Collector Nation - The National Survival Guide: Trade Night, VIP Access, the LUDEX Map and Hobby News

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

Ryan Alford, Bella Shafer, and LUDEX founder and CEO Brian Ludden deliver a practical survival guide for navigating The National Sports Collectors Convention. From where to stay and eat to Trade Night, VIP events, transportation, comfortable shoes, and late-night hotel trading, Brian explains how to experience the show without wasting valuable time. The conversation also explores Fanatics Fest’s growing influence, the story-driven value of modern cards, PSA’s on-site grading options, and why major retailers continue expanding deeper into the hobby. Ryan and Bella review new releases from Topps and Pokémon before ripping Topps Signature Basketball and landing a Dylan Harper Pure insert numbered to 50. It’s a mix of NSCC preparation, hobby analysis, pack ripping, and honest collector conversation designed for anyone headed to The National—or wondering why the event has become the center of the collecting world. TOPICS COVERED Why Fanatics Fest and The National serve different collectors How major hobby events expand the entire collectibles market Brian’s favorite Rosemont restaurants and hotels Why Trade Night is a must-attend experience Using the LUDEX interactive map to plan your visit VIP lounge events and Collector Nation’s live coverage Transportation and scheduling advice for first-time attendees PSA grading at The National Topps and Pokémon release overload The value of 1990s basketball inserts and Kobe Bryant rookies Topps Signature Basketball product review The Dylan Harper /50 pull CONNECT WITH BRIAN LUDDEN & LUDEX LUDEX: https://www.ludex.com/ LUDEX interactive NSCC map: https://www.ludex.com/links/ Download LUDEX: https://www.ludex.com/msadsps/ Brian Ludden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianludden LUDEX on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ludexapp/ CONNECT WITH RYAN ALFORD & COLLECTOR NATION Collector Nation: https://thecollectornation.com/ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/collector-nation/id1832831782 Ryan Alford: https://www.ryanalford.com/ Ryan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford/

This is a freaking madhouse. You have no idea how big this is. The National is the world's largest card show, right? I was there for five days last year, and I am very good with directionally, like, knowing where I am. But just finding the LuddX, like, booth, which was like the third largest booth and the whole freaking thing, I've been there for three days. You need this map.

Download Luddux. You'll see a tile that says an FCC interactive map. Hit that, and it is an awesome tool to bring it to. the national to plan your time to get allay the land because it could be very overwhelming. If you had like one thing that somebody who's their first time going should do, what would it be at the national? I would say trade night. You got to come off for trade night. It's cool. It's just a different vibe. There's tons of stuff going on. Go with a plan. Good shoes, the hotels, the trade night and have focus. Leave space to be surprised and delighted.

Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collect Your Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, you take you inside the hobby. Here are your host, Ryan Alford and Brian Lutton. What's up guys? Welcome to Collect Your Nation here on the Collect Your Nation Network. We got Brian Ludden in Chicago, Bella, Schaefer, and I am Ryan

Alford. That's what they call me, Ryan Offord, that's what they say back here in the South. Ryan Alford. I'd say, I'd say, Ryan Alford. I got to bring out your impressions. I know. But that's what I'd say.

We're in South if you can't tell the accents. What's up, Brian? What's up, brother? And you even got the camo hat on. Hey, you know, that's my lecture station hat, you know. You have great swag, man. Great swag. We got even better swag coming.

Oh, I've been tempted to. But I'm going to wait until we press the first. one and bring him his versions. But we got the custom keys coming for the national. That's awesome. Understanding the big executive that you are, whether or not you can wear them there, we'll, you know, we'll, we'll understand. I could wear whatever I want. I'm the boss.

Ryan was getting real creative with some of the names or slagis. You know, I've been known to write a lighter too. Yeah, and he gave me a high-level thing, a couple teasers, and they're hilarious. Like, it is pure Ryan offered to make these things up. Every collector is going to want them. There were some of them that I'm like, Ryan, we cannot make that on a shirt. She helped me back, so they will come out maybe in phase two. We will see with the collector nation merch extravaganza.

one thing to Ryan and next thing you know we have an entire merch line that's being launched. Yeah. Yeah. He's a doer. Do you guys see my back? Yeah. Do you guys see my new background? Oh, yes.

Looking pretty angelic back there. Dude. St. Brian. I was in front. Patron. You know what that doesn't do, Brian? Okay.

I was in the Luddex corporate compound there in Chicago. go. And I was in that room. That is a much larger space than you. That is a gigantic, beautiful sign because let me tell you, that is not a small circle. It doesn't do it justice. It's a very, very pretty freaking large, isn't it, Brian? Yeah, I think it's probably three feet around. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Exactly. That's not a, that's not like a little wall clock, like 12 inch. I think it's three feet wide. It's awesome. Thank you. Thank you. If you can't see it on the It's just us. It's awesome.

You got to, it means you need to be on YouTube. Yeah, got to like, follow, and subscribe over on YouTube. Exactly. Yes, sir. We, um, all the upgrades. We appreciate you for watching and listening. Like, subscribe, and follow. That's what all the YouTubers say.

So I guess I've got to start saying that. And hey, if you do and you DM us, there might be some giveaways at the end. Yep. Yep. Um, well, we can jump right into it. Obviously, this past week, there was Fanatics Fest, which I personally had some FOMO that we were not at, as I saw Justin Bieber, you know, trancing down stage. And, yeah, that was sad for me. And he won the Fanatics game, too.

So he won $1 million. Yeah. I had no way. No way. That I wasn't there because it was, because I knew the National was in two weeks. I had, it's not FOMO. I just wish that it was like three months separated, you know, and it wouldn't have to be a decision, right, Brian?

