This month, we’re proud to feature Luke K (@uberman808)—one of our community members joining us from Hawaii and a collector whose range, perspective, and intentionality truly stand out.

Luke’s collection is one of the most versatile we’ve seen. It doesn’t live in a single lane or category. Alongside curated sets of sports cards and memorabilia, you’ll find Funko Pops, action figures, pins, posters, Pac-Man stickers, and other pieces tied to nostalgia, memory, and personal meaning. Luke isn’t just collecting items—he’s preserving moments. He’s a collector through and through.

Luke’s collecting story began long before cards entered the picture.

As a child, he collected honey bees, tadpoles, and guppies before moving on to smelly stickers, Transformers, LEGOs, G.I. Joes, and eventually sports cards. His favorite collection growing up was a vast run of Don Mattingly cards—a passion that defined his early connection to the hobby. Like many collectors, Luke stepped away for a long stretch, only to feel that familiar itch return during the pandemic.

That return started with intention—but quickly drifted.

Luke rebuilt a 49ers sports card collection and then found his way into the world of modern breaking and resale. He chased the hottest players, joined breaks, and tried to flip big cards to other “collectors”. He built a following. But in his words, he was left with very little to show for it.

What Luke realized was sobering—and honest.

Keeping up with the sports card market felt worse than the stock market. Breaks consistently resulted in losses. Investors undercut prices without regard for what anyone paid. The cycle was exhausting, financially draining, and ultimately unsustainable. It was a dead end.

That realization became the turning point.

Luke made a deliberate choice to step back, sell off what no longer mattered, and re-dedicate himself to collecting only what he genuinely wanted for his personal collection. He set a monthly budget. He walked away from chasing profits and hype. He stopped buying for others—and started buying for himself.

In doing so, Luke reconnected with why he fell in love with collecting in the first place.

Today, his collection reflects memory, joy, and personal meaning rather than market trends or resale value. For Luke, collecting is about connecting tangible objects to the moments, people, and experiences that shaped him. It’s about grounding the hobby in something real.

Luke leaves the community with a message that captures the heart of Collectors MD: He hopes collectors hold close to why they got into the hobby in the first place—choosing meaning over profit—so we can create a healthier, less toxic collecting environment for everyone.

This is intentional collecting.
This is what Collectors MD is all about.

#CollectorsMD
Collect With Intention. Not Compulsion.

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Published February 12, 2026 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

One of the most overlooked parts of modern collecting is how many layers of anticipation the hobby has implemented into its structure. It’s no longer just about owning a card. The system encourages repeated moments of suspense, validation, and payoff. For some collectors, especially those with compulsive tendencies, this layered design can turn collecting into something far more consuming than it initially appears.

It’s important to keep in mind that grading your cards adds another layer to the chase. The grade reveal taps into the same part of the brain as the hit itself. That’s one of the reasons the hobby can feel so magnetic for people with compulsive tendencies. It’s a layered format: a gamble within a gamble within a gamble.

First it’s hitting the right team in a break. Then it’s hitting the right card. Then it’s waiting for the card to arrive. Then it’s inspecting it for grading. Then it’s submitting it to a grading service. Then it’s waiting for the grade. Then it’s waiting again to get it back. And only after all of that, you first have to decide whether to keep it or sell it.

If you choose to sell, the chase doesn’t end. You still have to pick the right marketplace, hope for a fair offer or a strong auction, wait for the buyer to pay (and hope they don’t flake), ship the card, and then wait for your payout (minus the seller fees of course) once it’s delivered.

This entire process can take weeks, sometimes months. Sometimes even longer. And all the while, the player on the card could suffer an injury, hit a slump, or become part of a scandal, eroding the value you were chasing in the first place. Ultimately, I think it’s fair to say that cards are anything but liquid in today’s modern hobby.

Each step reactivates the same reward loop, pulling you further in. One of our community members recently called this prolonged process “hobby inception”, and that description couldn’t be more spot on. The deeper you go, the harder it becomes to tell where collecting ends and the chase begins.

When the structure itself keeps adding new moments of anticipation, it becomes easy to confuse momentum with meaning, and motion with fulfillment.

