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Has she caught 'em all? Woman who owns the world's largest collection of Pokemon memorabilia consisting of over 16, 000 items
When it comes to Pokemon the aim is to collect them all but one fan has taken this to the extreme.
Lisa Courtney realy has trid to live up to the 'gotta catch em' all' tagline and is the owner of the world's largest Pokemon collection, with more than 16, 000 pieces of the Japanese memorabilia.
The 26-year-old has been a Pokemon fan from a young age and has been collecting and storing the trinkets for the past 17 years.
Lisa Courtney owns the world's largest collection
of Pokemon memorabilia
Lisa's fixation started at the age of nine when she saw a picture of the cartoon's protagonist, Pikachu in a Nintendo magazine.
Lisa, who lives in Hertfordshire, has thousands of the cartoon's famous collectible trading cards but her obsession doesn't end there.
Lisa's room is full to bursting with hundreds of the anime cuddly toys, models, clothing, badges, flannels and posters.
Lisa's collection of the Nintendo franchise has grown so large that her mother Sharon, whom she lives with, had to move from the largest to the smallest room in their house to make room for the possessions.
Lisa's collection consists of over 16000 pieces including thousands
of trading cards and hundreds of cuddly toys
Lisa has held the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of Pokemon memorabilia since 2009 when she had 12,113 items but that hasn't stopped her from collecting more.
The devoted fan even traveled to Japan when the eleventh Pokemon movie was released to get hold of exclusive merchandise that wasn't available in Europe.
'With the help of my late grandparents, I visited Japan for my 21st birthday.
Lisa has been collecting the anime items since
the age on nine and has no plans of stopping soon
Lisa has scoured the Internet for unusual items
such as these Heinz spaghetti shapes
'I went for the release of the eleventh Pokemon movie in an attempt to get some exclusive Shaymin merchandise - it was amazing.'
Despite having to sacrifice her bedroom, Lisa's mum and the rest of her family are very supportive of her obsession and even buy her more items for special occasions.
Lisa's mum and grandmother had to order Lisa's first toy from overseas because Pokemon had not yet hit the UK.
Lisa has even travelled to Japan in search of rarer memorabilia
'The first toy I ever got was a large Psyduck plush toy from Japan - my mother and grandmother ordered it from a mail order company before Pokemon hit the UK.
'We had to guess what we were ordering because the names of the Pokemon hadn't even been translated into English yet.'
For Lisa Pokemon isn't simply a cartoon, the programme really helped her through a very difficult stage of her life.
Lisa's mother had to move to the smallest room
in the house in order to make room for her daughter's collection
Lisa started collecting when she was being bullied at school,
she says Pokemon was the only thing that made her happy
'I started collecting when I was getting bullied at school, Pokemon was the only thing that made me feel happy.'
She now spends seven hours a week on the internet browsing for new Pokemon releases to buy and trade, she also visits car-boot sales and charity shops at weekends hunting for rare memorabilia to add to her collection.
'I try and get new merchandise as soon as the new characters come out - it's often difficult as they are only available in Japan and America or are too expensive.'
Despite trying to save money where she can Lisa does own
one particular item that she is sure must be worth a fortune.
'My most valuable piece is my large Ho-Oh plush toy, it was a prize in Japan, only available in raffles and in their amusement arcades.
'Only 100 were ever made but I bought mine for £60 online - it's probably worth several times that now.
'My favourite piece is my Absol PokeDoll, who I nickname 'Hiei' after a character from one of my favourite shows.
Despite her mammoth collection Lisa has no plans to slow her obsession any time soon.
'I will always collect Pokemon, I will never stop, there's always something new to get.'
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