Yeah, I mean, it's like so hectic when you're coming to the National. And there's guys that I talk to that we're on the road for Fanx Fest, Comic-Con, and now the National. So those are massive shows. They've been on the road for three weeks straight. It's insane. Yeah. And you can't do it all.

Yeah, and so you can, and I definitely saw the people that were, but I don't know, diminishing returns and focusing, not for them, but for us, I think, at this stage. But it's, you got to just focus on what. I did hear next year they're moving back to like June or something for Dax Fest. So you got a couple, two or three months separation. I really like the June show because it kind of kicks off the summer. any of the conversations you have with people there, you can catch back up with them at the national. So I'll be at the June one for sure,

anytime it's in June. Yeah. But they did have some cool things happening. They had Cooper Flagg signed his one-of-one rookie debut patch auto live on stage. Did they just go ahead and overnight that to me because I'm pulling it? Yeah, I wish.

I'm curious as to what that will go up an auction for once it gets pulled. Five mil. Three to five mil. I feel like embarrassed to say that. Like I'm exaggerating, but that's probably where it goes, right? Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, it's like such a media and advertising and marketing event.

They do such a great job with it. Like the first year to second year was a huge thing, but they've found their lane and they're not the national. They don't want to be the national. They shouldn't be the national. but it's a cool event, man. People like it. Yeah. And I think it's interesting because now I feel like people are caring more about the story of the card than the card itself. Like obviously that's a big card, but I think that it would probably go for less if it didn't have him signing it live, like videos, footage of all of this stuff of him signing the card. And I think that that just makes it more of a spectacle. And I think that's what Fanatics does really well, is that they play on that.

they play on the spectacle of it. And I mean, you've said it half a dozen times that Fanatics Fest is, that's like their whole brand. But I did hear this year that the buyers and sellers were a lot more happy with what Fanatics did because it was more card oriented than it was in the past. Yeah. I think. I mean, it's still, it's a card show within a marketing event.

And I say marketing event. That's like what I think of it as non-market. I thought they're pushing it. to customers, but activation. It's a brand activation event that has a card show in it. You know, versus the National is the world's largest card show, right? It's two different things. And I think they do, I had a blast last year with the boys, but it was, again, the cards

were like one-tenth of it. And that was okay. Yeah. So different is good. and I do think it's bringing in a different person to cards, you know, like, and that ecosystem. And not 100% because some people are there to care less about cards. But I do think it's an entry point for education and learning about the hobby for casual fans. or big fans of the sport or the players or the celebrities that then get a taste of card culture.

They actually did a whole event, like teaching people how to, like, teaching people about buying, trading, selling cards. I don't think you're going to, I mean, I'm not saying you wouldn't see that at the Nashville, but you probably don't see that at the national. Yeah. Yeah, and I think also, too, it's like every single person in the collectible industry should just be like, thank you, Michael Urban for doing that, right? Like, I mean, the way that the category, right, like now we're two weeks apart. This is a great year for the hobby. And like people are like, it's just growing.

I'm like, dude, like people who don't even know cards are like, whoa, the finance festival are cool. And then you have the national. So like this is why this industry is growing. It needed to put, people need to put real dollars into it to make it different than a ma-pa. And they're doing it. And bravo. Yeah.

I mean, top sponsor. The hot town raises all shifts, baby. Like, your category goes up. If I'm Brian Ludden, CEO of Ludex, a leading trading card company and tech company and data company in the space, please keep spending money on the category, baby, right? Am I right, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Keep it coming.

Yeah, keep it coming because when they go to search the category, who do they find LuddX? See? We hope. That's good. Yeah. I mean, but that's why it's good. And it's good for anyone in the hobby. So anyone that says otherwise doesn't get it.

And that's, and it's okay. But that's what it's about. I mean, even my dad called me and he's like, why are you not at Fanatics Fest? And I was like, how do you even know what that is? He's like, oh, they were talking about it on the news. It's like, okay, cool. Small team.

Does he collect cards? No, and I think he has a pretty addictive personality, and he's probably going to listen to this. So they've become my number one fans. They've been listening and sharing with all the family, and I'm like, oh, gosh. But I think if he got into cards, I think he would be, like, addicted to it. It'd be, like, a little game for him. That's good. That's what we want.

We want people addicted to let's. We'll try not to really get him addicted, but, you know. Not in a bad way. We want him on in a healthy way. Yeah, in a good way. Healthily bonded to Luddex, unless you that paint here. Yeah.

Best value in terms. Oh, he would. He gets a free one. I'll give him a free one. I'll give you a family free. Yeah. Give him the, you know,

I used to, I owned a car dealership for about a year. So I blew it up. And my money, mainly, it lost about a million dollars. We'll tell that story one day. It's all you've been told.

You can find it on the podcast, The My Business Show. But I will say, this. I always had the double half special for all family and friends. Because you know, everybody wants a deal. And so I would double the price and cut it in half for any friends or family.

Wow, that's amazing. They're not good at math. They're not good at math. No, they thought it was a good deal. I was like, hey. I even created, I think, a sticker for it. Like, obviously this is a joke. If you don't know my humor yet and you're listening for the first time,

sarcasm and stupidity or part of my schick, I literally made a little sticker. People go, hey, can you give me a deal on that? And I don't know, man, put you in the double half special. That's hilarious. They got D-Havs. I love it. D-Haz.

Anyway, back to Fanatics Fest. We will be there next year. You know, we got separation of a couple months. to kind of plan both appropriately. You know, I didn't want to halfway do both, which I think for our team, it would have been that. And then, Brian, you mean, you're in Chicago. I mean, it's in your backyard.

It's like kind of the same thing, a little bit, right? Yeah, for us, it's like we don't have the huge team. It's not like we, like shows for us don't really pay off. There's not a lot ROI in there because, one, like, it, the internet's not great. two, it's like to get four or five guys traveling, it's like so expensive. And, you know, we're signing up a lot of people on a weekend with just our social, paid social. So for us, it's like it was a brand play.

