Cold Open And Botched Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Hey everyone. Thanks for joining us for another Riveting Podcast. I'm Rob, and I'm here with my pot. Damn it, why'd you laugh? That's funny. Uh all right. Three, two.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Are you starting over for real?

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Yeah, I'm fucking starting over. Okay, whatever. I'll leave it. No, I I need to be better with just rooting with it.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

I promise I won't laugh or express me.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

It's organic. Okay. All right. Okay. Three, two, one. Hey everyone. Welcome back to another riveting podcast. Or damn it, another riveting episode of Save It for Swing Shift. I'm your host, Rob, and I'm here with my co-host RJ. Present. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Now now that every now that attendance is handled. Um, so let's just be perfectly honest here, bud. Um, you pretty much consumed the entire episode last episode.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Uh yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Okay. So uh I'm tired of being bored, so I'm gonna actually do some talking this time.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

You and the listeners, I'm sure. Uh yeah, I mean it's pretty it's pretty

The Surprise Pokemon Collector Reveal

SPEAKER_03 1:35

pretty dorky stuff. Um so yeah, I think uh uh this will be a good little inflection point. I mean, uh knowing the kind of person you are, I'm sure you're I don't know, you're probably gonna get ready to talk about monster trucks and speed boats or something, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Uh how about how about the manliest thing a guy could ever do? Okay. Which is collect Pokemon cards. Jesus Christ. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Uh-huh. It's uh well, it's something.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

I mean You don't have any place to judge because you used to collect Magic the Gathering.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Yeah, when I was 14, sure. Uh so good point there, bud. Um also I will say uh I'm I'm not a qualified authority on what's manly. Um so I can't really I'm not gonna judge. Um so Pokemon. It's really funny. Like just knowing you, knowing Rob. It's like, man, this guy. This guy's in the Pokemon.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yeah, so I guess maybe context for those who don't know me or know my past, I mean, I am probably the complete opposite of somebody that you wouldn't expect to be a Pokemon collector. Uh like growing growing up, I played sports, played football, track and field wrestling, uh, like to go shooting, I like to go hunting. That's fantastic. I like to do yeah, the operating crazy preloading this whole thing with all your masculine credentials. Yeah, I know,

First Big Card Show And Trading

SPEAKER_00 3:10

I know, right? Wow. Then uh and now I collect Pokemon cards.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Yeah. Well, uh God, at least you don't go to shows and stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Uh well, went to my first big card show over the weekend, and uh it was just quite just Pokemons or like all the No, so this was just like a what you call a like an actual card show or TCG expo is what it was called. So it's all varieties of trading card games um as well as sports cards, and then there's also booths there that were selling collectibles. But um really, really interesting experience, you know, like picking up the um the trade, the sell. You know, these vendors always purchase and trade at at uh certain percentages of market value and stuff because obviously they need to have um a little meat on the bone so they can continue to thrive in their business and stuff. But um, it's really interesting when I go to like these cards, uh what people call drops at like retail stores, you know, you see a lot of the same folks at the same drop sites and and whatnot, you know, different stores all around the valley. And uh what's really what I thought was really funny is just the simple fact that there was a lot of those people at this card show too. So it's like it's a really big hobby, but it it's a small world, you know? Yeah. But uh Brian went with me, my my good buddy Brian, as you know him quite well.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

I do.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Um as part of my you know fascination with collecting Pokemon cards, he during his childhood collected basketball cards and all you know, telling him about all the different cards I was getting and stuff like that. He it kind of re-sparked his interest in collecting basketball cards, so he kind of went headfirst into doing that. So we went

