Kangaskhan – Pinkie's Paradise

Top 5: Most Expensive Pokémon Cards (On sale in 2019)

Good day loyal subjects!
Yugi Muto might be the king of games but I am the princess of Pokemon TCG..somehow that is better believe me. Noble as I am I do not participate in tournaments to give others a chance at the title as champion is a step down from princess anyway. Pokémon TCG is big business, in the Netherlands Yu-gi-oh packs are becoming increasingly rare while Pokémon is standing strong with new expansions just behind the horizon. When a trading card game is healthy, it does mean people actually like to trade cards giving value to these little sheets of paper. The five cards we will talk about today.. fetch quite a high price.

The Rules

Now there are many ways to do this top 5. I could rank based on rarity here and put up a list of cards that are most likely valuable and that are among the most desirable. Yet anyone who has ever seen a pawn show knows that with exceedingly rare items.. prices are all very relative. For example Yu-Gi-Oh has a card named TYLER THE GREAT WARRIOR a one of a kind item that was given to a young cancer patient way back in the day. There have been offers made that allegedly have 7 digits yet the card is not for sale. Maybe Tyler drew on the card when he was a kid, maybe he even lost it? Perhaps it’s still gem mint in a sealed case. Stuff like this would put the value of the card between 0 and 10 million or so and that’s a bit too wide of a range for me to operate on. After all I am a princess I am right! That’s my whole thing! So for this list we will only deal in hard cash. Cards that are out there WITH a price tag. Of course I could just put a common pikachu card out there for 12 million and take the top spot myself but I doubt they’d sell, maybe if I get more followers and become a pokémon icon, so if you haven’t yet.. please subscribe! For this post we will use cards that have been put on sale and either sold or are likely enough to be sold for a ‘fair’ price. Yet due to the nature of how this list is made.. someone might offer them a bit cheaper.

*(A Million Dollar Card..looks oddly familiar)*

Number 5: Tamamushi University Magikarp Trophy Prize (PSA 9)

Cards can be graded on their quality, the most common standard is the PSA. It stands for Professional Sports Authenticator and like the name suggest they are best known for authenticating and valuing sports cards. Yet they also grade nearly any trading card game, even those who can not be played in a sports like setting like amiibo cards and the likes. They grade a card from 1 to 10, 10 being gem mint fetching the highest prices. In 2017 a PSA 10 version of this card sold at auction for about $2150, yet this PSA 9 is on sale for quite a bit more. The lesser quality PSA 9 is on sale for $48.978. That seems rather unrealistic right? Well the price of this magikarp has recently skyrocketed beyond belief. In 2018 the same PSA 10 card sold again but this time for $10.000 dollars. This year PSA 7’s of the card are selling already for $8000 and are selling out. There is a big gap in what people are willing to pay for a PSA 9 and a PSA 7. In general a PSA 7 in terms of more affordable cards sells for about as much maybe even a tad less than an ungraded one. A PSA 10 can turn a 200 dollar card into a 1000 dollar one and the right PSA 9 can do the same. This particular card was handed out to a small group of Japanese school children who were selected to participate in a contest in Osaka. Only the winners of this contest (divided on several age groups themed around gym leaders) where awarded with this magikarp that knows the move dragon breath. The asking price for this card is bordering a bit on the iffy side of the spectrum..but hey magikarp has always been overpriced.

*(I can’t help but feel that the price for this one is a bit fishy)*

Number 4: Albino Zapdos

When there is a printing error on our card, the border is not neatly aligned or if it’s been cut sloppily cards loses value as quick as a Honey Boo Boo can make people lose faith in humanity. However if there is a misprint .. people totally go ham over these cards. One of the most famous mistakes are the so called Albino Pokémon. A type of misprint where one colour would not be printed. Quite oftenly just a detail this Zapdos had the ‘misfortune’ of being on a card where yellow ink did not find its way to the 6.4 by 8.9 cm piece of paper. When it became sealed in a pack the card that was only worth a few dollars otherwise suddenly became a $49.999,99 dollar card. It’s been marketed for that price for a long while and it’s commonly accepted that the card is worth that amount. Unfortunately recently the lucky german who pulled this card was forced to settle for a lot less. Ending up costing the new owner only $14.999,99 this would knock Albino Zapdos down a few spots. Yet the $50.0000 zapdos was quite commonly accepted as the actual price and worth of the card.You can be the judge on that one.. but to keep it fair for the cards that have not received offers yet we shall list it under it’s commonly known asking price. It’s actually worth? That’s a bit of a grey area.

