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zestycactus.bsky.social
Zesty Cactus
@zestycactus.bsky.social
55 followers 77 following 120 posts
👾🌵 Damaged, strange, and different. 🎃👻
she/her
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zestycactus.bsky.social
IYKYK
A sticker is stuck to my computer desk. The sticker is formatted to look like the classic “something has happened!” random event from Neopets. The text reads “Something has happened! You have received 50 Neopoints from what seems to be a very rich Slorg. That was nice of him. Anyway, thanks for visiting the Shop of Offers today! *triumphant music*”. On the left next to the text is an image of the Slorg Petpet. In the background you can see a “Moose FM: Kapuskasing” sticker and two antennas from Farvin III, another Neopets character.
December 5, 2025 at 12:09 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Aside from two binders of Japanese cards, I have some in Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, and one random German Magnemite LOL
My random German Magnemite, which is named “Magnetilo”, from the Neo Discovery expansion.
November 10, 2025 at 12:54 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Incidentally I do have a handful of authentic Italian TCG cards (mostly, ironically, from STELLAR CROWN!!!) that I picked up at a local hobby shop. So as far as I can tell, these are fakes of the genuine Italian versions as I see the terminology for Trainers, etc, is consistent between the two.
Side by side comparison of two Trainer cards. The one on the left is an authentic card of “Rea” (Briar in the English dub). The one on the right is Penny (the normal one, not the chase card. They gave me both lol). All the Italian terminology is consistent between the two (“Aluto” for “Supporter”, etc.)
November 10, 2025 at 12:45 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
They didn’t attempt any more foil cards. Here’s a “flat” Miraidon EX and Penny’s chase card (which they gave me two of each LOL)
Fake Miraidon EX and fake Penny. No holofoil effects.
November 10, 2025 at 12:37 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
The rest are basically just run of the mill fakes. The first two packs had nearly identical contents whereas the third pack had more different ones. Also, all three packs were Scarlet and Violet base set and not even Stellar Crown!!!!
Comparison of Alomomola card between English (real) and Italian (fake). The real one has a larger trim size, better print quality, brighter colours, and the text doesn’t look blurry or squished anywhere.
November 10, 2025 at 12:34 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
So the holofoil cards that came face down? Are SO UGLY. And they aren’t from Stellar Crown they’re all from SwSh era sets 😂 they edited out all the details and backgrounds so it’s just….white? And what happened to poor Typhlosion’s hand!!
A top-to-bottom comparison of the three foil cards vs. screenshots of their real versions. The real ones have colourful backgrounds with lots of detail, which is all replaced by plain silver in the fake ones. In particular, I’m not convinced Typhlosion’s hand is attached to his body due to the bad editing.
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
So first of all the quality on the fake ones is ugly AF, the back side is printed much darker with a bluish tint. (Authentic card on the left by comparison). The trim size is also smaller on the fakes.
A side by side comparison of the real and fake cards on the back side. The real card is much brighter, has a larger trim size, and no blue tint.
November 10, 2025 at 12:15 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Incidentally, I have bought genuine cards from France before, they come with a code card (that is blue instead of green) and it actually worked when I scanned it into my game lol I guess they didn’t care about the language 😂
Me holding up the Pokémon TCG Live codes, or in French, “Cartes à jouer et à collectionner”. Aside from the obvious difference of one being written in English and one being written in French; the English one has a green background, while the French version as a dark blue background.
November 10, 2025 at 12:10 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Okay so first of all, when we opened the packs, they were placed with 1 holofoil card face down, the rest of the cards face up. They never get packaged back to back like that. There was also no energy card and no code card for Pokémon TCG live, despite the pack clearly promising such a code.
Back of the pack says “Contiene una carta codice per 1 BONUS online pacchetto do espansione!”
November 10, 2025 at 12:00 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Also my in-laws went to Italy and brought me back Italian Pokémon cards that ended up to be fake. Will post more pics tonight but here is a preview. What even is that Palafin pack!!!!
The three packages of “Corona Astrale” (Stellar Crown) Italian Pokémon cards. One pack has terrastilized Lapras on it, one has terrastilized Cinderace on it, and one has… a generic green background and weird artwork of Palafin’s Hero Form. All the text on the packages is in Italian “10 Carte Gioco aggiuntive” etc.
November 9, 2025 at 7:48 PM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Yesterday I encountered my 2nd-ever “natural” Shiny Pokémon in a core series game. (First one was Shiny Pidgeotto in LGP. I’m not counting “guaranteed” shinies like Red Gyarados or events, or ones ppl have traded to me.)

