The last few weeks have been pretty chaotic for Pokémon TCG fans and collectors. Prismatic Evolutions and Blooming Waters were released, and preorders for the next set, Journey Together, were taken. Unfortunately, due to limited supply and scalpers, not everyone has been able to enjoy these new sets.
Pre-orders for the upcoming Journey Together set—which features the return of Trainer's Pokémon—sold out in less than an hour on Pokémon's official website. And try as I might, I've had no luck trying to find any of the current set Prismatic Evolutions, which launched last Friday.
Prismatic Evolutions is a special set that is focused on all the eeveelutions. There are secret art rares for all the eeveelutions, with the Umbreon currently going for up to $1,950 on the resale market. Eevee sets usually do remarkably well on the secondary market—we saw similar prices for some of the full arts in Evolving Skies a few years back. So Prismatic Evolutions is kind of a perfect storm with massive hype and it being a special set.
The problem with special sets is that you can only get them in special boxed collections like Eliter Trainer Boxes or Booster Bundles, which are more expensive than your average collection, and even for these, there's usually a limited amount of stock. Due to massive demand, which was mainly increased thanks to scalpers trying to get their hands on what was initially thought to be the only Prismatic Evolution drop, most stores couldn't get in any stock.
This has meant that while there are many Elite Trainer Boxes available on resale sites for twice the initial price, there's hardly any stock left online or in stores. I had initially thought about grabbing a resale box, but I hate the idea of giving money to scalpers, as it would just encourage them. Plus, I don't believe an Elite Trainer Box is worth over £100.
Luckily, I won't have to resort to buying from scalpers. The Pokémon Company announced that, to help with supply, it will issue reprints of Prismatic Evolutions.
"We're aware that some fans may experience difficulties purchasing certain Prismatic Evolutions products at launch due to high demand impacting availability," Pokémon TCG's official X account says. "We understand this inconvenience can be disappointing for fans, and we are actively working to print more of the impacted Pokémon TCG products as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity to acknowledge this. Reprinted products are expected to be available at participating retailers as soon as possible to help ensure more fans receive opportunities to access Prismatic Evolutions. We'd like to thank the community for their continued support and patience as we work to deliver this highly anticipated expansion to fans."
This announcement immediately had an impact on resale prices, as many players, like myself, are happy to wait for more stock to come out rather than paying double to get a box right now. Initially, some Prismatic Evolution boxes were going for £100+, but now they're down to £70-£80. It would honestly be wiser to hold onto the stock for a longer period of time, as an expansion like this will only become more valuable over time, but many scalpers can't wait that long to sell the product.
Unfortunately, the Blooming Waters set hasn't had the same sort of luck so far, as this is really just the last of the 151 stock going out on shelves. If you follow Pokémon TCG, then you may have seen all the videos that have been coming out of the US as of late. These are mostly comprised of people racing through Costco and ripping apart the Pokémon TCG Blooming Waters stand in an effort to get their hands on as many cards and boxes as possible.
It's this kind of behaviour that ruins Pokémon TCG for average players. We saw the same issues arise from the Pokémon x Van Gogh Museum collaboration in which scalpers stormed the gift shop. It got so bad that the museum was forced to stop distributing the special cards for safety reasons, meaning most players weren't able to get ahold of the special art cards available during this collaboration.
As for Journey Together, apart from the preorders selling out in under an hour, we've not heard much else about reprints or extra products from this set. Hopefully, another Prismatic rush doesn't occur. But if it does, I'm just hoping for a similar reaction from The Pokémon Company—meaning some reprints for players who couldn't get their hands on any stock during the first rush.
