Some of you have seriously niche collecting goals/interests. And I think that’s cool! Let’s see if you are the only one with a specific interest in the hobby.
Here is my niche interest. I like to collect cards where the Pokemon directly interacts with the holofoil pattern. A great example from my collection is this Skyridge Gengar “picking up an orb.”
My niche interest is leaving behind a Pokémon card at crime scenes, then returning after the incompetent detectives have swept the site and found no clues. I always return the card to my binder as a reminder of my work. A collector’s work is never finished, as it would be. There are still so many to collect—
I also love flip coins! 
Not sure how many of these things people would consider niche, but I feel they’re all among the niche category.
I’ve really been enjoying the amada stickers books. Have both set 1 and 2 almost fully complete.
Another one has been the mini chip series
Third would be stamps in general. Spurred by the recent stamp box, then seeing lots of stamps around for quite cheap.
Last niche one, thanks to @shizzlemetimbers for getting me hooked on these, the Pokémon trainer’s magazine’s. Only have a few right now, but it’s really neat to look through the old Pokémon lore from the original source.
My Niche is finding a non-English/non-Japanese card that is unique in some way besides the language
I’ve been looking for the Vol. 19 Trainers Magazine for a while! Such a beautiful collection item 
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I would consider the mini chip series pretty niche!
Oh, I didn’t realize it was a tough one to find! I’m very happy to have found a few of the ones I really wanted all at once. Those two are tops in my eyes. Imakuni anything is so fun, having the exploud ex art in big scale is very nice!
I wish you the best of luck finding that piece for your collection.
And as always, love the orb you’ve got there! I’m quite jealous of it haha! The Gengar I’ve got is where Gengar is staring the swirl down, not grabbing it, but I want a grab one. It’s too perfect.
Thanks, I’m sure that I will find one!
If you’re looking to take out another mortgage, you could buy the PSA 10 listed on eBay 
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I haven’t seen another English copy of Gengar picking up an orb. However, there are some close Japanese copies out there.
Japanese pokemon stuff
Deep ink version of 1st ed Base, especially Zard. They are pretty rare, I know others who collect them have waited years for the right copy. I know there were 2 BGS 8.5’s on PWCC a while ago, one of them was nearly there saturation-wise.
A few Cosmos Fossil Dragonites. This one I’m pretty sure would actually be easier than the Zards to just auto-complete if I had a shitload of money. Sadly, I don’t.
A Sealed case of Neo genesis 1st ed boxes. I have no idea why I have an urge to own one. Maybe it is because 1st ed base and Shadowless are so astronomically unlikely if not physically impossible at this point, so owning a Neo Genesis case (my 2nd favorite set) feels a tad more realistic? 
Sealed case of EX Dragon is god-tier too.
Hmm, are these also called “Ruby” Charizards? I’ve seen plenty of saturation variability in Base, but less so in 1st Edition as you’ve suggested.
Now this is a major goal!
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard them described that way but it would perfect sense if they have, spot-on way to describe them.
1st ed and Shadowless Base has some really extreme variance in saturation, here is a great photo example: Intense Charizard colors - #3 by tem4elf
Actually, they are described as Rubies in this very thread. 
I’m not a huge Charizard fan, but I can definitely appreciate these niche variations in something as simple as the background color. 
I wonder if Rusty @TCAGaming or Gary @KingPokemon have a dedicated interest in collecting differences in saturation for Base or 1st Ed Charizards.
The Charizard itself and the illustration box are so deep and dark, that is my favorite part. Looks like it is carved into the card.
If only we had a Fossil Dragonite equivalent. 
My primary and “normal” collection goal is to obtain all WOTC 1st Ed holos in PSA 9. I’ve started slowly picking up those cards this year.
My unusual and meme-worthy side quest is to obtain an entire PSA 10 XY Evolutions master set. Yes, I know Evolutions was a massively overprinted reprint set. However, it was one of the key sets (alongside Generations) that brought me back to the hobby in 2016.
I took my first big step towards the Evolutions goal by submitting a ludicrous number of Evolutions cards to PSA in 2020-21. I have finally gotten most of those back.
The Evolutions EX and Full Arts were easy enough to grade.
The regular holos have been a nightmare.
The reverses have been tough too, but I am well on my way to finishing those. I currently have about 75% of the 83 Evolutions reverse holos in PSA 10.
At some point I’ll have to submit the regular commons and uncommons too. I already sorted through 7000 Evolutions bulk cards and identified my 4 best copies of each unique card. So those 10s are “done”. I just need to submit them. I am waiting for PSA grading fees to drop a bit more, ideally closer to their stated $10 goal.
I collect Oddish cards which is a very niche Pokemon to collect, specifically in CGC 9 with subgrades.
If you’re wondering about non-Pokemon-specific collection goals, I want to have a complete collection of cards featuring non-Pokemon animal cameos. Here are a few example cards:
Peep the froge
And peep the crab
Oh, I’ve been getting into these a lot lately as well. Specifically the Boss Pikachu’s. They’re surprisingly expensive at shops in Tokyo. I saw them for like 3000 yen each. Thankfully Mercari is better, but they’re still not even that common on there.
Thats a balling gengar
Ig my main collecting goal has been every Cynthia in every language, but my side goal has been cramorant whenever I buy a card or a plushie (which isnt often these days). Something about the big dumb blue bird is just… amazing.
I have small amounts of cards with deep sometimes “dirty” color in the borders from WOTC sets. None specific to Charizard though
I’m glad you mentioned this, because this is also one of my niche collections! I love finding traces of real animals in pokemon media. Here is a post I made a bit ago documenting as many cards that I (and other community members) could find with Animals on Pokemon cards!
https://www.elitefourum.com/t/animals-in-pokemon-cards/33124
(once you include coral, you are opening pandora’s box 
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I still haven’t found my niche in Pokemon collecting yet. I’ve thought about maybe building an artist focused binder set. I still have so many other cards I want to collect and finish off my other goals before going into a niche. I’m sure I’ll get there eventually. There’s a lot of cool options and ideas, especially with all the promos and other limited release type cards out there.
