TRAINER'S EYE #163 - "Chasing Deoxys with a Psycho Boost" ft. ShadowlessRed - As The Pokeball Turns

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
ShadowlessRed (00:00):
My name is Shadowless Red and this is my
Pokemon story.

David Hernandez (00:43):
Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns where every
voice, every journey, and Everymemory brings us closer to the
world of Pokemon.
I'm David Hernandez and I'mjoined by Shadowless Red, a
Deoxys diehard whose hunt forone card turned into something
much more ShadowlessRed Welcometo As The Pokeball Turns.
Thank you for coming on thepodcast.

I I, if you could see how big of a smile I have
right now, I am so happy.
Like this is, this is somethingI, I've thought about, like, I
like driving to work and I'mlike, man, I'm really looking
forward to this.
I know we planned it a coupleweeks ago and, this is probably
the best day that I've had inthe last couple weeks, so thank
you so much.

Absolutely.
And I always look forward tohearing that because making fun.
We're talking about Pokemon,we're gonna talk about your
crazy obsession for Deoxy.
So

It's a lot.

you taking time, man.
It's feeling is mutual.

Yeah.
it's crazy to think about, uh,one Pokemon being this big of an
obsession and now we are just intoo deep to, to go back.

Now, speaking of which, you know, you've been
chasing a Crown Zenith DeoxysVMAX longer than some people
have kept up with their new useresolutions.
So let's be honest.
Was there ever a point where youthought, am I cursed?

I think I.

series of points?

You know what, actually, there is one point
that I can think of, that I feltcursed and I'll, I'll tell you
how this happened.
I went to Target after work oneday, and I usually do this check
where I'm like, oh, there arePokemon cards on the shelf and
this is before the craze.
I walked into Target.
I saw these, Pokemon, uh, Ican't remember what they're
called, but they have two packs.
One fusion starke, one evolvingSkies.
I put a couple of them in mycarts and I, I went home and I

(02:19):
didn't know they had evolvingskies in them.
I went home, I, I opened, I saton my kitchen table and I opened
'em.
I was like, oh, there's evolvingskies in here.
And mind you, I've probablyopened like 30 Evolving Skies
packs up at, up to that point.
Just'cause it's not a set Ireally care too much about with
pull rates.
And on the first pack, I hitthe, the Umbreon VMAX Alt Art,
the Moon Brion.
And, immediately put on my storyand just the, the outcry of

(02:41):
people saying, dude, you arecursed.
I realized that maybe this, thisis not meant to be.

did you realize that Ys has become this kind of,
I guess people are very investedin this.
Did you expect it to get to thispoint to where you're already
500 plus days in, you're stilltrying to chase it?

No, not, not at all, actually.
Not at all.
And the the funny thing is whenI started this channel, I don't
really think there was such athing as like a chase a day.
so I, I came up with, with thisidea of doing a chase a day, and
I'm not gonna lie to you, forthe first a hundred days, I
don't think it really had anyeffect on, on anybody.
There was maybe a couple peoplewatching here and there
something changed and I don'tknow what it was, where I would

(03:21):
wake up and there were just likehundreds of comments and I was
like.
Oh, okay.
This is, this is, this issomething I was not prepared for
and the funny thing about it is.
I can't explain it.
You know, I have people who, whoare like, you know, I pulled two
Deoxys and, in like in 50 packs,and I'm like, well, have you
also pulled six Arceus goldcards?

(03:42):
Like I have, because that's thetrade off.
The tradeoff is no Deoxys, butI've pulled like a ton of gold
cards and like all these Mewtwo,all these great looking cards,
and everybody's like, man, I, I,I wish, I wish I had that kinda
luck.
I'm like, you have no idea.
The kinda luck I wish I had.

Now just with Deoxy is just, did you love the
card so much when you first sawit, or is Deoxy like a favorite
Pokemon?
What's the, what's the reasonwhy that became your Chase card?

So I think this goes back to.
When I first started collectingagain before Crown Zenith came
out, I would kind of lurk on thesets.
I'd be like, yeah, that's a coolart.
That Lugia looks cool from.
From Silver Tempest.
Yeah.
Giratina from Lost Origin.
It was cool, but I don't know ifI really want to get into
collecting.
And then when Crown Zenith cameout, I saw the glaring gallery

(04:27):
subset and I saw the Deoxyscard.
I thought.
That is so ambitious for, youknow, TPCI to do, because I
don't know how much they've,well, first of all, you know,
the, the gallery cards, youknow, going back to the trainer
gallery and before that cosmiceclipse, the character, rare
kind of a new concept.
And so, you know, the full artcards really captured my

(04:48):
attention.
Not just that, but the fact thatthey could incorporate
extraterrestrial elements into acard.
Really, to me, Pushes theenvelope from what I expect to
see from, TPCI, just because ifyou ever look at some of, like
their manuals and stuff, they,they like try to avoid these
like taboo or risk casesubjects.
And I actually think likeextraterrestrial subjects are
something that I would thinkthey would stay away from.

(05:08):
but like you literally see africking Deoxys getting abducted
by another Pokemon.
to me that was something I'dnever expect to see on a card.
And I just thought.
That's a cool card.
And the worst thing you can do,by the way, is tell people your
Chase card.
As soon as you tell the worldyour Chase card, it's all over.
You're never gonna pull it.

It is like a, if you speak it, it means it'll
start running away or somethinglike that.
Like, uh, you kind of curse itlike, well, I guess in the way
it is kind of cursed.

Yeah.
And if you like, look at like alot of Pokemon content creators,
like, they'll say the samething.
They're like, man, I should nothave started chasing this card
because now I'm like 200 packssteep, 300 packs deep and I'll
never pull it.
And uh, there's, there'ssomething really poetic about
that.

