Why Scarlet & Violet Era is Failing 📉 

Hearing how that made your day just made my day man. I threw this video on while working and was completely taken off guard. Keep up the awesome content. Thank you so much for offering that card, that will be a very special one in my collection for sure.

SWSH was widely hated when it released, for the same reason 151 is all hype. The current investor/collectors in the space grew up on the original 151 pokemon. Ask the kids under 15 what they think of SV era pokemon. They are the future of the hobby. My 6yr old daughter loves both New and Old alike.

Here’s the thing man, Evolving Skies is ALSO a throwback to nostalgic early Gen Pokemon. None of the chase cards are from Gen 8 at all. All financially successful “investable” modern sets rely on nostalgic Pokemon. Evolving Skies, Fusion Strike, Lost Origin, etc ALL RELY ON GEN 1/2/3 Pokemon to be successful. None of their chase cards are from Gen 8. It’s more of a problem with modern Pokemon as a whole, Sword/Shield included. It’s not a Gen 9 specific problem.

Almost every huge card from generations 6, 7 and 8 featured Pokémon from generations 1-4. Everyone loves sword and shield, but only because of the throwbacks hidden within each set. Sylveon is an exception, but yeah... Eevee.. I personally am a fan of the fact that Pokémon TCG has taken the time to highlight the new mons from Scarlet and Violet in this first half of the era.

Tbh this era is fine people will hate it till it reaches a certain price and suddenly its an amazing era all of a sudden just like every era before Swsh. People just need to give it time. Personally to me the Roaring Moon SAR is as good as the Rayquaza Vmax Alt Art from Evo Skies.

For me S&V so far has been far better in comparison to early SWSH sets , I just think money and focus in the hobby is still on the later era of swsh sets until it’s gone and people feel they still have time to get S&V sets.

To many sets to many gens. I don't mind they would do a entire year of gen 1-2-3 sets. Almost 2k bro keep it going! I do love 151

I’d be very interested to see how some PSA 10 illustration rares that have beautiful art works (nine tales, lumineon, poliwhirl, etc) end up as investments down the road. From a fun/collector perspective, you can’t get enough of them so just having them as raw cards is awesome for the binder but as a long term value component I really think those might be the reason sealed product gets opened up in the future. Rarity is exciting, but it’s all about the feeling we get that brings nostalgia. Love the content man keep up the great work!

Its so funny to me the gen 8 sets you said were holding up the generation are sets that used pokemon that weren’t even from the 8th generation 😂

151 was hype for sure. Magikarp and bubble Mew are up there too. It really just takes 2-4 cards to make a set. Thanks for the content homie!

I wouldn't be too worried about it. The sets from the 1st half of each block have a track record of being subpar. That's exactly how it went with both Sword&Shield and Sun&Moon. Rebel Clash? Battles Styles? Guardians Rising? Crimson Invasion? The best sets in both blocks were released in the 2nd half. I doubt that's a coincidence.

All of the sets have been good.

Your videos are great bro 👊. But I do think we are only in the first half of SV so Pokemon are maybe holding back the big sets. Look at the first sets of SWSH and they were a bit trash : SWSH base, rebel clash, darkness ablaze, battle styles, vivid voltage 😬

Basically, gen 4 and above suck. And Evolving Skies' top chase cards are not gen 8 pokemons too. So it's like 151 too, .using back old, established pokemons.

I honestly feel either the main set after twilight or the set after that is going to be a top set. I’m really looking forward to it too. I love how you read the comments and respond. I watch a lot of RU-vid since I got back into collecting and that is a rarity people should pay attention to.

I think one of the main problems is the fact that S&V were really poor as a game overall like you said. I played it for 20 minutes and got extremely bored because of this I gained no attachment to any of the new pokemon hence I don’t really care about the cards. I feel like a lot of people feel like this

Bro love your content but you say there’s been no stand out set in the first half of SV but then go on to use second half sets as examples for sun and moon and SWSH Also think SV sets overall are killing it so far !and the best is yet to come !

Temporal Forces and Twilight Masquerade is somewhat like Battle Styles and Chilling reign. They mainly showcase the new Pokemon from the game’s DLCs. Once BS and CR was done, we got evolving skies and fusion strike. And then afterwards, Legends Arceus led to sets from Brilliant Stars all the way to Lost Origin. I guess what I’m saying is, the next sets after twilight masquerade (or shrouded fables) has potential to be more exciting. Also, Legends ZA is coming next year and that will definitely show a return of Kalos nostalgia. I’m personally hoping this could mean a return of Mega ex cards, which should bring the nostalgic collectors back

I remain steadfast in my view that Temporal Forces will be looked back on as an all time great set both artistically and in the TCG meta.

thanks again for another great video. As a collector that just got back into the hobby in 2023, I've got a question for you: how much hype and fanfare accompanied the SWSH releases a few years ago? Is today's response to the Scarlet and Violet sets muted by comparison, or did it take time for the community to grow to appreciate the SWSH sets, too? Cheers, mate

We need more positivity on SoMe so kudos to that follower, and kudos to you for acknowledging! I'm new into the area, and started researching it because my nephews started to collect, and then I got nostalgic and started playing the game and investing a little for fun as well. Your videos are great for people like me trying to navigate the vast landscape of Pokemon, so thank you and keep them coming ☺

Thanks for the great content mate. I'm new to the hobby and also based in Australia. I was wondering if you had any recommendations on where to buy singles in Australia. Most of the internet's recommended sites are American and many don't ship here. I've found it hard to find anything at market value. Thanks!

