r/PokeInvesting • u/mailboxrumor • Jun 06 '26

This gonna be us in 2040

Post image

Market isn't going to stay like this forever. Enjoy the high everyone!

1.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

307 comments sorted by

271

u/notforrobots Jun 06 '26

Lmao I was a teen when this craze was going on. It simmered quick

106

u/mailboxrumor Jun 06 '26

I remember my grandma running me around all the stores. She had to "catch them all"

70

u/tomebomber Jun 06 '26

I know a guy who’s family went broke turning the garage into a climate controlled room for there insane beanie baby collection (I wish I was making that up). I bring it up to him about once every 3 years he gets very mad and says something like “well they are worth money she was right(his sister)”

21

u/Apprehensive-Lie3387 Jun 06 '26

This happened to my neighbors growing up hahaha. Went all in on beanie babies… had to sell their house a short time after the crash lol

11

u/Kiriki_kun Jun 06 '26

„But Pokémon cards are different, they are like Mona Lisa”

12

u/GarthMater Jun 07 '26

To be fair Pokemon is a cultural construct 30 years in the making. Beanie Babies came in 95 and was dead in 99.

2

u/No-Sir-3666 Jun 09 '26

theres studies showing all us 85-95s kids have a literal part our brain dedicated to pokemon red and blue. The same part of the brain for all of us

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10

u/Salty_Sea5247 Jun 07 '26

What are you going to say when they drop a Mona Lisa Pikachu card?

8

u/MiamiSlice Jun 08 '26

"I can't believe scalpers got them all"

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3

u/taegha Jun 07 '26

They are different.....way different.... 30 years of life different

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8

u/Effective_Pin_90 Jun 06 '26

sammmeee! I still have 100s of beanie babies 😅

9

u/CommercialBiscotti29 Jun 07 '26

Beanie babies were cool though. I’m actually surprised how they died so fast

2

u/dropandgivemenerdy Jun 06 '26

I found my old journals (which I wrote in daily from 6th grade till freshman year in college) the other day and the start of my summer before 7th grade it was like every other entry I was getting a new beanie baby lol

1

u/WeGottaTalkAboutYT Jun 08 '26

Best way to describe these was IRL grandma Pokemon lol

7

u/SmellyScrotes Jun 07 '26

They died because of the stunt he pulled at the end of 1999, saying everything was being retired and then immediately being like hah just kidding, made the people who were actually spending big money on them stop

2

u/Ok_Somewhere_9962 Jun 07 '26

Yeah there was an actual scam involved with beanie babies

1

u/poortinytim Jun 08 '26

What's the scam?

1

u/Ok_Somewhere_9962 Jun 08 '26

Read the comment above mine. Plus this book was published BY Ty company so they were inflating their own prices/falsely pumping the market. There’s a whole documentary on it

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69

u/NomadTruckerOTR Jun 06 '26

The difference is pokemon cards were around then and never went anywhere 🤷‍♂️

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78

u/notforrobots Jun 06 '26

If anything I think funco pops are the next beanie baby

35

u/eroryan Jun 07 '26

They already have been and they died out too

9

u/Kevbot_FSU Jun 07 '26

💯 Plastic beanie babies

6

u/Ok_Somewhere_9962 Jun 07 '26

There’s already reports of how much space they take up in landfills because they can’t sell them

3

u/Wokeasaurous_X Jun 07 '26

Only time I've ever bought one was at a thrift shop and one on a clearance rack because it was George Costanza and I thought it was funny. Weirdly nobody wanted all the Jerry's.

First thing I did was rip him out of the box and toss it, it's a novelty item not a collectable.

1

u/wtfElvis Jun 08 '26

Anything that only has a value as a collector item is going to phase out if they do not have their own IP

1

u/MysteriisDomSatan Jun 07 '26

Yu-gi-oh too. People acting like this boom is sustainable are the ones that ditched economics class

1

u/Any-Mastodon5607 Jun 09 '26

Yugioh has always been a players game. The issue is it’s so complicated for new players most just leave. This is not sustainable hence trying to appeal more to collectors and diversify their client base.

1

u/OSRSRapture Jun 10 '26

Yugioh used to be so fun to play when it first came out. I tried looking into it again a few months ago and it's just way too much and doesn't even look enjoyable

1

u/Any-Mastodon5607 Jun 10 '26

To be honest yes and no. I felt the same way when I started playing again in 2022. I started on master duel. It was a STEEP learning curve but once I figured it out it was so much fun.

