Feb. 21, 2025

TRAINERS EYE #136 - "Roar With Confidence Using Arcanine Energy" ft. Joey Lopez from Rockets Markets

Show Notes
Transcript

In this Pokemon interview, we are joined by Joey Lopez, a Pokemon Trainer who co-owns Rockets Markets, a business who helps hosts and market events around Dallas-Fort Worth.

Joey Lopez starts his journey with collecting Pokemon cards. Due to his family being heavily against Pokemon, Joey was left on the outside looking in as he watched his friends playing the Pokemon video games. Surprisingly, his parents finally grant him permission to play Pokemon, with his first ever game being Pokemon Soul Silver.

Joey Lopez shares his motivation to be an entrepreneur and building up Rockets Markets and Trainer Con. He also gives insight into how he met his business partner and what he has learned along the way about hosting Pokemon events around the DFW area.

Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay

Connect with RocketsMarkets: Website | Instagram

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E-mail Me: asthepokeballturnspodcast@gmail.com

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Transcript

WEBVTT

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Hey guys, this is Joey from TrainerCon, and this is my Pokemon story.

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welcome to, as the pokeball turns, Where people share their experience with Pokemon.

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My name is David Hernandez.

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I'm joined by Joey from Rockets Market.

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Joey, welcome to As the Pokeball Turns.

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Thank you for coming on.

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Hey, hey David, I'm a super excited to be here.

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And yeah, I appreciate you having me on the other half of Rockets market so super excited

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Now, for those who may not know, and I've actually had your partner in crime, Caleb on the podcast, definitely go check out his episode, but I was told by him that you're kind of the brains behind the operation.

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Is that kind of true?

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That's so funny.

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In the, uh, episode that I was listening to, he had me as the loosey goosey one.

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In the episode, and he was the brains one.

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Did he come back and tell you that I was the brains one?

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Well, he said, like, the idea came from your head that, like, he's the one who does the background type of stuff and you're kind of the face, if that makes sense.

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Maybe I'm saying the wrong word.

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That's so funny.

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No, I, uh, I'll take the brains.

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Yeah.

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I, um, I, I'm the guy I feel like with, with the ideas.

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Caleb's the, uh, Caleb's kind of the workhorse for us.

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and you know, we both have a really good ideas, but, I feel like my ideas are, uh, it kind of what we end up playing out a little bit more.

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I mean, let's give some insight to people who are listening.

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Can you tell people what is Rocket Market?

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What is the business y'all have built up together?

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Like, what is it about?

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Yeah, yeah, so, Caleb and I have known each other for a couple years now, we started a business that was kind of, it was all based on Pokemon.

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We started with these diorama type cubes that we made into Pokemon cards and dioramas aren't an original concept, but, We decided to make them into, like, Pokemon cards and sell them at markets.

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And while we were going to markets and selling them, we were like, why don't we create our own markets?

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And so, yeah, Rockets Market started and we created Trainer Con from it.

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So Yeah, it's been kind of all based on Pokemon from the start, Rockets Relics being the, the ones that created the cubes and then Rockets Markets kind of doing the trainer con and stuff.

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So yeah,

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Now, it's crazy to, for you to just make an entire convention around just Pokemon.

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It's a lot of work to host these events.

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What made you kind of want to spearhead and dive into this?

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Ha ha ha!

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started, like I said, with the diorama cubes.

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our very first event was with Indigo Plateau.

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they've become great business friends of ours.

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And, um, we brought our diorama cubes to, one of their outdoor markets that they host these little mini markets.

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And on our first event, we like made a killing, like selling these diorama cubes and we were super worried, like nobody was going to buy them.

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And, uh, we, we kind of felt like millionaires selling like a ton of cubes that weekend, based on something that we were super passionate about.

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And so.

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I'm kind of like the entrepreneur, I feel like between the both of us.

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And so with one of my other.

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Businesses that I had on the side.

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I had worked with, Bear Cave Coffee in Mesquite, and they have like an event center in the back of their coffee shop, and I had done an event with them before, and I was like, Hey, I want to create a Pokemon event.

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of our own.

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And they were super gracious to let us use the space.

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Um, the owners there are super sweet.

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And, uh, yeah, it was kind of just off to the races.

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just, you know, created TrainerCon.

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I feel like almost out of nothing and on a shoestring budget.

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Um, in a closet is what it felt like too.

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So, sure.

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you know, it doesn't, I mean, unless you're blessed with money, and of course you weren't, but a lot of times it just starts with an idea and you just kind of pursue it and you kind of let it evolve and grow.