***(I bet having to sell it for a third of the price was a bit shocking to the german)***

Number 3: Shadowless 1st Edition Base Set Charizard Holo 1999 (PSA 10)

This is the most famous expensive pokémon card and most likely the least unique on on this list. This is basically something you could have owned as a kid. Nostalgia for the card that was super popular back then has pumped up the value as a kid. Also as we were all kids who took that card everywhere the good quality ones have dropped of the earth faster than basic human decency in Jersey Shore. This combination made this one of the most coveted cards out there. Every collector wants this one while most of the other cards are much more unique this one has a power over people. ‘Hey guy I got a albino zapdos card’ can still be met with a frown and a look like ‘dude what are you talking about’.. whilst if anyone says ‘Dude I got a holographic 1st Edition Charizard’ they will KNOW that is something impressive. I’ve seen lesser versions sell at auction in the $30.000 range. This australian man might be pushing his luck asking $68.725 dollars for it but recently the Charizard cards have all been picking up in price again. With about 15 views per hour..for a pokémon card that costs as much as more than decent car about 150 months of my rent this one still is likely to sell. The value of this card is quite stable as well so it might be a good investment if you have some cash to burn.

*(While the other cards come and go 1st Edition Charizard will always be hot)*

Number 2: Trophy Kangaskhan Parent & Child Tournament 1998 Pokemon Promo Card Japan (PSA 10)

Can you imagine sending little Buta to school in japan, he picks up a magazine and comes back all excited saying if you enter a pokémon tournament together you can win some neat prices. So you decide to enter, letting little brother Bosu participate alongside his mother as well. Bosu and mom are out of the competition quite fast. You never had high hopes for that kid anyway. You and Buta make your way down the ladder but end up eliminated after a few wins. Hey you still did well enough to receive a price. A Kangaskhan card… neat. It has a symbol that it’s special but hey.. it’s just a piece of card so Buta can keep it. Now 21 years later you are reminiscing those memories sipping your green tea while checking ebay to see if you can buy that card again. Buta .. being a kid lost it.. but now that they have moved out you want it as a memory. You see the only copy currently on sale is in the hand of the British and it’s being sold for $98,126.85. You curse as you realise now Bosu has to become your favorite kid. I am sure this must have happened to at least one japanese father. Who could have expected that the little card you won by playing card game with your son would grow out to be one of the most sought out pokémon cards ever. Not even part of one of the most prestigious tournaments and more just a fun promotion. The design and story around this card has made it amongst the most valuable of them all.

(Paying 100k for a card is far from normal)

Number 1: POKEMON 2001 TROPICAL WIND TROPHY CARD
(PSA 9)

Psyduck in a hammock, along with a igglybuff and smoochum. In the background a Executor is riding a boat. This card was only handed to winners of a tournament and no visitor version was ever handed out. Since there were two age classes back then.. this card by all means should exist twice only. The seller on Ebay prides himself on having the highest rated of those two copies. There will never be a PSA 10..he holds the highest rarity of one of the most rare cards in existence in Pokémon. So what is that worth? NO ONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD OWNS THIS PSA 9 CARD!!! Says the add. While about as subtle as a 90’s comedy or action movie it does hold true. So if you ever want to spend half a million dollars, that’s right this card costs $500.000, on a Psyduck in a hammock.. this is your only option. At least unlike the Kangaskhan and the Magikarp you can get bragging rights with this one! This one at least belongs to the champion of a semi-prestigious tournament rather than just a fun event. So hey that’s worth 400k right? I mean not for me, I am already prestigious enough so I will not let my staff bring out a bid on this one. If you want to donate it to me though.. I would be fairly appreciative. I’ll even get you your own hammock.. and a real duck to go with it.