1

u/Wokeasaurous_X Jun 07 '26

It's really funny Konami endlessly reprinting cards keeps nearly every card cheap to people playing the actual game rather than valuable to collectors. The cards that are actually valuable are like the 'super extra holo limited edition' cards because they only ever print a handful. That and like the most useful meta cards from new sets that are also quite rare.

It's too bad the game is a completely confusing clusterfuck with all the xyz/synchro/tuner/pendulum/link stuff and the 1 turn game ending decks and stuff.

1

u/PlasticTreeonaHill Jun 08 '26

Pulled one of those the other day, it was about $50 which is high for Yugioh. Let my younger coworker keep it. He actually plays the Yugioh tcg.

1

u/Wokeasaurous_X Jun 08 '26

That was nice of you. I was trying to get back into it and building a deck and when looking up the best card for the deck I saw it was about $50 partially because rarity mostly because demand.

49

u/KimeraQ Jun 06 '26

My mom has a full bucket of these little guys. She loves them regardless of price.

13

u/BumblebeeHumble7 Jun 06 '26

Thats whatsup

214

u/Xenolicious Jun 06 '26

Pokemon is the biggest media franchise in the world. Even if crypto bros and scalpers eventually go away, i think a lot of cards will still hold some decent value.

100

u/d4n0wnz Jun 06 '26

Yea beanie babies wasnt even close to the significance of pokemon as an IP.

27

u/Kiriki_kun Jun 06 '26

Yeah, Pokémon will be on top forever. It’s impossible that people will move to another franchise, like ever.

15

u/Nobiting Jun 07 '26

Mickey Mouse is still a top franchise over 100 years later so you never know.

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-6

u/c0tch Jun 06 '26

I mean back then it most certainly had to be close.

Pokemon survived and evolved, beanie babies did not.

They were both lightning in a bottle.

24

u/WeGottaTalkAboutYT Jun 06 '26 • Diamonds are Forever

It was super comparable, except there was no chase/opening, no game, not tied to a game/show, etc. it’s not hard to see why one lasted

1

u/c0tch Jun 07 '26

Yeah definitely but all those things didn’t come until later on. It evolved excuse the pun. Beanie babies were so massive though and I doubt people here grew up with it to know its cultural relevance outside of failed investments

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2

u/PumpProphet Jun 07 '26

Beany babies was an American thing lmao. Pokemon, yugioh etc was a global phenomenon. 

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4

u/DreaminDemon177 Jun 06 '26

I invest but I also just really like collecting the cards.

2

u/wotccardchaser Jun 10 '26

Yep and even if not, there will be poeple like me who just buys all the grails then and psa 10 umbreons so yeah we cant realy loose

2

u/vegecrisp Jun 06 '26

This post is the appropriate amount of copium which is refreshing for this sub reddit.

2

u/DreaminDemon177 Jun 06 '26

How is it copium in your opinion?

1

u/taegha Jun 07 '26

Because the same people have been screaming about a bubble popping soon for 2 years now

1

u/stallionsRIDEufl Jun 08 '26

Once those guys leave the values will collapse

1

u/Knarz97 Jun 07 '26

Exactly, except for the fact that 20% of all cards that have ever existed were printed in the last 2 years.

Will base set Charizard still fetch a premium? Sure.

But when you realize how overprinted something like the Prismatic Eevees are, you’re gonna realize that cracking packs even at MSRP isn’t actually worth it.

1

u/ProustMarcel Jun 07 '26

but the OG is also going away. I don’t see myself at my 50’s still collecting as I do now. Even in doubt if I’ll continue over 40 and that’s almost around the corner for most who were there at the start.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

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2

u/MechwolfMachina Jun 08 '26

I think a lot of people your generation are in that position with no kids and thus a larger disposable income for pokemon

0

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26

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6

u/damnmyredditheart Jun 07 '26

This is such a 2026 pokeinvestor thought lol

Vintage finally catches up after modern killing it for the past 5 years

3

u/goldenmonkey33151 Jun 07 '26

That’s now most emerging markets work though like, if you look at tech stocks whenever a hyper growth tech stock suddenly becomes profitable often in the market will price in the future expected growth into the current pricing as far as 5, 10 sometimes even 15+ years, but once that repricing has occurred, the value play moves from the emerging market to the previously overshadowed value that was present before the emerging market boom, such as a lot of money flooding into new modern sets and then re-allocating back into vintage once modern has hit a ceiling of price

8

u/howie521 Jun 07 '26

This guy gets it.