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You don't have all the answers, but you kind of figure out along the way, I think.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And it, it did evolve, uh, for sure.

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And it, and it continues to evolve.

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like I said, we started with 12 vendors.

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And I want to say most people who came to the first TrainerCon probably just people that were coming through the coffee shop.

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So our first people to actually check out the event were like, I had no idea this was going on.

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And we were like, yeah, cause, you know, we use like 50 on ads, so there was probably no way you were going to know anyways.

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So we did the first event and then the second event we had a little bit more under our belt on what to expect.

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And then by the second event we were like, let's, let's really bite this and let's go big.

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So we went from 12 vendors to like 70 plus.

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on the next one.

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and yeah, it's just been growing and growing ever since we're up to 120 vendors at a, now a third space.

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yeah, it just keeps, it keeps going and we're super excited and, uh, happy about the community that we're growing together.

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One thing that Caleb said is that he's kind of a logics kind of guy, but you're one who says it's going to kind of work out.

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What gives you, I guess, that confidence to kind of.

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Go with and say like, Hey, we're just going to host this event and go to these different places.

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And it's going to kind of work out in the end.

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Like, is it true that you have that kind of confidence or is it just more of that's his perception?

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Yeah, I guess that does, um, play a role in, in kind of our partnership.

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He's a little bit more cautious, than I, I kind of look at it in a way like.

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When we started TrainerCon and Rockets Relics and we were going to events, we literally, we built it on Pokemon, about Pokemon, but then our seed money for starting all of this was selling Pokemon cards in order to have money to start doing events and stuff.

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So You know, from the start, you know, he was really cautious about that.

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And in my head with like training cards and stuff like that, um, with Pokemon cards, I was always like, you know, their stocks, they go up and down in value and, uh, we're going to cash in some stocks and we're going to make this stream happen.

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But, you know, from the start, he was kind of cashing in, like some of his childhood Pokemon cards.

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And so he's always kind of been, I feel like from the start, a little bit more cautious on things, but, think our relationship works really well with that where.

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You know, every week I can come to him and say, Hey, I've got this idea.

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And, and he's like, Oh no, what's the idea.

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And then I run through the idea and, uh, you know, we decide if, you know, it's a good one or maybe it's a bad one or it needs, you know, a little bit of, um, tweaking and working.

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And so, yeah, it, it just works really good with, uh, people.

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for those who don't know my story, I started this podcast with the idea of, I wanted to build people up, you know, originally I started Pokemon go and I wanted to get the leaders.

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Cause I feel like there was no place to kind of bring people on to, to share their story and what they do for the community.

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And I had no idea what I was doing.

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I'd never done recording a podcast.

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I barely knew how to edit audio, but.

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Like what you said, like you just started building up slowly and slowly.

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And it's nerve wracking, especially for me, because I think I relate more to Caleb than you honestly, to where I got to see the analytics, but you also had to kind of have your spirit to where sometimes you just got to go with the wind, you won't have all the answers right away,

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Yeah, yeah.

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And, and, you know, I, I go with the wind, but, you know, I, we're both analytics in our own way.

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Full time, I'm a marketing director.

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And so a lot of my job is the analytic side of things.

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Um, how things are performing, posts are performing, ads are performing.

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You know, that has carried us a really long way with, how we do things.

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And so it always comes down to the numbers at the end of the day, if something's not working or it didn't work a couple of times, we're not going to keep doing it.

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So,

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right?

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but, but I think having that entrepreneurial spirit and a little bit of good luck and, uh, it's really carried us.

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Well, I was going to say, you kind of touch on a very important part because, you know, everybody talks about how they want to be their own boss, right?

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They want to be independent.

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They don't want to have to answer to anybody.

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And, you know, here you are, you said it's, you have to both be analytical.

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You have to look at the analytics of, are you getting, I guess, the output of what you put into it?

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You know, is it worth it?

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And two, you've got to be disciplined.

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I imagine.

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oh yeah, there's, uh, there's definitely a lot of discipline that goes into it.

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We're at a point where, like, TrainerCon, I almost told people, or I have told people in the past that, like, TrainerCon, up until this TrainerCon that's coming up March 23rd, has been pretty much a philanthropal, that the right word?

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Philanthropy?

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Fill in.

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to the community.

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we really haven't, we've broken even on almost all things that we've done.