We went to it to all the shows for two years. And then we had to, we pulled back because it was, you know, that's what we had to do to get where we are. Diminishing returns. I mean, at a certain point. But with two months in between, it's a little different story. 100%. and, you know, in Ludex, phase two of Luttex take over the card world

that will be happening the rest of this year, it enables a lot for next year, right? It does. It does. It will be, can't wait, can't wait. I'm always building evil empire or, no, friendly empires for all of our closest friends. No, I was just thinking more superhero lingo. empire. No. It actually the X-Men. Luddx, I mean, it's kind of like it. You know what I mean? They're good.

They save the day. Lutex saves the day. That should be a marketing campaign. I feel like you could do something with that. Oh, believe me. I already got lots of ideas. Lodox Man. We saved the industry. There to save the card industry. One collection at a time. Enter your collection here.

Sorry. So, Brian, obviously, since, you know, the Nationals right in your backyard, you're kind of living, breathing, and eating the National, I'm sure. So what kind of words of wisdom do you have for people gone this year? Well, I was thinking about it before the show. And I'm going to give you my, like, top picks in different categories. So best, like my favorite casual restaurant, if you're going to the National the first time,

you walk through the parking garage and there's a quad. And in that quad, there's probably 15 restaurants that are awesome. My favorite is the barbecue place, Bub City. So we'll be there on Wednesday night, having some barbecue with the fellas. But that's a great place to go. There's bars, whatever. My favorite thing to do at the Nationals Trade Night, I think that's, I'm not, like, alone in that. Favorite hotel.

I'd like the Hyatt Regency, because it's connected. And then there's about three or four high-end steak joints. So it's Gibson's, it's Morton's, it's Capo Grill, and, I forget the other one. But I like Capo Grill better. That's my number one. And in Chicago, I would say it's a high-end steak joint, but it's like, it's, it doesn't make my top five in Chicago. But it makes my number one there. I went to Capitol Grove last year with eBay team and a few other people.

I would second that. That was a very nice little spot and walking distance. Everything was walking distance. But that was a, I had some tasty food there. I don't know. I feel like we had like 27 appetizer or something. And then like a gigantic steak or something. But it was.

I haven't been to the Capitol Grill in Chicago, but I went to the one in New York. and when I was like eight years old, eating steak. But now, no more. Bill was privileged. Yeah. The other thing that I think is important for the national is after trade night in the hotels, like there's some hotels that just like blow it out for like people on the floor trading until three, four in the morning. The lows are, yeah, is that the lows?

well the one by Cabo Grill I think it's a low I think it is a lows but the High Regency like it's double floors escalators like it is insane I mean

I don't I don't know how these people do it it's three what am I doing up at three and four of the morning I'm just like don't ask but it's not on the floor

trading cards I'm just rolling in yeah exactly I mean I used to be out of back in the day at the bar hanging out, you know, I was a single man, thinking it was going to, you know, I was going to meet my bride or something. That never happened. But, yeah, I don't know either.

Like, you've been on your feet all day at the show. And look, I love Trade Night. Hey, hey, I can go to 11 or 12, but 3 a.m. Yeah. I mean, I'm out of things that I'm probably giving away Jordan rookies for like, you know, Tom Glavin or something. I don't even know, you know. The other thing is that the VIP, if you have a VIP ticket and they're sold out, if you have that, Ryan and I will be on stage Wednesday for an hour, Thursday, Friday, Saturday from like 11 to 1,

interviewing industry leaders, CEOs, some great conversation, great people. And also the VIP night. And I'm going to give away something you talked about. earlier Bella. So we're going to do, I'm going to give away three, a party of four wristbands for the Luddax VIP party in the back room during trade night. And it's going to be, it's just an awesome event. It's intimate but cool. It's free drinks, free food. So we'll give that out. We'll pick one person to win four or four people to win one, whatever you guys want to do. But it's a cool event. We'll all be there. Yeah, let me.

say this uh i was there last year and i know what's playing for this year and um this if i was going to put a value on it let's just say it's a lot like what like like like a like someone that knew that like i kind of knows what this was let's just say you've you went for the first year and you're kind of like i don't i mean i that sounds cool i think i would do it you need to think it's like 10x that because it's it it is you never know you're going to run into you're going to see the the the content creators, the Brian Luddins of the world. The Ryan offers. But the literally, you know, insert player here could walk by.

You don't ever know. And it's just first class. Yeah. And I think people want to come and meet Bella. Oh, obviously. They don't care about us. But I was sitting there. I was at the party and I turned around and on the couch is Daryl Straub.

and Doc Good, just talking. Wow. And I sat down with them. I said, thanks are coming. I'm the CEO of Luddx. And, you know, they were just such nice people. But it was like, that was one. You know, it's just, the athletes just come in, you know, all the time and say hi

and sit on a couch and get away from things. But yeah, so that's the four wristbands for Saturday night. And we'll coordinate it with you guys. Yeah. Yeah, that'll be awesome. I'm excited. I'm really excited for that. I think it'll be fun.

Go to Ryan Alford on Instagram. Shoot me a DM. Go to Collect Your Nation or Collect your Station on Instagram. Shoot us a DM. YouTube, put it in the comments. If you're watching this on YouTube, put it in the comments. And we'll pick out anyone that, we'll throw you in a jar. Bella will do this, you know, in the most democratic way of possible.

I will, I'll pick the winner on Monday before the national. So you have to get in. If you're listening to this before Monday, that's when it's going to be picked. So that's when it closes. I might have a few friends I'm going to tell them like, you know, hey, this is your chance. Rig it. I would never do that, Brian. I'll get you.