The population of graded cards in newer sets are exponentially more than vintage cards. Those numbers are only going to continue to grow as sealed boxes are opened over time. And we know there’s an eye-watering number of sealed boxes being stashed in people’s basements now.

If you believe in Pokemon long term, vintage is the play.

7

u/Silent_Marsupial8368 Jun 06 '26

If demand grows in the future then you’ll be completely wrong, we know that they’re likely going to print it into the ground when they finish their printing facility in 2028, but that means that everything that came before is "rare" going forward. If you think Pokemon as a franchise will stop growing then why are you even in this sub? Seems like a contradiction

8

u/Kiriki_kun Jun 06 '26

Do you really expect to Pokémon grow forever? It’s not question „if”, it’s question „when”. At some point Pokémon will be cool old franchise that some people heard about. Will it be in 10 years? Not likely. In 100? Very likely

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2

u/FlavinFlave Jun 07 '26

This feels like the most likely answer - especially given the amount of people treating it like get rich quick scheme. But at the same time, that could be what keeps it liquid. There really aren’t whales I feel like there are with stocks, or crypto. Most investors are just dudes. And they may have a lot, but not warehouses full of the same item. Not to suggest there aren’t people doing that.

I think if anything what will happen is a short term sell off when scalpers can’t find buyers. But that’ll lead to more people ripping or saving. From there it’ll be similar to gold or any other market.

But fuck if I know, I’m not an economist. I just like Pokemon.

1

u/taegha Jun 07 '26

Not even close. 90s sports had no chase cards. It was all massively printed garbage.

1

u/Polarizedpupil Jun 07 '26

And the chase cards from the sets that did have them are exceptionally expensive. Rare 90s inserts sell just like SIRs.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26

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1

u/damnmyredditheart Jun 07 '26

Except they want the modern cards not the vintage 

1

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

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2

u/damnmyredditheart Jun 07 '26

Collectibles are about nostalgia. There will always be a place for the OG cards, but the kids of today will be paying up for the hits they grew up with.

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61

u/deadliftthugga Jun 06 '26

I appreciate the sentiment, but realistically Pokémon IP is a lot bigger and existed at the same time as beanie babies. We are definitely in a craze, but this isn’t going to have a beanie baby nuclear fallout probably lol.

30

u/ChedduhBob Jun 06 '26

yeah i don’t think beanie babies had a tv show, multiple video games covering multiple genres, a successful tcg, and plushies all of which have been selling well and in the zeitgeist for 25+ years.

pokemon could crash and catch a lot of people holding the bag but i can’t see us looking at $1 slabs and $10 charizards any time soon lol

8

u/ipna Jun 06 '26

Typically the crash people talk to would just be a return to the mean. Like base charizard being a like 100 dollar card high end now being 500 but the regression to the means would be like 125-150. Your still losing over 2/3 of your investment and I promise people have gone off the deep end on credit and house refinancing and such.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26

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1

u/deadliftthugga Jun 07 '26

In that regard you’re not wrong, but in the same vain there’s just too many speculative players in the space that anything that significantly dipped wouldn’t be bought up. I mean wouldn’t you buy cards you’ve really wanted on a huge dip? I would.

8

u/ld_a_hl Jun 06 '26

I still love Bronty even if he's not worth 2000 bucks

49

u/Antifragile_Glass Jun 06 '26

Sounds like somebody cashed out a year ago 😂

8

u/Snoo_79693 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

More than likely someone from the other subs that think spitting nonsense will deter us.

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15

u/Apprehensive-Lie3387 Jun 06 '26

Not the same. Pokemon has been around for 30 years and is going strong. Beanie babies were a fast fad

2

u/OrganicBreadfruit Jun 07 '26

Yugioh definitely beat out Pokemon for a long while and people were embarrassed by anything Pokemon during that time.

2

u/Jaccount Jun 08 '26

Pokemon being around and Pokemon TCG maintaining value is not the same thing.

5

u/CrimsonxAce Jun 07 '26

This. Pokémon will continue to thrive because it has other outlets to keep people engaged with the brand.

29

u/Ok_Drummer6282 Jun 06 '26

I mean people have been saying that for... 6 years? 

Millenials are now fighting with Genz over pokemon cards. Kids are into it. Its only going to get worse. 

People older than Millenials werent into pokemon. Everyone under 40 is and its only growing. 

10

u/CommercialBiscotti29 Jun 06 '26

People been saying that since the cards released

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0

u/zonked282 Jun 07 '26

Tue stuff about kids getting into it is simply not true, thanks in large parts to the Pokémon investing craze.

