Goldenrod Radio

An RGB Mew Black Label hammered at $163,300 on eBay, then the winning buyer backed out and the auction house says it pulled 59 shill bids. That same week, a collector found out the $660,000 PSA 10 Shiny Rayquaza he bought was in a fake slab. Blaine and I get into fake bids, fake slabs, and what all of it means for anyone buying or selling right now.On this episode of Goldenrod Radio, Blaine (PokeTidalZone) and I are finally back together, and we have a lot to catch up on. We start with pickups, including a Kecleon Illustration Rare from a Delta Reign box and a Delta Species Latios. Then we get into why staying liquid matters more than ever and why selling right at the start of a show gets you the best cash offers.From there, we break down the RGB Mew Black Label auction that fell apart, plus a live update from Card Science in the chat on what really happened with the canceled bid. We cover the fake slab problem, where we think the market goes after a record $1 billion month in card sales, and the dad who left his 6-year-old asleep in a 1am Target line on Delta Reign release day.In this episode:The $163,300 RGB Mew Black Label sale, the canceled bid and the 59 shill bidsWhere’s the line between a real bid and a shill bid?The $660K fake PSA 10 Shiny Rayquaza and $4 PSA-style labels on AliExpressWhat to check on every slab before you buy Consignment, middlemen and who eats the loss on a fakeWhy modern is correcting and why it might be a great time to be a buyerOur plays right now: e-Reader reverses, PSA 9 stability and low-pop vintageIs sealed worth holding? Pitch Black, Ascended Heroes and Crown ZenithThe dad who left his 6-year-old in line for Pokémon cardsThe Tacoma card shop heist ($50K in Pokémon and Magic cards stolen)Squishy trade nights are real and we have thoughtsWill GTA 6 tank card show traffic next weekend?

Season 2 is here, and the hobby didn't take a break while we were gone. A sponsored video had young kids ripping digital mystery packs on an app rated 18+. Thieves cleared out more than 6,000 freshly graded slabs from a FedEx truck parked right outside PSA's headquarters. And collectors everywhere are quietly falling out of love with Pokémon. Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) get into all of it, and get honest about the moments they've felt the burnout themselves.In this episode:Show and Tell: Blaine's swirl Togetic and his Deoxys-for-Unseen Forces Ho-Oh trade from Jacksonville, plus Seth's Espeon & Deoxys tag team altWhy tag team alts and promos are still underratedDragonairica, Arena Club, and kids ripping digital mystery packsThe sponsored pack-rip offers we get, and the ad we'd actually makeThe PSA FedEx heist: 6,451 cards, a 60 to 90 minute window, and no arrestsIs PSA really ditching FedEx for USPS?How do you put a "fair market value" on 6,000 stolen slabs?Overleveraging, gold stars ending low, and the market cooling offWhy Pokémon collecting is burning people out, and how to fall back in love with it

A Pokémon trade at Chicago Collect-A-Con went from a handshake to a public callout overnight, the PSA 10 Plasma Storm Lugia that was sitting at $3.7 MILLION on Fanatics finally sold for $660K once the shill bids were gone, and Blaine paid multiples over comps for a card that recomped the very next morning. Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) get into all of it in the Season 1 finale, plus we finally tell the story of how we both got into vending! In this episode: Seth's Gold Star Jolteon from Nona Collect Central Florida Cardfest, and Blaine's PSA 9 Meganium Unseen Forces stamp that ran from $420 to $1,450 Blaine's pop 25 PSA 10 Rocket's Mission reverse stamp from Team Rocket Returns How Blaine went from buyer POVs to vending, and his stalled-out Tag Team master set How Seth started vending in March 2024, a Bubble Mew mistake, and how Doodtacular started back in 2021 The $3.7 million Lugia that sold for $660K: what happened to the shill bids, and Fanatics' new proof-of-funds rule Kabuto King, pump and dumps, and whether PSA pop control is realA Team Rocket Returns Magikarp at $14,100, and Blaine's PSA 9 Togetic deal that recomped overnight at $10KThe Boosters and Bangers Lugia trade: Brian's side vs. the vendor's side Made-up numbers, and would we have undone the deal?Who should we bring on as a guest for Season 2?

Pokémon cards officially made it to space this week, a PSA 10 Plasma Storm Lugia is sitting at $3.7 MILLION on Fanatics with bids disappearing and reappearing, and the internet is asking whether Joe Jonas and Logan Paul are real Pokémon fans or just LARPing for the camera. Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) get into all of it, plus Seth springs a surprise game on Blaine!In this episode:Blaine's weekend of deals, including a Rocket Returns reverse Dragonite and a Holon Phantoms GyaradosSeth's PSA 8 Emerald Kyogre, and whether a PSA 8 is really worth less than a CGC 10Pokémon cards on the International Space Station, and what a "flown in space" card should be worthThe $3.7 million Plasma Storm Lugia: real demand or shill bidding?Are big money players pumping low-pop vintage on the auction houses?Ranking every EX era set, from Ruby & Sapphire to Power Keepers (and which set Blaine gave the F)Joe Jonas pulls a Bubble Mew on his birthday and responds to the "larper" backlashLogan Paul's Shiny Onix hunt and his Gengar love letter, read out loud in fullWhat actually makes someone a real Pokémon fan?