Brian, I know you hook me up. In all seriousness, we want y'all to get in on this. And we want to meet y'all. Yeah. So hit us up in the comments. And, you know, if you do this, even if you're not going to be there, just make a note that you heard this. And maybe we'll send you something as a replacement. Maybe something that we pulled today out of an opening or maybe one of these cards in this stack the bill is going to get to.

Yeah. Which you might want. So, yeah, that's, yeah, all this stuff is, the national is just all this. Giveaways and camaraderie and meeting people. and it's an event that it doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. So come and say hi, tell us what you think of the show and comments, and hopefully we'll see you, well, we'll see four of you there at some point. I want to talk about our interactive map that we did.

Yeah, yeah. It's awesome. This is a key. Pay attention now. Here's the cues. If you weren't paying attention and you're going to the next door, now pay attention. So now it's if you go to the app store and download it. Luddox. You'll see a tile that says NSCC interactive map. Hit that, open that up, and it is an awesome

tool to bring it to the national, to plan your time to get allay the land because it could be very overwhelming. And there's two floors this year. Last year they had two floors, but they built it out even more. There's corporate up there. But you could go to tables and figure out, We're to find Luddacks on the floor. We're to find, you know, a Gary V. We're, you know, what is Tops doing at their booth? It's just, like, it's so helpful. And this year, there's a couple additions.

The additions were the tables were able to put notes in there and add a description of who they are and what they have. So it was a year before it was all about, like, due to sports or trading cards. Now people went in and said, I have the biggest NT collection rookie, autos on the floor. Come and see me. And so you could segment that out and you can plan your whole time because you can take notes in there. So if you do a deal at a table and you don't do a deal and

you walk away, you can put a note to come back to it. But it really makes this massive thing a lot better. And we've been doing it for four years. I want to thank the National for giving us that opportunity. And every year it gets better and better. I want to do this, Brian, because I think, you know, I'm always kind of, you know, what is it, the pep guy, the raw, guy. Like I'm pet, but I'm the hype man. There it is. I'm the hype man. And sometimes you might, oh, it's exaggeration. No, I'm, I don't only hype what deserves hyping. That's where you, you'll learn that about me. But let me say this, because I know what, after Brian just said what he said, there were this crowd that might be going for the first time when they're going like a lot of

dudes do. And I might, I probably would have been one last year. Who needs a math as an event? You know, like, I can find my way around there. You have no. You have no. idea what you're talking about. Let me just say, if you've never, if you've been, you know what you're nodding your head right now in agreement to what I'm talking about, what Brian has said, you need the map. This is a freaking madhouse of you have no idea how big this is and how even if you can comprehend the size, just knowing where things are, I was there for five days last year and I am very good with directionally like knowing where I am. And I was, it took me the fourth day just to realize like where the same booth was like the LuddX like I knew where the

VIP lounge was I was kind of chilling in there with Brian but like but when I wasn't doing that just finding the Lodex like booth which was like the third largest booth and the whole freaking thing and I'd been there for three days you need this map you need to get on the app go to LX go download the app you know this is a public service announcement this isn't about hype you took your hype man height man head off Yeah, like this is a PSA. It's true. You will use that. You'll use it. Oh, I believe I am I am very directionally challenged and I will walk a direction with the most confidence ever and be completely wrong. So I shouldn't lead anywhere. This is this is not marketing. This is doing service to the hobby is what Lodex is done with this map. I thought it was cool too, just like having, you could see the size of like what brands were going to have what size activation and which brands were going to have the most. impact in any given area.

And I thought that that was pretty cool because then you can kind of play on like, okay, if you want to go check out V-Friends or you want to go check out on it or whatever, like you can easily find where they are. Yep. eBay will have a gigantic activation in the middle, I would imagine again. I would think they're doing that same thing. You know, Walmart's coming big this year. They're a partner in the VIP lounge.

They have a really interesting thing. We'll talk about it after the national, but it's a pretty interesting, like, activation. And I think it might be in the VIP room, but I can't disclose it, but it's, you know, stop by their booth and check it out or stop by the VIP room, check it out. But yeah, it's, there's a lot of cool stuff going on this year. It gets bigger and bigger. New companies are coming in all the time. It's, yeah, it's awesome. Every major retailer that's involved in the hobby is just expanding. Let's tell you all you need to know. Target, Dix. GameStop. Walmart. GameStop.

GameStop. Like, GameStop is now card stop. I mean, like, we joked about that in one, but like, they've pretty much flipped their whole model because games now are downloaded. And literally, it's a card shot. It's becoming a card shop quickly. I mean, it saved them. I would say it saved them. Like, yeah, they made a move. Yeah, those mean, stocks went away. Yeah. So, Brian, I have a question. If you had, like, one piece of. advice or maybe one thing that somebody who's their first time going should do, what would it be at the national? Well, I'm going to do like a public service announcement. If you have a hotel that's not walking distance, just make sure you order an Uber because you can wait in line a long time. And I would say trade night. I mean, you got to come off for trade night. It's cool. It's just a

different vibe. There's tons of stuff going on. David Marino and his team has done an amazing job with it. You know, we have our hand put on it during the day and some at night. But I think that's really the thing that you need to see. And then if you're able to stay up, you know, go to go to the hotels. It's just for me, it's the best thing ever. That's what I would say. I would do. Those are two things that if I didn't even go to the show, I would do those two things and be really happy. What was the best deal, trade, buy, sell, whatever that y'all did last year? Well, the honest truth is I brought a handful of cards and we sold like 10 cards. And then we bought packs that we ripped in the hotel rooms.

