Bulbasaur01

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Sigh…

There are honestly times when I wish that last May’s Target fiasco caused an even BIGGER stink in the trading card scene, this is one of those times.

The announcement of ANOTHER piece of media that glorifies this disgusting (I’d use another word here, but people take issue with it for various reasons) part of the fandom, especially when we’re dealing production/shipping delays and product shortages, is something that should NOT be celebrated in the slightest.

But you wanna know what REALLY grinds my gears here? This part of the article:

“hahahahahaha! …oh wait you’re serious, lemme laugh even harder. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Seriously, reading the article made me mildly disgusted at first but this paragraph here made me want to puke. This is where this article went from a simple report on a show that has some of its toes in the Pokémon TCG to an advertisement and active casting call for said show.

And you know what? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t lose some respect for the site because of that.

Yecch!
Ok, when they writing about new sets its promotion!!! Delete pokebeach because they promote pokemon!!!

Ok boomer :v
 

The Binder Guy

Aspiring Trainer
Member
It's my job to report the news and the facts, which includes their call for entries. This show has already been ordered and this news story doesn't change that.
Right, I guess what I (and I hop other people) are trying to point out is if it's the moral thing to do given the current shortages, shipping issues, and the ambiguity on when it'll all end. When a certain brainless YouTuber with 1+ million subscribers (*cough*LoganPaulandmanyothers*cough*) makes a video about how they pulled an expensive card from a set it's had a negative impact on the availability of products that's only compounded by the above issues, just look at how hard it was to find products between late August/early September of last year and now.

Heck, there are STILL some areas where product placed out on shelves is sold out in less than a DAY!
At this point people are speculating about the content and especially the impact. We don't know what's going to happen and neither do the filmmakers since it hasn't even been shot yet.
Considering that the speculation has largely been grim in regards the impact I think it's safe to say that MOST Pokemon fans aren't happy about this at all.

And as far as the structure and content of show is concerned you already gave us a hint when you mentioned what shows this program's creator worked on in the past: Pawn Stars.

I wholly expect this new show to be Netflix's answer to shows like the one mentioned above and other shows like it (American Pickers and Storage Wars are two that come to mind) in pretty much every way except for the setting and "behind the scenes business" bit mentioned in the article, the former to differentiate itself from those shows and the latter for obvious reasons.
I'd rather put this news story out there so there's active discussion the filmmakers can read while they're in pre-production. It's better to try to have our segment of the community involved, which is why I think the filmmakers talked to us and not other parts of the community you might typically imagine for a show like this.
If they were people that actually cared the hobby and weren't completely heartless they would've been more vague about featuring Pokemon TCG cards in the show and waited until supply can actually keep up with demand to actually confirm it in full, the fact that they this open about featuring it this early on shows that they businessmen/investors first and that should raise red flags for EVERYONE.

And the whole "getting our segment of the community involved" bit? Call me a pessimist but I strongly believe that they want to diversify their clientele so that it's not the same old group of 40 year-old collectors, social media influencers, and "cryptobros" you'd normally see on shows like this (having just those three groups involved would look mighty suspicious to the right people).

In the end I can't say any good will come from this regardless of how involved the non-investor sides of the hobby get during the show's production, it's painfully obvious that it's a cash-first show and that any player or collector that wants the hobby to stay accessible to everyone should stay away from.
Seems collectors are becoming rarer than the cards, maybe start investing in them.. before they all disappear?

Hypothetical sustainability scenario:
If 80% of people are buying and holding mass sealed products for profit with no interest beyond the money and only roughly 20% with interest in collecting,
Could something like that create a supply surplus, an artificial boom and drive supply inflation to an unrealistic quantity that could possibly result in an unstable market, that is vulnerable to collapse?

How would one go about fixing something like that or would it just need to play out?
Asking for a friend 😬
I can't make heads or tails of the hypothetical scenario your "friend" is inquiring about so I'll just say this in simple terms:

If TPCi keeps printing product to the point where w can easily find products in stores and not have to pay the 2x-3x prices that scalpers are charging then everyone (except for the scalpers, but we don't care about them or the crocodile tears they'd be shedding when they can't sell an ETB for 100 bucks) benefits.
Ok, when they writing about new sets its promotion!!! Delete pokebeach because they promote pokemon!!!

Ok boomer :v
The difference between reporting on new sets and reporting on another piece media focusing on the monetary aspect of the TCG is like night and day. In all honesty, it's straight-up insulting to see someone say they're on equal ground.

Reporting on new sets helps players (helps them see how much of an impact a set will have on the meta), collectors (they can see if a set is worth picking up depending on whatever they collect), and investors (in a saner times, checking out sets ahead of time would tell them is a set is boom or bust depending various factors).

Unfortunately given the current times and supply issues a show like this only helps to benefit investors prop themselves up while players and collectors are hurt in the process.
 

treeckonation

Treecko is a good pokemon
Member
Oh boy! WotC cards will probably get a nice little bump in price, even though they're already much more expensive than they have any right to be.

Honestly, I've given up on WotC cards at this point, I'm trying to collect cards from the ex era to the BW era while they're still affordable.
I had like 75% of my base set collection done (and this was when charizard was 60 bones) and logan paul decided to buy pokemon cards (or something else) and now I can't finish it cause of THEM.
 

fleshrum

Cephalophore
Member
I think it's very valid criticism to say "advertising and putting out a casting call for something that is going to make our already diseased hobby worse is bad, actually."
and I agree, criticism for advertising for them is valid. He didn't put out a casting call. Everything in the post is reported neutrally.
 
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