Great insight as always. Nice to see the channel growing. Keep up the great content. Thank you 😊

Obsidian Flames, Paradox Rift will be iconic. And Paldean Fates.

SV is still currently down because gen 9 kids are not old enough to make their own income to purchase what they enjoy yet. Adults have to ability to spend and they can freely purchase what they can relate to and what brings them nostalgia, which is why 151 is such a huge success for Pokemon. All of the big hits cards and sets in SwSh are of Pokemon of older generations. Pokemon will need to continue to mix in more well known, fan favorites Pokemon (not too much Charizard or Pikachu only please, lol) along with current ones to generate interest and sales. By the time we get to gen 11, some of these gen 9 Pokemon will resonate with the young adults then who are kids now. These adults will seek nostalgia and the preception of SV will be like how everyone is currently viewing previous generations. Pokemon TCG products tend to age like fine wine, and the market's preception will change as time passes. Pokemon has proven to navigate the times well with an almost 30 year track record. I am confident they will adjust properly to maintain the brand and TCG.

The way I determine the overall promise of a new gen is how endearing the starters are and their evs. Id give this round a 7.5, mainly dipped down by Fuecocos evolution line.

Hmmmmm. Not sure I agree with this take. Pokémon doesn’t make sets expecting them to be duds. So 151 being the most popular is on the fans, not the Pokémon company. And all the good sets from last era you are comparing scarlet and violet to, namely evolving skies, lost origin and fusion strike did not have any gen 8 Pokémon as the chase cards. The first half of the era is the new Pokémon and then once all that is out they can throw in older fan favs and gimmicks. Same thing for sun and moon, the bigger sets are all second half of the era and feature Arceus and latios and latias and gengar, etc. these first 7 sets in scarlet violet are actually way better then the first 7 in sword and shield or sun and Moon.

I like your videos. I think you may have overlooked temporal forces as a stand out set of SV

Great to hear good tcg content from a fellow Aussie. You think DBZ fb-02 has legs

Sv is killing with IR. SiR could use some work l. Es wasn't all gen 8 so that's argument is a little spotty but understandable. I'm going to grabvsome more 151 when I can but we still have half the generation to go and they could really add another tier of some crazy looking art and blow the lid of the nest sets. 1 to1 SV is already light year ahead of SWSH first 6 sets. It was the alt arts that's really push the boundaries, yet we haven't seen a huge lush till we saw ES blow up and now alt arts . I think it'll be fine invest now Tf has 3 to 5 really nice SIr and PE has a TON of Ir. We just haven't seen the money transfer from SWSH yet

greetings from germany. Recently found your channel and do rly enjoy your videos. Came back to collecting cards last year after finding korean 151 packs during my holidays in seoul. I love the Artrares of the new era. Even from pokemon i´ve never heard of. But every 2- 3 months is a new set available. Every set includes like a dozen different items to collect. i kind of like the japanese way of keeping variety simple. It would be way more enjoyable for me if they would keep the pace down for releasing new products. But thats just my opinion.

You made it 2k subbies congratz In this rate you be like 10k subs end of the summer

at the end of the sword and shield era i got together with 2 of my friends and we oppened 1 pack from each set released during that era and then an entire box+etb of silver tempest to cap it off. my goal was to pull one last an alt art which sadly did not happen. i was watching the vids we took from that opening last night and it dawned on me, with every set we opened post shining fates id say "ok in this set this is the alt art i want" because every set post shining fates had at least one card i wanted and even if i did not get that exact card id still feel happy if i atheist got an alt art no matter what alt art it was. ive been planning to do the same thing at the end of the scarlet and violet era but i realized when watching those vids that theirs only been about 2 sets released in this era with cards i want as much as id have wanted any alt arts from sword and shield. every other card i wanted ive got because they are just that affordable. and whilst affordability is not a bad thing the fact that theirs no real chase in any of these sets that i could not just buy on a whim makes opening these packs alot less enjoyable. i think the issue with scarlet and violet is they made special art rares way to easy to pull which made them feel way less special than they should. they should have made regular art rares as easy to pull as they are currently but made special art rares 1 in every 3+ boxes so they feal more special when you pull them. this would kill two birds with one stone as people with not alot of money could still get some really cool art rares whilst hardcore collectors could still enjoy the chase for the special art rares.