So here is my Trubbish. I’ll love him forever and like him for always. 🥰
My Shiny Trubbish!!! He has a star thingy next to his level proving he is shiny! He is blue instead of green and his arms are yellow instead of brown!!! “Trainer Notes: This Pokémon is pretty Hardy by nature. We first met one another on 11/08/2025. Location: Jaune Sector 7. At the time, the Pokémon was Lv. 15. It has a sturdy body!” Trubbish is male, caught in a Great Ball, and is now Level 27 when I took the screenshot.
November 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
zestycactus.bsky.social
😂
A photo of the screen of the 3DS on Pokémon Sun. The playable character is talking to a person outside of a hotel. The person is saying “There is one more hotel on Akala Island, miss.” A continuation of the previous picture. The person continues “I leave it up to your exquisite tastes to judge which of the two offers the most delight.” A continuation of the previous pictures. The person in front of the hotel says “Me? I prefer the Tide Song Hotel. I interviewed for a job at that other place and got rejected.”
September 28, 2025 at 5:31 PM
zestycactus.bsky.social
A photo of the screen of the 3DS on Pokémon Sun. The playable character is talking to a man in a Hawaiian shirt. He says “You there! Trial-goer kid! I’m an old man and you’d better listen to me!” the responses the playable character can give are “Sure” or “I’m busy”.
September 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
zestycactus.bsky.social
I fell asleep playing Pokémon & dropped the 3DS on the floor (not a comment on the quality of the game) & got this big crack next to the right hinge 😬 so I got one of those clear cases. The protection is minimal on the hinge for obvious reasons but I’d like to think it’ll help if I dropped it again.
Me holding up the 3DS showing where the damaged area is. It’s a Pikachu 3DS XL and now has a clear plastic case covering it A picture of the empty box of the 3DS case next to the 3DS using the case. I have the Pikachu 3DS XL and it’s bright yellow with Pikachu on the front. Attached are two phone charms, one of Chibiusa and Luna-P from Sailor Moon, and one of Piplup from Pokémon (the Piplup one is very worn out looking, I got it on my Japan trip in 2008!)
September 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Okay Cosmog is pretty cute lol
A photo of the 3DS screen of Pokémon Sun. It’s zoomed in to Cosmog floating to the side of the playable character and Lillie.
September 24, 2025 at 1:21 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
I’m kind of excited to see if I like it better this time around, almost 10 years later!!

P.S. LONG LIVE THE WII U
A photo of the 3DS screen of Pokémon Sun. The playable character is looking at a Wii U. The game text says “It’s a Wii U! It has a GamePad with a screen!”.
September 24, 2025 at 12:55 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
I didn’t super love Pokémon Sun + Moon when they first came out, and to tell the truth, I never finished them! I’m pretty close to the end in Moon, but was only 2 hours in on Sun. Zack was planning a re-play of Sun himself, so I tucked the event Pokémon safely in Pokémon Bank, and started over too!
A photo of the 3DS screen of Pokémon Sun. The playable character is talking to “Mom”. Mom is saying “So, Beck… are you pumped to meet some Alolan Pokémon?”. A screenshot of a text message of me sending the previous photo to Zack. His response is “You: [thinking cloud emoticon] Diglett…. [heart emoticon]”.
September 24, 2025 at 12:53 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Meant to add earlier, sometimes I filled it in multiple times a day using pseudonyms. Once I filled in the survey and said my name was Max Power lmaooo
A GIF of Homer Simpson, who changed his name to Max Power during this episode, telling a guy “yeah, isn’t it? I got it off a hair dryer.”
August 9, 2025 at 2:52 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
A screenshot from the game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The player character is looking at a Snowboy who was built the wrong way (his head is much larger than his body). There is a speech bubble where the Snowboy is saying “What. Is. Going. On.”.
