That's the fate pokemon cards were created to have. To be played with and loved until they're a fuzzy faded piece of trash in their 4th kid's closet.

Yup, gave mine to a neighbourhood kid that I babysat.

Honestly, over the years I think I've come to sour on the whole notion of collecting things as a hobby.

It's one thing if you're collecting stuff that no one wants and will be junked otherwise, or are collecting things to restore them and get rid of them again, but collecting stuff that is either highly desired or potentially used, just to collect it and have it sit there, feels really wasteful and self indulgent.

Everyone did that, that's why they're valuable now

Mine were stolen at church camp. I had planned on keeping them until they were worth something.

That’s the opposite of me… when I was in my early 20s and worked retail, a lady at my store saw my Pokémon hoodie and was like “my kids outgrew Pokémon, do you wanna buy their stuff for cheap?”

I go over there and there’s four containers (two of them Pokémon themed backpacks) full of minis, plushies, and more. I asked her how much and she’s like “ehhh fifty bucks?” I have never said yes so quickly in my life.

As I’m leaving, she’s like “oh do you want their cards for another forty?” And busts out three albums, complete sets of base, jungle, and fossil, with some other sets at the end. Base set had a bunch of first editions (not Charizard, unfortunately… just regular foil.)

I still have everything she sold me, 18 years later. I dunno if I can ever sell them.

What was it like inventing dirt?

I was just starting university when Magic: The Gathering came out.

Wow, you must be ancient!

What the archeologists saw in the ancient caves:

Typical!

But they're just worth nostalgia if you don't sell your paper bits for other paper bits!

I have a complete set of base through Fossil, with lots of first editions! I have no idea what they’re worth, but I could never part with them.

A show on PBS, they look at old stuff like paintings, pottery and collectables people found or inherited, and have appraisers explain the backstory of the item and estimate how much it could be worth at auction. It's great.

Edit - I think BBC has a version too

It's a TV show on PBS. People bring antiques to be appraised, and an expert tells them what they have, what's special about it, and how much it could be worth. The fun ones have someone coming in like "this was my grandmother's cabinet growing up and I haven't thought twice about it" and then the appraiser telling them "this was made by the most famous carpenter in 1890's Massachusetts, it's worth $20,000" or similar stories.

Mine too...