That's just, yeah, that's what being the boys do. We're the pack attackers, you know. And that's what we did, like midnight. You know, once we got, we did the State O'3. Once we left trade night at like 11 or something. And so last year, the boys were trading. And they got some deals. But, you know, it also, God, the number of kids walked around with $100,000 cases.

It was kind of like, you know, let me put my $200 card back in my pocket. I mean, and I had priced your cards at home. But I was like, I never, I didn't feel like crap about it. But it was more, I was like, taken aback. It's this is really the, I don't know, where everything that you feel and sense in the hobby, like the energy and the growth, and then it's like this is the mecca. And this is what if you had any doubts about what everything else was telling you, the signals, all this coming, you go to the Nashville and it's like, I see the light.

Like this is it. I mean, as far as how big it is, how impressive it is, how energetic it is, how diverse it is, that this is sort of that. And you'll see you. Yeah, I'm excited. One week from today. And then we have a sweet partnership with Collector Nation and Ludox in the VIP lounge. And Ryan and Bella and their team will be there. Maybe in the comments, you want some live shots.

We could, you know, live shots. We'll be posting this on Loddx and Collector Nation. We're going to do our pod from there, right? Yeah. We'll be doing all of it. All of it next time. A week from today, I guess. You know, unless we choose to, you know, just do something crazy.

That's the thing is you got to have to, you got to leave room for, like, the unknown. That would be my advice. Like, go with a plan, some good shoes, the hotels, the trade night, and have focus. leave space to be surprised and delighted. Like, and to just follow it, you know? Like, go down the rabbit hole. I was trying to, like, plan things, like, by the hour. And I was like, I don't even, I don't even know what to plan.

Like, we should do a Bella blog. We should do Bella blog at the national. Or she just like. I was going to do some day in the lives, you know. Yeah. We need to know what you're thinking. Like, people want to know. Like, you're going there first time.

I'll steal Ryan's Rayvan meta glasses. How about POV? I'll have my shaded burberries if I can find them. Those help me with this lighting actually right here as much as anything. I'm blind as a bat.

So it's actually really a need at times. But yeah, you can have these. Actually, you can have some of the time. I've got to be making some deals with these. These are the perfect.

like break glasses. Like, or like, like when you're filming ripping packs, not less like breaks, but like if you're just to not have to hold the camera in front, or the phone in front of you or have a stand in front of you. Yeah.

Bella, put them on and see how they look on you. Let's see. Oh, gosh. I look terrible. I have a big head too. I have a really big head too. Let's see. I think they're probably unisex,

I had a guess. Oh, yeah. You look smart. Well, they just like. Take those off. You look smart now.

They look massive on my face. I can clean these. I don't know. You need to wear them. That's weird. They like echoed in my ears. Yeah. They do that? Yeah.

They have, did you know they play music too? That's weird. Unbelievable. I'll just be like sitting at the national listening to some music. Sometimes when I get bored with y'all at this show, I have my favorite tune playing on there. When I go on a rant about soccer. You're like, woo. Yeah, I'm soccer.

I tune out. Now when Nicole starts yelling at you. Yes. Like I'm filming right now. Selective light blinking. My son was telling me you can supposedly get a Dremel and take out the camera blinking. So they actually did an update on them

where you can't do that anymore. And it stops its ability to record because people are doing some nefarious things. I don't really want to do it to record people without them knowing it. It's more I don't want to like distract from the moment. Yeah, the blinking is a little distracting. Once you see it, you can't unsee.

Yeah. I haven't seen it, so I'm not going to look. It's there. All right, guys. Now, hey, we are sitting in the middle of a trading card store. I don't know if we remind people of that enough. This isn't just a backdrop. We're not just in a studio.

We are at Collector Station in Easley, South Carolina. That's a card shop in the upstate. Yeah. Let's call it the state. Let's not undersell it. Or I like hyperbole and exaggeration. With my marketing. Yeah.

So this guy came in, he had a pretty beat-up binder. And, you know, we have people come in every single day, like Ryan was just saying. You opened up this binder. It had like every good basketball card from the 90s that you could want. Kobe Bryant rookies up the wazoo. 90s inserts, baby. Yeah. 90s inserts.

So we have some pretty cool cards. Again, not like crazy value, especially they're all. raw. But starting off, we have this Alan Iverson card. I think this one is personally, we'll have it up on screen, but personally my favorite. It has a basketball texture to it. It's only about a $10 card raw, but I think it's a really, a really clean. And all of these are rookies. This one's not bad either. Alan Iverson again,

another insert. This one I think is actually pretty clean. Good centering. Good centering. The corners are all. in pretty good condition. The rest of them, the corners are kind of a little roughed up, but that's also about a $10 card. Next, we have a $15 upper deck, Michael Jordan. This one kind of has, I don't know if you'll be able to see it on camera, probably not, but it has almost like a holographic where you turn it one way and you can see other like shots of him actually playing basketball. Hieroglyphic, I'm kidding. It's hollow. Holo. This was like the original hollows holographic. I think that was really cool. I've never seen a card. I do have my meta glasses on taking it. So we'll have this in with the footage.

3D standouts. Yeah. But, I mean, it's only like a $15 card. Yeah. We'd be glad to sell it to you for 30 if you want. Yeah. And then we have another Michael Jordan upper deck. I don't know necessarily you'd call this one.

But it has a little cutout pretty cool. That one's about $25. Yep. I like that one. Michael's Viewpoints. We have another Michael Jordan. This one is, I don't even, this one's from 1995,

Fleer. Pretty cool card. I like this insert. So this is a 97, Kobe Bryant Fleer. Corners are a little rough on this one. Cool card, though. What was raw on this? $32. Yeah.

We have another Kobe Bryant. This one is 96. This is his rookie year. I think this one's pretty cool. Only about a $15 card. That's the coolest one in here, like as far as the image goes. I remember this shot, I believe, coming under the basket. He looked a lot.