Last week's recording got cut short due to someone doxxing Blaine, so this week we're back. Blaine opens up about what happened on our livestream and why we took time away. Then Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) break down card show deal etiquette from both sides of the table, get honest about why so many people hate Pokémon vendors (including calling ourselves out), and react to Coinbase jumping into Pokémon with digital pack rips.In this episode:Why we took a week off, and what's changing for our live streamsBlaine's $1,500 eBay snipe on a low-pop EX era reverse, whose PSA 10 just sold for $50,000Are CGC 10s undervalued compared to PSA 10s?Card show deal etiquette: condition, knowing your number, the handshake, and never asking for more afterUnpriced cards, "what's your best price," case candy, and why you need a separate trade binderVendors shopping your offer around the show, and backing out of dealsThis is why people hate Pokémon vendors: lowballing, scalping, gambling gimmicks, and stealingIs everyone in this hobby technically a scalper?Coinbase is getting into Pokémon packs. Are we near the top?Rip-pack sponsorships and why we turn most of them down

Fortune just ran a piece on a venture capitalist sitting on 500,000 trading cards who won't keep the good ones in his own house. Meanwhile, at card shows, guys are walking the aisles with French Bulldog puppies trying to trade them for four and five-figure slabs. Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) get into both ends of that, what outside investor money actually does to the cards we're all trying to buy, and the Puppygate videos that have the whole hobby arguing about what belongs at a card show.In this episode:The VC with 500,000 cards who keeps the good stuff in a vaultPokémon returning 3,821% since 2004 against the S&P's 483%Kevin O'Leary telling people to put 3–5% of their portfolio in cardboardIs it really a level playing field, or is that just what rich guys sayWhy we're both more careful about where the collection sleeps at nightPuppygate; breeders trading dogs for slabs, and why nobody's stopping itWhat card shows need to start policing before this gets worseA $20,000 RGB Mew that Pokémon still hasn't acknowledged exists30th Anniversary lines, lawn chairs at Best Buy, and shops pricing above scalpersThe take that 95% of reverse stamps are overvalued — and why we hard disagreeThe worst and best modern chase cards ever printed

Goldenrod Radio is back and Card Party Dallas gave us the best show we've vended yet, and we're still catching up on everything that happened. From trade night chaos, an attendee who tried to charge a "buyer's premium" mid-deal, and a wild run of vintage flips in a single weekend. Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) also get into why Gold Stars are suddenly back in a big way, react to Natalie Roush opening unreleased 30th Anniversary product on camera, and why the Pokemon community reacted the way it did.In this episode:How to make great deals at a slow show, and when it actually works.Why condition standards matter more than people think (and how disputes start).Gold Stars continue to trend... is this a real run or a correction waiting to happen?The resurgence of PSA 8s and 9s in vintage.What a "buyer's premium" actually is, and why people are trying to do to.Trade night: the good, the chaotic, and the stuff that needs to change.Natalie Roush opened an unreleased 30th Anniversary UPC and the aftermathThe 30th Anniversary binder delay, and what it might mean for the rest of the setBuilding real vendor relationships vs. one-off flipsHow to avoid FOMO and still make profitable trades

A Gold Star Rayquaza just sold for $1,020,000... making it the first English Pokémon card ever to cross a million sale. Three days later a Gold Star Torchic that last comped at $35,000 over 18 months ago was sitting north of that in extended bidding. Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) get into what a CGC Pristine 10 actually does to a card's value, whether the whole EX era just got dragged up with it, and the Pokemon Worlds trade that had the internet convicting a vendor for scamming a kid before the facts showed up.In this episode:- The first English Pokémon card to break $1 million... and why this one.- Pristine 10 vs. Gem Mint 10, and the $852,000 gap between two labels.- A Torchic that comped at $35K going for multiples of that with only 19 in a 10.- Is the whole EX era about to get pulled up, or is this a Gold Star bubble?- Are EX-era cards officially vintage now?- The Pokemon Worlds trade that blew up on X and what really happened.- What vendors owe kids who walk up to the table without a parent.- The EX Star logo Pokémon quietly dropped at the closing ceremony.- Whether Gold Stars come back as a modern rarity or a gameplay mechanic.- Vintage, EX, and modern... where we think the money actually goes next.

30th Celebration cards are already changing hands weeks before release, and eBay has started pulling the listings. Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) get into where those cards came from, what it was like seeing one in person at a show, and where the line actually sits on card restoration... plus how five waves of product in twelve weeks is going to hit your wallet before the year is out.In this episode:Leaked 30th Celebration cards turning up in hand before releaseWhy eBay started pulling the in-hand listingsSeeing one of the leaked cards in person at a showWhere the line is on restoration... and whether it's ruining the hobbyHow the grading companies actually detect trimming, recoloring, and pressingWhat restoration does to a card's real value once it's disclosedThe $115,000 Mewtwo sale that happenedGold Star pickups and what Blaine dragged home this weekFive waves of product in twelve weeks and how to budget for itScalping and market manipulation around new releases

Modern chases are getting dumped on tables at every card show; is this the normal summer slowdown, or the start of a real correction? Seth (Doodtacular) and Blaine (PokeTidalZone) break down what they saw on the floor at NonaNerds, why the Gold Stars keep skyrocketing and whether it's worth sending anything in to grade right now.In this episode:- Modern chase cards showing up dumped at shows... and what's actually driving it.- Summer slowdown vs. serious market correction.- Gold Stars: real demand, or hype and manipulation on a recycling loop?- Private sales vs. comps, and why the public number isn't the number.- Why low pop matters more than raw price when you're buying to hold.- What grading delays are doing to the hobby and to the grading companies themselves.- Is it worth grading your cards right now?- Offloading bricks, vendor-to-vendor deals, and the 80–85% case buyers.- How content creation actually changes what you can do as a vendor.- Why relationships beat comps at the table.