t feeling so great.
Come a few weeks later and my roommate told me I had a package that I wasn’t expecting. Inside was a present - a Mega Gyarados Collections Box and some Gyarados cards. But what really did it for me was an anonymous letter which made me cry hard. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt such deep appreciation for such an act of kindness. I still have the Box, the Figurine, and the card. It truly touched my heart and it’s been one of my favorite things about this community: It’s incredible dedication to the hobby and the people involved.
Similar to your story number 2. My son learned about Pokemon cards at school and kept asking for some. Not knowing anything about Pokemon, my wife and I kept putting it off but eventually we relented and bought him a tin. The tin came with a GX and 3 packs. He pulled another (different) GX from one of the packs and couldn’t have been happier. A couple of days later he was at a friend’s house and just gave the GX he pulled to his friend. My wife and I looked at each other, kind of surprised, and asked if he was sure he wanted to do that. He was adamant about it, and said that he knew how it felt to not have a GX card when your friends have them, and he didn’t want his friend to feel that way.
Oftentimes extreme acts of kindness sprout from great tragedy. LeonHart founder Lee Steinfeld lost a best friend to suicide when both were about 18. It caught everybody by complete surprise as this illness often does. Unlike an acne breakout, mental illness can be hidden by the sufferer. It’s far too often a secret disease…until it’s too late.
Lee found a way to deal with this terrible loss proactively. He’s held several fund raisers for mental health causes through his popular YouTube channel, but nothing like this current one. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) the Hartsquad as well as many of us here on E4, have raised a RECORD AMOUNT for their charity. Already in the 45,000.00 range.
We are all the little engine that could, accomplishing something that often goes unnoticed as part of our great hobby. Just imagine, a Pokémon community accomplishing so much.
Let’s keep it going. Visit Giving $1000 To Charity If I Pull This Pokemon Card! - YouTube and get another gift in. In fact, all my friends please add a couple bucks on for me in memory of my son. Let’s hit 50k.
I started online trading with fellow collectors and players when I was just 12 or 13 through mostly now dead forums. It’s always stuck with me that of of HUNDREDS of trades – where at the time it was literally put your cards in a regular letter envelope and stick a few stamps then send the letters at the same time, no one ever asked for priority tracking insured or anything, I have been scammed a grand total of ONE TIME. In contrast, there are dozens of traders who have gone above and beyond, including special cards or Chanseys in their online trades. Doesn’t matter if it was for a $5 playable trainer in 2009 or a $5k PSA 10 in 2019, my experiences with the Pokemon community have always been phenomenal.
Awesome thread! Recently I was able to visit my younger cousins who got me back into the hobby, I had such a great time as they showed me there collections, told me about some of their new favorite pokemon, and talked about the upcoming 8th generation. My cousin Jaxon even showed me his favorite Kommo-o card I gave him years ago! Now his little sister Lexi has turned 4 and is starting to get excited about pokemon with the help of her popplio plushie. Im glad this hobby has helped me stay close with them even though ive moved states and gotten busy with work. Hopefully one day they will all become e4 members and share their experiences as well!
I wasn’t going to post here because my most memorable interactions make me too emotional but…something happened today.
I’m having some new business cards made and after I approved them I noticed an error. So I called immediately. A fellow with an accent answered. It turned out he was at a call center in the Philippines.
He saw the content of the card and said, “You’re actually Gary! I recognize your voice.” I said yes and he went on to say on the episode of the Pawn Stars I wore glasses, a blue shirt, and blue pants with white stripes lol. He was exactly right.
He added that he saw me on LeonHart and him and the entire office play Pokémon now, on their breaks. He said he couldn’t wait to tell his family and coworkers he talked to me. I told him to look me up on social media and we’ll talk some more.
I was really quite humbled by the experience. Plain old Gary, being known and making a difference in someone’s life on the other side of the world.
So cool…
My first purchase to get back into the hobby was just unsorted bulk (unbroken bonds) from a Pokemon facebook group local member, I had my son with me as he was super keen starting his first year in school and seeing kids playing Pokemon cards. The bloke threw in a few things (figurines, tokens etc) after the sale for him and seeing his face and how grateful he was a good feeling. It made coming back worth it, and I know that I’ll pass on the gesture on down the line.