This is when I was the Jordan comparison started coming in a little bit. Our next one is another Kobe 97, so his second year. And this is a Fleer Skybox. I think that one's a pretty cool looking one. But yeah, I probably like the other one better. That one's about a $50 card. Money, money. It almost just like money,

but it's like a metal print there. And our last one, another Kobe. This one is from 96. So rookie. And this is a Tops card. But this one's about a $90 card. That's his top rookie card, I think. Topps base.

Yeah. So, I mean, it was a, I think we paid like $200 for the whole binder, and this is maybe a third of them. These were obviously the higher value ones, but they were all pretty cool cards and we got a good value from. Topps, signature basketball, one of my favorite releases, opened a lot of this. So I, you know, like I said, I have bad luck with this and I picked this box. So should have let Ryan do that. Let's see. All right. They pick. That's a Pandora. Is that gold? Pandora?

Yeah. That's cool. That's a Pandora. Woo! Look at that. It's probably like five bucks. Five to seven maybe. I can't break the five dollar.

Very. Yeah. It's all good. Nice looking. You got the Chrome Pandora look there. I like that Pandora look, especially when it's black and one out of five. If only. And worth one million.

It's only. Pardon. I love. I love that guy's beard. It cracks me up every time I see him. Luca, we got like good players out of the bass set here. We've got a orange set Sarr. Yeah, Alex Sarr.

A, an unfazed, Haskell, Seacum. Those are cool inserts. It's one of my favorite inserts out of them. Actually, the way they do the dual kind of most negative look on one side. Yeah, that looks cool. Oh, that's a good hit. That's a bronze, Stefan Castle. That's a nice hit.

And then a gold Pandora Marcus Smart. Okay. Yeah. That's awesome. Oh, LeBron. LeBron. LeBron. Hey.

Got a little, another insert there. That's pretty cool. Kevin Durant. What's the insert names to say it? After Image. After image. Yeah. See, the inserts are cool in this set.

Yeah. Numbered Mike Conley yellow out of 275. Is that number one? Wait, is that Jersey match? I see. Oh, one off jersey match. It's 11 and he's a 10.

Oh, and a brawny refractor on the silver. Brunson. NBA champ Brunson. Yep. Got Micah painting. Okay. Ooh.

I like that insert. Wait, that's colored. That's not the normal insert. Is that number? It is numbered. That out of 50. Dylan Harper on the orange pure insert out of 50. I've

never even seen that card. Yeah. Wow. Damn. And you open it. I can't even see it. That's not a jersey match, is it? Let me see. No. I think it's 31 out of 50. He's not 31. He's... I really like that insert. That's beautiful. I am like

butchering these pack openings. There you go. All right. Let's see. Hey, Khan. Yeah. Hey, Khan on the refractor there. And, oh, Grant Williams. Hey. Hey, Grant.

Grant was on the show. You need to get Grant to sign that. We're at the National Watch here. All right. Last pack. I'd say last pack magic, but I think we hit the magic. Yeah. If you had a 50 Dylan Harper on anything, I think is.

We'll have to pull it up on Luddux and see what it comes for. Yeah. All right. Another orange. Did you? Jeremiah fears, pure. It's not numbered. It's not numbered.

But he is one of the better rookies in there. It's probably 15, 10 or 15 bucks. Hey. That was pretty good. All right. Let's see what we got here. Go back through the hits. Hey, Con on the Chrome.

That's probably five bucks. Barani on the Roof Factor. We've got, I don't know who that is. Michael Porter Jr. You got traded. Lots of Chrome. Michael Conley, 225 numbered. We've got Chrome, orange.

The unfazed, Cicum is a cool, cool insert. Pandora. Hey, Jeremiah Fears on the pure insert. Another silver, I do believe. Yes, it is. Gold, Marcus, March, gold, or yellow. Pandora. It's hard to keep up with what's gold and what's yellow, but we'll set

that one here. Stefan Castle, on your bronze. Orange. We got, of course, Kevin Durant and Zion James. I feel like the hornets have so many freaking Rickies. On those, another insert. And the leader of the class in the dugout here. Really cool. I've never seen the number, the

orange out of 50. Dylan Harper on the Pure. That is my favorite insert. Yeah, but I'm glad we got something good. You know? Beautiful. I feel like my bad luck streak. Maybe this ended it.

I'm bad I could do that for you. Maybe I just actually have to only open packs when you're in the vicinity. Maybe. Yeah, you pick the box. He's had just like the craziest luck. So, you know, like I'm trying not to jinx it because it can go away at any time.

Maybe I should stop. If you've got packs long enough, you know it doesn't last. But right now, it's been pretty good. Yeah. Pretty good. All right.

There we go. I want to show you some things behind the scenes here at the store. And, ripping packs. Yeah, come see us at the National and maybe we'll give you some of these cards. I know.

We might have something in our hands and some T-shirts. So we appreciate you. Yeah. What else we got in the news here? Well, Pokemon, Pitch Black came out.

It was. God, this is what happened. I hate this part about the hobby. There's so many releases, so many things that happened, that, like, that was five days ago. And it's like, that should still be news.

And it is news. But it's like it feels, because we were preparing, you know, two weeks ahead of time with sourcing and everything else and getting, and then it comes and it goes and you're still selling it and it's still popular for the most part. But it's like, you're out of the next story, you know. And 17 other releases that Topps has this week. Yeah, the biggest, like, sports release was the Topps Chrome baseball, which actually has some. Launch us today that we're recording is on. Yes. Actually, I was looking at some of the inserts before this,

and I really like the minion inserts. I think they have like... Of course you. They're so cute. I know. Again, Tobs is doing a great job. Yeah, they're bringing in. They want more people getting excited.