Now, you said you weren't certain about diving
into collecting before you sawthe Deoxys card.
At that time, why weren't youwanting be collector?
I,

It's really weird because I'm the kind of person
that I love the games.
I've pre-ordered every gameprobably as far back as I can
remember.
Maybe playing, crystal on theGame Boy Advance.
I was always like the first oneto line up and buy a game on
release day or pre-order it.
But There was something aboutthe cards that, you know, when I
turned a certain day, I wasprobably 10 years old and I, I

(06:15):
just lost interest in it.
And it's one of those snowballeffects is they come out with so
many sets every year that you'relike, you know, I'm so far
behind now to start collectingagain.
I'm just, I'm just not really,I'm not really gonna do this.
And then life takes over, youknow, school, career, family,
and then that all, all that justkind of takes a back burner.
But I can recall specifically,I, I'm pretty sure I can recall

(06:39):
specifically what, what causedme to get back into it.

Now you talked about how you always pre-ordered
all the Pokemon games, andthat's pretty impressive though.
Like the fact that you'vepre-ordered all single Pokemon
games from going, wait, I guessyou said Pokemon Crystal.
What started your initiallaunch?
Like why did you want to getinto Pokemon?
Starting just from the gameside.

I wish I knew.
my memory does not go back thatfar, but I can piece it together
based on the historicalartifacts that remain.
So, I've moved a few times in mylife and every time I've moved
and by the way, nobody can holdthis against me because I didn't
know how valuable Pokemon cardswould, would become in the
future.
I would take my Ziploc bag fullof base set cards with me

(07:16):
everywhere that I moved.
Ziploc bag, no, no sleeves, notop loader, no binder, nothing
like that Again.
You gotta remember, these cardsare not back then.
They were not worth what theyare now.
we would play in the mud withthem.
I'd take'em on field trips withme.
I would bite them.
There was one card I thought wasa sticker.
It was a Charmander reversefrom, legendary collection.
I thought it was a sticker, so Ipeeled the foil off of it.

(07:39):
big mistake now, but like, youknow, I was five, I was five
fucking years old.
Nobody, nobody knew at the time.
So I would take this bag and I'dmove everywhere with it.
And, now it's all in a binder,of course, but I can remember
collecting, you know, when I was7, 8, 9, when the ex era had
just begun.
but that's about all I remember.
And you know, you gotta remember2005, I was 10 years old.

(08:02):
Pokemon, uh, was not somethingyou openly told people that you
liked as a, as a 10-year-old.
So I think eventually justbecame less cool.
and you just kind of, you justkind of put on the back burner.

That's crazy though.
Like I remember like I alwayshad my cards in Spot Tip Pop bag
too.
It was my way of kind ofcarrying'em.
'cause you know, you didn't havethese fancy card packs and the
binders were always those bigones.
You didn't wanna carry them.
So I always remember like Iwould just, if I wanted to take
cards with me, whether it bePokemon, even Yu Gyo, I would
like to group'em together.
I have literally, like I said, aZiploc bag, zip'em up, usually.

(08:33):
Ideally, you know, you wouldn'thave the little slider.
You'd have to actually have theone, you have to press it.
And then I remember justcarrying the cards that way.
You know, I didn't really havelike card products or, um, the
hard ones, the, I forget whatthey're called.
The, um, thick, you know, theones that are supposed to
protect.
That's why a lot of my cardsfrom back in those days are
either warped because of theclimate or they're bent.
Like there's

Exactly.

not that protected.
And I guess that's why, youknow, people like those old
cards and they're so expensivenow.

That's exactly right.
These cars will not be worthwhat they're worth if we didn't
do what we did when we werekids.

So next time y'all claim us, uh, blame us for
the market, it's because we justdidn't know any better.
That's really the excuse.

And, and you know, the funny thing about it
is nobody believed that Pokemoncards were gonna be some crazy
valuable thing in the future.
And, you know, obviously you sawit in COVID when people started
to go crazy with it again.
You know, nobody believed when Iwas 8, 9, 10 years old how, how
crazy.
of, of a, not a fad.
It was so my parents they werethe kind of people that were

(09:30):
like, I'm not buying you Pokemoncards, because it's a giant
waste of money.
You know?
And, and, and remind, you know,mind you, This is a 2 99 pack of
XD access, which is now worthwhat,$1,200.
They didn't believe in that.

fool.
Still do they know that youcould probably, that's probably
actually the next Apple stockreally.

Yeah.
What other, I mean, what otheritem in, in 20 years goes from$2
99 cents to over 1200?
I mean, last time I checked$1,200 for a pack of XD access.
It's, it's crazy.
I mean, go figure.
And, and you know, my momwatches my videos.
She's probably listening tothis.
Hi mom.
Um,

mom.

you know, she says it every day.
She's like, you were right.
And by the way, she doesn't saythat often, but this is one
instance where she's like, yep,you were right.

See, I remember the, I think it was the ex
sandstorm, you know, the Hoenera.

Oh yeah.

like stepped away from Pokemon.
I couldn't buy Pokemon cards, soI just remember watching'em
through magazine and now thosecards are worth so much because
they weren't really releasedthat much.
It was one of the more lessknown sets because people
weren't into Pokemon.
And you know, I remember I waslike, man, I wish I had bought
more of those sets,unfortunately.
But I don't have any of themfrom that era.

Oh yeah.
And, and you know, back then youdidn't see like the crazy box
sets.
There were no elite trainerboxes.
It's not like they were stockingbooster boxes on shelves.
You know, your choice was to buylike, like individual or maybe
if you're lucky, two packblisters and that that's all
they put on the shelves.
And.
You know, they, they printbillions and billions of cards
in now in 2025 was not the case20 years ago.

(11:02):
So, yeah, I mean, the scarcityeffect is, is definitely a real
reason why, these cards are justso valuable.
And then of course, nobody hasany of'em in good condition.

Now, you know, we go from biting Pokemon cards
to engagement with the videogames.
You said you don't remember muchof the early stuff, but are
there any Pokemon games orregions that you remember
playing specifically that kindof left a mark on you or an
impression on you?

