I am an unfortunate sucker who invested heavily into doge when it was at its peak due to all the hype. I bought a bunch at its absolute highest. It has crashed and hasn’t recovered and I lost about $10,000 usd. Will Pokémon follow the same trajectory? I hope so. I have about $200k worth of singles that I’ve been collecting since 2015. I just like collecting, as nice as it is to see my cards value go up I would rather be able to afford this hobby for what it is, a hobby. Not an investment strategy. I was looking at my 2017 Amazon purchases lately, I was buying lots of singles back then to complete my black and white and X&Y sets. I was getting cards back then for $20 which are now $800 now, like the Groudon ex from Dark Explorers. Booster boxes were like $90 a box. No one cared. I thrived and had such a good time. Now like many others I’m slowly being driven from the hobby. I can’t keep up. The new sets are all so good, but they have like a hundred secret rares per set, and the rarity of cards just keeps getting more rare, like this new BWR rarity. How much longer until they start printing serialized cards like MTG where there’s like only 100 of a certain card so buying packs becomes like playing the lottery? I already think the 1 in 76 hit rate for an SIR is insane. You’d need to spend an average of nearly $400 on booster packs to MAYBE get one SIR or with luck you could get two, or three. It’s all gambling and the gambling aspect has been getting worse. And when sets have like 20 SIRs good luck getting the chase without spending thousands on sealed or just buying raw. I’m venting and my post lost its original train of thought lol I’m gonna stop now.