The Pokemon TCG’s highly anticipated 30th anniversary expansion was released last week. The days that follow a new set’s launch are typically when scalpers have their fun, reselling cards and ETBs for wildly inflated prices. TCG scalpers assumed this set would be better than most when it comes to that, but it turns out Pokemon quietly put measures in place to ensure the exact opposite.
30th Anniversary products are still proving notoriously hard to find, as expected. However, the pull rates in the set are significantly higher than previous expansions. That has resulted not only in real fans pulling “rarer” cards more frequently, but in turn, that has made the piles of stock scalpers are sitting on far less valuable, and they are not taking it well.
Twitter user HyakutakeTouka has shared screenshots from a scalper forum where Pokemon TCG resellers are going into meltdown. In one viral post where the scalper refers to themselves as a “secondary distributor” who resells products for more than their “underpriced MSRP”, they claim to have talked with lawyers and are considering legal action against The Pokemon Company.
If whoever posted that is reading this, I am begging you to go through with that. Just let me know where the trial’s going to be so I can get a front-row seat. I’ll bring the popcorn.
In another post on the same forum, a second scalper admits to having maxed out three credit cards on products real fans aren’t interested in spending over the odds for, thanks to the new set’s availability and generous pull rates. “It’s the most hyped set ever. Why did they make so much?” the comment reads in what sounds like it surely must be satire, but no, apparently these people are for real and they walk among us.
A third scalper attempts to make themselves feel better by declaring “this is the end of Pokemon”. Maybe for resellers, as it means no more buying up everything before real fans can get it and passing it on for a profit, but if anything, this is the best evidence yet that the Pokemon TCG is finally going to be readily accessible for a whole new generation of Pokemon fans.
The Pokemon Company does a fantastic job in catering to both old and young fans alike in almost every way, whether it be through video games, plushes, or the anime. The TCG is the one area where it has struggled due to scalpers making it impossible for new, young fans to get a foothold. If the pull rates in the new set are maintained across future expansions, then that might have been remedied, and Pokemon may have finally found the scalper deterrent it has been trying to find for years.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-tcg-30th-anniversary-pull-rates-upset-scalpers/