Yeah, I, I think that, oh, I had the White Game
Boy Advance.
Um, not, it was not my firstconsole.
I had like a yellow Game boycolor as well, but the White
Game Boy Advance, I probablyplayed that and, and actually,
you know what, if I were to findit today, I bet you it still
works.
But, Pokemon Crystal was, justthat game for me.
I remember playing it.
until the battery ran dry.
You know, I don't know whereit's now, but you know, when we

(11:44):
would go on vacations, you wouldtake it wasn't like what it is
now.
You would take the Game Boyadvance and probably like 30
pounds of AA batteries with youbecause that, that would die
like halfway through your roadtrip.

Right.

But I got, I think it's gotta be crystal the
one thing that stands out to meabout that game is that was the
first game where the spriteswere like animated and they
would move.
And I was like, this is next gentechnology.

That's true.
I remember just seeing that andI was like, so awestruck, you
know, they were moving.
I'm like, they can move now.
Like I'm just used to justseeing them slide on my screen
and that's about it, you know,it's very revolutionary.

Yeah, and, and of course like, just the difference
in like game mechanics andstoryline storytelling and going
to color literally, you know,from gens one to gen two, I
think is a big reason whyPokemon had had sticking value
when gen two came out.
Uh, because they just, they justimproved so much and, go back
and play like Pokemon red andblue right now, they're, they're
not really fun to play, butlike, but they improve every

(12:41):
game.
And, and Crystal to me was likea huge improvement in
playability.
And, you know, chasing roaminglegendaries was super fun.
there's a reason that they arewhat they are now.

Now, I remember earlier you said that eventually
you came back to Pokemon.
So what do you remember firstcoming back?
Was it the cards that you werekind of getting back into
Pokemon, or was it the games?
Like what brought you back intothe franchise?

as I got older, you know, you, take more of a
focus on school and, you know,trying to, trying to get good
grades and then you graduatehigh school, you get a job, you
go to college and you're workingyour job and go to college as
well.
And, you know, things eventuallyjust, you lose, the fun in your
life.
But one thing I never lost, timefor was playing the games.
So I, you know, I'd go toschool, I'd work nine hours at a

(13:21):
coffee shop and I'd go home andplay.
XY sun and moon until the sunwould go up.
Yeah.
I always made time for thegames, but I think the cards,
it's actually kind of anembarrassing story.
I'll, I'll admit it's actuallyan embarrassing story, but it's
a, it's a good one.

don't worry, we won't judge you too much.
Okay.

So, this, this is something that not a lot of
people know, but I, I don'tthink, actually, I don't think
anybody really knows this exceptfor a few of my close
colleagues.
I was, I was working, this wasmany, many years ago.
I was working my first job at alaw firm and, my buddy came in
from lunch and he sat outside mywindow.
And he had packs of Pokemoncards.
I was like, what?

(13:59):
They still make, I mean, whatyou're, you're opening Pokemon
cards?
And he was like, yeah, dude.
You know, a new set came out.
I don't remember what it was,some something in the Sword and
Shield era.
And I was like, man, that'scool, but you know, I actually
think I wanna learn to play thegame.
So the next day he came in withlike, like seven decks and a,
and a game board.
And he goes, let's go into thebreak room at lunch and play.

(14:21):
And I was like.
Dude, I'm gonna be so bad atthis, but let me make a deck
too.
So I get home, I make a deck,and I actually found my Pokemon
cards.
And the first thing that I putin my deck, I'm not even joking,
is, and I don't know how I gotthis to this day, is the Zara
Aura altar from chilling Rain.

Oh.

And I don't know where I found that card.
I don't, it just showed up oneday.
I, I must have bought a packwhen I was, you know, 20 20, 20
21.
And I somehow pulled that, whichis pretty remarkable knowing if
you know anything aboutchilling, rain.
so.
I put that in my deck.
I show up to work and I go, allright, I'm ready to play.
He takes one look at my deck.
He starts laughing at me.
He goes, dude, this is a$75card.
You do not wanna play with this.

(14:59):
And I was like, oh, okay.
And so, we would play every dayat lunch and eventually we would
get other people in on it too.
So my marketing manager wouldcome in, and, you know, our, our
tax account would come in andeventually we had this big
giant, we'd fill up the room andthen, you know, one day, um.
It, somebody else in marketingcomes in with a pizza and uh,

(15:20):
some adult beverages and I waslike, this is a full blown party
now, isn't it, at lunchtime.
we would literally have decksand we would play at lunchtime
and then get back to work.

makes me back to like the old school yard days
to where y'all would just playcard games over lunch and it's
like, oh, it comes back to work.
It seems like school neverreally ended right.

We are for, we were full blown adults, man
doing this.
Like some of us in our twentiesand thirties and forties and
even some of us in our fiftiesplaying Pokemon TCG and just
having the time of our lives.
You know, sometimes when you,like, when you, when you think
about it, you're like, I don'tknow where my life's gonna take
me.
That is absolutely not somethingI ever thought in a million
years I would be doing with mylife and my professional career.

I mean, did it feel kind of awkward or I guess
what was going through your mindwhen they, you know, people were
starting to watch you over justPokemon cards?
Like was that kind of different,unique, or.

well, you know, it's nosal the first time you
get back into it, and I think alot of people felt this in like
2020 with COVID.
because like, you know, as, asa, as a, as a millennial, I.
You know, uh, opening Pokemoncards now, I think we're all,
just, all, all of us millennialsare just secretly like, living
the life that our parents nevergave us when we were kids.
So we're just like, you know,back when we were kids, we just,
we just wanted to open packs andpacks and packs and packs.

(16:30):
But it was like a, it was likea, on a rare occasion kind of
thing, but now it's like.
We open it because it'snostalgic and because we have
adult money and fun money to dothat with.
So when I open a pack, it, itfeels very nostalgic to me,
still to this day where I'mlike, I feel like I'm a kid just
looking for, you know, whatever,whatever card looked cool.
And, uh, I'm not really aboutthe value.

