Pokémon Scalpers Are Officially Melting Down Over 30th Anniversary TCG Set and It's Glorious

Pokémon collectors who snagged the 30th Anniversary card set over the last week have been delighted to discover the collection's incredible pull rates. Illustration cards are seemingly hiding in every Pokémon box out there, which is a great thing for fans who have spent the last year getting snubbed by miserly sets like Ascended Heroes. Yet as true Pokémon fans cheer, another Pokémon community is in the middle of a generational tantrum: resellers.

A wide range of posts hailing from unknown Discord servers have gone viral over the last few days, each one more ridiculous than the last.

"I am pissed," reads one recent unsourced Discord post. "I paid a bunch of local homeless people ... to wait in line for the 30th drop. Guaranteed them 50% of profits on all sales or 200 cash per Elite Trainer Box they got ... I am losing about $150 per ETB at current prices."

Another oft-cited Discord post begins, "I am seriously considering taking legal action against Pokémon. It's disgusting that they didn't share print numbers, pull rates, and how big the supply truly is ... honestly, this could be a RICO violation if we find that they purposefully did this."

Polygon cannot verify if these viral Pokémon posts are authentic. However, as a reporter who is a part of many Pokémon restock Discord servers, they're consistent with sentiments from multiple resellers. Over the last few days, I've witnessed a number of angry people regretting their 30th Anniversary purchases. In one instance, I watched a man spend hours on a Discord server describing how he had been excited about the set until he pulled a Gengar Prime Classic Collection card.

Many consider this Gengar to be a "chase" card — so what was the issue? Well, the man thought it was going to be worth more than its current market price of $104. Prior to looking up the price, this same individual had excitedly shared pictures of his prized Gengar. A day later, he was tearing up the same Discord with messages about how "BS" the pull rates were, and how they had ruined his enthusiasm for a card he had otherwise genuinely loved.

The Pokémon collecting hobby has dramatically changed

Reactions like the aforementioned Gengar collector's are tame compared to some of what's on social media. Unattributed social media posts show scalpers burning their ETBs, or expressing racism toward Asian people. Yet as tempting as it is to point and laugh at these cretins, truthfully, this is the culture driving the current Pokémon boom.

Most popular Pokémon TCG videos show people opening packs without even looking at the so-called "bulk" cards; if the pack doesn't have an art card, many will toss it aside and immediately open another one. Reaction videos are almost never about someone's favorite Pokémon: Instead, they focus entirely on how much a card is worth. Young new fans will now attach price stickers to sleeved cards, much like a vendor would. Videos of Pokémon "investors" advising people what to buy are a genre of their own.

Average fans probably don't approach the hobby this way. Yet it's undeniable that the value of Pokémon cards is, by far, the most visible aspect of the TCG culture. There is a reason that the fine art market and literal millionaires have taken an interest — and it has nothing to do with nostalgia.

Still, when a scalper shares his woes in failing to exploit the unhoused, it's hard not to laugh. Everyone was aghast after GameStop revealed its $99 ETBs. Even coveted modern Pokémon boxes sell for well under $150. Going into credit card debt expecting to make hundreds of dollars off a single 30th Anniversary box is, frankly, inexcusable.