Local actor and comedian Mark Lee’s wife, Catherine Ng, was left puzzled after their son had an unexpectedly huge reaction to a Pokémon card he received for his birthday.
In an Instagram post on 30 Aug, Ms Ng asked netizens: “Can someone tell me what just happened?!”
She shared that her son, Maksonn, had opened a pack of Pokémon cards given to him by his older sister and “immediately SCREAMED and JUMPED!”.
Admitting that she was a “clueless mother” when it came to Pokémon cards, Ms Ng turned to collectors online for answers.
She asked whether the card was “very rare”, and if her son had really gotten “something amazing”.
The card turned out to be a Mega Gengar ex, a Stage 2 Darkness-type Pokémon card with the Shadowy Concealment ability.
Source: @catng1313 on Instagram
More specifically, it was card 284/217 from the Ascended Heroes set, which Pokémon officially classifies as a Special Illustration Rare, one of the rarer card categories in the set.
The moment was made even sweeter by the fact that the pack had been a birthday gift from Calista, the eldest of Ms Ng and Lee’s three children. The couple also have a younger daughter, Calynn.
Source: @catng1313 on Instagram
“And I think his sister was just as excited that her birthday present gave him such a huge surprise!” Ms Ng wrote.
“One pack. One card. One VERY happy birthday boy,” she concluded.
Pokémon collectors in the comments soon confirmed that her son had indeed pulled something special.
One netizen identified the card as the “chase card” of the series. According to PriceCharting, the card can be worth more than S$1,000, depending on its condition and grading.
Source: Instagram
Another commenter similarly estimated that it could fetch up to S$3,000 depending on its grade.
Source: Instagram
Other Instagram users described the particular card as both rare and highly popular among collectors.
Source: Instagram
One netizen even called it a “top chase”, referring to one of the most sought-after cards in a set.
Source: Instagram
Speaking to MS News, Ms Ng, 53, who works as a livestream host, said the incident happened at around 11pm on Saturday (29 Aug).
She was in the living room when she suddenly heard her son screaming from his room.
“I was wondering what happened, so I quickly went to his room to check,” she said.
By the time Ms Ng arrived, her son was excitedly searching for a plastic sleeve to protect the card. Both he and his sister told her that it was very rare.
Ms Ng then gave him an acrylic card holder so he could keep his prized pull safely.
Mark Lee, however, apparently took the excitement in his stride.
Source: @catng1313 on Instagram
“My husband was very calm about it, as if nothing had happened,” Ms Ng said with a laugh.
Her daughter was equally delighted to learn that the birthday present she had chosen had turned out to be so special.
Ms Ng herself only realised just how valuable the card could be after reading the comments online.
“When netizens told me that it was a very rare card worth at least S$1,000, I was really shocked,” she said. “I didn’t know that one Pokémon card could be worth so much!”
For now, her son has no plans to sell it. Instead, he intends to keep the card safely as part of his collection.
According to Ms Ng, he simply called the lucky pull his “birthday luck”.
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Featured image adapted from @catng1313 on Instagram and Instagram.