In our Collector Feature series, we highlight collectors of all kinds and share the stories, passion and advice that have shaped their collections.
For more from Ally, follow @allycatastrophe on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and X.
Fast Facts
Name: Ally Tamara
Age: 34
Location: Ontario, Canada
Collects: Gengar, Snorlax, Vaporeon, plushies, collectibles related to Pokémon Silver
Crown Jewels: Team Rocket First Editon Dark Charizard (with a swirl), Ancient Mew Promo, Base Set holo Chansey, Fuwa Fuwa Daki Vaporeon plush, Pikachu plush signed by Veronica Taylor
Currently Seeking: Masaki Promo Gengar, Mario & Luigi Pikachus
For Canadian creator-collector Ally Tamara, Pokémon first arrived as whispers around the playground and the classroom as a child. “It was like around the time that Blue and Red came out to North America,” Ally recalls. “It sounded amazing. Then for my birthday that year, my parents gave me a Game Boy Pocket (which I still have) and my copy of Blue (which I also still have) — and I've been hooked ever since.”
And as she began those first adventures with Squirtle (“He's very, very special to me because he was my first pokemon ever”), Ally also discovered the cards. “I still remember the very, very first pack I ever got,” she shares. “I pulled the Chansey, but it set the bar so high, because I remember thinking you got a holo in every single one!”
But unlike the battles raging inside her Game Boy, Ally was more careful with her cards. “I didn't like battling with other kids because I’m very meticulous when it comes to all my things—and I'm still like that,” she explains. “As a kid, I didn’t want to wreck my cards.”
A Silver Lining
The original 151 have a special nostalgic place in Ally's heart. And like many collectors from her era, she fondly remembers the excitement of that first wave of new Pokémon, starting with the late-stage arrival of Mew. “I remember when Mew came out and everyone was talking about Mew and there were all the whispers,” she recalls. “Mew's another one of my favorites because of that.” Then not long after, that excitement hit a fever pitch in 1999 when Generation II hit the scene with Pokémon Gold & Silver.
“Silver is my favorite Pokémon game of all time. It came out during a really hard time in my family's life. I lost my uncle, and we had a lot going on,” Ally shares. “I just latched on to it, and I think that's why it's so special to me. So any time I collect anything that has to do with Lugia the second movie, that’s really big for me.”
Gengar, I Choose You!
As those who follow Ally already know, one Pokémon stands out from the rest across her collection: Gengar, the shadow Pokémon.
“My first love of Gengar developed because I didn't get him in Red and Blue right away,” Ally explains, referring to the fact that Gengar was one of a handful of Pokémon who could only be evolved through a link cable trade. “I didn’t really trade with kids at school, so I had to wait until I got a second Gameboy so I could trade with myself.” And combined with the appeal of how hard it was to get Gengar in the games, Ally also loved his introduction in one of the show's most memorably early plots.
“There's an episode in season one of the anime called Tower of Terror with Gastly, Haunter and Gengar, and I loved the three of them together,” Ally shares, excitedly. The episode takes place when Ash and Pikachu, together with Misty and Brock, head to Lavendar Town in hopes of finding a ghost Pokémon to defeat Sabrina, the powerful and intimidating psychic gym leader who has trapped her own inner child in a (very creepy) doll. ”That whole arc was great,” Ally recalls. “I was always a spooky child, so they just catered to my soul.”
For a while, Snorlax actually took the lead Ally's number-one spot (and she has the giant plushie to prove it). But surprisingly, Gengar came back to her at work. “I used to work at GameStop back in the day when I first got out of high school, and they were giving away a Mega Gengar for the release of Phantom Forces,” she explains. I had so much fun with Mega Gengar, that’s where my love came back. And then online during COVID, I brought it over to Sword and Shield when Pokémon Home was released—and it's it's been my ride-or-die ever since.”
Inside Ally's Collection
Ally's collection is wide-ranging, spanning toys, trading cards, guidebooks, plushies and more—all fueled by a deep nostalgia and the special memories Pokémon hold for her.
“I collect plushies as my main go-to thing now,“ Ally explains. And among the countless Gengars, ghosties and other beloved plushies, you'll find a few highlights: a Fuwa Fuwa Daki Vaporeon plush in honor of her first—and favorite—eeveelution, and a Pikachu plush signed by Veronica Taylor, the original voice of Ash Ketchum in the English anime.
Currently, she’s also on a vintage figurines kick. “The Burger King line was like a spiritual awakening for me when I was a child. So much so that I bought a poster from Burger King a few years ago—and it’s the actual poster that they had inside of Burger King with all of the Pokémon: The First Movie toys on it,” she shares.
When it comes to the TCG, alongside that first Chansey pull a few other key cards in Ally's collection stand out for their memories. Building on that "New Pokémon" excitement that started with Mew and led us into Gen Two, the promotional Ancient Mew card stands out. “It felt like we had hit a goldmine with it because it was double sided,” she shares. “Even in the trailer, the guy says ‘It's a double-sided holographic Ancient Mew game card,’ right? That was huge for a lot of us.”
Her other TCG crown jewel comes from the Team Rocket series, again on a first-time pull. “I remember asking my dad to go to the mall and and pick up a booster on the day it came out. We went after school to pick one up, I opened it up and it had a first-edition holographic Dark Charizard—and it's got a swirl in the bottom too!”
Advice to Collectors
For newer collectors, Ally shares some words of wisdom about how and where to get started. ”Don’t go right away for anything expensive or what the community sees as the heavy-hitters or the ones to go for,” Ally cautions. “Go for what you like, go for what you love. If there is a specific Pokémon that you absolutely adore, start there.”
And more than anything, keeping your own passions, interests and loves front and center is key: “You're building a collection based on a Pokémon you love, which means you'll love your collection in turn. If you just keep buying things right off the bat that will be ‘great for your collection,’ you’re not going to be fully satisfied. If there’s no love, you're you're gonna become bored.”
