A few weeks back, during a particularly unremarkable late night of insomnia-fueled doomscrolling, a notification slid its way onto my phone鈥檚 screen that quickened my pulse and dilated my pupils. For the next few minutes or so鈥攖here was no way to be sure for how long鈥攖he long out-of-stock Pok茅mon cards that I, and other collectors around the world, had been hunting for were just a few taps away and available for free shipping.
At the time, I thought I鈥檇 struck gold, but as I attempted to check out, I ran into a soul-crushing roadblock. It was the same one many collectors have encountered in the months since Pok茅mon cards became hot-ticket, pandemic-era items ahead of the franchise鈥檚 ongoing 25th anniversary celebration. Though there鈥檇 been a box of cards in my online cart mere moments before, I wasn鈥檛 the only one eyeing them, and in my brief moment of hesitation, the pocketable monsters I鈥檇 found were apparently gone again. Try as I might, there was no way of denying the truth of the renewed 鈥淥ut of Stock鈥� button that was staring back at me.
https://gizmodo.com/pokemon-sword-and-shields-new-isle-of-armor-expansion-i-1844057446
Over the course of the past few months, Pok茅mon cards and the community around them have gone through a peculiar evolution that鈥檚 been driven, in part, by people鈥檚 continued fascination with the idea of children making their magic pets fight, but also by how covid-19’s lockdown measures inspired many people to either pick up or get back into collecting habits. As anyone who lived through the 鈥�s can attest, Pok茅mon card crazes are anything but new, but what鈥檚 happening in the collecting space right now feels distinct and like the convergence of multiple cultural phenomena that goes way beyond Pikachu and his buddies.
To celebrate Pok茅mon鈥檚 25th anniversary, the Pok茅mon Company鈥攖he outfit consisting of developers Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creature who oversee the intellectual property鈥攈as been releasing special commemorative merchandise along with regular drops of new sets and cards every few months, as has been the case since the mid-鈥�s. As one of the Pok茅mon Company鈥檚 longstanding promotional tie-in partners, it made sense when McDonald鈥檚 was announced as one of the first places fans would be able to snag some special merch. Specifically: packs of limited edition cards packaged with Happy Meals. What caught many people鈥檚 attention and made headlines about the McDonald鈥檚 promotion wasn鈥檛 the value or rarity of the cards themselves, but how difficult actually getting ones鈥� hands on them became.
Larger-than-expected crowds flocked to participating locations to buy the shiny pieces of cardboard up in masse. People turning up in droves to buy kids meals for the toys also isn鈥檛 a new thing, or unique to Pok茅mon cards鈥擬cDonald鈥檚 went through a similar situation back in the 鈥�s when it was briefly in the business of selling Beanie Babies at the height of their popularity. But unlike the thousands of miniature Princess Diana-inspired bears that people hoarded for years in hopes that they would one day be valuable enough to flip for a massive profit, the 25th-anniversary Pok茅mon cards began to resurface in the wild rather quickly, albeit on eBay, where literal boxes of them were being sold for exorbitant prices. Aftermarket prices for the cards have leveled out considerably since they first started showing up in online shops, but the fact that entire cases of them went unopened before many people even had a chance to buy them using the regular route is illustrative of the issue at hand.
@McDonalds @Pokemon I sure hope you do some form of inventory control for your promo Pok茅mon cards as some of your stock is being sold in sealed boxes which means they鈥檙e not even making it to your stores 馃槼 Though same thing happened with Tim Hortons Hockey too. Retail $1.99 馃槼 pic.twitter.com/kX8qZyRX2V
— redphoenixsportscards (@redphoenixcards) February 9, 2021
In a time when countless people became generally homebound in a way that pushed them to find new ways of entertaining themselves, it was easy to imagine that boredom and novelty alone were the underlying causes of McDonald鈥檚 across the United States being sold out entirely of the special cards just days after the Pok茅mon Company officially announced the promotion. To fully understand what was (and still is, for the most part) going on, you have to look a little further back to appreciate certain things about how the different communities that exist around Pok茅mon as a franchise have changed over time.