I like them because they're going to be worth a lot. See, I got to find my Tops Chrome Disney at the National. I'm going to try to find Hannah Montana. or live you done. And we're going to, I think that's going to be my goal. I do have, ironically, just to put the final touch on the national, before we get into some of these releases that I do want to talk more about. A PSA for PSA.

I never thought I'd say that. If you want, they have grading on site. You can get online now and literally get it all done so that when you get there, you just hand them there. So if, look, it's expensive and you're not

going to get the value grades. This is, if you got high-end cards and you need that thing graded, you got to do it ahead of time, fill it all out,

go drop them off, but you're going to spend $100 plus on just the basic Express, because it's Express. You get it back at the end of the show if you do Express, and it's like $229

if you want it next day. You know how they, like, charge more if the card's more expensive? Yeah. They have those tiers, too. I think that's up to $2,500 value, something like that. 129-2.29. I mean, it's a lot of money.

They're getting their bag. Yeah, exactly. I want to know how much money they will make at the next. It's probably an insane amount. Yeah. I'm taking it for you. Everyone's, it's insane for everyone. Like, there's guys who work tables and this is their whole year. Like six figures in a weekend.

That's crazy. That's how much people making this. It's unbelievable. Crazy, crazy, crazy. buying selling and hey I'm always buying if you see me I'm a seller Brian B selling I'm a seller BBS

Back to the tops chrome baseball They also have a 101 dual gold logo man Otto Shohay Otani that he signed it in English and then in Japanese Wow that's cool Yeah that's really cool It's a really, really cool card. And one of the Logomans is from last season and then this season.

So that's obviously the chase card. But estimated $5 million value. Yeah. Casual. Casual. Pocket change. Yeah, it's easy. I'll have that on me in singles.

I'm going to have guys walking around behind me with briefcases full of singles. Five million worth. You can go the gentleman's club with that. What is that? I don't know what that is, Brian. It's for gentlemen hanging out. We're gentlemen hanging out. Oh, okay.

We also have Topps Inception basketball dropping tomorrow. So we're recording this on Wednesday. So it's dropping on Thursday. I think this is going to be a cool box. The cards are cool. I'm just kind of, to your point earlier, a little bit sick of like every week there being a new basketball product.

And every week, they're being a new football product and a new baseball product. I'm like, yeah. I mean, if they cut the skews by 30%, no one would care. No. But they can do it because somebody would bitch because they'd be like, that's my favorite sad. Like, okay.

I don't know. Always. But they are always going to sell out of all of them. So why would they stop making them if they're always going to sell out? They don't print cards. They print money. Yeah, exactly. They just print money.

Yep. It does seem that way. Whatever they print, they sell. That's actually a really a good way of thinking about it. I didn't really. Printing cardboard, printing,

printing plastic. I guess it's really plastic. I mean, if you, I think we should do a special, we should go to one of these tops, plants, tops.

We'll talk, Brian, get some of your tops guys to meet us. I've been to do a plant walk around to talk about like the making. And I know that these videos are out there, but they don't have the videos of me and Brian and Bella walking around doing it.

Here's the thing. I went to the Pokemon where Pokemon owns a printing facility and there was unbelievable security. Like you had to go through one thing.

It was almost like they had to like pat you, they padded you down. You had put all your stuff in there. Same thing with tops and Panini. Because you're seeing stuff that like, you know. Yeah.

You're like, there it is. There's the logo man right there. You know? And so it's a lockdown, man. It's a lockdown. But it's awesome going in there. I'd go in there with these spy glasses of mine. Only they weren't blinking.

They've never heard of these meta glasses. They wouldn't know what that is. First thing at the door, all glasses and phones. Your glasses and phones. Yeah, that's why I have my contacts that are meta. You know that's coming. I'm just saying. I'm sure they probably already have them.

They do. I already have a bionic eye. You know, it's like, Lots of releases. This Inception looks cool. I'll tell you what I've been at. It's ironic that you grabbed this particular box sitting here. We've got top signature basketball megabox.

I think we're going to rip some of those here to me. I'm kind of itchy and jonesing for them already. I've opened quite a few hobby boxes of this. It's been a really good product for me. See, I should have had you pick it because I picked the box. And, you know, that's never. Not going to happen. Not good. No. I think my goal next week is going to be to open something and actually get anything of value.

It's a small goal, but a goal nonetheless. Bella Chase's value at the National. The girl's got to have dreams. Girls got to have dreams. I just, I need to break $10. It's just got to happen. Tasing even. The newest series from LuddX. I will keep buying. I will buy it,

keep buying it for you until you do it, Bella. We'll just keep going. That'll be the video. Brian buys till Bella breaks. Brakes. Even. Something like that.

Yeah. Brian might have to bring those suitcases instead of me. $10,000 later, four days later. We're still going to, the whole show is just, you know, it could go that way. $200,000.

Oh, no. It adds up. Topscrum baseball launching this week, it's a big release. I know what things are a bigger release when I've got the TV on and it's in the background. I'm not really watching. I'm more listening. And if you didn't know it from a media standpoint, TV's radio and your phone is the TV. Just saying, free media tip.

So, yeah, your audio marketing matters. But in all seriousness, everything was Topps Chrome yesterday and today. Like the early release guys, Pac-Ban. And you know all the guys who's got the deals. Whoever's opening rip and packs the day before it releases, they got the brand deals. That's such a flex. It is. You're like, bam.

Yeah, exactly. I just happen to be opening this top of Chrome day early. I'm the man. But I did watch quite a few of those. It looks like a good-looking product. But I think most of what the Tops is putting out looks good-looking. Signature gets a little repetitive with base cards, but the inserts and the on-card Cooper autos like I pulled are my personal favorites. Those are good ones.