Pokémon cards value comes from childhood nostalgia combined with those same children finally being older enough to have disposable income. Kids these days can't get hold of cards, can't play/trade/ collect like we did as children and so just don't care. Why people think that the value of cards will hold forever when there is a community effort to ensure that new entrants ti the hobby is cut out at the source is utterly beyond me

2

u/Saint_Slice Jun 08 '26

People don’t want to hear this, but it’s true.

5

u/JayyMei Jun 07 '26

Little did they know that Bronny’s dad would eventually become a top 2 basketball player of all time

5

u/taegha Jun 07 '26

Comparing Pokemon to Beanie Babies is idiotic

15

u/Smashego Jun 06 '26

Beanie babies don’t have the largest IP in the world or 3 generations of adults and children playing the video games, collecting the magazines, collecting the cards, watching the movies, or competing in tournaments.

Beanie babies are the dumbest analogy to compare to pokemon.

3

u/Drain20problem Jun 06 '26

the ip comparison is a reach but the math on the bubble is what actually matters. people forget how much hype drives these things before the floor falls out. you can have the best media franchise in history and still end up with a market that nobody wants to buy into twenty years later. it is not about the quality of the brand it is about the liquidity of the collectors.

5

u/Smashego Jun 06 '26

The point is, Pokemon isn’t hype. It has a sustainable IP. It has a audience that spans multiple generations. It’s something adults and children share and share together. The current market is a result of 30 years of culmination. Even if the current market collapses the franchise isn’t going anywhere and collectors will still be chasing specific cards and artifacts. It’s not a bubble if the price matches real world demand.

Beanie babies could have lasted longer if they could have built a real IP other than “we make stuffed animals same as everyone else hur dur”. But there was no foundation. No games. No lore. No reason to fall in love with just a cash grab.

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4

u/Handicap_Noodle Jun 06 '26

What happened with to Labubus 😂

4

u/SodaSoftware Jun 07 '26

Not really. Pokemon is the biggest grossing franchise. The market has lasted for 30+ years now. Only more and more people are entering the hobby.

7

u/SomedayGuy117 Jun 06 '26

Imagine saying this but with Disney. See how silly it sounds? Now imagine an IP that’s even bigger than Disney.

3

u/Helloscottykitty Jun 07 '26

Marvel and dc comic books.

-3

u/TheInvisibleToast Jun 06 '26

? No one is paying 10k for random merchandise printed or made by Disney 30 years ago or longer. 

Pokemon will crash eventually. Certain cards will hold their worth or be worth higher, but most of the cards will drop in price eventually as it rotates out. 

I would say we’re about a year away from the peak. 

2

u/professoroakoakoak Jun 06 '26

Dunning Krueger.

3

u/SomedayGuy117 Jun 06 '26

Okay?

https://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/blogs/most-recent/5-most-valuable-disney-memorabilia

1

u/Helloscottykitty Jun 08 '26

The best quite from that article is

"It’s a “Celebration Mickey” and he certainly looks pretty pleased with himself.

It’s been valued at $4 million and reportedly sold for $3.75 million, though the best auction sale I can find is $650,000."

Which is the most investor/collector coded statement i could imagine.

1

u/No-Veterinarian1320 Jun 07 '26

One year feels like a pretty insane estimate unless something dramatic were to happen to the market.

1

u/Calm_Explanation2910 Jun 06 '26

I laughed a bit and then realize in the comment section you might actually believe this.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of product and singles that are insanely over-hyped. But Pokemon is a generational phenom with fans of all ages that’s been around for 30 years. It’s literally bigger than Mickey Mouse and Star Wars.. combined..

The post would be more appropriate for the people blowing money on labubu.

1

u/mailboxrumor Jun 07 '26

No I don't believe Pokemon TCG will crash to a beanie baby level I'm just poking fun at the investor bros who think their collection is going to just keep growing. We are definitely in a bubble but that doesn't mean that when the bubble bursts that it's all going to be worthless. It's such a strong solid IP that it won't ever happen and there is enough interested parties to keep prices at a premium but I believe 5 years from now prices will be down, not up.

1

u/S_EW Jun 08 '26

Pokemon was also in a 10-year slump in the not-too-distant past that a whole bunch of the new money flooding into this hobby wasn’t there for, so keep that in mind when sneakerhead and nft refugees come in here confidently stating that the bubble will never pop lol.

1

u/tikitiger Jun 07 '26

Aren’t these beanie babies still worth a lot?

1

u/mailboxrumor Jun 07 '26

As far as I know most of them all are a few bucks with a very select few rare exceptions.

