Pokemon Cards: From Childhood Toys to an Investment Worth Hundreds of Millions of Rupiah
The pile of colourful monster-themed cards that used to be after-school playthings has now become collectible items with fantastically high value. In the hands of collectors, Pokémon cards are no longer merely a childhood game, but assets that can be valued at hundreds of millions of rupiah. This phenomenon has made the hunt for rare Pokémon cards increasingly crowded, from online auctions, collector communities, to hobby shops filled with people seeking nostalgic treasure.
A man named Bagir (37) decided to become a collector because the Pokémon anime had been part of his daily life since childhood when he lived in Australia. Unlike in Indonesia where Doraemon, Dragon Ball, and Shin-chan are more popular, in Australia Pokémon was the favourite at the time. Back then, not only the Pokémon films were in high demand by Australians, but also all their merchandise, including cards.
When he was 10 to 12 years old, Bagir routinely bought and collected Pokémon cards with various images of action figures. At that time, Pokémon cards were just ordinary kids’ toys easily bought at a corner shop. However, because of his fondness for Pokémon, Bagir sought to complete his card collection.
“At that time the first generation of Pokémon only had 151 species, so the ambition was to complete the collection from number one to 151. But once he grew up, those old cards were not stored well,” Bagir said when contacted by Kompas.com, Monday, 18 May 2026.
Because he treated them as ordinary toys, Bagir did not take good care of his Pokémon card collection. He regrets it now because those cards have become quite valuable today.
In his adult years, he still plays games with anime action figures on the Nintendo Switch.
Precisely in 2025, Bagir saw that everything about Pokémon Intellectual Property (IP) started to be in demand again, including his cards. Moreover, the 151-series Pokémon card set that he collected in his youth was reissued at the end of 2023 or 2024. Bagir immediately became interested in buying them, because within the 151 set there are first-generation Pokémon action figures, such as Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander.
“Pokémon made this nostalgic set specifically to appeal to older collectors. The first card I bought from that set cost around Rp 200,000 per English-language pack at an event in Pluit,” Bagir explained. In the first purchase, he was lucky to obtain a ‘hit’ or rare card that many people sought because its value was fairly high. That is what has made the man more hooked on collecting Pokémon cards to this day.