HIIIGHERRR

Vintage Pokemon cards alpha: the Pokemon KFC cards released in November 1998 are the first ever English Pokemon collectible cards released to the public. This is not a debate, here is the timeline: The KFC cards drop November 1998 → WOTC “Demo Game” Plastic Packs trickle into TCG conventions and local TCG stores in December 1998 as a limited promotional item → First Edition Base Set English WOTC TCG doesn't hit shelves until January 1999. So the KFC set predates all of it. These cards are graded by PSA and have extremely low POP counts. To put in perspective, the first ever English Charizard collectible card has a POP of around 100 in PSA 10. For English cards, this is like the Japanese 1996 Pokemon Carddass Green Part 1 cards I previously posted about, except instead of obviously not the first ever Japanese Pokemon collectible cards, it’s the first ever English Pokemon collectible cards. Very few listings of these on ebay, and severely underrated in my opinion.

This is her vaginal microbiome report. 100/100 score. Top 1% of all vaginas. Her sample is dominated by the single most protective bacterial species a vagina can host (Lactobacillus crispatus). Only about 25-30% of reproductive age women globally are L. crispatus-dominant, and “dominant” usually means above 50%. Kate is at 98.7%. The lab found nothing bad to report. (no gardnerella, Candida, STIs, opportunistic pathogens, aerobic vaginitis markers, etc.) This is linked to lower risk of BV, UTIs, yeast infections, HPV persistence, HSV-2 and HIV acquisition, preterm birth, and improved IVF outcomes. A vaginal microbiome is downstream of everything: sleep, glucose control, stress, gut health, sexual health, immune function, what you eat, and what you put in it.

Here’s some Dragon Ball Fusion World TCG alpha. The highest tier card for the two Manga Booster boxes (sb01 and sb02) are known as “Ultra Alt-Art” cards. These are even more scarce than the Secret Rare Super Alt Art cards, which for the rest of the Fusion World booster boxes (fb01 through fb09) are the highest tier rarity for cards. There are no Ultra Alt-Art cards in fb01 through fb09. There is only one Ultra Alt-Art in sb01 (see first image) and one Ultra Alt-Art in sb02 (second image). As you can see by the third image, which is taken from the official Bandai website, the Ultra Alt-Art cards are ranked above the Secret Rare Super Alt Art cards (which you can see starts at the bottom of the third page regarding sb02 cards). Remember that for the Secret Rare Super Alt Art cards, it generally takes five cases (not boxes) to pull those cards. Speculation is that for the Ultra Alt-Art cards in sb01 and sb02, it will take even MORE than five cases to pull the Ultra Alt-Art cards. I don’t think people realize this. Some final points. Be careful not to buy the standard or lesser “alt art” edition. For example, the Piccolo Ultra Alt-Art card has a gold car but the lesser version (the alt art version) has a red car. Only the Ultra Alt-Art version will have two stars in the bottom right hand corner, not one star. Also, both PSA and Beckett are not properly labeling the Ultra Alt-Art cards from sb01 and sb02 on the slabs. Sometimes they identify the cards as “secret rare super alt art” but that’s incorrect per the Bandai website, which has them listed as Ultra Alt-Art which is unique to sb01 and sb02 and ranked in a higher rarity category. With all this confusion there are opportunities right now to snag these cards before the secret (no pun intended) is out.

Already done seven consultations in last two days. All tailored to the individual collectors’ goals and existing portfolios. Dm me if you want to upgrade your collecting strategy.

Stop chasing the supposed “grails” of modern Pokemon sets and focus on the real grails from 20 or more years ago. Your future self will thank you. In the long run, would you rather have two Charizard SIR from Scarlet & Violet 151 or one Ancient Mew from 2000 in English and PSA 10? There is a correct answer here. 151 is a nice set (especially for modern Pokemon), but it’s not iconic like the Ancient Mew. (I reference the English version of Ancient Mew because the Japanese “Nintedo” error version I posted about a few weeks ago is now largely practically unobtainable for most.)

One Piece is the top selling manga of all time and the second top selling comic ever. It will surpass Superman for top comic sales in the coming years. Oda, the creator of One Piece, has indicated that he wants to finish the manga around 2030, so you may want to get ahead and start buying graded mangas now. Top priority is getting the “first printing” of One Piece manga Volume 1 (“Romance Dawn”), which was printed in December 1997 (see images). There are very few listings on eBay from trusted sellers with a grade of 9.0 or higher in BGS (or any other manga/comic grading company) and recent sales have been between $1500-2000 USD for 9.0 or higher. I expect this price to increase significantly as the manga nears its end, which is still at least a few years away. The hype for One Piece TCG will only likely drive up the price for the OG mangas, which should only be bought in Japanese first printing and not English (unlike the TCG cards where English drives higher prices than Japanese). Get ahead now.