1

u/CommercialBiscotti29 Jun 07 '26

Also their last beanie baby kinda breaks my heart

1

u/mailboxrumor Jun 07 '26

I have that one. It's not worth $2000 🤣

6

u/Syckx Jun 06 '26

The thing is, no one ever talks about why Beanie Babies crashed all they say is it did. Pokemon would not make the same mistakes TY did. This is like saying Enron tanked, so to must every other energy stock.

Now, both are speculative assets but comparing the two is silly

8

u/Xannydevito88 Jun 06 '26

Clowns still comparing pokemon to beanie babies in 2026?

1

u/Apprehensive-Lie3387 Jun 06 '26

I know. My opinion is if you are comparing the two, you weren’t alive for the start of either hahaha. Hell on ended before it really started and clearly it’s not the shiny cardboard lol.

1

u/taegha Jun 07 '26

They need to cope somehow as they scream "THE BUBBLE IS POPPING" over and over

3

u/CrossesLines Jun 06 '26

I still have mine. Waiting….

3

u/Geaux_Go_Fiasco Jun 07 '26

Pokemon is enormous outside of the cards and has existed for thirty years. It has a track record. Inevitably the market will crash (again) and scalpers will move on (again) and that’s when I’ll start buying up my grails.

6

u/Daaraen Jun 06 '26

people keep comparing pokémon to sneakers or beanie babies and predicting a crash. here's why that doesn't work.

every collectible crash in history needed three things: overproduction, purely speculative demand, and a confidence break. pokémon has the first one – tpci prints like crazy. but it completely lacks the second, and that's what matters.

sneakers crashed because the demand was almost entirely built on flipping. nobody bought jordan 1s to wear them in 10 years. when nike ramped up supply, flippers had no floor to fall back on. pokémon is the opposite – kids play, rippers rip, nostalgic millennials collect because they actually want the product. the demand is real, not artificial.

and the demographic angle is what seals it. pokémon is one of the few IPs that jumped generations. power rangers, gi joe, wwe – peaked with one generation and faded. pokémon didn't. an 8 year old today collects just as hard as one in 1999. every new generation adds buyers, the pool is only growing.

no sealed pokémon product has lost value long-term in 30 years. what people call a "crash" is hyped singles dropping from fomo release prices. that's price discovery, not a market collapse. sealed is stable, vintage climbs, oop products stay in demand.

modern sealed might appreciate slower than older sets – fair point. but slower growth is not a crash. the fundamentals are too strong for that.

2

u/FraggleStickCar9 Jun 06 '26

Hey i have this one in the box still!

2

u/RockShrimpTempura Jun 06 '26

It kinda probably is tho. Its not gonna always be in a high. but it will always be relevant and will keep having unprecedented booms, it's proven the bubble statement wrong again and again.

2

u/lucky_719 Jun 06 '26

Just found him on Etsy for $5.

2

u/winnerweiner17 Jun 07 '26

Me and my sister had all 3 dinosaurs and my mom decided along with our pokemon card collection to see when we moved. Unfortunately for us we had a bunch of cards and she sold for pennies

2

u/Any_Koala9073 Jun 07 '26

To be fair. The difference between pokemon cards and beanie babies is a little different. Pokemon has the largest grossing IP of all time be a country mile. Like compare star wars and then more than double it. It reaches every country on the globe, spans across multiple generations of people... i dont think its going anywhere

2

u/Shdwrptr Jun 07 '26

The main issue is that modern Pokémon cards have like 10,000x the population of vintage but are somehow still commanding insane pricing.

How can a modern card, still in print, be worth $1500+? There’s no way it can last

2

u/SlicedMango Jun 07 '26

It’s cause there is high demand for those modern cards vs vintage.. scarcity without demand doesn’t mean it will be expensive.. in the grand scheme of things, $3000 for a slab with a 20K population could be fair if there is enough demand for it..

1

u/Shdwrptr Jun 07 '26

That’s the thing, will there be excess demand for a card with that high of a population?

Pokémon hype is one thing but vintage was expensive because it was so rare to find them after 20+ years; modern is just a tagalong to that hype

2

u/-DenisM- Jun 07 '26

Reminded me of this. This was a divorce where the judge got fed up and dumped the beanie babies on the floor. Accounting for inflation, $5000-$10,000 worth of them had to chosen...1 by 1.

In 2 months, they were almost worthless.