*(This is the only card on the list that has free shipping)*

Now that we wrapped up this post please do not take the attempt to donate the card to Princess Pinkie seriously of course unless you are a billionaire who’s all like ‘Oh that sounds like fun’ in which case you can go right ahead. What is your most expensive Pokémon Card.. or even other collectable! Let us know in the comments and if you are new don’t forget to follow this blog for more Pokémon content ..most days!

The Pinkest Poké Blogger is blasting off again!
XO
Pinkie

The Kangaskhan Cubone Theory

Greetings little monsters, it is time to go theorycrafting again. Though this is the category I seem I will struggle with most to keep up, mostly because I weave all sorts of theories together, I do think we have a good one today. We will take a deeper look into pokémon evolutions and mythos. This just might be a tricky one.

The Rumor
Pokémon is filled with the most horrible stories you can ever imagine. From cute balloons stealing children’s souls, to children starving in the woods and their spirits merging with the trees, wandering around as phantump forever. Death is ever present in the world of Pokémon. One death in particular is known by both fans and casual followers alike. The death of Cubone’s mother. A narrative that was explored in the original GEN I , Red and Blue , games and which was heartbreakingly recaptured in Let’s Go Eevee and Let’s Go Pikachu. In the latter we literally saw cubone chasing after the departing spirit of Marowak.Yet some believe that Cubone’s mother wasn’t a Marowak at all. It was a Kangaskhan.With cutscenes already proving us wrong, why would we even discuss this theory? Both Nintendo and Game Freak employees keep hinting that there still might be truth to this rumor.
‘How can this be Pinkie! You just told us Marowak was in the cutscene and there even is a pic below… BAD PINKIE!’ Hold on now before you make me cry by shouting at me…*snif*… it’s thursday ..so that means I got a theory.’ To present some evidence I need to jump forward to the sixth generation and a mechanic we learned about there. Mega-Evolution.

Poor Cubone, finally seeing its mother again….

Just to lose her forever… Pokémon can be cruel!

Proof: Mega Evolution
By now we all know Cubone is donning the skull of it’s dead mother. If you didn’t… here you go.. another wonderful titbit of pokémon lore that is absolutely canon and confirmed. The quick theory was that Kangaskhan baby fell out of it’s pouch as it’s mother was killed then worre her skull as a mask. However this would invalidate game canon so as a theory it just doesn’t work for me. Mega Evolution kinda proved something I was suspecting all along , which is massively important to this theory. Gen VI allowed us to use a piece of jewelry and an empowering stone to alter the forms of final evolution empowering them for the entire duration of the battle, as long as they carried that stone. To many’s dismay when Kangaskhan got it was just the baby getting out of the pouch to fight side by side next to its mother. People nagged and complained that this was not an evolution. Yet maybe…it was? What if Kangaskhan could not separate from her baby. What if they are in fact on Pokémon with two minds. We’ve seen the existence of two separate thinking entities in a single pokémon before, Slowbro and Girafarig just to name some. Dodrio is even known for those minds arguing with another. The fact that the beloved mother pokémon needs the power of mega evolution of separate from the baby, validates this theory. The suspicion had always been there since gen II where Kangaskhan would hatch as both mother and offspring already nor do we see any of the two ever wandering alone.
Possible anime episodes were the baby gets stolen we will exclude because in my eyes those DO contradict what the game provides us. The anime would after all be compelled to write interesting narratives, and concerning a mother and baby bond pokémon those storylines come very easily.Back to what has been more or less established in the game. The two being quite inseparable We now can begin to wonder, if Mega Evolution is the right way of separating them could there be a wrong way?.