August 9, 2025 at 2:45 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Now the (very delayed) unpacking continues as I begin displaying figures :3
Back row: Super Sonico as a mermaid, Sonico as a “sexy nun”, Sonico as a bunny girl, Stocking Anarchy, Tōru Amuro Front row: FAKE Cardcaptor Sakura Nendoroid with REAL replacement base, Cardcaptor Sakura FigFX with Kero-chan, and Cilan and Pansage Back row: fancy Hatsune Miku figure, cartoony Megurine Luka figure, Miku holding a space invader 👾 Left front: Hatsune Miku Figma, Halloween Miku Nendoroid Centre, from back to front: mostly Nendorid Petits - Kaito (fake), Miku, Luka (fake), Kaito (different pose, real), Meiko, Kagamine Len, “Micrystal”. To the left and right of Mikrystal are a cutesy sitting Kaito figure and a more detailed sleepy sitting Len figure. In front of those are two random Tuxedo Sam gacha box figures. Right front: Platelet from Cells at Work, and a cartoony Miku figure with some blobby character on her head.
August 6, 2025 at 4:23 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
I do not yet own a Magnemite plush. Will you forgive me if I show you my Sonico figures? 😆
Left to right: Sonico as a mermaid, Sonico as a “sexy nun”, Sonico as a bunny girl. Cardcaptor Sakura FAKE Nendoroid, Cardcaptor Sakura REAL FigFX, and Anarchy Stocking prize figure are partially visible in the foreground.
August 6, 2025 at 4:06 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Last shelf: a Blue Jay (realistic, not a baseball mascot lol), Flip-flop (I believe a macaw, difficult to see in background), Leviathan (Wonderland Squishmallow), The Fly (Wonderland Squishmallow), Junie (Valentine’s Day), Junie (with winter hat, hard to see at back), Peckslif (he is a blue bird plushie Zack won at the CNE. I have no idea what kind of bird he is supposed to be), Jellycat Coffee cup, Jellycat Vampire Eggplant, Tadita the Cell Phone Squishmallow, classic Junie (Squishmallow)
August 5, 2025 at 5:37 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Back row: Kagamine Len, Kagamine Rin, Noire, Doraemon (he’s green because he’s raising environmental awareness), Badtz-Maru (dressed as red eyes black dragon), Stocking (hard to see in background) Middle row: Megurine Luka, Hatsune Miku, Older Neptune, Dogoo, The Luggage (from Discworld) Front row: Cinnamoroll, COVID-19 vaccine Plushie, Teeny Tys stackable plush (wink emoji), White Blood Cell (Cells at Work), Platelet (Cells at Work), Red Blood Cell (it’s just the basic Giant Microbes one that I bought at the ROM before they made the cells at work ones lol), Kumamate plushies - Kitsune dressed as Ran Mouri, peach teddy dressed as Hattori Heiji, Tanuki dressed as Shinichi Kudo, and a Shinji Ikari Eva-01 teddy bear wearing a green Happi jacket and a Pompompurin headband; Pip the Shark (Pusheen), Hobbes (he is the tiger from McDonald’s “Amazing Wildlife” toy line from 1995, I nicknamed him Hobbes in childhood), Penelope (Hamtaro), Kitsune (who I named Keegan for the My Impossible Soulmate character), and “Hugasaurus” (a Valentine’s Day T-Rex plush)
August 5, 2025 at 5:31 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Pokémon!!! …and duckies.
Back row: Tentacool, Ball Guy, Carnivine, Noctowl (hard to see in background), Roselia, Smoochum, Jynx, Seviper, Team Rocket Pikachu, “Pokémon Center Carnival Festival Band Cheerleader Keychain Pikachu” (it’s fake), Timmy Buoy (from Placid Plastic Duck), Tampa Bay Buccaneers rubber ducky plush (his full name is Bucky “Quackers” Ducksworth Duckington III), Jirachi (probably fake) Front row: Cacturne, Mudkip (from my Japan trip!), Phione, Shellos (East Side), Galarian Meowth, Litwick, Jellicent (pink), Frillish (blue), Latios, Dialga, Vanillite, handmade “mini mallard”, handmade yellow rubber ducky, Witch Duchess (from Placid Plastic Duck)
August 5, 2025 at 5:18 AM
zestycactus.bsky.social
Neopets!!!! (The green Kiko and blue Grarrl are originals from my childhood 🥺)
Back row: official Neopets Battledome TCG binder, 25th anniversary Faellie, 25th anniversary Doglefox, Baby Aisha (standing on Jhudora the dark faerie deck box), 25th anniversary Aisha, void Aisha Front row: Rainbow Slorg (inside a Burger King box for a Poogle toy I can’t find), Royal Meepit, Pink Kiko, Red Flotsam, Cloud Moehog, Yellow Poogle, Red Quiggle, Green Kiko, Blue Grarrl
August 5, 2025 at 5:02 AM