Interviews / 24 January 2023

Community Collections – The Shuckle Collection – An Interview With Wolfy

One of the most interesting things about being part of a community is seeing members with their own collections of items. Today we are taking a look at community member Paul (also known as Wolfy), who has an extensive and delightful collection of the Pokémon Shuckle. Paul’s collection became a hit on the Pokémon subreddit as people marvelled over the collection of the little turtle-like Pokémon.

My Shuckle Collection! 🐢
byu/WolfyWardark inpokemon

Introduce yourself.

Hi, I’m Paul, a child of the 80’s and I live several miles out west of Norwich. I’m really into wildlife photography and exploring what nature has to offer, but also a keen gamer and fan of technology!

When did you first get into gaming?

My earliest memory of gaming dates back to when I was around six or seven years old, playing strange arcade cabinets inside the café my parents used to run in the 90’s. They were very plain looking cabinets, with no colourful pictures or marquees. But the games themselves always attracted me, with colourful graphics and loud crunchy sounds. At school I was always keen to be the first to play around on the BBC Micro, making a little turtle scurry about on a screen and drawing interesting shapes. Then, at home, we had something called a TVBoy II, which was basically a knock-off Atari 2600 that Argos had sold in their catalogue. A few years later, I got my first proper taste of gaming with a Nintendo Game Boy for my birthday, complete with Tetris and Super Mario Land. As I got older, I amassed quite a collection of games and consoles, ranging from the Atari 2600 right up to the then popular Nintendo Wii.

What is your favourite video game of all time and why?

It’s tough for me to pick a favourite game, as so many of them have memories and events tied to them. Memories like playing split-screen GoldenEye and Mario Kart on the N64 with my friends after school, or goofing around in Garry’s Mod back in the mid-2000’s with random strangers on the internet. I also have very fond memories of Pokémon Blue, trading with classmates during lunch break, using a tangled spaghetti mess of link cables. But if I really had to choose just one game to be my favourite of all time, it’d probably have to be Pokémon HeartGold for the Nintendo DS. Purely because it took everything that made the original great and brought it into the then modern age. So all my happy memories of it were still intact but leaving plenty of room to create new ones.

In terms of gaming, what do you collect?

I mostly collect figures and plushies, as they always look great up on the shelf. But I also like to collect boxed video games, especially the Japanese versions of my favourites. So I’m quite proud of my mint in box release of Animal Crossing for the N64, along with Pokémon Green and Pokémon Gold for the Game Boy. There’s just something fascinating about the artwork that I really enjoy looking at. Although I have to say, out of all my collections, my biggest and most extensive is of a Pokémon called Shuckle.

What inspired you to start collecting?

I started collecting things relating to Shuckle around fifteen years ago, as it’d always been my favourite Pokémon and I thought it would be nice to have a figure on my shelf. But it was only after I got the figure that I realised there was barely any merchandise for the little critter. So from that moment onwards, I made it my hobby to collect as many items as I could relating to Shuckle. Fast-forward to 2023 and I now have over eighty items, ranging from trading cards to drink coasters.

Tell us about your favourite item in your collection.

I think my favourite item is the amazingly detailed 1/20 Scale World Zukan Shuckle, complete with translucent shell. These figures are made by a company called Pokemon Dream and as far as I know, only 120 of them exist worldwide.

Is there any item you are hoping to have in your collection one day?

One item I would really like to get for the collection is the Japanese L-P Promotional card of Shuckle, that was only given out as part of a prize for those who took part in the Challenge Hiroba tournaments held in June 2010

What do you love about being part of this community?

What I really like about being part of this community is how friendly and open the group is. It has a very welcoming nature, which allows everyone to join in and have fun playing games and anticipating that next big release! So I have the greatest respect for the founding members who continue to maintain and evolve the group as the gaming years go by!

Where can we find you online?

If you’re curious about my digital adventures, you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, and even Reddit! Just search for “WolfyWardark” and you’re good to go! Thank you for your time! ^_^

A huge thank you to Paul for allowing us to share his collection.
Do you have a collection you would like to share? Send us an email at PlanetNontendo@gmail.com.