Another question worth sitting with is this. If you’re truly collecting with intention, buying cards for your PC to hold and enjoy, why grade at all?

There are plenty of ways to protect and display a card beautifully without turning it into another moment of suspense or validation. ALL-TOUCH, Slab Factory, M1NT, or even a standard Ultra PRO mag do the job just fine and in my opinion often look better than a plastic PSA slab.

When you strip it down, the main argument for grading in a PC context is encapsulation. And that’s valid. But if we’re intentionally collecting for ourselves, we don’t need a grading company to validate our cards by assigning them a subjective grade on a paper insert. The value of a PC piece isn’t in the grade reveal. It’s in the connection, the story, and the fact that you chose it intentionally in the first place.

Collecting doesn’t become unhealthy because of a single choice. It shifts when the chase starts to replace the reason you started collecting in the first place. When anticipation becomes the goal, fulfillment keeps getting pushed one step further out. Slowing down, opting out of unnecessary layers, and choosing intention over momentum isn’t about doing less. It’s about reclaiming ownership of the experience so the hobby serves you, not the other way around.

#CollectorsMD
When intention leads the way, the chase loses its grip and the collection finally feels like yours again.

—
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If you or someone you know is struggling with gambling, compulsive collecting or spending, you're not alone. Help is available.

Collectors MD offers free education, support, guidance, and resources for individuals and families navigating these challenges.

Email info@collectorsmd.com to learn more.

And thank you @jaybelleshhb for the always appreciated love and support! 🫶

#CollectorsMD | #RipResponsibly | #CollectResponsibly

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There's nothing wrong with enjoying the game. Just remember: these systems are designed to hook you. Intentional, responsible engagement matters.

#RipResponsibly

Published February 08, 2026 | By Alyx E, Founder of Collectors MD

Today is a day many of us, not just sports fans, have been anticipating and looking forward to for months; one of the biggest annual sporting events of the year, Super Bowl Sunday.

For many people, it’s a celebration; food, friends, traditions, camaraderie, excitement. But for anyone in recovery, especially those practicing complete abstinence, days like today can feel heavy long before kickoff. The triggers aren’t subtle. They’re everywhere. Commercials built around action and adrenaline. Endless talk about odds, spreads, Super Bowl squares, and “just one harmless wager”. Group chats lighting up. Buzz and excitement in the office space. TV panels turning risk into entertainment. Even the most casual conversations can feel like landmines.

These moments matter more than we often realize. Not because they define us if we struggle, but because they expose vulnerability. Recovery isn’t tested in quiet rooms, it’s tested when temptation is normalized, celebrated, and reinforced by social permission. When everyone around you seems to be leaning in, staying grounded can feel isolating. That doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means the environment is engineered to pull you in and make you feel overwhelmed.

For those on a path of abstinence, days like today can activate old reflexes. The urge doesn’t always arrive as desire, sometimes it shows up as restlessness, irritation, nostalgia, or the sense that you’re missing out. That’s the mind reaching for familiarity. That’s conditioning, not failure.

These ads don’t whisper, they pursue. Like a toxic ex resurfacing at your weakest moment, they promise relief while ignoring the damage they caused.

Getting through today matters. Not in a performative way. Not as a badge to show off. It matters quietly, internally. Because every time you move through a high-risk day without acting on impulse, you add a layer to your armor. You collect evidence. Proof that you can sit with discomfort and survive it. Proof that urges crest and fall even when they feel overwhelming. Proof that you are not controlled by the moment.

This is how self-confidence is rebuilt; not through grand declarations, but through lived experience. The next time a trigger hits, your brain will remember this day. It will remember that you stood steady when the noise was at its loudest. That memory becomes a reference point. A feather in your cap of sorts. A reminder that you’ve already faced one of the hardest tests and made it through.

Recovery isn’t about avoiding life. It’s about learning how to stay present inside it. Days like today don’t set you back, they sharpen you. And every time you choose not to react or give into temptation, you strengthen the part of you that knows how to choose again.

So enjoy today. Enjoy the game, the company, and the camaraderie; just do so intentionally and responsibly.

#CollectorsMD
The strength you build today becomes the proof you lean on tomorrow.

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