I think it's a weak point that it would be failing just because the newer Pokemon aren't as popular as the originals. Ofc the newer Pokemon arent gonna be as recongnisable as the literal icons that have been with us for decades... There is nothing wrong with using the icons and I dont agree that it would automatically be weakness if the special set with all the OG icons, is more popular. Ofc it will be more popular :D and should they not cater to all its fans? ( the fact that they made 151 makes me think they are fully aware I, an older fan, like the newer sets less and want more of the old stuff!). The older fans would recongnise the OGs the most and also have the most cash so it would be wise to continue to promote the older gens in future sets. Also, for younger kids the 151 are just as new as it was for us older folks back then, but they also have hundreds more pokemon to discover. New kids seeing everyone else be hyped over 151 will also increase the overall hype, so in a way its natural for the OGs to be perpetually a few steps ahead in popularity. 151 being more popular is both obvious and ok, and will continue to be a hype-engine for newcomers. I just dont think there is a "competition" or cannibalisation of popularity if the new main game isnt as well received, I see it more isolated. Certain games are gonna be liked more than others and that doesnt need to take away or 'prove' that something doesnt have confidance. Pokemon should keep innovating and keep promoting its older sets. If anything, the constant popularity contest between generations will garner interest, hype and lore. I dont think any set will be better than gen 1 for me personally but I will still enjoy all the future ones (nostalgia ofc! Which will hold true for all the younger fans today with todays generations!). I agree that the scarlet violet sets suffer because of what I think are weaker new gimmicks, I think the ex/terra crown gimmick for these sets are very poor. But I dont think great art, regardless of their rarity makes a set worse...If anything it would just add to the positives because it would be more accessable and enjoyable for more people to collect!

Is there any data out there that shows what kids think of Gen 9 pokemon? If it’s positive then Gen 9 should do well as kids grow up with it.

Very interesting points you brought up. Thanks for the video.

So are you investing different in scarlet en violet because of this reasons?

To be fair, the strong sets you mentioned in SWSH don't have any specifically gen 8 pokemon chase cards. All of the high value cards are Pokemon from earlier gens. I do agree with you that there hasn't been a stand out set in SV thus far, just a few great art works which may increase in value with time. Maybe they're cooking something up with the new dragon set and hopefully the new ZA game will bring megas back.

As someone who grew up on Gen 3, I think a lot of the oldest fans struggle with being objective. Gen 5 had the worst pokemon, hands down imo. I actually think Gen 9 has some really great additions that will shine as younger fans come up. Gen 1 obviously has the nostalgia factor, but there are a lot of just “ok” mons mixed with a few really good ones. When collectors tend to be the oldest fans, I think there is a bias (coming from someone who has been playing the pokemon game for almost 20 years).

Man, you came into the RU-vid game just recently and you are already my go-to Pokémon investment RU-vidr. Always looking forward to your content! Keep up the awesome work!

From what I see the new Pokémon aren’t the greatest. They look more and more like a Digimon than a Pokémon. I would say they are trying to reach the new generation but are struggling to do so. The whole terastallized idea changing its type is great for game play, but their crazy hats was not the way to go. Possibly changing their form completely like how they would when they mega evolved. Only allow a certain compatible types. That would have been crazy. Imagine an electric type Charizard? Its final form would look intense. With its tale that sparks into flame.

I’ve been watching your videos for a week or so now. I genuinely appreciate hearing your opinion on Pokémon. Keep going bro! You got my subscription!

Your channel is gonna explode really soon. The content and video quality is topnotch .

Great video as always and great point on the Great artworks don't scale on their rarity. SIR are kinda underwhelming compared to some IR. Which lead me to add this, In SwSh, For example, when you pull Umbreon Vmax, It's great since it has texture, So you know it's valuable yet the design is very bland. But when you pull the Umbreon Vmax Alt Art, it's textured and has very unique artwork compare to it's regular. So you know it's a valuable card. Then when you pull Umbreon V, It's a unique artwork but no texture, So you know it's valuable but not as valuable as the alt art. What I mean is, The Rarity and Art work in SwSH coincides with their value most of the time. You get a unique distinction between what's valuable and not. Which makes the pulling of those valuable cards so much more satisfying compared to non alt art. BTW I agree with that comment that your videos are very well thought out, the insinuation to watch the next vid is super smooth and you will be a big RU-vidr as long as you keep consistent. Keep it up bud👍👏

Definitely seems this gen is trying for more quantity over quality. Seems every month another set is being announced. It's hard to keep up

Thank you for your content - I think in September a dragon themed set is going to be released, maybe that'll be the set we're waiting for :) but 151 brought me back into collecting - hard to overcome such an awesome set. And the bubble we're in can just relate more to pokemon up to the 4th gen ... so if they focuse more on this they'll have more success right now. But who knows what'll happen with the young generations, growing up with these newer pokemons - maybe some (now not so popular sets) will become popular at some point. :)

Sword & Shield Scarlet & Violet Base Set Base Set Rebel Clash Paldea Evolved Darkness Ablaze Obsidian Flames Champions Path 151 Vivid Voltage Parodox Rift Shining Fates Paldean Fates Battle Styles Temporal Forces Chilling Reign Twilight Masquerade Evolving Skies ?????? Celebrations ?????? Fusion Strike ?????? Brilliant Stars ?????? Astral Radiance ?????? Pokemon GO ?????? Lost Origin ?????? Silver Tempest ?????? Crown Zenith ??????

I like SV Era