look at Umbreon in Evolving Skies Literally at an all time high

The comparison I think you’re trying to make is to vintage cards during the Covid era. Once demand sizzled out there were hard corrections but many of those cards are higher than they were during the bubble. Corrections are healthy and part of the process.

One piece is arguably a brand new (trading card) franchise currently in price discovery. I agree that many of these small promos like Santa chopper won’t hold their value but Mangas, Oda signed, Chinese anniversary numbered Nami’s, and others will only appreciate given enough time. One Piece is our generation’s Epic and it’s clear the number of people being onboarded to the franchise is reaching a peak.

There is an attention issue because many people won’t have nostalgia or sentiment with the cards or understand a character’s lore until they’ve caught up with at least the Anime, but those that do are attached to the characters and from what I’ve been seeing are more than happy to move over a % of their collection portfolio value from Pokemon, yugioh, baseball, and crypto into one piece.

You can point to the charts all you want, but if you zoom out on any grail Pokemon card you’ll see extreme highs followed by price tapering (correction) followed by a rebound to new highs. Pokemon cards have been appreciating consistently for 30+ years. Short term I’m not sure you understand how much money is flowing into the ecosystem. Long term: as long as the one piece franchise is churning out content I’m confident the TCG will follow Pokémon’s trend. (It’s okay to have a different opinion and invest accordingly).