Even though the public鈥檚 initial bloodthirsty obsession with collecting Pok茅mon cards back in the day gradually mellowed as people traded in their Gameboys Color for Gameboys Advanced and Nintendo鈥檚 subsequent handheld systems, the community of competitive Pok茅mon Trading Card Game (PTCG) players has been something of a constant for decades. While the Pok茅mon franchise has continued to expand far past cards, competitive leagues of card players have been a part of the fandom since the late 鈥�s when people were first able to start their own local groups for enthusiasts styled after the leagues featured in Pok茅mon games.
Like the game leagues, trading card game leagues brought players together to battle and trade in friendly events (usually hosted in mall game shops) where participants could collect prizes and badges reflecting their battling skill. In addition to local Leagues, players have been able to participate in City, Regional, and World Championships, all of which have been overseen by Play! Pok茅mon, a subsidiary company created in 2003 to handle organized card events following Wizards of the Coast losing its Pok茅mon license that same year. Even in times when Pok茅mon cards weren鈥檛 in the spotlight, the competitions (and sizable prizes that come along with winning them) were very much still a thing. They鈥檝e continued to be, with annual tournaments for the game becoming increasingly high-profile events.
https://kotaku.com/one-players-struggle-to-bring-competitive-pokemon-to-th-1797401470
Because the competitive community around the Pok茅mon video games and card games are closely linked together, it makes a certain amount of sense when you consider how the collection of cards has become a large part of the present-day YouTube/Twitch streaming space. There are hundreds (if not more) content creators who鈥檝e churned out thousands of hours of themselves tearing into individual packs and ripping into boxes full of Pok茅mon cards in a way that鈥檚 very much a part of the streaming age鈥檚 obsession with parasocial relationship-inducing unboxing videos.
Most everyone has a story about a 鈥渇riend鈥� they 鈥渒now鈥� who ended up selling their old Pok茅mon cards for a pretty penny (those words are in quotes because these stories always tend to have an urban mythic quality to them). But what鈥檚 become increasingly common in recent years are instances of people being in the news just for that and showing how, in some instances, holding onto rare cards can pay off both financially and in terms of a person鈥檚 notoriety.
Streaming is a part of what brought Yussef Abdala, a New York City-based Pok茅mon card collector and streamer, to a local Target where he and I met in line recently. Like almost everyone else waiting that day, Abdala had shown up hours earlier with a group of friends to put their names and phone numbers down on a list in order to be contacted after the store鈥檚 new stock of cards was dropped off that same day.
https://player.twitch.tv/?parent=gizmodo.com&video=964584165
I happened upon the Target queue purely by chance and assumed there must have been some sort of announcement directing people to line up in front of the customer service counter, where a harried Target team member (their term for employees) stood guarding a small horde of assorted Pok茅mon products. Abdala explained, though, that the new queueing system had been put in place quite suddenly with no apparent warning.
鈥淲e learned about the queueing system because we literally come every week to buy to collect,鈥� Abdala told me after taking a moment to step out of line to gauge how many people were ahead of us both. 鈥淚 guess it makes it easier. If you鈥檙e in it to collect, if you鈥檙e just here to buy鈥攍ike if I was a mom, I would prefer this, because it gives my son a shot, you know?鈥�/p>
In response to the current spike in Pok茅mon card sales and subsequent shortages in many locations, Target stores across the country began taking different measures like the queueing system in order to give more people the opportunity to buy the products in stores. Much of the current card drought for both regular products and promotional events like the McDonald鈥檚 tie-ins link back directly to the cards鈥� popularity online and the countless scalpers looking to capitalize on the moment.
There are obvious parallels between the Pok茅mon card shortage and the scarcity that drives much of the sneaker aftermarket that pops up in the wake of new releases of highly-anticipated shoes. From Abdala鈥檚 perspective, though, the dynamic with the cards is further complicated by how much more relatively accessible they are to scalpers, who are often also collectors themselves. At times, he explained, the online Pok茅mon card collecting community can feel like an ouroboros.