Pokemon Rarity Terms Vs Sports Boxes

SPEAKER_00 5:05

to the show together. And the what's really weird, so like with Pokemon, it's like everybody kind of knows what cards what for the most part, right? There's not a lot of variety in especially like the stuff that people trade and sell and stuff. So you're not gonna see a lot of what you call commons uh or like bulk cards that are up for display. Um, it's you know, full arts and what they call like SIRs, there's uh super illustration rare rares. But um on the sports side, it's the complete opposite. Why can't they just be called rares? Because there's there's art rares, there's illustration rares, uh, and then there's like super illustration rares. So like the super illustration rares are low population, and they're like the the top chase card out of a particular set. So yeah, chase card. Yeah, chase card, yeah, exactly. Wow, good job.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Uh so I was I was saying that as a question.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Chase card? No, that's what it's oh did I say chase card and question that? Oh my gosh. Oh, yeah, chase card would be sorry. So, like, if poke every time Pokemon puts out a new set, there's say, like the what one of the most recent releases is called Chaos Rising. That set is 86 cards, but that's just the base set, so that's the common set in um holo graphics or the reverse holos that you can get. But then in addition to that, they have a ton of the art rares, the illustration rares, and all that stuff. So the top that that set in particular has like two top chase cards, which is a Greninja, is the character. So they have the Greninja SIR, which is like all the different textures and colors, and then they also have another Greninja EX that's completely gold. So that's kind of like the top chase card from each set, is like the most coveted card that they print for that particular set, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

So within the set of terminology, do that includes chase card, um, illustrative rare, artwork rare, super illustrative rare, really, it's just rare. Like just you're talking about rare rare cards.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Yeah, yeah. Okay. So on the flip side, the the sports card side, it's like the complete opposite. So they do have similar, you know, refractors and autographic uh autographed cards. They have stuff that will they'll have like a piece of the jersey from that particular player that was game worn and stuff like that. But just the sheer quantity of cards at these sports tables compared to the the TCG tables is insane. I mean, they would literally just put those cardboard boxes that have just the rows of cards out for you to just sort through and try to find something that you like. And it's like, all right, yeah, it's a buck apiece or whatever. You didn't see that at Pokemon on the Pokemon side at all. It's just two different worlds, really weird.

SPEAKER_03 8:06

Well, it kind of makes sense though, because I mean sports cards have gone back uh forever, you know, probably like over a hundred years, and the Pokemon cards, that's new relatively. Um it makes sense that this what thirty years, but yeah. That's and compared to sports cards. Yeah, very that's pretty new compared to that. Um and then it's also like you know sports cards that's not really I suppose it's a niche to an extent, but it's not like very nichey, because you know, most most people, at least most men, are into sports, so like it's not it's not at all hard to believe that most men would be into sports cards or could be into sports cards. True. It is harder to understand how a grown man could be into Pokemon, but um not that it's a bad thing, and I'm judging. I'm just saying it's a little more difficult to imagine.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

You'd be shocked at the number of grown men that collect Pokemon cards.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

I don't think I would be shocked at the number. Well, I might be shocked at the number. I don't think I'd be shocked by the type. The type?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yes. That's what I was telling Brian. I'm like, you you can pick out a Pokemon collector from a mile away. They all look the same.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Uh yeah, I totally I believe that. Um so so he's gotten like back into sports cards.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Yeah, yeah. He hasn't got into that Pokemon stuff. No, he just he doesn't he appreciates the the art quality, but he just it it doesn't really grab him like it's grabbed me, you know. He just he's like, yeah, I mean, I'm all about the sports stuff. And he likes it just because it's like it kind of ties into the sport itself, obviously, right? So he's like, you know,

Sports Card Pricing And Season Swings

SPEAKER_00 10:05

if a particular player does well, the value of their cards will start to surge. So like a good example is uh the the recent uh NBA championship, one of the bigger players, bigger name players, Wembenyama or something like that. San Antonio. Yeah, his his the value of his cards went like stratospheric. And I'm talking like like breaking record breaking level sales. And there was one of his cards that was like a PSA 10 rookie that you know I don't know all the different if I was Brian, it'd be like uh uh Orange Refractor Auto. But it it sold at uh at auction for like over a million dollars, dude, for a current player. That's insane.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Um you really want to pull that like tone of voice, though, some sort of mocking tone of voice, and talking about Brian and his basketball cards.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

No, actually, it's a joke between the two. Okay, because after the card show, we both got some new some some sealed cards, and I was like, hey, let's do a little rip sesh in your car before we head home. So we're sitting there, and he's like, Oh, yeah, we got uh you know uh Charles Barkley auto. And I'm like, Yeah, I got a Charizard uh EX Auto.