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So, you know, there is a lot of hesitation in things where it's like, Oh man, if, if we overspend in this, then we're going to be really in the red.

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and so, I guess, yeah.

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So there is a lot of like hesitation in that and, uh, we want to be our own boss.

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That would be cool one day to just say, Hey, we, we do trainer con.

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That's our thing.

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Uh, we also sell cards on the side.

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with DFW Pokemon and so yeah, it is, is an idea to be our own boss, but you know, you have to, I always tell Caleb, you gotta find a way to fly kites and make money.

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So it's, it, it, it's fun to, uh, to fly kites, but you know, at the end of the day, it's got to make some money.

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Have, I guess, have you always had this entrepreneur spirit or did it kind of like come from some inspiration?

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I feel like I've always had it, ever since I was like a kid, I would play like shopkeep or something that was like my favorite game as a kid would be like, you know, play shopkeep.

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I was the one running the shop and.

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I've had countless businesses over time and Caleb's had a couple too.

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So, you know, it's coupled both of us, into doing this, but, uh, you know, entrepreneurship is really, I think where my heart is at and, what I love to do,

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And it's kind of cool because now you get to kind of bring people with you with rockets markets to where people can kind of join because all those vendors, they're also entrepreneurs in a way.

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So it's like I want to say a club of entrepreneurs, but it kind of is because you all kind of do business together.

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I

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our trader con event, but then we're vendors as well.

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So if it's not a rockets relics, um, stuff that we do.

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With our cubes and our, our 3d prints and our diet, you know, our dioramas and, uh, arcade machines and stuff.

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We're also selling Pokemon cards, you know, at different events.

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And so a lot of us kind of travel, you know, we, we all know each other.

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we all know struggles that we go through when it comes to like a good event.

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and so, yes, from the start, we were like, let's make this as great as we can for our vendors as well.

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and it may not always, I mean, in the beginning, it probably didn't come down to.

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I want to say not every vendor at the first event was maybe profitable.

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but we tried to make, you know, the best experience as we could for those vendors.

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And I want to say many of those vendors that we started with, those first 12 are still with us to this day.

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So we just try to make, the event great for the attendees, of course.

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But, um, then I feel like we do the same for our vendors as well.

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know this can be blasphemy, but it's like there, you're like 12 disciples and y'all are like leading the way.

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You're the shepherds.

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I agree.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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I mean,

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Oh,

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really are 12 disciples.

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I want to say they've probably all, you know, stayed with us.

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We've had a Judas along the way, but, uh,

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no, I'm not.

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Hopefully I'm not the Judas.

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Okay.

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No,

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I'm just a podcaster

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That's right.

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Just the media.

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exactly, but I want to ask.

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So, you know, you've mentioned a lot about Pokemon cards and being TCG.

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What is it about that aspect of Pokemon that got you interested into that section before you became a vendor?

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Yeah.

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So, uh, with TCG specifically, Like I started like, um, like SoulSilver was one of my favorite games growing up.

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That was the first game I played.

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Um, then like along the way I had some Pokemon cards and, I really haven't been as like into Pokemon cards until like, you know, like the 2020 boom when I think everybody was into it.

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Um, and Yeah, so, you know, we, we sell cards now.

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We buy and sell cards.

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it's just kind of an extra, an extra thing that we're doing where it's still adding like a revenue stream to our business.

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It is still a way where at the end of the day, if we were to look at all of the pieces, it is still a net positive thing that we're doing for us as a business.

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where, you Pokemon cards, then maybe we can use some of that to continue to grow trainer con or now that, you know, trainer con is having a little bit of profit in it.

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We can use that to grow our Pokemon card stuff.

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So it all feeds into each other.

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helps us put it on an experience for trading on, but then helps us with our, you know, extra additional side businesses as well.

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So do you look to Pokemon cards as a way to kind of see which ones are going to go up in price over time?

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Or do you collect like certain favorites?

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What's your approach to the Pokemon TCG?

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you know, we both have our own personal collection where it's like we could never sell these, but from the start, like I said, we both, you know, put money into the business by selling Pokemon cards.

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Mm hmm.

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you so much TP collectibles for, uh, that seed money.

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That you gave us

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Oh wow, shout out TV collectibles.

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Yeah

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Yeah.

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Shout out Tom, the patron saint of Pokemon.

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but yeah, he, he bought up, you know, some of our first Pokemon cards.

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So, and then we look at it in a way where it's like they're stocks to us where, Cards will go up in value and, you know, we'll, we'll sell high, but, you know, we can also buy back some of those favorites as well.