鈥淏ecause the scalpers, they themselves go onto Twitch to see what everybody鈥檚 spending their money on, so then it becomes even harder for us to collect the merchandise,鈥� he explained. 鈥淭hey kind of mess with the market with all of this buying and selling. It鈥檚 gotten to the point where people I know who collect Pok茅mon now collect sports cards.聽They鈥檙e opening up packs, not pronouncing people鈥檚 names correctly, don鈥檛 know what teams they鈥檙e on, and it鈥檚 like, 鈥極h, you鈥檙e not collecting this because you鈥檙e into it.鈥欌��/p>
You don鈥檛 have to look hard to see how Pok茅mon card collecting for the express purpose of building one鈥檚 professional social media presence has become part of how some people engage with the franchise online. But what鈥檚 been interesting to see during the current covid-era shortage are the handful of communities that have popped up seeking to help normal people get their hands on the items, and how these communities feel like part of a larger, somewhat altruistic energy present in the Pok茅mon fandom.
Because there鈥檚 a pandemic still on and this is the 21st century, online shopping has been the other popular route people have taken in their hunt to buy cards on top of a variety of different retailers, like the Pok茅mon Center, big-box stores, independent gaming shops, and open online markets. Throughout the shortage, it鈥檚 actually been quite easy to find packs and Elite Trainer Boxes from recently released sets, like the Galar Region-focused Vivid Voltage, shiny Pok茅mon-centric Shining Fates, and Battle Styles, the newest set that introduced The Isle of Armor鈥檚 bear Pok茅mon, Urshifu, on online open marketplaces.
The catch, though, is that most independent sellers are selling their stock of new sets at drastically inflated prices in response to the high demand. What many people, including myself, have been aiming for was just to buy some cards at the price they were meant to be sold, which has meant either choosing to rely on stores鈥� in-stock notifications (which seldom seem to work) or, in some cases, looking to places like the @CharmenderHelps Twitter account.
When I spoke to Daniel鈥攁 29-year-old Florida man who runs the 鈥淐harmanderHelps鈥� account when he isn鈥檛 running his own online retro gaming company鈥攈e had his own memories of journeying to Toys 鈥楻鈥� Us with his father on the weekends to participate in local Pok茅mon Leagues. While getting back into the Pok茅mon scene in 2020, Daniel could feel how much more effort it took to buy cards when, just months before, they were easy enough to come by just by walking into stores.
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鈥淥ne day I thought hey, maybe I can help and so I made a Twitter account,鈥� he told me over Twitter DM. 鈥淚 have over 10 years of experience deal-hunting so I thought I could put that into better use by helping others, and so here I am.鈥�/p>
CharmanderHelps lives up to its name in a rather straightforward way. As stock at various online stores Daniel monitors become available, a tweet with a link goes out from the account, and within seconds, dozens of followers swarm in the hopes of securing their grails. Though there are certain rules of thumb people have developed to expedite the checkout processes at places where roadblocks like PIN codes are common, the entire process is essentially a free-for-all in which one鈥檚 timing, speed, and attentiveness all play key factors.
If the entire idea of following a Twitter account in order to breathlessly buy Pok茅mon cards the minute you see them seems a bit exhausting, that鈥檚 because it is. But accounts like CharmanderHelps have become one of the few bulwarks against scalpers, who in some instances deploy bots in order to rapidly buy up large sums of online inventory at stores like Best Buy, Walmart, and Target. Chaotic as the process may seem from the outside, Daniel explained that because hunting for deals is something he was already familiar with, it isn鈥檛 actually where he focuses the bulk of his CharmanderHelps energies. More often than links to where to buy cards (again, there鈥檚 a shortage), CharmanderHelps is usually filled with retweets of people sharing details about where they鈥檝e recently seen merchandise out in the wild. The idea is that they pay their good luck forward to people nearby who also follow the account.
