Selling a Pikachu Illustrator for $16.5 million might have ended one extraordinary collecting story, but for Logan Paul it instead finances an even deeper pursuit into early Pokémon history. His new fixation centers on CoroCoro Comic and the promotional cards distributed through the Japanese magazine, particularly the glossy Pikachu and Jigglypuff associated here with a 1996 issue. What begins as curiosity about Pokémon's early card culture rapidly becomes three intertwined missions: assemble the relevant CoroCoro books with their cards attached, build the promo set in PSA 10 condition, and somehow produce a perfect Pikachu by peeling an exceptionally clean surviving sheet. The scale of the spending provides spectacle, but the episode is most engaging when money cannot simply solve the problem.

The historical angle gives the collecting spree a stronger foundation than pure rarity hunting. Paul learns more about CoroCoro's role in promoting Pokémon, including illustration contests and early promotional cards, and begins treating the magazines themselves as artifacts rather than packaging surrounding valuable cardboard. Collectors describe issue 223 as especially significant and discuss Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Mew, Surfing Pikachu, and other cards connected with the publication. These conversations communicate why enthusiasts might care about obscure magazines and attached sheets that casual Pokémon fans have never encountered. At the same time, descriptions such as CoroCoro being the “birthplace” of Pokémon card culture, the issue being the hobby's “birth certificate,” or particular cards being the first ever should be understood as claims and collector framing presented in the video rather than independently established historical conclusions.

The pursuit of PSA 10s supplies the episode's best conflict because condition creates a problem wealth cannot reliably overcome. Paul buys scarce graded cards, offers large bounties, approaches established collectors, acquires entire collections, and pays premiums simply because low-population examples rarely appear for sale. Yet the cards he most wants remain difficult precisely because surviving examples can suffer from centering problems, glue, bends, print lines, aging, or defects created before anyone thought of them as valuable collectibles. The irony becomes increasingly effective: spending hundreds of thousands of dollars can buy another opportunity, but it cannot guarantee that a card hidden on a decades-old sheet will emerge in perfect condition.

That uncertainty produces the episode's strongest sequence when Paul finally peels a promising Pikachu and Jigglypuff from a CoroCoro 223. He believes the Pikachu could potentially become the first PSA 10 of its kind, only for PSA to return grades of five for Pikachu and two for Jigglypuff. His disbelief initially leads him to crack the slabs and seek another opinion, but the second evaluation becomes genuinely informative when subtle bends are identified under changing light. Paul eventually accepts that defects he could barely detect were enough to explain the disappointing result. For a video filled with enormous valuations and confident predictions, watching the collector discover the limits of his own ability to judge condition is a useful corrective.

Rather than discouraging him, failure turns the project into “peel camp,” where duplicate sheets become practice material for experimenting with removal techniques. Paul tests different approaches, discovers that some cards are effectively doomed by glue or existing defects, accidentally cuts into one card, and gradually settles on a method involving identifying a loose edge, anchoring the card, and peeling the surrounding sheet away. This section gives the episode an unusual hands-on dimension and demonstrates why untouched material creates such a dilemma: the sheet may have significant collectible value in its original state, while removing a card destroys that intact state without guaranteeing anything valuable in return. His willingness to practice before attempting the most expensive sheet makes the final gamble feel earned rather than purely impulsive.

The financial framing, however, needs considerable caution. Paul repeatedly assigns six- and seven-figure potential values to cards that do not yet exist in the grades he wants, describes Pokémon cards as a legitimate asset class, and claims that trading cards have outperformed the stock market by more than 3,000%. The video does not provide the methodology, timeframe, index, transaction data, liquidity assumptions, or other evidence necessary to evaluate that comparison. Likewise, statements that a hypothetical population-one Pikachu could be worth $1 million, $5 million, or become the world's most valuable Pokémon card are estimates from Paul and other collectors rather than demonstrated market prices. His own aggressive purchases also complicate price signals: he openly admits to overpaying for some cards because he needs them to complete the set.

Commercial interests are similarly intertwined with the collecting story. Paul says he invested in Rivet, promotes the platform repeatedly, advertises valuable CoroCoro material as potential pulls, mentions his investment connection to Collectors and PSA, and promotes Prime during the grading visit. The Rivet interruptions are especially intrusive because they arrive immediately before major peels and decisions, using the same scarcity, valuations, and excitement driving Paul's personal collection to market a collecting product. None of that erases the genuine enthusiasm visible throughout the project, but it makes the episode less independent as commentary on collectibles and more important for viewers to distinguish personal passion, promotional claims, speculative valuations, and financial interests.

By the end, the most important objective remains deliberately unresolved. Paul completes the CoroCoro book collection he has been pursuing, reaches second place on the PSA set registry, accumulates multiple pre-production sheets, and ultimately cuts a sheet he values around $400,000 in preparation for peeling the Pikachu and Jigglypuff. Instead of revealing whether the gamble succeeds, the episode turns that moment into promotion for a July 30 livestream where the cards will actually be peeled. That cliffhanger is effective at creating anticipation, but after a long journey built specifically around obtaining the elusive PSA 10, withholding the decisive result makes the video feel like the first half of a finale rather than a complete resolution.

Pros

• The CoroCoro focus explores a specialized corner of Pokémon collecting with far more historical and hobby context than a conventional expensive-card purchase video.
• Conversations with experienced collectors explain why attached cards, centering, glue, bends, print lines, population counts, and intact magazines matter to the pursuit.
• The disastrous PSA 5 and PSA 2 results provide a strong reversal and demonstrate how difficult condition can be to judge even after careful visual inspection.
• “Peel camp” turns the collecting obsession into a practical experiment, showing both improved technique and the defects that technique cannot overcome.
• The progression from buying individual PSA 10s to completing the books and acquiring exceptionally scarce sheets gives the lengthy hunt a clear sense of escalation.
• Paul openly acknowledges overpaying, making bad decisions, destroying value by peeling, and becoming obsessive, which prevents the spending from being presented entirely as calculated investing.

Cons

• Claims about Pokémon cards outperforming stocks, CoroCoro's historical status, hypothetical multimillion-dollar valuations, and the significance of specific items are often presented enthusiastically without enough evidence to establish them independently.
• Paul's willingness to pay unusually high prices for scarce cards complicates the valuations discussed throughout the episode, particularly when he admits that desperation is causing him to overpay.
• Repeated Rivet promotions interrupt major moments and blur the boundary between documenting a collecting journey and marketing a platform in which Paul says he has invested.
• The enormous spending can overshadow the more interesting historical and technical material, particularly when purchases become a rapid sequence of prices and population counts.
• The central question—whether the expensive pre-production Pikachu can actually become the elusive PSA 10—is postponed to a later livestream rather than resolved within the episode.

Paul's CoroCoro project is compelling because millions of dollars ultimately cannot eliminate the uncertainty created by aging paper, glue, microscopic defects, grading standards, and genuinely scarce material. The historical collecting journey, failed first peel, grading lesson, practice sessions, and increasingly difficult hunt for missing cards provide enough substance to make the obsession interesting beyond its staggering price tag. Speculative valuations, unsupported investment comparisons, heavy commercial integration, and a finale deferred to another broadcast weaken the presentation, but the episode still succeeds as an unusually detailed portrait of what happens when a collector with extraordinary resources encounters a challenge that money alone cannot complete.