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When the market's down, So yeah, it, just a fun thing that we do and it's, it's kind of a new thing for us, but we're already like signed up for like a couple of collecticons and stuff.

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So we're taking it on the road,

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On that road y'all hitting the hit y'all hitting the streets now.

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we really are.

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I mean, we're, we're hitting it hard this year and one of those things where Caleb's a little bit hesitant on it and I'm like, let's go, let's roll, let's roll those dice, you know?

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Hey you! Yes, you with the ears! Don't go anywhere, just taking a quick ad break.

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We'll be right back.

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Pokemon Trainers, listen up.

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TrainerCon Dallas is back and leveling up in a big way.

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And here's the best part, general admission is pay what you want.

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So that means you get to grab your tickets for this event for as little as a dollar online through March 22nd, or just pay 5 at the door when you get there.

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Kids under 12 are free.

00:14:25.870 --> 00:14:32.409
This one day event is packed with 120 tables featuring top Pokemon TCG vendors, collectors, and creators.

00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:38.370
So if you're looking for rare cards, must have merch, or a perfect spot to make trades, this is where you want to be.

00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:44.870
It's all happening Sunday, March 23rd at the Dallas Event Center in Farmer's Branch, from 10am to 5pm.

00:14:45.539 --> 00:14:48.539
TrainerCon Dallas is always a packed crowd, so don't miss out.

00:14:48.870 --> 00:14:49.950
Get your tickets at RocketsMarkets.

00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:52.139
com slash TrainerCon Dallas.

00:14:52.775 --> 00:14:58.076
A special thank you to Matt Monkeybread, Gus Ulrich, and all other patrons for your continued support.

00:14:58.666 --> 00:14:59.865
Now let's get back to the episode.

00:15:01.975 --> 00:15:05.135
so you said your first game was SoulSilver with Pokemon.

00:15:05.655 --> 00:15:10.316
So you never played any of the games beforehand or like, what was your experience with Pokemon up to that point?

00:15:10.730 --> 00:15:19.943
Yeah, so, my earliest memory of, like, Pokemon was like, I remember my older cousins, and I was, I was small, I was maybe like five.

00:15:19.953 --> 00:15:24.764
My older cousins had, like, Pokemon cards, and they were kind of, like, all throughout their rooms and stuff.

00:15:25.033 --> 00:15:29.043
Just scattered everywhere, and I look back and I'm like, Oh man, all those Pokemon cards on the ground.

00:15:29.453 --> 00:15:29.854
Um,

00:15:30.168 --> 00:15:31.778
Yeah, it makes you cringe a little bit.

00:15:31.778 --> 00:15:34.599
It's like, I don't know the value and the conditions of them.

00:15:34.599 --> 00:15:37.828
Yeah.

00:15:39.168 --> 00:15:42.958
So, to be honest, I wasn't allowed to play Pokemon growing up.

00:15:43.245 --> 00:15:48.625
It wasn't until like when I was in sixth grade that I was finally, like, allowed by my parents to play Pokemon.

00:15:49.025 --> 00:15:54.313
They believed that Pokemon was, like, actual like demonic type stuff.

00:15:54.479 --> 00:15:54.678
Hmm.

00:15:54.714 --> 00:16:01.234
Like I, I'm pretty sure that I'm pretty sure it was like church fed stuff where it was like pocket monsters

00:16:01.369 --> 00:16:01.609
Yeah.

00:16:01.609 --> 00:16:05.278
They thought it was witchcraft and y'all were summoning demons and evolution.

00:16:05.278 --> 00:16:05.599
Yeah.

00:16:05.599 --> 00:16:05.979
Yeah.

00:16:06.323 --> 00:16:06.524
yes.

00:16:06.533 --> 00:16:10.754
It was around the same time, like Obama was also the antichrist and stuff like that.

00:16:10.754 --> 00:16:14.043
So, I mean, it was just the craziest stuff the church could say they were saying at the

00:16:14.359 --> 00:16:14.808
Right.

00:16:14.808 --> 00:16:16.339
So,

00:16:16.583 --> 00:16:18.864
so I wasn't allowed to play Pokemon growing up.

00:16:19.177 --> 00:16:37.831
you know, I was like, In the 6th grade and like my best friend, he had a uh, a DS Lite and he was playing of the Pokemon games and I remember watching like his DS and being like so, captivated by just like all the things you could do in SoulSilver at the time and the DS was already like a super cool, game system for me.