SPEAKER_03 11:27

Yeah, yeah, okay, perfect. Um I do wonder, I I want you can ask uh Brian this if um since the finals here a couple weeks ago, they ended. I wonder if Wemby's card value has gone down a lot. Because he arguably fucked up uh their whole deal. I mean, couldn't hit a fucking free throw. Kept taking threes when he should have been taking twos. Well, yeah, I mean the uh man. But yeah, he like he w it's just it was a it was embarrassing. It's like how big of a lead. That was like what they're shooting for the records. How big of a lead can we blow? Lots of smurfs.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Oh, yeah, they they blew a historical lead. Yeah, it was like 29 points. I think yeah, it was yeah, it was significant. Um as a matter of fact, we did talk about that, and he said there was a bit of a dip in the value of some of his cards, but overall they're still incredibly valuable. Yeah. So compared to like any other uh every an an average players, so to speak, right? But yeah, yeah. What's really interesting too is the ebbs and flows of the season in the values of the cards. So he's like now that's out of season, all the cards, the as far as market values go, just drop because it's over, like we'll see a next year type thing, and then it'll pick back up as they start getting into the draft and all that stuff. So completely different, like a lot of different layers to it that I don't even factor in with TCG or Pokemon because it's just like once once a sets out, yeah, it

Pokemon Print Runs And Price Curves

SPEAKER_00 13:10

has a lot of hype, and then as it's in production for you know a period of time, say four to seven, four to nine months, you'll have kind of like a reverse bell curve in market value on a lot of these cards. But once you hit about that six six month to nine-month mark, they start to recover because the production has started to kind of cut back a little bit. A lot of the collectors have gotten the cards that they want, so there's less uh driving forces in as far as like driving up the price and trying to find those cards, um, buying them single cards as opposed to trying to pull them from sealed packages. So um, and then once once once it kind of stabilizes, the card just continuously appreciates with value. You don't see a lot of um big drops in in card values with Pokemon. It's like once once it's out there and it's kind of it's hit that plateau, so to speak, it'll just incrementally increase over time.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

Well, and isn't part of that because like they don't I don't know how it works, but it basically if they have a collection and you know when they print a collection, they're not gonna print those they're not gonna print those cards again. Um right.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

So, yeah, they're it kind of, yeah. So what they'll do is they'll depending on the popularity of a set, they could run production on that set for two, three years. But yeah, but it but once it's done, it's done. Yeah, once it's done, it's done. But they also what they do is they'll scale back their production too, their print. So, you know, when they first come to market, obviously they're just printing like like it's going out of style. And then once you kind of hit that nine-month mark or so, nine months to twelve months, they start to scale back a little bit on the amount that they're producing to create a little bit more scarcity, and also so they're not competing with new sets that they're trying to release as well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Right. And and the thing with uh sports cards, I mean, is I'm I mean, I'm sure there's additions and whatever, but like it's uh you know, it sounds like it's more about the player, right? So like Oh, absolutely. Yeah, so you've got like eight different cards from a certain season of Wemby, like they're all gonna be valuable because Wemby card's valuable. Um but then to your point, once I forget about who he is, right? Like it's an ebb and a flow. Um you think this Kevin Johnson guy is gonna like take off at any point and I can get some money for this autographed card?

SPEAKER_00 15:45

I think that boat sailed, but damn it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you got a you got a live signature Kevin Johnson card. Is that a rookie card or just a regular card?

SPEAKER_03 15:56

Uh I haven't really looked at it that closely. I had no idea. Um,

ETBs Evolving Skies Pokemon Center Stamps

SPEAKER_03 16:00

but yeah, so uh interesting. I mean, how how big was this card show? Like on the scale of like a Texas gun show.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

I mean, pretty darn close, dude. I mean, it was it was hosted out of the State Farm Stadium, which is where the Cardinals play, the football team. So and it filled pretty much the entire field.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Yeah. So it was it was pretty big.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Yeah, that's nuts. Did you did you get anything, sell anything?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

