My Pokémon Collection - Part 1

Sharing some of my favourite items from the many items in my Pokémon collection!

Like many Pokémon fans, I collected plenty of its merchandise throughout the years. I wanted to share some of them and try to give a bit of background to each one. Here are four items from my Pokémon collection that I want to share today:

A photograph of Pokémon stickers by Merlin

Pokémon stickers

The very first Pokémon related merchandise I bought were stickers, part of a set published by Merlin in 1999. I wasn’t able to complete the set, and I didn’t use any of them as I never bought the album to put them in. Unfortunately, I do have a memory of some kid from my school laughing at me for only being able to afford stickers and not cards, but I still thought my stickers were pretty cool. Maybe someday I'll find and buy the original sticker album online to stick them to!

A photograph of Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise base set trading cards

Pokémon cards

Since around 2001 I’ve amassed a huge collection of Pokémon cards. But until around 2019, they had remained inside a cardboard box. In recent years I have worked hard to complete a few sets, such as the Base, Jungle, Fossil and Team Rocket collections. Each card is now sleeved and inside a zip locked folder, where they will be safe from damage. Each time I look at them, I am reminded of some very fond memories, and a few select cards are very personal to me. I hope to share some of these individual cards in the future.

A photograph of a Game Boy Color and a copy of Pokémon Blue

Pokémon Blue and The Game Boy Color

Despite coming from a low income family, I was finally able to own my first Pokémon game in August 2001. Finally, I was playing the game I had been eager to try for around three years, and loved it! Some of my favourite Pokémon from back then were Articuno, Exeggutor and Charizard. I don't remember my original team, only that I used Charizard and I caught Moltres in a Master Ball. I am forever grateful to my mum for purchasing the Game Boy Color (£39.99) and a copy of Pokémon Blue (£12.99) from my local Gamestation for me, especially because of how much of a financial cost that must have been for her at the time. It has been a treasured possession ever since.

A photograph of my copy of Pokémon Crystal

Pokémon Crystal

This game was incredibly special to me growing up. Despite loving Pokémon Blue, the latest games at the time, Gold & Silver, were already the most talked about games. Eventually, I saved up enough money to purchase it. The opening cutscene flashed before my eyes, and I was taken by surprise at how colourful it was. I saw some colour when playing Blue, but this was completely different. I remember seeing the word CRYSTAL appear on-screen, and I distinctly remember thinking to myself that "This was going to be the greatest Pokémon game ever" I didn't realise at the time just how correct I was. Crystal is still my favourite Pokémon game to this day, I love it so much!

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