It鈥檚 that energy, Daniel said, that some people new to Pok茅mon and who only just now started to pay attention to the collecting spree usually fail to see, particularly when they鈥檙e focused on making money. 鈥淚 see comments often on my tweets asking 鈥業s there a Charizard in the set?,鈥欌�� Daniel said. 鈥溾�業s there something expensive?,鈥� 鈥榃hat booster packs do people want most?鈥� It鈥檚 pretty much a gamble to them. They鈥檙e not actually in it to collect and it seems like they think everyone else is there for the same reason.鈥�/p>
https://gizmodo.com/pocket-monsters-revealed-one-of-pokemons-most-important-1839959993
Annoying as the questions may be, there is a 鈥楥harizard-like鈥� card in almost every set鈥攎eaning the rare, coveted items that carry a disproportionate amount of value because they typically have legendary Pok茅mon featured on the box art鈥攊n reference to the ultra-rare, shiny Charizard from the TCG鈥檚 1999 base set, which can fetch thousands of dollars on the aftermarket today. It can鈥檛 be ignored that CharmanderHelps is a hunting resource from which Daniel sometimes profits from himself as much as it is a place where fans interact. But Daniel鈥檚 followers do seem to have a rapport with one another. In truth, it can read a lot like the kind of camaraderie you often see develop between fans at in-person conventions that became impossible to attend last year.
Aside from the masks, social distancing, and distinct lack of people in costumes, the buzz running through that Target where I stood waiting for cards was indistinguishable from the slightly sheepish excitement you can feel radiating off people at any comic con. The uncertainty of whether fans would actually be able to get what they came for was an obvious point of stress, but mixed in with people鈥檚 slightly-too-loud proclamations of how unbothered they would be if they went home empty-handed was a resolute hope grounded in some basic logic.
Collecting Pok茅mon cards has always been a game of probability, but things like Target鈥檚 queuing system and knowing when the store was scheduled to receive new stock gave everyone waiting a solid idea of when and where to look. Beyond that, though, everyone waiting in line that day was well aware of the Pok茅mon Company鈥檚 recent move to ramp up production in order to specifically address shortage issues.
We鈥檙e aware that some fans are experiencing difficulties purchasing certain Pok茅mon TCG products due to very high demand. In response, we are reprinting impacted products at maximum capacity to ensure more fans can enjoy the Pok茅mon TCG.
— Play Pok茅mon (@playpokemon) February 10, 2021
Of course, being in line on that day meant not being patient enough for things to calm down, but that鈥檚 the nature of hype that you allow yourself to get into. Ultimately, the hype鈥檚 likely to die down, especially here in the U.S. as vaccinations continue to roll out and people are able to wander outside to do things that don鈥檛 involve buying collectibles in bulk. For the collectors who hopped onto this bubble because the whole point was to find enjoyment buying shiny pieces of paper, the inevitable bust is part of the fun, as is waiting out the scalpers.
Personally, getting back into another Pok茅mon craze similar to the original one that first pulled me into the fandom has been a fascinating, if at times frustrating, experience, because of what it鈥檚 highlighted about what happens when lifelong fans of a franchise grow up to become adults with some disposable cash on hand. In the Pok茅mon games, anime, and books, doggedly trying to hunt down Pok茅mon for one鈥檚 personal satisfaction is something that drives both the heroic protagonists and the villainous gangs like Team Rocket whose plans for global domination have only increased in scale over the years.
At times, hunting for and securing the cards in batches meant knowing that other people out there wouldn鈥檛 be so lucky in their searches, and in moments like that, the larger 鈥済ame鈥� could feel a bit Team Rocket-ish. But at the same time, competition, scarcity, and chance have always been core parts of the Pok茅mon experience, something Abdala reminded me about before we parted ways.
Regardless of how things feel as new drops are still being gobbled up by scalpers and bots at a rate that makes casual collecting more difficult, Abdala pointed out that eventually, things are almost certain to cool off and settle down, because that鈥檚 what always happens when hype and hustles intersect.
鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be more sellers than buyers and the market鈥檚 going to plunge at the end of the day because the people who are buying all these products, they鈥檙e going to hold on to it to try to make as much money as they can,鈥� Abdala predicted. 鈥淏ut then they鈥檙e going to realize that the people who collect are not going to end up paying those prices. Then when they start bringing down their prices, there鈥檚 going to be that medium line where, 鈥榊ou know what? I鈥檓 just getting out of this.鈥� Like it鈥檚 not even worth it to wake up at two in the morning to make $20 at the end of the day.鈥�/p>
https://gizmodo.com/the-pokemon-of-detective-pikachu-ranked-by-their-horri-1833044866
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