I did both, yeah. So I had a lot of um I had like four what they call ETB's elite trainer boxes, which are kind of like the the crown jewel of seal product for collectors. And uh they were all like um most of it was like out-of-production stuff, but like one of like the crown jewel that I had that I was offloading was uh it's called Evolving Skies, is the name of the set, and it was a Pokemon Center ETV, and that adds to another layer, significant layer of rarity because Pokemon Center is a distributor of Pokemon, and they have exclusive rights with Pokemon to where Pokemon Center has print Pokemon Center printed on a lot of the products that they put out, specifically on the ETBs, so and it comes with some extras compared to what you could get out of an ETB at a retail store. So they they tend to drive a much higher price compared to just a regular retail ETB as a result. So this one, this particular Evolving Skies is a highly sought-after set because it has a couple of very expensive um chase cards, and um so the market value on that one box of 10 packs was about a thousand dollars. Jesus Christ. Yeah, where like a re retail on an ETB at Target on a in-production set right now is like 60 bucks, 65 bucks.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Wow. Uh so Pokemon Center is a company that prints Pokemon cards.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

I believe they I don't I don't know if they print. I know that they have uh they they distribute Pokemon, but be because they have exclusive is exclusivity rights with Pokemon directly, they have Pokemon Center stamped products. So like each ETB comes with a promo card in addition to the nine or eleven packs that you get in that box. So are the cards in the packs stamped differently? So the promos are. So the promos are stamped, have a Pokemon Center stamp, and then what what makes it so desirable is because they have a limit a very limited run on the ETBs that they put out, which means that there is a very small population size of those stamped cards. Gotcha. So and like for context, too, just so you can kind of understand, like uh Perfect Order is one of the newer sets that came out, and the promo is is the characters called Tyrant, and it's basically like a miniature tight T-Rex. So that market value on that cute. Um, but the market value on that regular promo card is about four bucks right now. Um Pokemon Center, because I have one, a Pokemon Center stamped Tyrant promo is forty-five dollars. Oh shit. Yeah, like 11 times the value. So yeah, the the Pokemon Center stamp stuff yeah, just drives a higher value because it's limited.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

Did you see that um eBay has like built into their app now like a card scanner?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah, I I I've been doing that, using that. It's actually really cool. It's not great. It's not great because um especially I guess with especially with Pokemon because they'll reuse um certain uh prints on different sets. So you have to be really um you have to be really diligent about checking the automated or I guess the suggested listing on it first, because I yeah, it can screw that up, but it's pretty cool, it's pretty nifty.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Yeah, well, I'm I'll have to give it a shot. Um I just saw that was in there and I'm like, yep, that's that's smart

Tangible Cards And The Art Factor

SPEAKER_03 20:35

based on based on what you've told me well about this Pokemon thing. It sounds well, all the card things sounds like it's getting big again, so oh it's huge.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

It's it's pretty cool to see. I think it kind of goes back, it kind of ties in with your film thing, is you know, I think people are going back to more tangible uh vices, you know, as opposed to they're they're kind of shy getting away from the digital stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Yeah, yeah, and I think that there's I think the tame the touch, the tangibility of it is definitely one is like a big part of it. I also this may not apply to cards, because I think part of your thing with the cards is the crackhead aspect of it, but thank you. I think for me with the you're welcome, with the astrophotography and just like the photography in general and stuff, the slowness of it, like right, the the fact that you need to slow down to do it, you need to kind of think about how to do it. Um I find that I find that very appealing. Um and and especially like something well, astrophotography is a really good example of something that with an all in one smart telescope like I have, you know, anybody can do it. But it's uh amazing how much better it can be and more rewarding when you the more you do it, the more you learn about how. how to do it better and take your time and like make a make a sky plan, you know, for the night and blah blah blah. Um and yeah, so I think we'll see where I what happens with the photography thing. Maybe not then, but yeah. And I I can totally see that with the cards. Um because there's it's like and too, picking something up and touching something and reading it with your own eyes, not through a screen. It it sticks with you. It stays with you. Um a lot more so than just swiping a picture, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Yeah. I I the other thing too is just I think um you know like it like I said before it it it it truly is art, you know, and because it's not just like a printed card. It's not just, you know, color um like paint slapped onto a piece of cardboard. I mean some of these higher end cards that you can get out of a five dollar pack, they're like they're embossed, they're etched and they're they're so they have texture to them in different um different heights in the in the print. And so you know if you look at them really closely and under a certain light you can catch all the different textures and the directions that they run the texture and you know the different each color has its own texture to it too. It's it's really really cool. It's really pretty when you get in and then it kind of goes to kind of what you're saying. It's almost meditative when you kind of just get completely captured by something because you just weren't expecting to see it and then it pops out of the back of this deck and then you're just completely your breath's taken away. It's it's they really are beautiful cards. Yeah God they sound gay.

