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There are tons of different ways to play the game Pokémon, the wildly popular Eastern franchise that follows the pocket-sized monsters in buying and selling cards, video games, and pictures and TV.
However, the main enterprise of Pokémon, no matter how you play the game, is perfectly distilled through its English-language slogan: “Got to catch ’em all!”
…unless, of course, you’re giving them all away.
That’s the strategy for Ross “Cop” Cooper, a prolific Pokémon card collector from Virginia, who has been going to card conventions across the Mid-Atlantic and showing off — to different people — a large portion of his vast collection to fellow fanatics of all ages. Provides share.
“At the end of the day, we all have a hobby that we really enjoy,” he told CNN. “I know this experience will be more valuable than putting a few bucks in my pocket.”
Cope, who runs the YouTube channel Cope’s Assortment, photographs his interactions at card conventions and captures the genuine surprise and joy among youth and adults alike when he gives them cards.
Here’s how it goes: When someone wanders up to their sales location, the Coop asks them for their favorite Pokémon. Many times, he takes apart his binder of cards to give gifts, finding the best cards and sending them home with them to isolate them. But when he’s out in their favorite personality, he’ll give them a locked booster bundle and allow them to collect what’s inside.
He will also sometimes not hide his case of Pokémon cards that he plans to promote, some of which are capable of fetching over $100, in case a child or adult becomes fascinated about the cards inside. . The gift recipient is constantly so surprised by the different cards that they don’t know how to respond.
Adults always try to pay the cop if he tries to give them something without cost. However, to Coop, they are simply “kids at heart”, and a small but significant use of approval can go some distance for any Poké-fan.
Pokémon Cop doesn’t have the same process as before, but it has become a more important part of his week.
Coop, like many kids of the ’90s, was a Poké-fan in his formative years, collecting cards and working with bosses in the early Pokémon video games. But when he reached Center Faculty, he grew out of the pastime.
It wasn’t until 2018, when his set of YouTube rules showed him a video of an ordinary person opening a new bundle of Pokémon cards, that he rekindled his affection for the Eastern card game. Pokemon wasn’t the common-or-garden pastime of his ’90s youth, however. There were countless new Pokémon varieties and collectibles to discover, and the popularity of the franchise has boomed since the card game’s debut in 1996 – according to The Pokémon Company, more than 64.8 billion cards have been produced, and they have been distributed in over 93 international markets. Has been introduced in. place.
As an adult fan, Coop began opening disliked cards on his kitchen table, but eager to share the joy with fellow fans, he began filming his discoveries for his YouTube channel. It took him more than five years to reach 1,000 fans, he said — until one of his short-form videos, adapted from a longer POV video filmed at a card trading convention earlier in the period, went viral. Happened.
In it, he meets a child who overpaid for a Charizard card at another vendor’s point of sale. After spending all his money, the boy has probably finished buying cards for the past. However, he is shining one of Coop’s cards with the rainbow Alakazam, a mustached Psychic Pokémon, and a top rating of 9. It’s a card that Coop is supposed to promote, but without thinking twice, Coop opens his display case and gives the cardboard item to the kid in isolation.
“It’ll go with your Steelix,” Coop says with a smile. (Steelix, a steel snake-like Pokémon that evolved from the rocky Pokémon Onix, is Coop’s favorite.)
That video has since been viewed 16 million times. Now, at more than 165,000 fans, the youngsters who discovered that April video adore Cop after finding his selling point at card conventions. One of his young fans (and frequent consumers) also gave Him A gift – a colorful image of Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur.
Coop still sells cards on eBay and at card conventions – he has built up a large collection since 2018, and he has submitted various cards for grading. (Graded cards are assigned to skilled card graders who assess the condition and imperfections of the cardboard, then seal it to protect its character, with a grade between 1 and 10, at the best price. ) But he cares a lot less about getting a child to spend money on traditions than brightening up the past and moving forward. their Classification.
In one particularly sweet video, Coop meets a gentle woman who shyly confesses that she’s curious about Eevee, a common Pokémon that appears like a cross between a rabbit and a cat. Coop is unable to find an Eevee for him, so he gives him the blonde Pikachu card. The woman’s gaze widens – this is her first graded card, she says, and she’ll be so crushed she’ll have to turn around temporarily to compose herself.
Graded playing cards can fetch better money among card dealers because their features have been evaluated in a proven manner. It had nothing to do with cop.
“It makes me very happy too,” he said. “Giving stuff away isn’t hard by any means.”
This wasn’t always a common mentality in the Pokémon card collecting family, Coop said. With the onset of COVID-19, many former fanatics returned to their pastime in search of “comfort and nostalgia”, causing the prices of collectibles and playing cards to “skyrocket”. It was disappointing to see how many dealers “came out of the woodwork trying to make a fast buck on this stuff” and exploit consumers in the process, he said.
However, since the move has come closer, the trend has shifted more toward generosity and birthday parties, he said. At card conventions he appeared in Pokémon, “Yu-Gi-Oh!” Participates with cards of. And with “Dragon Ball Super”, they have found fans to support more and increase their collections every opportunity. He’s such a recognizable choice, YouTubers and distributors even give out different cards to curious young fans.
And since he doesn’t lose much from dealing so many cards – he can make a few hundred greenbacks at conventions – he’ll keep doing so, even if he doesn’t pop and hide his display case and provide a few extra worthy playing cards. Does.
Coop remembers a boy desperate to get into the playing card industry with himself, who struggled to choose between two decked-out playing cards. The cop couldn’t stand it and the boy got two points for one.
“This kid is just in it because he likes Pokemon, he likes card art,” he said. “Who am I to not let him have both?”