Before Pokémon launched in the US, Trainer Deck A (aka Brock's Deck) was quietly distributed to help League Leaders get familiar with the TCG.
These decks weren't sold to the public — all cards were marked with red borders and lettering on the back to help prevent resale. But of course, that only made them more coveted over time...
Since I work at Courtyard.io and nerd out about these kinds of stories, I was hyped to see this Onix from the deck in land in our Pokémon auction this week.

Finally got these in hand after pre-ordering back in November 👏
They're a new Nike silhouette from RTFKT (pronounced "Artifact"), the Web3 brand Nike acquired a while back. My first impression is they're kind of like an SB Dunk on steroids. They have the SB Dunk shape and that signature puffy tongue, but the materials are like nothing I've seen on a Dunk before, and the heavy duty outsole looks like it's ready for wear on the surface of Mars.
Reception among sneakerheads seems pretty favorable — an additional ~1k pairs dropped on SNKRS this morning and sold out instantly. What's cool is that for every colorway they made of these, they published the final stock number. This particular "VOID" colorway is limited to 11,394 pairs.
Definitely curious to see where RTFKT and Nike take it from here.

There's been a ton of heat dropping this year, and a lot still left.
But the moment I unboxed these Action Bronson x New Balance 1906 'Rosewater' I knew they'd be on my top 10 list for the year — maybe even THE top (pending some wear testing).
Fun fact: Action has mentioned that this particular colorway was inspired by vintage women's sneakers that he always wanted but couldn't wear due to sizing.

I usually associate Timex with ordinary, toned-down timepieces but this collab they dropped with Noah earlier this week had me doing a double-take.
Super elegant with the gold casing and crocodile-pattern leather strap, and the coolest part to me is that Sun/Moon dial feature, which indicates AM and PM.
No exact stock numbers were released but the rumor is only around 100 watches were produced. They retailed for $198, sold out in the blink of an eye, and are now fetching almost 4-5x.

Caught a shock restock of a pair of clean and simple New Balance 993s from a pack that designer Joe Freshgoods released with the brand in 2022. He's one of a handful of creatives credited with bringing renewed attention and excitement back to New Balance in the last few years – these pairs went like wildfire when they released.
Back during the original 2022 drop I added the pink pair to my collection, which is one of my all-time favorite New Balances. With this new pickup they're now sitting alongside the green pair. Still need the blue to complete the set (see second picture), but I'm pretty happy with these two for now.