00:16:38.139 --> 00:16:48.528
There was like a time where I just like begged my parents like please like I just want to do this yeah, I want to be able to like play and battle my friends and stuff like that

00:16:48.568 --> 00:16:53.183
um, Hey,

00:16:53.818 --> 00:16:55.958
I got the upper hand over the church, but they did cave

00:16:58.144 --> 00:16:59.594
it's not, it's not easy overcoming Jesus.

00:16:59.594 --> 00:17:00.254
That's pretty good.

00:17:00.328 --> 00:17:02.729
not you know, you know, it's not

00:17:03.004 --> 00:17:05.203
You know, that's what, that's what helps you with entrepreneur skills.

00:17:05.203 --> 00:17:06.334
That's part of the negotiation.

00:17:06.334 --> 00:17:07.463
You're already working on it.

00:17:07.713 --> 00:17:09.693
God was working on you for that anyway.

00:17:09.989 --> 00:17:22.828
Yeah, yeah, I, somebody was in my corner for me, uh, higher power or otherwise, um, and, and my negotiation skills did, did play through and I got to get SoulSilver and it was like the, the set with the PokeWalker.

00:17:23.253 --> 00:17:23.983
Oh yes.

00:17:23.983 --> 00:17:24.304
Yeah.

00:17:24.848 --> 00:17:38.741
I mean, it's such a classic and I was, I was hooked, like I logged hundreds of hours into SoulSilver and then my excitement of like being able to play through, the Kanto region, at the end of SoulSilver is Kanto region,

00:17:38.826 --> 00:17:39.126
Yes.

00:17:39.126 --> 00:17:39.567
You got it right.

00:17:39.567 --> 00:17:39.826
Yeah.

00:17:39.827 --> 00:17:43.541
Yep.

00:17:43.571 --> 00:17:46.231
all of like the legends that you could catch in the game.

00:17:46.491 --> 00:17:48.241
there was the casino in the game.

00:17:48.241 --> 00:17:50.592
There was the, the athletic competitions.

00:17:50.652 --> 00:17:54.715
It was just like so much to do yeah, that's kind of like how I started.

00:17:54.715 --> 00:17:59.759
And then on the DS, you could play like the, the Game Boy, advanced games.

00:18:00.409 --> 00:18:01.108
And so.

00:18:01.919 --> 00:18:26.020
playing, like, SoulSilver, I could play, uh, still on the DS, I could play, like, Platinum, and, uh, I think I played Diamond, and then I switched over to the Game Boy Advance, and I could play, Emerald, which was super fun, everybody loves Emerald, of course, and then, you know, Ruby Sapphire, stuff like that, and I played all the way up till, like, Sun and Moon came out, and I don't think I played Sun and Moon, so I've played, I've played for a good while, So there was only like a little bit of a gap between getting out of Pokemon.

00:18:26.050 --> 00:18:28.973
I think that was probably like 2015 and I got back in 2020.

00:18:29.571 --> 00:18:32.201
I've always had the belief and it's gonna be a bit of a hot take.

00:18:32.442 --> 00:18:37.311
I actually think the Nintendo DS is the second ever best game system from Nintendo.

00:18:38.061 --> 00:18:38.531
I think

00:18:38.567 --> 00:18:39.836
the original Nintendo.

00:18:40.231 --> 00:18:41.271
no, just altogether.

00:18:41.362 --> 00:18:46.582
Like if you Yeah, because you know, people usually usually people in 64 and the switch is kind of up there.

00:18:46.902 --> 00:18:53.682
I think it's at least number two that the Nintendo DS by itself is the best console Nintendo's ever released.

00:18:54.116 --> 00:18:54.656
Okay.

00:18:55.116 --> 00:18:59.017
you have, you said you can also go back and play the Game Boy Man's games.

00:18:59.217 --> 00:19:00.576
The games are pretty solid.

00:19:00.576 --> 00:19:03.376
You know, you have the gen four games all the way up to black and white.

00:19:03.737 --> 00:19:05.406
You also have the Mario Kart games.

00:19:05.406 --> 00:19:07.237
You had a lot of the wireless.

00:19:07.376 --> 00:19:15.817
I think, like I said, you know, you started with SoulSilver and I can't imagine what better game to start your journey than with Pokemon SoulSilver.

00:19:15.817 --> 00:19:19.017
Cause that's the considered, I guess, the golden era of Pokemon.

00:19:19.017 --> 00:19:19.517
And so you will.

