Chaos Over Cardboard Cards: The Downfall of Collecting
“It's sad knowing how easily greed for money can ruin something special for kids and adults. It is all chaos over cardboard cards.”
The reselling market has been at an all time low. The sneaker market has died down terribly and has impacted the community of people who do this as a source of income. This has made the entire community begin to question what's the next product to move onto. Many have been urged to find the hottest item to grab, which has landed them on Pokemon trading cards. This may seem like a joke at first, but it's not the first time Pokemon has become a trending conversation. Over time, this focus on Pokemon collecting and reselling has been seriously getting out of hand, making many in the Pokemon community want to leave behind a passionate hobby.
Pokemon has recently become the hottest collecting conversation on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, creating a clash. This clash has split the genuine fans — those who enjoy collecting and playing the game — from those whose intention is to create profit. With this, Pokemon products are continuing to be sought after, creating high demand and receiving more attention from scalpers and resellers. Not only have scalpers and resellers caused a market crash and insane inflation in prices, but they also are starting to make the hobby feel dangerous. There are multiple video sources on TikTok and X depicting these people physically fighting and arguing like animals over cards, making the Pokemon community look bad and immature. It’s immature because your first thought would be that teens and early adults are the ones in this position, but in reality it's grown men and women creating this chaos.
Genuine fans of the trading card game and collectors have been impacted by this severely, since it created a forceful, expensive hobby. Fans have been beginning to lose interest because of these scalpers and resellers, making it impossible to find any normally priced products. It created a competition between both communities, since it's a race to see who could obtain these products faster. This has been an even greater challenge because these resellers and scalpers have gained the advantage of creating Discord groups to know when products drop online and get in stock in stores. Fans have tried to combat this problem by lining up early outside of these select stores to be able to catch a glimpse of hope. They want to be able to purchase Pokemon products at a normal price without having to worry about paying the aftermarket price, since majority of all items are listed as close to two or three times the normal price range. With this disappointing change in the community, fans have grown bummed out, knowing a childhood hobby or interest will be left behind. As more upcoming releases drop, they will be targeted by selfish, money hungry people.
As an active supporter of the Pokemon collecting community, this has created disappointment for me and a few other friends of mine that are currently at Comp Sci HIgh. We've all agreed that it's becoming a joke since it's been getting hard to enjoy what once was.
Janiel, 12th grade senior, pointed this out when he said, “It’s crazy how cheap and easy Pokemon cards could be found a couple months back and now they are just miserable to find.” My friends and I realized this was beginning to get out of hand when we were all discussing trading with others, when we noticed grown adults come in and try to scam kids out of their valuable cards for trash ones. This was when Justin, a 11th grade junior, said, “It's ridiculous how grown men are pushing it by first scalping cards and now trying to scam little kids.” When going to card stores in the city it was more than noticeable that this has reached local card shops as well, since everywhere has priced products to the aftermarket. 11th grade junior Steven said, "Everything is expensive, even the ugly cheap cards are being overpriced.”
With all this being said it's been questionable whether or not to continue this passion because it's just been getting more unenjoyable due to these conflicts in the community. It's sad knowing how easily greed for money can ruin something special for kids and adults. It is all chaos over cardboard cards.