Target Pulls Pokemon TCG Products from All U.S. Stores Amid Attack Incident

Clam

Almost decent
Member
Why am I even shocked about this? It seemed inevitable and yet I thought it was just going to be a walcrap issue but here we are I guess.
 

Charmaster:)

Collecting, playing, & making family memories.
Member
Is it just me, or is MTG completely unaffected by this ban?
Not sure if Target stocks Yu-Gi-Oh, but I know they stock Magic The Gathering and it doesn't appear to be on that list.
 

ShinxieDim

bbbbbbbbbbbbbb
Member
I feel awful for the kiddies who just want some Pokémon card packs. I would've just been emotionally crushed if this was going on back when I'd go to the store each week and get to pick a pack of Plasma Blast or XY Flashfire...
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
Honestly, for the employees' sakes, this is probably for the best. I've heard nightmare stories of scalpers being pretty awful towards employees and other guests, so for the time being it's the best thing to do to, as disappointing as it is.

Remember not to be mad towards the companies for doing this, but towards the idiots who caused this kind of stuff to happen. It's sad that children and actual, dedicated fans can't go and buy some cards casually-especially kids, where these stores are easiest for them to get.

However, I will say, signs that this issue will someday be mostly a thing of the past is starting to show itself little by little. IMPORTANT TO NOTE, I'm not blindly optimistic about this situation. Things will still be a bit rough for a while.

But, there's a growing number of people losing interest in the TCG who just got into it for the "hype" and profit, and it's becoming less and less profitable to scalp products as the days go by. You can easily go and get a Battle Styles Elite Trainer Box for retail price online now. Shining Fates is still more expensive than it has any right to be, but it's continuing to go down as demand lessens. There are encouraging signs despite all the BS we're having to deal with, and will continue to deal with.

Hopefully someday we'll return to normality with this as supply chains can normalize more and issues with the pandemic continue to alleviate themselves, as well as demand going down. We've got a ways to go. Just make sure not to support or perpetuate the issue.
 

The Binder Guy

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I called it, although I will admit I'm both shocked and disappointed that it's in part due to someone being stupid with weapons.
Honestly, for the employees' sakes, this is probably for the best. I've heard nightmare stories of scalpers being pretty awful towards employees and other guests, so for the time being it's the best thing to do to, as disappointing as it is.

Remember not to be mad towards the companies for doing this, but towards the idiots who caused this kind of stuff to happen. It's sad that children and actual, dedicated fans can't go and buy some cards casually-especially kids, where these stores are easiest for them to get.
Eh, there's still room for criticism in regards to how these big box stores are handling it. TPCi (technically Play! Pokemon, but AFAIC both are the same entity in this case) had to push out TWO Tweets saying that they're "working" on bringing on more stock to stores and it was barely felt as far seeing products in-store goes. If bots are any sort of issue for online stores (which, given that they're mentioned in the article as being the main reason behind Pokemon Center Japan's online store crashing, pretty obviously means they are) then these storefronts need to start developing the means to filter them out. I'm still a big proponent of tying accounts to government-issued IDs and, at least for those in the States, passing the Stopping Grinch Bots Act.
However, I will say, signs that this issue will someday be mostly a thing of the past is starting to show itself little by little. IMPORTANT TO NOTE, I'm not blindly optimistic about this situation. Things will still be a bit rough for a while.


But, there's a growing number of people losing interest in the TCG who just got into it for the "hype" and profit, and it's becoming less and less profitable to scalp products as the days go by. You can easily go and get a Battle Styles Elite Trainer Box for retail price online now. Shining Fates is still more expensive than it has any right to be, but it's continuing to go down as demand lessens. There are encouraging signs despite all the BS we're having to deal with, and will continue to deal with
I was talking with several vendors at Frank and Son's around Battle Style's release and I'm more of a pessimist in regards to that "growing number of scalpers losing interest" bit, it's basically an "X amount leaves, X-amount-minus-Y come in" bit. Also, having social media influencers like Logan Paul throwing gasoline onto the fire last year didn't help the situation at all.
Hopefully someday we'll return to normality with this as supply chains can normalize more and issues with the pandemic continue to alleviate themselves, as well as demand going down. We've got a ways to go. Just make sure not to support or perpetuate the issue.
It'll largely depend on how TPCi handles the situation, they're going to have to regress to the printing levels that FCO/STS/EVO had when they were released and KEEP that level going to reverse course.
 

Bongooo

Eternatus VMAX is Mega Rayquaza's goth phase
Member
Sorry for being blunt but thanks to a bunch of idiots now we can't buy cards at target. Just. Great.
 

bbb888

Same user name as my Pokémon YouTube channel
Member
There are no Target stores in Canada anyways, so I am unaffected by this lol
I think local hobby stores handle this situation better - read my thread "Where are the Scalpers?"
 

The Almighty Bidoof

Just your everyday MtF trans Bidoof worshipper
Member
So if someone tries to steal a car outside of a vehicle shop, then the vehicle shop is supposed to stop selling cars? Either they used the incident as an excuse to stop selling the cards due to some other reason that they may have or those Walmart guys have got empty skulls inside their heads.
This wasn't something they "Had to do" it's something the corporation is doing in order to prevent fights over these cards. It's not hard to see why they would want to minimize the risk of people fighting and being threatened over pieces of cardstock that were barely ever in stock anyway
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
Note before everything, excuse me if I miss some things. I'm very tired.