00:19:19.567 --> 00:19:25.859
Yeah, I feel like I got really, really lucky.

00:19:25.859 --> 00:19:27.258
Oh, man.

00:19:27.258 --> 00:19:44.737
I, uh, you know, it's Yeah, okay, so, like Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think there's a lot of people who win for better or worse.

00:19:44.846 --> 00:19:50.477
so much camaraderie went into that game and with Pokemon and, uh, yeah, it was just such a great time.

00:19:56.896 --> 00:20:00.699
Oh man, I I don't know if I would even go 6.

00:20:00.739 --> 00:20:08.000
I really, I, I remember like the first couple times playing through like, even in 5th grade I feel like I was young.

00:20:08.289 --> 00:20:12.000
Um, but like just like mainlining Feraligatr all the way through.

00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:16.240
Um, you know, he's like level 100 by the time you get to the elite 4.

00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:21.890
Um, but Feraligatr and then, uh, Arcanine's always been one of my favorites.

00:20:21.890 --> 00:20:32.825
I can't remember if you can get him in Yeah, okay, so like Arcanine, and then, if I had to pick one more, um, Gyarados is always great.

00:20:32.825 --> 00:20:40.954
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think just, I really think three is kind of all I would roll with, for better or worse.

00:20:41.049 --> 00:20:41.589
Yeah.

00:20:41.625 --> 00:20:44.734
it was really like, these guys are the coolest, I wanna, you know, I wanna do this.

00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:46.500
Is one of those your favorite by chance?

00:20:46.815 --> 00:20:50.125
Arcanine has always been my favorite, I really, really love Arcanine.

00:20:50.309 --> 00:20:51.410
Oh, why Arcanine?

00:20:51.884 --> 00:20:52.714
big Arcanine fan.

00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:54.000
Oh, why Arcanine?

00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:55.380
Just because it's a dog or?

00:20:55.869 --> 00:20:58.359
Um, just fire dog, you know,

00:20:59.130 --> 00:21:00.500
Hey, can't go wrong with that, yeah.

00:21:00.869 --> 00:21:02.559
Yeah, yeah, I, I really can't say why.

00:21:02.589 --> 00:21:10.559
I think maybe, I'm sure it has to do with, like, um, seeing those Pokemon cards kind of scattered in, in, um, older cousins bedrooms.

00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:16.910
I, I think I probably latched onto the Arcanine illustration the most, thinking like, Oh, he's so cool.

00:21:17.549 --> 00:21:19.599
Charizard's got like a weird gooseneck.

00:21:19.970 --> 00:21:27.484
Uh, but Arcanine, he looks great! Like, the, you know, Both him and Lieutenant Surge's Arcanine, or not Surge, I'm sorry, uh,

00:21:27.869 --> 00:21:28.589
Blaine, yep.

00:21:28.674 --> 00:21:29.384
Arcanine.

00:21:29.434 --> 00:21:29.694
Yeah,

00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:30.490
Oh, such,

00:21:30.505 --> 00:21:30.815
best

00:21:30.859 --> 00:21:32.460
such a pretty card too, yeah.

00:21:33.105 --> 00:21:35.615
yeah, I mean, they're beautiful, so I think that's really what it is.

00:21:35.960 --> 00:21:52.990
So one thing I wanted to share, so this is a long time ago back when I first started playing, um, I had, you know, cards on the floor, just like you said, I gave my cousin, he was like maybe one or two years old at the time, uh, it wasn't a rare card, thankfully, but it was a base set peak, or I'm sorry, uh, jungle set Pikachu

00:21:53.355 --> 00:21:53.736
mm,

00:21:54.221 --> 00:21:57.790
his mom said, Oh, uh, that's going to be messed up if you leave it alone.

00:21:57.790 --> 00:21:58.701
I said, nah, it's fine.

00:21:58.701 --> 00:21:59.320
It'll be okay.

00:21:59.730 --> 00:22:00.871
So I leave.

00:22:01.385 --> 00:22:11.445
I don't remember what I go do, but then I come back and all of a sudden he just patted in his mouth and it's like, uh, like the slimy and warped because he put the, he put the Pikachu card in his mouth trying to eat it.

00:22:11.695 --> 00:22:17.256
So couldn't keep that obviously, but I always loved the base, the, I'm sorry, the jungle Pikachu.

00:22:17.476 --> 00:22:19.236
And I was like, Oh no, it really is.