I mean I can see that.
'cause I still try to open cardsand you'll laugh whenever people
see me.
I literally tear with my teeth.
'cause that's how I did

I see it all the time.

And

hilarious.

like y'all do it so professionally.
I don't know how y'all do it,but I just tear with my teeth
'cause that's all I know about.
And I just look at the cards andthat's just how I did it growing
up.
And that's how I still do itnow.
Unless I have a pack ofscissors, I'm using my teeth for
it.

That's hilarious.
I, you know, when I do the cardshow, people open packs in front
of me and I, I don't judge, man.
I don't judge.
Hey man, that's some people, howpeople do it.
And, uh, some people it's, uh,it's with their teeth and some
people have the scissors.
I actually, I think I judge alittle bit on the scissors, but
the teeth, I, I understand.

Okay.

it.
I mean, the scissors, thescissors.
I'm always like, please don'tcut a card.
Please don't cut a card.

yeah, yeah.
At least with teeth, you know,we know, we know what we're
hitting, so don't worry.
We're not gonna eat a card.
Hopefully.

Exactly.

Now here's the important question though.
'cause you said you brought, youmade a deck, your friend did
stop you because you had a$75card.
Did that deck actually win whenyou tried to battle your friend?

I got my ass beat.
He beat me on the first turn.
So it was like, we would play,we put our decks down and you
know, he, we'd flip our cardsand he would go first He would
just, to me at least now I knowhow to play.
'cause I love TCG Pocket, theapp I played all the time.

Yes.

he would, he would just do a bunch of things
with his hands and be like, Iwon.
I'm like, how did, how did youjust win?
I didn't even, I didn't even getto do anything.
And so, yeah, that was my hardlesson to like actually learning
how to play the game, which isstill fun.
Like I said, TCG pocketsamazing.

I agree.
I, I play TC GPAC on the sparetime and I'll open the packs
again, it's a pack simulator,but still it's just fun to open
it.
And thankfully I don't have tohave scissors and

Or your teeth.

nor teeth.
And so it's kind of fun thateven though I get only five
cards, I get to kinda see what Igot for the day.
And, you know, if you get theextra packages or the extra, if
you buy the extra items, you cankind of open more cards.
And it's just still a veryunique experience, but just
digitalized, you know.

Yeah.
It's, it's a really successfulidea and I think they, they
launched it at the right time,right before things started to
get crazy.
It felt like it was filling agap that the Pokemon card live,
you know, when you get thosecode cards, whatever, it felt
like it was really filling a gapthat, that, that app leaves.
I've never really beeninterested in doing that, so I
always toss the code cards orsomebody wants one whenever I
sell it.

(19:02):
But, that app actually makes itfeel like a, like a fun mobile
game.
Like kind of gives a 2016Pokemon Go vibes.

Now, you know, you talked about how at that
point you probably starteddiving into collecting.
Do you remember trying to see,do you remember the first set or
first amount of cards that kindof left it imprint on you or
what set you're trying tocomplete when you first started
collecting Again?

this is the fun part.
well, in retrospect, you know, Iwas just starting my career,
didn't really have a lot ofextra money, and so something
about spending money on Pokemoncards to me felt really.
irresponsible.
So I didn't really buy thatmuch.
I think I looked at them and Iwas like, you know what, you
know, maybe one of, maybe one ofthese days, I'll, I'll have, the
strength, the courage to go buya pack, but right now I don't

(19:42):
think I'm going to.
And then I saw, just going backto that Crown Zenith story, I
saw that glaring gallery subset,and I was like, I think this is
the time that I actually startto collect again because Money
aside, monetary value aside, Idon't really care about that.
I, I just care about greatartworks, as you know.
It's why I'm not chasing thebest card in the set.
the first thing that I boughtwas a Crown Zenith, ETB.

(20:03):
From my local card shop.
I mean now they're going for ahundred dollars plus, but I
think they probably had them forlike 30 bucks.
And I was like, are you kiddingme?
30 bucks for cardboard, maybe Idon't wanna collect this.
You know, it's always funny tolook back on that and be like,
wow.
Remember when that set was 30bucks?
And we all thought it was agiant fucking rip

Now, you mentioned earlier how you know,
you felt weird or irresponsible,especially'cause you're early on
in your career, you weren'treally making a lot.
everybody who started theircareer maybe even now, knows
what it's like.
When did you, I guess, embrace,you know, your collection side
as a millennial and what helpedyou kinda move past the guilt?

It was probably the channel, and I'm being
completely honest with you, whenI started.
Collecting a lot.
I was watching a lot of thoseguys that, that open packs for a
living, you know, pokey Rev,Coltran, Orion.
And I was like, man, they havethe dream job.
And of course, you know, don'tget me wrong, for them it's,
it's, it's very labor intensive.

(22:17):
There's a lot of work that goesinto making a successful channel
and it's, it's not just, youknow, sunshine and rainbows all
day.
Like, they like, like they makeit seem, you know, behind the
camera.
And at the time I was like.
I could do that, that's easy.
I could do it.
And, and, and here's the bestpart.
I can make it a tax write that Iwould feel in my, you know,
this, this is like, this is likeguy math, right?

(22:38):
Like, in my mind, that's notbeing irresponsible.

And so you just started like your own channel to
where you started making yourown content.
I guess you would pick out carpacks that you were chasing.
Like how in those earliest dayswhen you were starting up your
channel, how did you decide whatcards to go after?
Were they monetarily or were youjust going after ones you loved?

I had, I had no idea.
I just thought, I'll, I'll, I'llcome up with the content later.
I just want to do this.
And, I, I don't think I wasreally reckless about starting
to channel because it's alwaysfunny.
Uh.
You hear those stories about MR.
And all these really successfulchannels and what do they have
in common?
They all.
Do like a, like an initialmarketing research.

