re: Will collecting Pokemon go the way of Beanie Babies, and come to a crashing halt?

Disney as a whole is worth more than Pokemon. Pokemon is the most valuable individual IP in the world IIRC

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quote:It’s bigger than it’s ever been and still growing. Pokemon is bigger than Disney. Much bigger in fact and the gap is only widening Beanie Babies were massive in the 90’s

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Beanie babies can’t be used as a comparison. The founder intentionally created an eco system where the supply was limited, but hid inventory in warehouses to later unload on the unassuming.

Pokémon also has an expansive Asian collectors base that drives prices.

Pokémon will only follow beanie babies if the Chinese knockoffs become as good as the originals. But, judging history, there’s so much money invested such an event would likely get buried. In the 2000’s there was a guy named ToyTony who snuck 1000’s of repackaged Star Wars figures onto the market, worth millions of dollars today. They still routinely trade hands today, while the internet has been almost entirely scrubbed of any reference.

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I watch people spend $50k-100k on the regular


The frick is wrong with these people??

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They are making money. I may go in with a friend to become an authorized retailer. That investment is about $50k in itself

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I collect sports cards, I am actually about to turn my collection into older cards that hold their value

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What slabs are you holding?

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On what? Just buying cards?

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That and sealed product. I am sitting on sealed Evolving Skies and Prismatic sets for Pokemon . These might be performing better that bitcoin right now

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Pokemon is bigger than Disney

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In terms of trading card games it certainly is. Lorcana has a few chase cards but my sealed product is a long term hold

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It needs to be policy that for all forest releases stores must break the seal on the products.

Investors and scalpers should come second to casual fans.

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It is too much of a business and, yes, it takes the soul out of it. I currently have various business managers and MJ holding delivery people that I take care of just to get some product. I am part of the problem but the same thing happened to sports cards. People who loved it found out they can make money. The natural progression is for pure investors to follow.

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I need to take all my old Pokémon and yugioh cards to a card shop apparently. I kept the good ones in the little sleeves

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Those two and One Piece if you have them

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I may go in with a friend to become an authorized retailer. That investment is about $50k in itself

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Not saying it won’t work out for ya… Are you prepared to potentially lose it all when Pokemon isn’t cool anymore? Good frickin luck man

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This isn't beanie babies. The people that grew up with it now have the money to throw around for it

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What would you say is the best way to get your hands on product these days? I bought 6 Elite Trainer Boxes and 2 Ultra Premium Collections for Scarlet Violet 151 in September 2023 that I had no problem procuring and they are still sealed in boxes. But these days everything is always sold out everywhere, forget about acquiring the newest sets like Surging Sparks, Journey Together and Prismatic Evolutions.

I developed relationships with the people that either deliver or sell. People that work for MJ Holding help me a good bit. Managers at retailers also have my number. I am slated to have Destined Rivals before release. Some people i slide a few bucks. Some people want food from where I work. Like I said, I am part of the problem. To answer your question, pound pavement and develop those relationships. Don't harass people like a lot of the scalpers do. I take care of them and dont hound them so they are always ready to frick over the ones that do bother

TV shows
Games
Collecting cards

Pokémon has survived for 25+ years and multiple generations.

Kids are playing now and bring back nostalgia for adults (good and bad).

I rarely got packs as a kid and getting to open a pack was a once in a while occurance. Now since I can afford it - waiting for my nieces to come in town to open them and get a chase card is worth the memories. I can only imagine if it's a parent and their own kid.

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That may be a bit of a reach…..

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It's not...

Pokémon is larger than every other video game franchise combined.

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Pokémon is larger than every other video game franchise combined.

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Disney isn't a video game franchise

Disney is at least 2x the value of the Pokemon IP

To be fair, pokemon is one of the largest IP's on the planet. It's impressive