So, the trading cards.

[DoctorMowinckel]

I bought the tin as a Christmas present for one of my friends, and I really want to tear into it. They're $2 for five cards, that's obnoxious! I know that if I buy one pack, I'll probably buy a box. About how much would I be out to complete a set? Would a box do it? I know that if I get started on them, I won't stop before I have them all, wanna figure out what my investment would be.

[Bread]

Well, the full set is 144 cards, which includes:

84 base cards (common)
9 standee cards (common)
34 foil cards (rare)
8 gold foil cards (super rare)
9 promo foil cards (convention exclusives)

A full box will get you most of, if not all, of the base cards (and even if you don't get all of them, you'll have plenty of duplicates to trade for what you need). You'll probably get a bunch of standees as well.

You're most likely going to have to spend a lot more money to get the foils, golds, and promos.

I've spent roughly $160 to get to the point where I am now, and I'm probably going to have to spend $110 more to get some of the rarer cards...
And then of course there are the two rarest cards in the bunch, which cost $150 each on eBay.

It definitely won't be cheap if you plan to complete a set

[pallas]

well it depends how far you want to go.  I decided to not chase the gold or promo cards so I stopped after 47 packs by then the first run had sold out. 

I was then able to trade, make some small purchases and sell some gold cards via the trading card thread to finish the common foils and cards.

You sorta have to decide when to say when and be cool if you don't get a rainbow dash promo or wait for enterplay to do some more flash deals otherwise you will have to open the wallet. 

that being said I do have two gold left to trade or sell  .

Good luck

[Stiletto]

I so want to get into collecting the trading card, but I haven't been able to convince myself to spend that kind of money on completing the set.  Which I will feel inclined to do if I even by one card!  I think I will try and trade ponies for as many as I can first.

[BrightIdea]

I am in the same boat as you Doctor Mowinckel, I just bought some for my brother as a present, and I would really love some myself. I love trading cards so much, I just know I will get hooked and want them all.

I think most of the set is probably obtainable for reasonable prices, but it is those few cards going for over a hundred dollars that make me a little hesitant to really get into it.  I am interested to hear what people have to say here.

[ShannonInPonyland]

And then of course there are the two rarest cards in the bunch, which cost $150 each on eBay.

Which ones are the rarest?? (I don't collect the cards but it would be nice to know if I ever stumble across one )

[oddish]

I am in the same boat! Every time I go looking for Pokemon cards they're there and I am so tempted to pick up a pack. But I know that if I get one I'll want to complete the set (exactly what happened to me with the blind bags) and I don't want to make the investment. So at this point I'd rather have none...

The other thing that makes me hesitant is all of the typos/errors on the cards. Have they fixed those yet?

[Bread]

The other thing that makes me hesitant is all of the typos/errors on the cards. Have they fixed those yet?

Most of them have been fixed, but there are a few that haven't (and those are just minor spelling errors here and there).

And then of course there are the two rarest cards in the bunch, which cost $150 each on eBay.

Which ones are the rarest?? (I don't collect the cards but it would be nice to know if I ever stumble across one )

Those would be F40 Bronycon Rarity and F37 Comic Con Rainbow Dash.

Spoiler

[img2]http://www.strawberryreef.com/images/G4/TradingCards/F40-RarityBronycon2012-Front_mowza2k2.png[/img2][img2]http://i.ebayimg.com/t/My-Little-Pony-Special-Foil-Rainbow-Dash-Card-F37-from-Comic-Con-/00/s/MzM5WDQ2Nw==/$T2eC16V,!)QE9s3HFe6sBQQ3M(HR1Q~~60_35.JPG[/img2]

Rainbow Dash has a tendency to sell for a lot higher than $150 (just a few months ago someone bought her for $750 )
Rarity, however, seems to have a stable price of $150.

I am in the same boat as you Doctor Mowinckel, I just bought some for my brother as a present, and I would really love some myself. I love trading cards so much, I just know I will get hooked and want them all.

I think most of the set is probably obtainable for reasonable prices, but it is those few cards going for over a hundred dollars that make me a little hesitant to really get into it.  I am interested to hear what people have to say here.

Fortunately, Enterplay offers several ways to get some of the rarer cards that don't involve mutilating your wallet.
Two months ago they gave out a promo card for free for filling out a survey, and on black friday they were offering promos for $4 each on their website (including the rainbow dash I mentioned above). They also give out promos at pony conventions as well as comic con, so if you're nearby one you should try to attend.

I'm beginning to think I know too much about this

[lovesbabysquirmy]

And here I thought pumping $50 into a collectible sticker album was exhorbitant! 

[Flitter]

I am in the same boat! Every time I go looking for Pokemon cards they're there and I am so tempted to pick up a pack. But I know that if I get one I'll want to complete the set (exactly what happened to me with the blind bags) and I don't want to make the investment. So at this point I'd rather have none...

I was too but I just recently got started on them when I couldn't resist grabbing a few I found at the dollar tree last week and then I wanted the tin... 

The way my completest self is dealing with knowing I won't pay high prices for the ones that are hard to get is sticking to collecting only certain categories of cards. I'm only going for base Characters, including Villains and Pets and Locations. That's it. Anything else I get goes up for trade so I can try to complete those categories. Seems to be working out for me so far. 

[hathorcat]

There is a great thread in the FiM forum as well with people talking about the cards as well if you are looking for some general information.

I think Bread's summary is great. Through the trading threads here and the reasonably priced cards on ebay it does seem to be possible to collect the base set within a reasonable sum of money. But there are some sets and some cards which you have to buy specially outside the packs - these are the box topper foils, the discord puzzle set [with the collectors album], the Twilight foil, Pinkie foil and DJ foil [with the special storage boxes] and of course the illusive exclusives which have been available either through Cons, and Enterplay pop up shops @ NYCC and the Pony Project.

[Sugar]

So that's sitting around $600 for the whole kit and kaboodle, counting super rares?

Eep!

Maybe if they do G1 cards ( so not likely, therefore a pretty safe maybe ).

[hathorcat]

Honestly I think you could easily run higher than $600 at the moment - but personally if any one is looking to collect everything including the exclusives I would hold back from the big spending on ebay at the moment. Enterplay have confirmed that they will be releasing all of the exclusives again at some point in the future - whether this be re releases at events or in special promotional offers they havent said. But the more often they release them the lower their price becomes because more come on to the market.

[Stewey75]

I was in our local dollar tree store and found the trading card packs there. only a $1 and the cheapest i've found them for my daughter for xmas as stocking stuffers

[gabumon]

An interesting twist is that the Dollar Tree sets don't have Foils in them.  So they are good to "fill in the gaps" on commons.