Hypothesis: The Nincada method
Could Kangaskhan really be related to Cubone? How was Marowak cubone’s mother, yet Nintendo keeps putting the family pokémon and the lonely pokemon together in the same fields. Why can Kangaskhan show up in Pokémon Sun and Moon as an S.O.S. call for Cubone? S.O.S calls with a few exceptions (like Mareanie who shows up to eat wounded, calling for help, Corsola) only monsters from the same evolutionary line show up. Could there actually be a link? We have seen pokémon evolve before when they merge with other pokémon, but can the opposite also be true? What if Kangaskhan in fact could evolve into Marowak by separating their child from them in an attempt to protect them? This could make sense were it not that Marowak only has a base stat total of 420 and Kangaskhan has one of 490. Where does the baby go? Let’s consider a single pokémon, evolving into two? Unheard of you say? That’s not right, in Generation 3 we have seen this before, when the bug Pokémon Nincada evolves, as long as you have a free slot on your team, it evolves into two seperate pokémon being Shedinja and Ninjask. Shedinja being the byproduct terribly weak with only 1hp but a very special ability. Now let’s see if it even remotely makes sense, say Kangaskhan can separate when it’s panicked and fears for it’’s child which causes it to evolve. Not only do we see Marowak we also get a “new” pokémon, that for this blog we will give a placeholder name for the species. In this blog it shall be known as a Beybiroo. Beybiroo would be a baby pokémon, like budew, smoochum, pichu and the likes. It moveset would be moves like Tearful Look, Curse and maybe Round. Not a great Pokémon but it allows you to bring Curse onto Marowak or Kangaskhan later on. “Hold on Pinkie, before we talk about movesets, lets see if Kangaskhan evolving into Marowak even makes sense? You said it’s base stat total drops, even if we get a baby pokémon with it ? Why would it evolve in Marowak then if it was stronger before?’ Well my sweet little monsters, there is one stat that firmly increases if Kangaskhan would evolve into Marowak. It’s defence!

With Beybiroo hurt it’s mother knew what to do.

Completing the circle
Woah… the defence rising of a Pokémon defending her child that actually kinda makes sense! But what about Beybiroo then? How does it evolve? Well we have known about item evolutions already and then I don’t mean the evolutionary stones. I am talking about items like your Metal Coat, Dragonn Scale, Magmarizer and so on. How about making an item based around a skull and when Beybiroo holds it while leveling, it will evolve into a cubone? It would fit in the lore after. Yet of course it still needs to be implemented in the game. How could we do that? First we need to give Kangaskhan a move to seperate Beybiroo from her. Gameplay wise it makes the most sense to make this a learned move, akin to self destruct and explosion, but as a ground type move instead. A name like Mothers-Love would probably be preferable over Baby-Toss. Once used Kangaskhan faints and directly after the battle it used that move, it evolves. If you have a free slot , you also get the Beybiroo added to your team. A Marowak who is evolved this way (and thus always is female) can get a new ability as well. This ability would allow it to get the skull item you need once it faints and it has an item slot available. The item works in essence like a focus-sash, that would your pokémon take a one hit knockout attack Marowak is switched in to take the hit (with its own defences instead, consuming the item) However when Beybiroo levels up with it..it can evolve into cubone. At level 28 if your Cubone is male, it will evolve in a Marowak like normally. If Cubone is female AND you have a Beybiroo in your party, Cubone evolves into Kangaskhan at the same level, without the baby it will transform into a Marrowak like normal. Thus completing the Marowak family circle.

This would be my evolution table! Complex but could make sense.

Good and Bad Separation
I think by doing it this way, the theory of them being related could actually work very well. The themes of orphan and parent would create a synergy between the paring and with Alolan Marowak being a thing this life cycle could create a very interesting bond between your Pokémon, where you can use Beybiroo, alongside the move tutor as a method of getting better moves onto your Kangaskhan or Marowak. Having an alternate method of obtaining a baby-mon is also something that could be very nice, without us having to find a new form of incense. The mother pokémon being the origin of the story. Will you go for good separation and use the mega stone only, or will you separate the pair to gain the better abilities and useful items? A moral dilemma that when executed right could be tremendously fun to play around with adhering to the duality Pokémon has had since the beginning.
Having the cycle work this way also mean we finally have an explanation for the link, without harming any of the cutscenes. Saying goodbye to Marowak would remain intact, yet the story of a loving mother giving up her live to save her child would never have been more powerful.

What if they are actually the same, and one had just less luck in life?

Thus ends today’s theory. It was nice to add my own spin to an older theory, trying to make it work. I hope you enjoyed as well. What theory would YOU like me to shine my light on?
Give my day a little bright powder and leave a like or a comment.
Stay pink my little monsters!

X

P.S.
Have a happy drumming Cubone cause it deserves a smile too!