>>47585354Great video. Agree with everything pretty much 100%, this is someone who's been into collecting for a very long time.
The truth is, in a healthy hobby there is a (small) place for investors that can be beneficial to its long term survival, by literally just safely hoarding the shit until a new generation can pick it up in mint condition. But they are certainly not the most important demographic. Without collectors actually wanting the cards, they would eventually be worthless and there are countless examples of hobbies being strangled out by investors overwhelming and pushing out the other aspects. There is literally no physical asset in the world traded exclusively for its monetary value.
But, this is not a healthy hobby. Healthy hobbies see slow, gradual appreciation in value over time as interest waxes and wanes, not 20 years of stagnation followed by explosive 1000x growth. WHEN it crashes, if the hobby survives at all, it could take a very long time to recover. As a long time /toy/ guy I've seen this happen many times, albeit on a smaller, pre-internet scale. This is kind of unprecedented in that regard, and I can only hope that the added hype has brought in enough new people interested in more than just investing.