Eh, there's still room for criticism in regards to how these big box stores are handling it. TPCi (technically Play! Pokemon, but AFAIC both are the same entity in this case) had to push out TWO Tweets saying that they're "working" on bringing on more stock to stores and it was barely felt as far seeing products in-store goes. If bots are any sort of issue for online stores (which, given that they're mentioned in the article as being the main reason behind Pokemon Center Japan's online store crashing, pretty obviously means they are) then these storefronts need to start developing the means to filter them out. I'm still a big proponent of tying accounts to government-issued IDs and, at least for those in the States, passing the Stopping Grinch Bots Act.
There is, that's not to be denied. I'm just saying that it was for the best in terms of an in-store sort of thing, for the time being. Online is a completely different story and I do 100% agree that bots and whatnot need to be combatted, as it's a huge issue with just about anything right now.

I was talking with several vendors at Frank and Son's around Battle Style's release and I'm more of a pessimist in regards to that "growing number of scalpers losing interest" bit, it's basically an "X amount leaves, X-amount-minus-Y come in" bit. Also, having social media influencers like Logan Paul throwing gasoline onto the fire last year didn't help the situation at all.
It was definitely more of a pessimistic time around the release of the set, but I'd still argue that demand has gone down to some extent in the last few months. Not completely back to normal levels, but there's certain decreases in demand I'm seeing just looking at markets pretty often. I think every new release for a while is going to have its issues though. Scalping still exists, demand that gets people doing it still exists, and TPCi is still not printing enough to reach equilibrium, for whatever the case, that much is obvious. But again-it's a slow burn. It's definitely not as bad as the height of it a few months back where everything culminated into an absolute nightmare, right when the ~influencer~ hype began to really explode and whatnot (I want to say somewhere in between Champions Path and Shining Fates was the peak of it) but the effects are still there. So you're still going to have the problem, but I'm just saying that even if slowly, there are signs that things are calming down. Not to the full extent, it could in a perfect world, but regardless, there's some encouraging signs here and there, even if the problem does (and will) persist for some time.

It'll largely depend on how TPCi handles the situation, they're going to have to regress to the printing levels that FCO/STS/EVO had when they were released and KEEP that level going to reverse course.
I think they have to reverse course and increase their supply, 100%. This is an issue I've had with them since Hidden Fates, where TPCi had seemed to not understand what printing cards towards a certain level of demand was. And now it's even worse than it had been then, but we've had a pandemic and promptly, supply chain issues that occurred with it. So to me at least, it's a mix of both TPCi's already existing ineptitude at figuring out how to adapt to levels of demand (refer to some absolute dumpster fires as the Special Delivery Pikachu promotion which, in my opinion was way smaller of a window than it should have been), as well as outside factors and supply chain issues.

I'm not an expert on the exact numbers and quantities TPCi needs to supply their product that strikes a balance towards not oversaturating things, while also keeping products reliably stocked, but I think they do need to take measures to start working towards it. As well as, like you said, other factors such as bots being combatted to stop that whole mess.

It's just, in all, tons of factors and entities which need to get things sorted out. Obviously it's not going to happen overnight, I don't think anyone thinks that, but there's a lot that does need to be worked on.
 

Sombres

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Is it just me, or is MTG completely unaffected by this ban?
Not sure if Target stocks Yu-Gi-Oh, but I know they stock Magic The Gathering and it doesn't appear to be on that list.

That's because Wizards is starting to skip the middleman and is scalping the players first hand, lol
 

Minccino_Man

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Wow that's a crazy harsh decision. I was at that store when it happened. It was in a rich neighborhood so I guess that's uncommon. The guy with the gun was acting in self-defense and no one came to help him. But I really think the employees overreacted because they made the customers hide in the back of the building and treated it like a mass shooter situation.

And it was over sports cards not Pokemon.
 

Rcxd9999

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Can Pokemon just host a hunger games-like event where scalpers fight to the death over a pack of cards? I'd pay to see that.
 

lapisrabbit5

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I just want to go to Target and buy stuff but NO we had to GO TO SAFETY because my white privilege says I can't get shot
 

Minccino_Man

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I just want to go to Target and buy stuff but NO we had to GO TO SAFETY because my white privilege says I can't get shot

I wouldn't leave a comment just to lie. And if you want to bring race into it, the guy with the gun was black and was attacked by 5 asian guys. The black guy encountered them leaving the store in the parking lot when this happened. I sympathize with the guy getting attacked and the gun was self-defense. I'm glad he had his conceal and carry license.
 

blackjack61105

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I called it, although I will admit I'm both shocked and disappointed that it's in part due to someone being stupid with weapons.

I'm still a big proponent of tying accounts to government-issued IDs and, at least for those in the States, passing the Stopping Grinch Bots Act.

So there are several things wrong with government-issued IDs. Government-issued IDs are a terrible idea because then the government basically controls what you can and cannot do because if you do something they don't like they could suspend you. Say something bad about the president ID, suspended. Vote for a different candidate, suspended. This is an overeach of the governments power and another step toward a country without free speech. If your ID was suspended it would be much harder to get a job, you may or may not be able to leagaly drive, you could be denied access to voting and so on. The stopping grinch bots act is a good thing but the government does not need to be the one enforcing this. They do not have the right to monitor what we do on the internet.
 

Maserati777

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I think Target is wrong to remove Pokemon cards since the incident in question had nothing to do with Pokemon cards.

That being said I’m not surprised by the scalpers and whatnot. Pokemon adds 5 billion ultra rares to every set now, Charizards worth 1,000’s. Gone are the days of XY and Black and White (when I still purchased Pokemon cards) when you could go and buy single or three packs and had a decent shot at finishing the set.
 
Last edited:

Tytus

Expanded Best Format
Member
If it's getting to the point where adults are getting physical about a children's toy then there are other more pressing issues at hand than just a card shortage.
 
Top