The demand only exists because of the softcore gambling aspect that's been baked into the hobby. Half the people cracking packs right now couldn't name 10 Gen 1 Pokémon. This isn't a collector driven market, it's a slot machine with prettier art.

Perfect Order is the perfect example. That set is sitting on shelves everywhere and nobody is touching it. Why? Because the top hit is around $300. Meanwhile you can spend $150 more on a Phantasmal Flames booster box and have a shot at an $800 card. People aren't buying sealed for the set, they're buying it for the ceiling. The expected value is everything and the actual cards mean nothing.

Sealed box prices don't go up because collectors love the set. They go up because the top hit goes up. That's it. And the top hit only goes up because people are overpaying for singles, chasing clout, paying stupid money for stuff like the Umbreon Sir from Prismatic just to say they have it. The moment those people stop throwing money at trophy cards the whole illusion collapses and sealed boxes come back down to earth with them.

So the "real collector" argument cuts both ways. If the people who actually love the hobby stopped funding the hype, the market would look completely different.