(23:18):
They, they figure out what theyneed to do to make a successful
channel.
They figure out what, what thesuccessful channels are already
doing.
Well, maybe what, what the, thegap in the marketplace is.
you, you do a little deep diveonto maybe some of the
psychological elements ofviewership and.
If you get that part down, youknow, more often than not you're
gonna be successful withbuilding a channel.

(23:38):
And I thought, okay, so if I'mgonna make a channel, it can't
be half-assed.
I have to have the right,hardware, I have to have the
right software, I have to havethe rights, attitude, charisma,
mindset, and I'll just come upwith some ideas later.
'cause if I get those thingsright, it's gonna be successful.
I didn't really go that way.

What was the biggest surprise, I guess, out
of that?
What did, what didn't gocorrectly as you envisioned?
Um.

I, I started filming my first video on, on
YouTube, and it ended up beingthis just really, really, really
long 45 minute clip of meopening, like those Pikachu Vmax
boxes of Crown Zenith.
it was a real pain because,first of all, you know, you
decorate the set, you get thelighting, you, you, you try to
figure out how you're gonnarecord it you know, you start

(24:27):
recording and you get behind,you stare the camera on their
face and they're like.
I look stupid.
I look really, really stupid.
Like what 20 something year olddoes this shit.
Right.

Right.
Um,

and so I'm looking at the camera and I'm,
I'm, I'm flubbing, I'm messingup.
I'm getting, I, I feel likethere's a hundred thousand
people watching me.
And I'm like, this is just notgoing well at all.
By the way, that video is stillup on my YouTube channel.
Um.

oh.

And, and it just, it's really awkward.
I still watch it'cause it'sfunny to see.
It's, it's really awkward.
The editing is terrible.
And so I get these raw clips Iload them onto my computer.
I download Adobe, whatever the,whatever the editing software
as.
I don't use it anymore.

Mm-hmm.

And I shit you not, I get a minute into editing
and my motherboard fries.

Oh.

I was like, well, if this isn't a sign that the
channel is not meant to be,that's, uh, I don't know what
is.

you know, it reminds me so much of, you know,
me starting out this podcasting.
'cause you know, having thatthought of people watching you
is real.
Like even for me, I'm, I'm afaceless podcast, well not
faceless, but I don't recordvideo.
But I still felt like peoplewere watching me as I was
recording even before I did theinterviews.
And it's such a weird feeling tohave when you're first starting
out and you kind of had toovercome that.

(25:40):
And it's not people actuallywatching you, it's your own
self-conscious thinking.
Like, oh, what are they gonnathink once you release that?
And I think that stops a lot ofpeople.

Yeah, exactly.
I think it's like learning todrive.
You have to get your wheels andthe first time you get behind
the wheel when you're 15, 16years old, you know, you're
like, this, this is going reallyterribly.
I could crash and, and, and, andend this all in a second, you
know, crash my car, whatever itis.
And you're like, I never wannaget behind the wheel ever again.
But then like after six monthsto a year, you know, you're

(26:09):
like, oh, driving, I can dothis.
You know, I can do this.
Like, uh, you know, like, likeit's nothing.
Now, I gotta tell you, filmingfor me now is like, it's
literally just another chorethat I have to do during the
week.
Uh, it's a great chore, don'tget me wrong, but it's, it's a
chore.
Like, oh God, Monday is filmingday.
And then, I film, I do what Igotta do, and then I, I, I take

(26:32):
my signature black shirt offand, uh, hit the shower, and
then I start editing.
That's, that's literally whatit's become.
Just, just a routine.

Now, you know, you mentioned how early on you
started your mother borderedfried, and you said This is a
sign.
What made you see that not as asign, but continue going at that
point?
What changed it to where youfelt like you could still do
this?

Copious amounts of credit card debt.

I'm sorry.

You know, uh, it takes money to make money.
now it's a full blown business.
And I'm, I'm, I'm happy it iswhat it is now.
But, you know how it is, right?
Like you can't start a businesswithout having the risk.
That's inherent.
I mean, you know, somebusinesses are cheaper to start
than others this one was not.

Of course.

Uh, but, uh, yeah, you know, Hey, here's the
thing.
I got the new laptops, the oneI'm using right now still.
I got the video edited.
Yeah, video obviously didn't,didn't do.
Anything, it's, it, it's a slowburn to get to the channel, to
get to channel where it is now.
but, I'm glad I didn't give up.
You know, the credit card thingis just, uh, it just became a
part of like managing a businessjust like you would do any other

(27:33):
business if you were to get apersonal loan or if you were to
get a small business loan.
as long as you have the rightmotivation and the drive and
maybe a little bit of luck, Thatkind of stuff takes care of
itself.

I think you said it Pointly.
'cause you know, it's like I'mstill trying to improve it.
You know, you keep putting moneydown because you believe in the
idea so much and sometimes youknow it works out and you gotta
keep going with it.
That's why I laughed so hard.
'cause I was like that hit twopost a home.

That's, it's true, it's true.
Uh, you know, uh, first of all,it's not a, it's not a cheap
hobby, you know?
So, but, but here's the funnything.
You know, I would watch thesepokey rev videos, and by the
way, pokey Rev, uh, you know,uh, 2 million plus subscriber,
maybe he's at 3 millionsubscribers on YouTube.
you know, you could say a lotabout him, but what you can say
for sure is that he's, he'sdoing it right.

(28:21):
He's, he's doing, he's runningthe business in a really,
successful way.
And so I said, what is he doingright?
How did, how did he get to bewhat he is now?
I say, okay, you know what?
He's, he's got really goodlighting.
Uh, what's a couple hundredbucks on good lights?
Okay.
Uh, he's probably got some good,uh, a good microphone.
What's a couple hundred bucks ona good microphone?
He is got a good backdrop.

(28:41):
he's got the, the signaturewhite table that I, that I was
like, I, I gotta find that samewhite table.
and I was like, you know what?
Like that kind of, that kind of,if you do it right the first
time, I feel like you're justmuch more prone to success, even
if that does cost a little bitof money.
I think that's okay.
If you build it, they will comeand, I think I'm lucky that it
happened that way.