00:22:19.236 --> 00:22:20.695
And that was my only one, but

00:22:20.816 --> 00:22:23.175
yeah, I think that's the, the, the Chunkachu one.

00:22:23.175 --> 00:22:23.486
He's a,

00:22:23.746 --> 00:22:24.256
yes.

00:22:24.296 --> 00:22:24.615
Yep.

00:22:24.655 --> 00:22:25.175
Yes.

00:22:25.355 --> 00:22:25.736
Yep.

00:22:25.826 --> 00:22:26.476
what a bummer.

00:22:26.566 --> 00:22:27.316
Kids are the worst,

00:22:27.415 --> 00:22:30.796
Hey, I mean, at least it was, I mean, he was, he was a little kid.

00:22:30.796 --> 00:22:31.435
He's a two month old.

00:22:31.435 --> 00:22:32.205
So, I mean, I'm not going to,

00:22:32.316 --> 00:22:33.326
Oh, man.

00:22:33.625 --> 00:22:39.256
but I mean, imagine had, I'm glad it wasn't like a holographic or anything rare, like a base set charge, right?

00:22:39.256 --> 00:22:40.826
Otherwise, Ooh, there'd be a different story.

00:22:41.661 --> 00:22:42.941
Sure, no, no, I get that.

00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:57.808
In, in, during my time playing, like, SoulSilver and stuff like that, um, in the DS era, I was given, like, a bunch of, that's what got me into the Pokemon cards, I was given, like, a bunch of, Pokemon cards from, like, a guy my grandmother was dating at the time.

00:22:57.808 --> 00:22:59.409
He was just like, Here, have these Pokemon cards.

00:22:59.939 --> 00:23:05.439
And I had all these Pokemon cards, and my friend and I would, like, buy cards, and we all had our favorites and stuff.

00:23:05.878 --> 00:23:11.122
And then somewhere in between, like, 2015, when I got out of it, and 2020, that binder just kind of disappeared,

00:23:11.517 --> 00:23:12.396
Oh, no.

00:23:12.501 --> 00:23:13.142
and it's gone.

00:23:13.142 --> 00:23:21.951
And so many people have, like, that same story of, like, their parents their binder, or giving it away in a garage sale, or a kid eating it, a two month old eating.

00:23:22.332 --> 00:23:23.592
All the cards and stuff, but

00:23:23.892 --> 00:23:25.791
Yeah, yeah, my gosh.

00:23:26.271 --> 00:23:29.231
You said, you said Pokemon, I'm sorry, you said Arcanine was your favorite.

00:23:29.231 --> 00:23:32.261
So do you, what is your like prized Arcanine card?

00:23:32.261 --> 00:23:37.372
Or is there a chase card you're trying to get of that Pokemon?

00:23:37.892 --> 00:23:42.682
like the, I really like the Blaine's Arcanine, but and I know I don't have it either.

00:23:42.984 --> 00:23:47.224
It's the Japanese Blades Arcanine that I think looks the coolest over the English.

00:23:47.224 --> 00:23:50.115
I don't know why it is, but um, I don't have that one.

00:23:50.249 --> 00:23:56.445
and it's kind of one of my like, the one of the ones I'm like, uh, if I had that, it would go in personal collection and nobody would look at it.

00:23:56.486 --> 00:23:58.115
It would never see the light of day.

00:23:58.175 --> 00:24:00.385
It would just get put away and it's gone.

00:24:00.506 --> 00:24:00.826
So.

00:24:01.266 --> 00:24:02.766
I mean, you work with a lot of vendors.

00:24:02.905 --> 00:24:04.935
I'm sure you've had to seen this card at some point.

00:24:05.195 --> 00:24:09.925
Have you ever been tempted to like see it in public and be like, I kind of want to buy it?

00:24:10.476 --> 00:24:13.036
You know, there's a lot of cards that, like, come through our table.

00:24:13.348 --> 00:24:18.989
with our, like, card vending, we have a big ass sign that's, like, behind us that's, like, always buying.

00:24:19.278 --> 00:24:19.919
It's what it says.

00:24:19.919 --> 00:24:21.128
It's just, like, always buying.

00:24:21.128 --> 00:24:24.378
And so we have so many people come to us to sell us their cards.

00:24:24.848 --> 00:24:27.189
And I never see that one, like, cross our table.

00:24:27.838 --> 00:24:28.628
Wow

00:24:28.659 --> 00:24:30.398
where I see things and I'm like, Oh, man.

00:24:31.134 --> 00:24:34.013
want to pick this up for, for personal collection.

