Opening 4 Emerging Powers Booster Packs

Hi all!

Amateur Collector here and as my very boring but straightforward post title implies, I'm opening up four Pokémon Black & White Emerging Powers booster packs.

Just like my last Pokémon TCG related update, I purchased these booster packs, along with 8 others, in Kowloon - Hong Kong in a small shop at In's Point.
They cost me 25 HKD, which is roughly 1.90 GBP or 3 USD. Not bad at all! In fact, a very good price considering the pulls I got. Lets check them out, shall we? (scroll bellow to see pictures or click here for the video)

First off, here are the rares. 

I pulled a Darmanitan, a Leavanny and a reverse Gigalith.

I'm pretty sure I have this Darmanitan already, but I think I may still need the Leavanny.

A Holo Gothitelle. I'm sure I have at least two of these already. But glad to have pulled a holo nonetheless. 

And here is the gem of the bunch:

A Full Art Tornadus. This card may not be worth much at all, but I'm very happy to have gotten it, it is an Ultra Rare after all. It's interesting to see that it's not in this set that they started leaving "finger print" like patterns on Full Art cards.

Overall this was an okay bunch of booster packs. Emerging Powers is the smallest set from the BW era of Pokémon TCG with only 98 cards, only 2 of which are Full Arts and 10 holos- so I'm pretty glad that I managed to get a Full Art. 

Well, I'll leave you here. My next Pokémon TCG update will be soon. I'll be opening up four Plasma Storm booster packs. Looks forward to that! 

See ya next time!

Catching' em again! Pokemon TCG opening in China!

Hi all!

Amateur Collector here and yes you've read that title right; I have found some Pokémon TCG booster packs to open in China, and they're not fakes!!

These booster packs were found in Hong Kong in a small shop inside the In's Point shopping centre in Yau Ma Tei (which as a side note, is a great shopping area for collectables!) At first I thought they were perhaps fakes so I only bought one booster pack to see what they were like. Lo and behold, not only are they legit, but I get myself an awesome full art Articuno-EX!! Sooooooo naturally the next day I go back and buy myself a fist full of booster packs. They were very cheap in fact, only 25HKD (that's about £1.90 in GBP and $3.20 USD) and there was a nice diversity of boosters from different series (no Dark Explorers sadly!).

I ended up buying 4 Emerging Powers, 4 Plasma Storm, 3 Plasma Blast and a Plasma Freeze booster pack.
If you want the suspense of opening up these booster packs not knowing what comes out as I open them, then avoid scrolling down and just click here to watch my Pokémon TCG Booster Pack Opening video.

Before I reveal the cards I got in those twelve booster packs, here's the Articuno-EX I got from that one previous pack:

The card is slightly damaged on the bottom right hand corner, the booster pack it was inside must have been moved around quite a bit. But still a very handsome card.

Here are the booster packs!

The first lot of boosters I opened were from Emerging Powers. This is a set I have rarely opened, so I was eager to rip them open. Sadly I only got non-holo rares, most of which I already own. From left to right: Gigalith, Gothitelle, Mandibuzz and Beartic.

Things get better with the next few boosters however!

Some of the rares:  a Team Plasma's Garbodor from Plasma Storm, and a Reuniclus and Carracosta from Plasma Blast.

Two rare reverse-holos! A Magnezone and a Team Plasma's Watchog. That Magnezone looks particularly cool.

Four wonderful holographics. The artwork on them is great and dynamic, but I must admit I find the "Tinsel Holofoil" a little bland, it just doesn't go with them so well. But I'm super glad to have gotten these none the less, especially that Lucario I didn't even know existed. The Lucario, Gallade and Togekiss are from Plasma Storm and the Haxorus is from Plasma Blast.

And Now for the cherry on the cake:

A Team Plasma's Tornadus-EX (Therian Form). Not my favourite of the Exs, but a card I'm overjoyed to have gotten anyways.

So out of 12 packs I got 4 holos, an ultra rare and 7 'normal' rares. That is about an average pull ratio for rare cards, and I mean that as a good thing. These booster packs were really worth their money. Next time I'm in Hong Kong I'll definitely stop by that store and purchase more.

Be sure to comment, subscribe and 'like' my youtube AND/OR blog if you like what you see and be sure to check out any other blog or video posts I have done or will do - Pokémon related or otherwise!

Until then, cheerio!

Forces of Nature Collection! Box Opening - Braving the Elements

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here and for today's adventure I've opened up this promotional box for the Pokémon TCG called Forces of Nature Collection!
If you don't want any spoilers, stop reading now and go check out the box opening on youtube.

In this box you get not one, not two, but three Black Star Promo cards! All of them are part of the titular Forces of Nature trio, also nicknamed the Genie trio. You also get 3 booster packs in this box. I have no idea if the selection of these booster packs are random, but for this box I got one booster pack from the HGSS series (Call of Legends) and 2 from Emerging Powers. This box was bought from Chaos Cards for £22.95 (that's roughly $36 USD), which is quite expensive but it is hard to find. Plus Chaos Cards was the only place I had found selling it at a reasonable price (seriously, Amazon.co.uk has them going at £80+ !!)

Anyways, now on to he more interesting stuff; the pulls I got.

First are the 3 promotional cards: Thundurus BW41, Tornadus BW42 and Landorus BW43. All three of these mons are in their Incarnate Forms- forms I have to admit I'm really not a fan of. However, these cards themselves are fantastic. Making two of them reverse-holos was a good idea, it really sets them apart from all the other promo cards in my folder. And Landorus as a full art... brilliant! He may look ugly, but he looks damn imposing too. 

The three cards we have here are the ones I got from the booster packs. The first one is a rare Typhlosion from Call of Legends. The two others are from Emerging Powers; holographic Virizion and a rare Simipour. I like the styilised bold art on Simipour, but sadly am not fond of the Pokémon itself. Not pictured: I also got a reverse-holo Ferrothorn.

Well, even though I got three promos and 1 holographic I can't say I'm too happy with the pulls in this box. They aren't bad per se, but for £22.95 I'd have liked at least one ultra-rare or even just a Pokémon I like more...

Oh listen to me, I'm acting like a spoilt brat haha. I had none of these cards to begin with so I'm happy to add them to my growing collection none the less!

I'll end here. Thanks for reading, hope you weren't too bored by my ranting. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts down bellow or to check out my Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures so far on youtube.

Till next time, sayonara!