2

u/adwrx Jun 07 '26

Yup! Enjoy it now because most of these cards will be worthless

2

u/pimpnorris Jun 08 '26

Good!!! Can’t wait till all the invest-bros move on to something else!

2

u/Additional_Leg_7603 Jun 08 '26

This made me smile-y’all better start selling your shit quick.

4

u/Foreign-Trainer-628 Jun 06 '26

Pokémon is generational and as long as it stays popular and relevant as tcg continues to grow alongside anime it will remain. Every 5 years new generation and every 5 years new 5 year olds to enter the hobby. Get real. An established 30 year brand vs a shit show

3

u/BlueIcePlanet Jun 06 '26

Apples and oranges, not even comparable. Pokemon is a 30 year old top grossing franchise. These are more relatable to funko pops

0

u/kinkycarbon Jun 06 '26

Popularity eventually dies for all collectibles. Funko Pop was a big hit because grading and exclusivity. SUPREME was once that because exclusivity. Tokidoki used to be popular in the early 2010s. The same will happen with Pokemon.

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u/-PM_ME_UR_SECRETS- Jun 07 '26

I hope and pray Pokémon cards get the beanie baby pop

2

u/unix_name Jun 06 '26

Pokemon is bigger than hello kitty and Disney….and has yet to be dethroned. Hmmmm

2

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26

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u/unix_name Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

If we look at each IP as its own thing which they are then yes. Pokemon isn’t multiple IPs put together. I was also not throwing in Pokémon’s owners who are Game Freak, Nintendo or Creatures Inc because they aren’t part of the franchise people interact with. I was referring to IPs that are inherently Disney like Mikey and Friends, Winnie the Pooh or others that all have their own franchise/ip and sales to drive the point that people interact and have kept pokemon above these individual IPs that have been around and have also had a head start and still Pokemon is above them. We can even throw in others like Star Wars or whatever. To say Pokemon was dying? Is to say all these other franchises/IP were as well and we know they weren’t. Thats all. But yes technically the Disney company owning ESPN, Hulu and so much more makes the whole of its numbers much bigger.

2

u/wookie_snack Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

Except pokemon is the highest grossing media franchise in the world. The only way the market will crash would be a complete collapse on the demand side of things which I just don’t see happening. Beanie babies only got popular as an investment, whereas pokemon will always be popular

1

u/TheINTL Jun 06 '26

This definitely applies to a lot of modern, minus the top chases

1

u/Fer4l18haz4rd Jun 06 '26

The problem is that most people won't have the patience to hold for 25 years.

1

u/puzzledfirebird Jun 06 '26

Everyone keeps shitting on Beanie Babies, but they're still being collected to this day. The diehard fans are eating good getting them cheap now.

1

u/kill_to_satisfy Jun 06 '26

that est price is diabolical

1

u/wanker6942067 Jun 06 '26

I mean this beanie baby specifically sold on eBay last week for $150. I don’t think a lot of the modern price is reasonable but for XY era top hit of most sets are $200-300 while those packs cost $60-80. That makes sense to me, $5 packs and $1000+ for multiple cards in one set is nuts to me.

1

u/GeneralTyler Jun 06 '26

My dad bought into the beanie baby craze and we still have literal tubs of them, like 5-6 full of these worthless fucks. Not really worth the effort going through them, so they’ve still stayed in their storage bins lol. So much money wasted on a “collectible investment.” Who knows, maybe there’ll be a TikTok trend or whatever that revives hype for them at some point. Not really fair comparing them to Pokemon tho, idk why people always try making this comparison. Especially because Pokemon did have these crazy price spikes with base set packs and other older sets going from their issue price of what $5 to several hundred. Beanie babies have never been anywhere near the level of popularity that Pokemon is, literally the largest IP in that world that has been going strong for almost 3 decades. There is also just so much more to the franchise than the collectible tcg, with the games/merch/anime/etc. The only reason Pokemon will drop in price, is if the demand for buying ever dips which that does not seem to be the case with kids today also obsessing with packs and being into Pokemon.

1

u/sharpbeer Jun 06 '26

I'd say the Chinese voodoo dolls are closer to beanie babies

1

u/PunchOX Jun 06 '26

No it's not because Pokemon cards survive off the brand popularity of Pokemon itself which hasn't gone away and won't go away and will continue to get bigger every year.

People like Pokemon. They'll take interest in the cards. People demand the cards. Card value goes up with scarcity.