I mean, I do the same way to where some point
for editing, I could have doneAudacity, which is free, or I
could have

Oh yeah.

our software and I'm like, this paid
software, yes, is an investment.
Absolutely.
But it saves so much timecompared to when I had to do
Audacity, the Mike thing.
I'm probably due for an upgradeat this point, honestly, but I
try to, I didn't wanna be cheap,so I didn't buy like a 20 or$15
mic.
I bought a decent 100,$110 mic.
like I said, it's due for anupgrade at this point, but you

(29:28):
kind of have to put thoseinvestments because you're gonna
pay it at some point.
It's gonna either be outta yourtime or it's gonna

Oh yeah.

of the length of the whatever you're, uh,
deciding to do.
And

Right,

always been very stern with as far as as the
Pokemon ball turns is concerned.

right.

do things cheaply just to get it done.
I want it to be done well atthis point.
I want it to be done well andenough to where people recognize
that, oh, this is somethingthat's more professional based
at this point, I'm not anamateur trying to figure his
way.
I kind of know what I am.
It's more of,

Absolutely.

I figured it out, I want it to be done
perfection.
'cause I want it to somethingthat's last best example is, you
know, I'm currently working ontrying to get my logo updated.
You know, I did something thatwas basically slapped on
together on paint.
That's really all it was.
I talked to a friend of mine andI told him my ideas and I told
him like, yeah, some people justcome here just thinking like
it's gonna be like 50 or$60, butit's like a couple hundred

(30:20):
dollars.
And I'm like, I get thatinvestment, this logo.
I want it to be something thatlasts.
Beyond just what I could do thatlasts for years and years and
years that people can

Exactly

And it's that kind of mindset you have to
shift to.
And a lot of people it struggleswith.
You know, you gotta get there atsome point.

it.
It's if you think about cost peruse.

Yes.

it's a no brainer.
A$50 logo, how long are yougonna use that logo for?

Right, right.

a year, maybe two years.
And, and it's brand recognition,right?
Like, it's one of those thingswhere I think you put in the
time and money in the, in, inthe beginning.
In people's minds, you know,they, they're going to equate
that with quality.
And, you know, it comes down toare you running a hobby or are
you running a business?
If you're running a hobby, it'sgonna look like a hobby.

(31:05):
If you're running a business,you should probably make it look
like you're running a business.

Now for you, at what point did you realize this
is no longer a hobby, but nowthat what you're doing on your
channel is now a full onbusiness, did you kind of
gradually come to that?
Or was it just something thathappened overnight?
Not overnight, but you know whatI mean?
Like did you just make adecision

Yeah.
Yeah, I, I can tell you exactlywhat it was.
I went to the February 20, 23front row card show back when it
was at the Tuscany.
And if, and if you're listeningto this, you've been to the
front row card show, you know,now it's at the Rio where it's
550 tables.
It's a huge ballroom.
But when it was at the Tuscanywas a very small show, maybe 200

(31:43):
tables, and it was nothing likewhat it is now.
And I went there as a, as a, asa guest, as a spectator,
whatever.
I thought, you know what?
I could do this.
I don't know what I would sell.
I have no freaking clue what, Ihave nothing to sell.
But I think it would be reallyfun to just get out there and
meet a bunch of people and sell.
And so the first thing I did, Igot home.

(32:03):
And by the way, Pokemon, it's,it's nowhere back then what it
is now.
You could buy a vendor table upto like a week before the show.
So I bought a vendor table and Iwas like, alright, I'm credit
card.
You, you're coming in handyagain.
I started making these mysterypacks and they, these mystery
packs, by the way, they're,they're nothing like what they,
what I sell now.
They were a couple of loosecards and I would put like, you

(32:25):
know, like maybe a, maybe a, Ithink a$2 card in them and one
out of every 10 would have likea, like an alternate artwork
card from the Sword Shield era.
And I thought, alright, I'll dothat.
And then I went into, I wentinto Walmart while I was
traveling to California visitingmy hometown, and I saw.
All of these evolving Skyes ETBson the shelves.
And I thought, oh, you knowwhat?

(32:46):
I bet you somebody would wantthose.
So I bought like, eight or nineETBs, thank you again.
Credit card for coming in handy.
I, I, I was like, all right, Ihave something to sell.
So I show up at this show withlike nine ETBs and like 20
mystery packs.
I sell everything immediately.
By the way, these evolving guys,ETBs sold at like$70, which, uh,
they go for about two 80 rightnow.

Wow.
Yeah.

And, and I was like, I was like, man, I just, I
just made a, I just, I just mademoney off of this.
And the best part about it was Igot to, I got to tell everybody
about my channel.
You know, I, I made, I made afew bucks, not nothing great,
but I got to tell a bunch ofpeople about my channel and I
got to meet a bunch of people Iwas like, alright, this is, this
is no longer a hobby.
I am fully fledged into this asa business.

And what is it like to go to those card shows
now to where now you're just notgoing as just a random hobbyist
vendor, but you're actuallygoing to kind of, of course, you
know, sell some stuff, but alsotry to build your brand to the
community as a whole.

Yeah, it's a weird feeling because I've done
like nine or 10 of these cardshows with front row, and it
always feels like, at least tome, the having the product is
just, the means to an end.
And that's, you know, promotingthe brand and, and just
communicating with people,talking to people.
And I, at my first ever cardshow, I had one person come up
to me and said, I watch yourvideos.

(34:03):
And I was like, you watch myvideos?
How, how the hell did you findme?

Yes.

Like, I'm, I'm, I'm curious, like, how, like,
how did you find me?
And I don't, I don't rememberwhat they told me, but like,
that was a shocking moment tome.
'cause I'd only started mychannel like three months prior

Oh wow.

and now It's this thing where people will come up
to me and, and do one of, one oflike a few things.
They'll say, day five 18.
or they'll say, can I just giveyou this Deoxys card?
Like, no, no, thank you, but no.
Or they'll hand me a pack likein their back pocket.
I'm like, okay, thank you.
and they're like, you gotta openthis in the chase.