00:24:34.082 --> 00:24:36.362
like Lugia is one of my favorites too.

00:24:36.382 --> 00:24:37.801
That's like my favorite legend.

00:24:37.801 --> 00:24:41.741
And every time that comes through, I like have to take a minute to like, just look at it.

00:24:41.741 --> 00:24:45.642
And it seems like a lot more people have that one, but no, I never see like a Blaine's, Arcanine.

00:24:45.642 --> 00:24:46.692
Japanese coming through.

00:24:47.061 --> 00:24:50.102
So I don't know, maybe I just, maybe that's for the best,

00:24:50.207 --> 00:24:51.477
That potential I get

00:24:51.642 --> 00:24:53.041
like it's an expensive card.

00:24:53.132 --> 00:24:54.192
It's just, I don't know.

00:24:54.487 --> 00:24:59.257
Yeah, it's just it's it's something you want to chase for and eventually you'll have a good reason to finally buy it

00:24:59.461 --> 00:24:59.912
Yeah.

00:24:59.912 --> 00:25:05.214
Now that we are buying cards and we have a big, you know, neon sign behind us that says we're buying cards.

00:25:05.486 --> 00:25:09.086
it would be cool for it to come across the table and then I could snatch it up that way.

00:25:09.306 --> 00:25:13.175
Uh, that's the closest way I'm going to get to chasing it rather than, uh, opening packs

00:25:13.550 --> 00:25:13.901
Gosh

00:25:14.016 --> 00:25:14.346
get it.

00:25:14.736 --> 00:25:15.215
So,

00:25:15.704 --> 00:25:20.719
Now, going back to you know building up the rocket market, in the process of trying to build this business up together.

00:25:21.009 --> 00:25:22.308
How did y'all first meet each other?

00:25:22.308 --> 00:25:23.259
What's the story behind that?

00:25:23.693 --> 00:25:24.163
yeah.

00:25:24.163 --> 00:25:33.403
So, Caleb and I, we, we both worked at a sign company together where we built signs for, buildings and, and wall murals and stuff like that.

00:25:33.993 --> 00:25:45.738
And I went on vacation for a week, And when I came back, there was Caleb and we very quickly became friends over Pokemon, but also we were the only two that worked in the company besides the two owners.

00:25:45.748 --> 00:25:46.048
So.

00:25:46.897 --> 00:25:49.228
almost like we were going to become friends anyways, I feel like.

00:25:49.607 --> 00:26:00.449
but yeah, we, we both met at the sign company I think listening to the way he recalled it, I had like a Pokemon cup and I think we just kind of bonded over like the, the Pokemon on the, uh, on the cup.

00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:03.318
It was like a bunch of TCG stuff on the cup.

00:26:03.674 --> 00:26:08.779
And yeah, that's kind of how just, we, we became friends and, um, He had the idea to do the dioramas.

00:26:08.779 --> 00:26:10.450
I was like, let's do them in the card form.

00:26:10.450 --> 00:26:14.529
And yeah, the rest is of history, but it was just kind of chance that we

00:26:14.650 --> 00:26:15.528
Um, I

00:26:15.528 --> 00:26:22.040
I don't think either of us would be kind of where we're at with, uh, with Rocket's Markets and TrainerCon, without meeting each other.

00:26:22.300 --> 00:26:24.391
we probably would have been just doing our own thing.

00:26:24.678 --> 00:26:26.248
not even Pokemon related maybe.

00:26:27.528 --> 00:26:38.218
mean, when you think about how big this has gotten since you first started and how fast it's grown to where you're now going to a third location, did you ever expect to get these kind of results?

00:26:38.698 --> 00:26:42.478
Or are you kind of like shocked to see, you know, how much it's progressed over time?

00:26:43.005 --> 00:26:44.212
not.

00:26:44.212 --> 00:26:47.424
I really feel like event one, I'm, I'm such a dreamer.

00:26:47.634 --> 00:26:53.229
I really am like, deep down, I'm like, when I see something and I can, I can see it really big.

00:26:53.288 --> 00:26:54.999
I'm, I really chase after it.

00:26:54.999 --> 00:27:04.479
And I really saw Trainer Con, even with the low attendees that we had, I saw people put faith in us and I think that's really what.

00:27:05.288 --> 00:27:09.729
What has been my drive from the start is just people have put faith in us.

00:27:09.729 --> 00:27:12.469
They keep putting faith in us at this new venue.

00:27:12.469 --> 00:27:15.338