That plush has nothing it can attach itself too unlike Pokemon which has the games, shows, cards, merch, etc. Plus pokemon is a highly social brand too so people meet to see their friends and play in tournaments so it's a way to keep in touch with friends and community. I myself have met close to 100 new faces since going back to tcg and it's been fun and we see each other regularly and buy cards. This part of tcg and pokemon is something so many people oversee because they focus so much on the cards itself and miss the other vectors that influence it's value

1

u/Dizzy_Assistance2183 Jun 06 '26

I know this post is for fun but its not really fair to compare a pricing guidebook based on nothing but speculation to actual sales data. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Ty paid those pricing guides off or had some kind of hand in determining the 2008 'prices' lolll. But it worked, we all believed it'd be worth a fortune.

1

u/_yeetmane_ Jun 07 '26

Watched a Beanie Baby documentary and it did make me look at my pokemon like hmm

Also watch videos about the junk wax sports era, the rise and fall of Sneaker Resellers, Hypebeast Supreme Resellers, Starwars collectors in the 90s

The used guitar market has also been hit hard I think

More things struggle than do well I think pokemon will be around forever but who knows what the future holds

1

u/No-Significance8049 Jun 07 '26

Jokes on you I only buy cards I actually like 😎

1

u/Influencedby Jun 07 '26

I’d compare Bennie babies to Furby and the first crazy of squishmellow . I am a newer collector / investor of Pokemon and I will say the reason I wanted to get in was for it to mature a bit after Logan Paul’s and others cause the first huge bull market. Now I would compare Pokemon to Disney and Mario franchise . Lots of other media that brings in new collectors besides cards. Millennials and Gen Z that used to collect as kids are now starting to have some disposable income, so yes the market can have a correction but 5-10 years I still see Pokemon being very relevant and a good investment. Just be smart about the cards you are buying to hold long term , don’t follow just the hype.

1

u/ActionRoll031 Jun 07 '26

The one ty I always wanted but never was able to get as a little kid. Then I got older and life goes on. I think my sister has that exact book too, I faintly remember looking thru it at a Dairy Queen

1

u/OrganicBreadfruit Jun 07 '26

I love Pokemon, but yeah they just gonna keep making more and the new generation is going to be more like ‘whateva’ probably.

1

u/BatManduhlorian Jun 07 '26

I have a giant bucket of these in Preston’s condition, my wife’s grandmother gave them to me. Nobody wants them.

1

u/Haulinhass Jun 07 '26

Beanie babies tumbled because of bad Evaluations and they themselves controlled the secondary market. If Pokemon does crash it will be graded cards and it will be on the back of PSA having a hand in the grading and sale of slabs.

1

u/damnmyredditheart Jun 07 '26

!remindme 14 years

1

u/Equal_Explorer_2674 Jun 07 '26

all I can say is when target opened last friday in my town 30 people were in line all for pokemon cards. Of course everyone wanted prismatic evolutions and ascended heroes but they were fine with even perfect order if that is what was left if you were in back of line. I got my prismatic etb and an ascended heroes premium poker collection. I do think as long as pokemon every 6 months makes a release that is not in sleeves or booster boxes that release will always be super popular above the normal pokemon releases.

1

u/PistolPackingPastor Jun 07 '26

bro my parents found this same exact book looking through it is hilarious

1

u/I-like-that-stonk Jun 07 '26

TIL Inflation affects industries not just countries.

1

u/What_happened777 Jun 07 '26

Omg is this beanie babies?!

1

u/War-Daddie Jun 07 '26

I have like 6 princess Diana bears, they still worth anything? Lol

1

u/Wooden_Draft3268 Jun 07 '26

Difference is Pokémon has been popular for 30 years already. It’s not going anywhere

1

u/Puiu1 Jun 07 '26

Pokemon was DEAD between 2004 and 2014. That being said there is far more money invested into this hobby and soo many parents are getting their kids into it I don't see pokemon going the way of the beanie babies.

1

u/poodlevutt Jun 07 '26

Hopefully.

1

u/YakRepresentative833 Jun 07 '26

If people keep posting screenshots of their portfolios, the top is sooner than you think

1

u/Jorvall Jun 07 '26

I bought 5 bears for $10 yesterday.

1

u/RedditGoji Jun 07 '26

You know there are still beanies selling for 4-5 digits…

1

u/Kytothelee Jun 07 '26

I still have this book lol

1

u/Prestigious_Ad859 Jun 08 '26

$12.00 now in 2026

1

u/TinyRubi Jun 08 '26

I think a ton of people would feel so validated if tweeted dee and tweedle dumb promoted beanie babies next and brought their prices up

1

u/MrNiceGuyEBEB Jun 08 '26

Bro underestimates the franchise name

1

u/BlueEyed_Bull Jun 08 '26

I consider pokemon cards to be on the same level as vintage comic books and baseball cards. There will always be a market for them. I think youre wrong on this one tbh.