(34:39):
Really grateful of that, by theway.
and, or, or, or they'll say, youknow, Hey, can you sign my
Deoxys card?
and I'm like, I cannot believethis is happening right now.
Like, that is a weird, surrealfeeling of like, all because of
this stupid, this stupid idea orthe, you know, all because of
this, this, this weird idea ofopening packs, looking for a car
and starting this channel.

You got people wanting to sign a Deoxys card,
that's, that's how you knowyou're legit.

Yeah.
Yeah.
So on on Sunday, somebody cameby and he brought his, it was at
the Ion Deoxys tag team card,and he goes, can you sign it?
I said, I'm not, I'm not, thisis a really great card.
I don't know if I, if I shouldsign this.
he was like, no, seriously.
I was like, how about this?
I'll sign the sleeve.
How about that?
And he was like, all right,cool.
That that works.
Um, and you know, it's, it's sofunny because like it catches me

(35:27):
off guard too.
I'm, I'm working with my, mybuddy, my really good friend who
helps me with the card show, andI'm talking to this customer and
he's talking to me about Pal Dayinterface.
He's interested in buying a minitin I'm poking fun of my buddy
and I said, you know, uh, areyou looking for that Mew?
And he goes, no, I've alreadypulled it.
And I turned to my buddy'cause Iknow he has never pulled that
bubble Mew.
And I said, you stop and pulledthat Mew and this guy, this

(35:48):
customer goes and you stop andpulled that Deoxys.
I was like,

shots

the, how the, I, I didn't even know you knew
about this channel.
And I just got, I just gotroasted bro.

Jeez.
I'm sure people offer you thedeoxy every time you go to these
card shows, right?

Yeah.
it does happen a lot.
I think what I get more now ispeople are like, I want to
contribute to the chase.
Here's a pack.

Mm.

always, that's, I mean now with Crown Zena being
like$10 a pack, I'm like, Okay.
I appreciate that.
That's, uh, it's, it's, it's,it's becoming a little, a little
too pricey right now to postevery day, but here we go.
Um, but yeah, the Deoxyss, youknow, it's everybody I feel like
understands.
It's like, I, I, you know, Igotta pull.
I'm not gonna just, what if Ijust showed up one day on, on
the channel and I was like, goodnews.

(36:34):
Somebody gave me the Deoxyssgoodbye.

Mm-hmm.
All that investment for 500 plusdays gone vanished.
Yeah.
I think that's what I found sointeresting.
'cause you know, I had put, wetalked about, I had Poca Tini
on, and that's one question Iasked him, like, why don't you
just buy it?
Or why don't you just, why go

Oh yeah.

And I think a lot of people ask that,
especially as the Pokemon TCGscene gets to where it's at.
But you kind of, it's like anexperience.
You kind of wanna be able toshare that moment.
'cause you can't really get thatagain, you know?

I don't think that there's, and this is just
my opinion, I know a lot ofpeople feel differently.
I don't really think there'sanything fun in buying singles
personally.
I, I get it, you know, it's themost cost effective way to go.
You know, you, you couldprobably spend, I mean, look at,
I mean, use my chase as anexample, you know, you could
probably spend, you know, uh,hundreds if not thousands of
dollars looking for a particularcard you want, or you can just

(37:25):
buy it.
But, there's just something thatabout buying it that goes
against.
Literally how we were, how wewere raised as kids, which is
you get a pack and you open itand that's, maybe you get the
cards you're looking for, butlike buying singles, to me it
feels like, you just got like asecret cheat code to get to, to
win.

Now, you know, in your chase you've had some
people who've I think sharedsome very personal stuff and
you've highlighted on your, uh,channel, you know, two comments
that stick to mind was one fromOrion.
He said, bro, I got pregnant andhad a whole baby in the time
you've been trying to getDeoxys.
I feel for you, rooting for you.
then the other one, which ismore touching, this is what I
wanna highlight.
He said, frankly, these ventshelp me get through the healing

(38:04):
process of my heart attack.
And I wanna know what is it liketo get those kind of comments?
Like, do you feel kind of.

Oh man.

you're kind of tied into their lives in a way.

You know what it, it reminds me, and again, this
is just my perspective, I, Idon't know what it's like, but
it reminds me of two things.
One, being a kid watchingJeopardy at seven o'clock every
day.
You, you, you just, you wouldn'tmiss it.
Or, you know, my family wouldall eat dinner together, watch
Jeopardy.
That was our thing.
And if it was, if Jeopardywasn't on or was a rerun, be
like, what the hell man?

(38:35):
This is, this is our tradition.
so I get it.
There's something about havingthat tradition for the everyday
people that watch that probablymakes them feel a little bit of
comfort.
And I, and I really like thataspect of the chase and it makes
me realize it's not even aboutthe Deoxys.
It could be any card.
It could be, it could besomething else tomorrow.
And people still just reallywant the, the routine.

(38:55):
And, and, and I love thatbecause people show up every
day.
The other part, you know, about,you know, recovering from the
heart attack, that is, that,that was, I'm, I'm glad you
found that.
I'm glad you remember thatbecause that was, um, that was a
pretty life changing, comment toread.
I, I remember reading that andI.
It reminds me of, you know, whenI was like 18 years old and

(39:15):
there was like, you know, youknow, back in 2014 there's like
these, these vlogs, like thesepeople would vlog all the time.

Mm-hmm.

And that was like, that was like your go-to
like binge watching contentbefore Netflix was what it was.
And I remember like goingthrough this like weird breakup
at 18 and I was like, well, atleast I have the, the vlogs
every day from the singer of wethe Kings who does this,
vlogging from Warp Tour There'ssomething like healing about
that.
I don't know what it is.
When you have something towatch, something to go to every

(39:42):
day, it feels like you, youknow, you feel that, that
personal connection, so I guessI understand it.