I'm speaking it interferwition before we open the box. That's the strategy here. I'll film it. Film it. Let's see what happens. Oh, we will. Pitch Black did come out with Pokemon. That's a big seller in the store.

I'm excited for 30th anniversary. Yeah, that we're already getting people calling. You're like, hey, you know, I'm just wondering if, you know, I know, I'm like three months away, but could we, can I get on that list and buy everything that you're going to get? Oh, no. Like, literally. Yeah, we'll let you know.

I mean, I saw videos of people like literally throwing punches at each other to get pitch black. So I just cannot imagine the pure chaos and pure hell that is. is going to be the 30th anniversary and Pikachu punches. Japan actually released an airport that's all Pokemon themed. Like it has like

Pokemon little characters ever. It's actually pretty, it's pretty sick, but. That's nice brand activation. Yeah. Likes can do that at Midway? Yeah. That did sell really well at Midway. Nothing's landing harder than

Nothing speaks to the south side like Pokemon. Chicago people, we get that. Yeah. So, you know, Ventura chasing that mega dark ray. I ripped through a booster box of this with, did like half with Hudson and half with Nash. Nash is a camp this week. It's been a little weird.

I had a little crying moment before the show, actually, thinking about that my youngest was growing up. I did tear up, be honest. big guys can cry. I mean, I was like, I hadn't talked to him in three days. And he hasn't called because he doesn't have a phone. And boys don't want to call anyways. You have to call now.

But I was like, and he's the youngest. And I'm like, it made me realize like, I don't have kids. All right. I'm going to go do the show. Hey, you still got eight more years. I know. It goes to phases. There's time.

I'm like, when is this going to be over? you know like the kid face but then I'm like when I really think through it I'm like I don't think I want it to be over yeah my son's going to university of Denver oh awesome and I'm like I can't wait for him to get out of the house I mean it's like grad parties every night he's coming home hammered I'm like this is this is insane he's like the boss you know the house I'm like well go on you go ahead go figure out this world that you that you already know so much about you're an expert in He's a great kid, but they're still 18. They need to get out and see the world. Yeah. Nash is still, I have a couple of those too, are getting close to that, I should say, by the day, by the hour, by the minute.

Any names? By the second, actually. But Nash is still, you know, like, he still thinks that I know everything. Yeah, that's a good. That's interesting. Yep. That switch. that happens.

It happens. You don't know when it happens. It's like it's just you wake up and you're like, what did you just say to me? Now, your boys have really good heads on their shoulders. I know. We beat it into them. When your dad's like 6-4-220 or 2.30,

you got to have a little more respect. It doesn't hurt. That's for sure. But yeah. But we've been chased. We opened that bootch box of pitch black. And I will say this. It hit better than.

And perfect order, man. Tell you what, what a terrible name, like the wrong name for the terrible set. I'm just calling it like it is. And when you know, you know. I mean, I tried to open like 20 packs on camera just to hit something and nothing. Not even a, like, I think the most was like a dollar card. Yeah. Shocking.

Yeah, I know. Chaos Rising is better than pitch, or excuse me, better than perfect order. Jury's out. I'm not sure. pitch black i like the couple of the hits but the the highest value card is like 300 it's like i don't know man like and there doesn't cost any less that you know at launch and not they i mean you can't compare it to sports i mean sports you spend so much money but you've got legitimate upside in the sports stuff you know you're not pulling

Pikachu autos out of a $5 pack, you know. So it's all relative, but I don't know. I'm going to give it maybe one more 36 packer to get to figure it out. What if a Comic-Con this weekend there's Pikachu on a stage like that, you know, in an outfit and he signs his 101? Be that be a great spoof. I mean, at least for fun, you know, like I do feel like, That, you know, we talked Brian, we were talking about a million things like we always are, but we weren't talking about how there's not much different content in the hobby.

There's not much humor in the hobby. And that's why, I mean, I hope people appreciate it. I mean, I know I'm not a comedian, but like I at least try to have fun with it a little bit. Like, like let your damn hair down a little, you know? Yeah, we laugh a lot on the show. Yeah, maybe it was just ourselves. I really can't wait for you to see the shirts that Brian made because. Yeah, and I'll show you the designs of the ones that are, you know, HR department shut down.

Yeah, me. Bella, yeah. The voice of reason. We should throw them off the stage during our live podcast or our podcast. We actually might. And look, hey, good, good. I'm glad you said that, Brian. We will have a few.

Yeah. We'll give those. Hey, we'll give, we don't have many. And we've got to give them to some important partners of Brian's and him and whoever he tells us. he wants us to give him to. But we'll hold at least one or two back for if you mentioned it. Mentioned in the comments. And we'll send you one.

We'll do a drawing for that. Yeah, definitely. Anything else, Brian? No. I'm excited to see you guys next week. And I think it's going to be an awesome show. And I want to thank the listeners and watchers of the show. We can't do it without you.

And I hope to meet. I'm going to meet at least four of you guys next week, so I'm looking forward to that too. Chris, Rick, Jason, and Paul. Oh, I mean, how did I know who's name? Ringo. Ringo. John.

Oh, wait, no, John. John. John's not going to make it. The name is Dave. Dave Matthews. Have you ever been? Hey, you never know who will show up at the National. Don't put it out of that question.

We appreciate everyone for listening, LUDX. Go check them out in the app store, the best scanning app, collection management, lots of new things coming. We'll be talking about that over the coming weeks. Collector Nation, the app,

the web experience. We'll be launching next week, actually. It's awesome. It is awesome. Finally. Definitely differentiated. And we appreciate, hey,

tell us how you really feel. And, you know, check it out. That'll be at the collective. Thank you, Yournation.com. For Bella, for Brian. I'm Ryan Alford.

We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye-bye. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your go-to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us at collectornation.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.