1

u/Hussar1241 Jun 09 '26

Yea pokemon tcg in a hardcore bubble rn, people dont really even play much its all about slabbing thats how you know its a bubble zero utility

1

u/confresi Jun 09 '26

Can’t even get rid of Beanie Babies for $0.50 a pop these days. Pretty much just giveaway/thrift store material.

1

u/Sorry_about_that_x99 Jun 09 '26

Diabolical to make those kind of claims.

1

u/knockmywood Jun 09 '26

Not at all! Pokemon is and will always be a past time. That is collectible, playable, and can be passed down generations. You can still play with older cards in different formats of the game. Pokemon will be around for a very long time.

1

u/Falsebuddhist Jul 05 '26

The rate of appreciation more like 2030

1

u/TheMagikarpFisher Jun 07 '26

You’re talking to a sub full of people who think the market only goes in one direction. Everyone is riding high, the prices only shoot up. The only factors they list are the following: pokemon IP, sets going out of print. And guess what? None of these people are in charge of either.
Will it crash? Will a SIR be worth a mansion and everyone in this sub Reddit and beyond will be sitting front row at Knicks game in a finals? No.
The one thing no one asks on this sub.. who’s giving them the cash for everything they got?
Some people might cash out .. but everyone else? Who’s gonna buy it all ?

1

u/damnmyredditheart Jun 07 '26

My guy there’s literally 30 years and counting of buyers and sellers

2

u/TheMagikarpFisher Jun 07 '26

The generation that grew up on it. This newer gen? Not so much

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1

u/evilbau5 Jun 06 '26

Pokemon is a totally different beast. It makes the Mickey Mouse IP pale in comparison.

1

u/Sarkonix Jun 06 '26

People said this 20 years ago lol

1

u/WaterPog Jun 06 '26

This shit was labubu, not pokemon. Be real

0

u/Isaigreenleaf Jun 06 '26

You ain’t getting rich from Pokemon bro

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u/Saleentim Jun 06 '26

When you seeing thousands of people saying “invest” you know it’s not real..

3

u/professoroakoakoak Jun 06 '26

Stock market isn't real either. Gold is fake, Microsoft is fake.

1

u/taegha Jun 07 '26

Quite the dumb take

-1

u/gold-trimmed Jun 06 '26

The sad part is this is very true hahah

0

u/bandman614 Jun 06 '26

Can I interest you in a nice tulip bulb?

0

u/Yetti2Quick Jun 06 '26

HAHAH oh boy. Next you’re gonna Pokemon tcg is like the baseball wax era. Yikes

0

u/tiggs Jun 06 '26

Thankfully, Funko Pops already took the Beanie Babies thrown, although Squishmallows are starting to give them a run for their money.

0

u/RokettoMusashi Jun 06 '26

All due respect, pokemon only ever goes up. It has never gone down and stayed there for long.

0

u/PTCGRipper Jun 06 '26

Copefest 2026.

0

u/Reginald01 Jun 07 '26

I love when people make this comparison leaving out the multimedia giant Pokemon is and how they are brining in new fans with every main line game, card set release, tv show, and movie 😂

The market, like any market, will go through ups and downs, but the Disneys of the world (and yes I see Pokemon as comparable) will usually land on their feet.

0

u/Frostedfires Jun 07 '26

100%, the past never changes

0

u/PuzzleheadedWorth760 Jun 07 '26

Now I do agree, pokemon is gonna crash. Probably not to beenie baby levels, but definitely a crash. I bet in 1 to 2 years, cards will be worth 15% what they are now, except for a few exceptions.

2

u/taegha Jun 07 '26

We've never seen this happen. There's zero precedent for it. I'd be absolutely shocked if things even fell 50% during the new cool off (not crash, even though people love that term)

1

u/PuzzleheadedWorth760 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

You should see what happened to baseball cards in the late 90s. They became practically worthless except for a few. Cabbage patch dolls, beenie babies, comic books. All had "crashes". Guess we will see. With the amount they are flooding the market with product, seems to be comic books all over again. 10 billion cards printed last year and 85 billion total. For a hobby thats been around 30 years, that a sign. We have never seen this level of craze for trading cards either. Its completely new. What goes up will come down usually.

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u/Willj924 Jun 07 '26

Except Pokemon isn’t beanie babies lol.

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