SPEAKER_03 23:45

Uh yeah I mean uh no I get it and I like I I totally totally get what you're saying where you're coming from. I guess I I've never seen one in person I can't really of course I can't relate in that regard. But yeah like I I I think it's really cool. It's very surprising it's been very surprising learning about um you know ever since you got into this just the fact that you got into it is very surprising but um yeah I think it's great.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

I think that it's been great for our family too. The boys love it. Oh you know that yeah they come home and they'll be like hey can we do a rip sash and five guy cards like hell yeah it's hot yeah that's funny they love it. They absolutely got their own binders and you know it's it's fun for all of us. You know and Jamie's even kind of gets into it from time to time too you know she'll sit with us and watch us open packs and celebrate when we

Family Rip Sessions And Intentional Collecting

SPEAKER_00 24:45

hit a big card. So yeah it's fun for the whole family.

SPEAKER_03 24:49

Well that you see that that really takes it up a notch in my mind. That's just really cool.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yeah yeah I've I've kind of started shying away I was going through a really heavy fit uh phase where I was trying to collect as much of the sealed products as I could because it's it's really fun to open packs and get a surprise from time to time but now I'm getting more into collecting what what you call singles, right? So art rares, um illustration rares, SIRs so that way you know as opposed to spending a bunch of money on uh hope and a dream you're intentionally buying something or bidding on something because that's that's a card that you genuinely genuinely want to add to your collection. So I've kind of already gotten to that point where it's like okay you know I'm I'm tired of having all this bulk hanging around here and spending a lot of money for getting out a lot instead just going after the cards that I really want to add to my collection.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

Yeah yeah so that's I think that's really cool. Like that's uh you get into that next sort of level with something with the interest or a hobby um and believe it or not I can actually uh draw an analogy to astrophotography. Um shocker yeah well uh right um it's you're like I've become a moon guy I'm a bit of a mooner uh no but what it is is like you know if you get a smart telescope and you know it has an app and kinda you know so you open the app and it's like okay like here's here's some good things to some good targets for tonight right based on your location. Um okay so so it says it every night whatever so you know you do those and it's like oh wow this is amazing uh but then after a while you open up and be like I'm not dealing with that peasant shit I'm going after some fucking deep sky nebula in the Cassiopeia uh constellation tonight um and it is really a lot more rewarding right like to and kind of to your point about active like being deliberate and active about like searching and finding certain things to add to your collection and stuff it's like I I found that this this hobby a lot more engaging and a lot more satisfying and rewarding since I've started to like you know before it gets dark I even go outside sit down you know with a star chart and look at the weather conditions and be like what what's gonna be really interesting tonight right and where's it gonna be and you know I should what's what direction's the best to shoot based on the moon all that kind of crap and um yeah just a really immersive thing. Very immersive yeah and I that's a really good word um kind of for this and the card thing and everything it's like I think the more immersion uh you get with something like this and the more sort of ownership of it um really it it it becomes much more of a uh a fad or just a thing that other people are doing or whatever but it takes on its own certain meaning. And I think the family thing is really cool. Like that's another layer of what this thing is to you that yeah a lot of people aren't gonna have with that yeah yeah yeah it's it's been fun.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

It's been really fun I'm glad and I'm happy for you too that you you kind of started you were you I know you've been doing it for a while but you it sounds like you're um really kind of not not just sticking with it but further immersing yourself in into the astrophotography thing which is awesome. Yeah yeah but uh that's about enough uh saving or I guess uh that's enough of uh eliminating any respect or dignity that the audience or really you or myself have I think the good thing about that is uh like we st like we start off with a low bar, right? Yeah true. Yeah true not much respect gained so far. But um all right man well uh I guess uh until next time we'll uh save it for the next swing shift.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Yeah all right sounds uh very good son very good son broth top the other jumps in half and we're all big weird facts small town goes no bad no bring the quest the box