If you’ve been following my content or my social media for a while now, you will have seen I’ve been talking about Pokémon and the Trading Card Game often over the last few months. I’ll be honest, I’ve been enjoying being back in the hobby, both collecting and playing. Not only that, it’s been a true learning curve. Trying to catch up on the sets from the last few years, the different card types, since there’s more than when I collected when I was growing up. There’s just so much to re-learn and discover. That’s all part of the fun though, right?
Having spent some time reorganizing my new and my original childhood collection, I finally was in a position to start a new quest. While not a master set as such, it was certainly going to be a challenge in itself. The chosen Pokémon if you haven’t already guessed is Pikachu!
With a new card binder ready to be filled with cards, 160 cards total, it was time to start searching through my collection for all the Pikachu cards that I own.
You might be wondering why Pikachu, though?
Well, while they are the most known Pokémon overall. The face of the franchise, you could say. However, it’s not so much about that. I’ve always liked Pikachu as a Pokémon like many people, but also there’s a huge variety of cards spanning English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. With more cards, means more variety, and I was happy with just filling this binder in general with any Pikachu cards I could. In fact, I’d already been planning this for a couple of months. Having added a few Pikachu cards here and there when I’ve been to local shops.
With the new binder ready to go, 37 Pikachu cards from my current collection sleeved and ready, alongside one Pikachu imposter Ditto, the binder was starting to take shape nicely. For those wondering which binder I picked up, I’m using the Vault X Exo-Tec 4 Pocket version in the Teal colour.
While I’ve talked about why I chose Pikachu for this Pokémon TCG side quest, here are a few other questions that have come to mind, and I’ve actually been asked by people I know when I’ve been talking about Project Pikachu.
Are you Going to Master Set Pikachu?
Simply putting it, no.
As much as I would love to own a copy of every single Pikachu card that has ever been released, financially, it just isn’t possible. There are, however, a number of reasonably priced cards that I can get as and when I see them or through trusted sellers online.
There are some Pikachu cards that go for hundreds if not thousands just as they are. That’s not to mention the graded cards!
How are you going to pay for these cards?
I have two ways that I’ve been purchasing my cards since I started the hobby again. Firstly, I’ve been putting a small amount of money to one side each month that I can put towards Pokémon. Of course, keeping in mind upcoming and new set releases. Anything left at the end of the month gets rolled over into the next month. I’ve found that budgeting money towards the hobby each month has allowed me to feel more in control of what I spend on this hobby without it impacting my other financial commitments.
The second way is by doing trades with local card stores. Up until recently, I had a lot of Pokémon Cards and sets that I no longer felt fitted my collection. Instead of leaving them to sit there and gather more dust, I took them into local card stores that did trades, got them valued and then used that to purchase various cards, including some of the starting Pikachu cards.
Ripping Packs or Single Cards?
Now that I’ve built up a bit of a collection and have some cards in hand, I’ve started to focus more so on picking up individual cards now rather than chancing it with ripping packs. I do still get packs on occasion, especially if I’m deck building, but now I know more so what I’m looking for specifically.
Why not Stick to English Only Cards?
I wanted to have a true variety of Pikachu cards in this collection. There are some cards that are available in multiple languages. Others are only available in selected languages instead. You may also find that cards have alternative artwork, exclusive artwork for that set/language, and sets that can only be found in particular languages. Having so many cards to choose from does make it easier to a degree to fill up all 160 card slots in this binder.
Not to mention that some cards are more affordable in different languages as well, which when working out which cards to get, helps with the budgeting.
How Long will this take you?
Well, having officially starting this today, I have no end date for when I want to finish this. It ends when it ends. It’s just something fun that I can do, and I don’t want to add the pressure of a completion date into the mix.
Have you got your Eyes Set on a Particular Card or Two?
Of course, however, those are dream cards and ones I can only dream that I can afford!
How are you Documenting the Cards?
I use Collectr both the website and the mobile app and have created a separate portfolio just for the Pikachu cards. I’ve found it handy for both documenting cards I own and looking up cards and checking the current values of cards.
Fancy Joining In a Card Challenge?
Why not jump in and start your own card challenge? It can be Pikachu or any Pokémon you like! You set the target and the rules and add a little fun side challenge to collecting!
There are also so many affordable and easy to master set Pokémon too. I’ve got a couple that I’ve been doing here and there that are smaller, where cards are at most up to around £5 individually or less.
I’ll be updating my progress on my own Project Pikachu over the coming weeks and months over on my Patreon. Don’t worry, it won’t cost anything to read the updates, my Patreon is and always will be free. I’ll also aim to share some of the cards I’ve got in the collection so far as well as some that I’ve got my eye on too in future updates!
Have you completed a Pokémon TCG master set? Be it a particular Pokémon or an actual set? Do you have any tips for new collectors? You might even now be planning on starting your own instead! Regardless of the answer to these questions, why not drop a comment below to see what other Pokémon collectors enjoy collecting or sets they are trying to complete!
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