And I loved how you mentioned Jeopardy.
'cause I think sometimes asmillennials we kind of don't
understand it.
'cause you know, we kind of grewup with the internet, grew up
with the, we were the lastgeneration to have both the
regular TV and the internet.
And you know, after us as theGen Z, they had full internet.
And I think you brought such avery.
Down to earth example to whereit's like Jeopardy to where this

(40:10):
is a family tradition or this isa tradition that I follow, and
they kind of fill up thatrelationship that way.
I think that's such a good wayto put it.

Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't know what the equivalentwould be today.
I mean, do people still watchcable?
I don't know.
People still have family time.
I don't know.

ones I know of are the ones who grew up with
the boomers and the older folks.

right.
Who has cable nowadays?
I haven't had cable in like 10years.

haven't had regular TV in about 10 years.
I just do streaming.

Yeah, like it was just, I pull up YouTube on the
TV and just like everything Iwould watch on my phone, I just
put on the tv.

And the funny part, it's not even out of not
trying.
I really try to have regular tv,but you have to go through so
many hoops to just try to getregular basic tv.
I'm like F this.
I'd rather

Yeah.
Yeah.

the internet on YouTube or go to the website.
What's the point of me trying

Dude.
A hundred percent.

Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

I mean, here's the, I, I don't feel old, but
I'll tell you when I do feelold, feel old when I'm trying to
watch a show and I'm like, whatdang streaming service is this
on this, this TV doesn't evenhave this streaming service.
I gotta pay for this.
I thought I paid for it twomonths ago.
And I'm like, okay, I get it.
This is, this is how boomersfeel.
This is how, uh, this is how mygrandparents felt.

(41:19):
I, I get that man.
And, and I'm just like, you knowwhat?
Screw it back to YouTube.

Yep.
Here's the one thing that I'llput it, uh, perspective even
better.
Um, I was kind of assisting ateacher with a class and she was
trying to teach basic finances,and she says, how much do y'all
want to, she told the class, theclass is like maybe 16 to
18-year-old to keep in mind howmany of y'all want to pay for
cable or something like that.
And they're all looking sidewayslike, what's cable like?
Literally they have thatconfused, perplexed look, and I

(41:45):
said, let me help a little bit.
How many of y'all stream.
they all raised their hand.
They didn't know cable, but theyknew streaming.
And then she says, oh, I see, Isee.
Y'all don't know cable.

Right, right.
Yeah.
That's, that's a, it's, it's,it's totally in the past now,
like there, I wouldn't, I guessyou're right.
I wouldn't expect kids to like,understand what that, what,
what, what it was like.
But I'll tell you what, if youtell'em this, look, we have
every channel on demand.
All you gotta do is scrollthrough and you can get anything
you want.
The catch is you just have towatch two minute ads.

(42:14):
I'd argue that's better thanwhat we have right now.

Well ShadowlessRed.
I wanna finish this interview onthis last question.
For over 500 days, they followedyour search for one card, and
along the way, you know you'vebuilt something bigger than the
chase At this point.
We've talked about how peoplehave connected with you and how
people have kind of resonatedwith your chase to try to get
the Deoxys card.
Say from like maybe years ordecades from now, people find
your channel.

(42:37):
What do you kinda hope theyremember from your journey to
this point?

Oh man, that's a, that's a, that's a really good
question.
Um.
I think that, I think that the,journey is a real product of its
time and it's, almost, if youwatch it in 10 years from now,
it almost serves as a timecapsule for how the, TCG hobby

(43:03):
grew from early 2023 to, thetime we're doing this.
And you can see.
maybe my mindset changed on, youknow, shifting things from maybe
looking for the most valuablecards to looking for the cards
that I like the most.
every video I talk about acurrent event or something
that's going on in the hobby orsomething that's going on in,

(43:24):
in, in the world.
it's almost like if you watchthe channel from day one to day
five, whatever, day five 20.
You almost, you almost get asense of here's how the, here's
the state of the scene for twoyears a time capsule.
and, I think that's, uh, I thinkthat's, that's pretty important

(43:44):
because things tend to go out ofstyle very quickly in Pokemon
TCGI mean, They come out withfive, six sets a year.
it's overwhelming, right?
It's, it's so overwhelming.
And so it's hard to stay currentwith things.
So on my channel, you'll, you'llprobably see me talk about how
evolving skies is the, is themost popular thing, all the way
to, you know, to 1 51 to likethe dead period from Paradox,

(44:06):
rift and Temporal forces.
when the hobby was kind of at,at a lull, you know, raging back
with Twilight Masquerade and theGreninja, and I have commentary
on, on, on how these trends go.
and like I said, none of thishas anything to do with the
Deoxys.
It doesn't, it's, it's just,it's, it's just about, being,
present, content creator who,who maybe just posts every day

(44:27):
and, think there's some, somevaluable insight there when,
when maybe you start to feellike, you didn't really get a
chance to see how the TCG hobbywas for, for those time periods.

Speaking of content, if people want to check
out your channel, if they wantto maybe buy some merch or buy
whatever you're selling, wherecan they go?
By all means, please plug away.
Oh.

Oh yeah, of course.
The good news is it's ShadowlessRed everywhere you go.
Facebook, Instagram,youtube.com/at Shadowless Red,
my website is just shadowlessred.com.
You could probably find me onTikTok as well.
Shadowless Red, that's me,that's who I am everywhere.

Thank you for listening to As The Pokeball
Turns, if this story resonatedwith you, share the podcast with
a fellow trainer and don'tforget to follow us.
For more voices, more journeys,and more memories.
I'm David Hernandez, andremember, your next Pokemon
adventure begins here.

Not happy.

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TRAINER'S EYE #163 - "Chasing Deoxys with a Psycho Boost" ft. ShadowlessRed

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}TRAINER'S EYE #163 - "Chasing Deoxys with a Psycho Boost" ft. ShadowlessRed