Pokemon Trade Soars High in Lockdown

It's been 25 years since it got introduced to the world, yet fans are still raving about their favourite Pocket Monster, more popularly known as Pokemon. This year, many grownups have started living out their childhood memories through their re-surging interest on Pokemon trading cards.

Actually, PokeMANIA never needed a resurgence because it has always been popular among children since 1996, and the kids back then are now grownups who are enjoying the fad with their own children. Pokemon has jumped from the realm of a simple video game to a massive franchise that comprises animated shows, movies, more video games, a virtual reality game, and (of course) collectable trading cards.

Who wouldn’t remember the 2019 live-action film, Detective Pikachu, with the voice of Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu? And don’t forget the phenomenal mobile app cum virtual reality game, Pokemon Go, that people raved about in 2016, making them go out in the streets to catch virtual Pokemon! The game created a craze like no other, bringing people together and making strangers become friends.

There’s hardly a millennial (or gen-X-er, for that matter) who hasn't been drawn to Ash and Pikachu’s adventures together with their gang of Pokemon trainers, Pocket Monsters, and occasional villains (some becoming their allies along the way). With the pandemic raging its clutch throughout the world, many adults are returning to their old time indoor hobbies like playing, trading, and collecting Pokemon cards.

The Biggest Thing Since 1996 Is Happening (Again)

A news article by Reuters reported that Pokemon cards are fetching 6 figures at auction in a boom that appears to be fuelled by COVID-19 lockdowns. It’s the biggest happening among Pokemon fanatics since it became a fad in many schoolyards and neighbourhoods around the world 2 decades ago.

Joe Maddalena, executive vice-president of Texas-based Heritage Auctions, in an interview with Reuters said, “When COVID-19 hit, a lot of Gen-X and Millennials were looking for things to do and we found a lot of these guys and girls started playing Pokemon again because they grew up with it.”

He further noted that boxes of the 1999 US first edition base set had sold for around 523,900AUD at auction in recent months, and a single card in mint condition for the popular fire-flying character Charizard was sold for 392,925AUD in January of this year. Compare that to late 2019 when asking prices for a Charizard card were around 20,956AUD.

Did a Fastfood Chain Feed the Re-Surging Mania?

Huck Magazine reported that Pokémania reached fever pitch when a world-renowned fastfood chain teamed up with the franchise to celebrate Pokemon’s 25th anniversary last February. McDonalds released a special edition of Happy Meals containing 50 collectable cards, including some rare holographic items.

According to Huck, this promo prompted a “black market” to emerge. People began buying Happy Meals en masse, with some even throwing out the food and selling the individual cards at auctioned prices. It created a frolic that got out of control, so McDonalds started placing restrictions on the number of Happy Meals being bought by one person. Eventually, Nintendo released a statement promising to ramp up its efforts to re-print affected Pokemon cards at “maximum capacity.”

Figures Are All Time High

Huck further detailed that figures from eBay highlighted a 123% increase in the sale of Pokemon trading cards on its platform between July and October of 2020 against the same period in the previous year. An eBay seller named Laurence started buying base sets back in 2012 after noticing a spike in prices. “I collected them during my childhood and had a substantial collection, though I ended up selling them all while at university for around 541AUD a set in 2005,” he explained to Huck Magazine.

Laurence has recently sold a single PSA10 base set Charizard for 81,155AUD and a complete base set for 144,276AUD. In an interview with Huck, he said, “For my base sets, I’ve had offers up to 180,345AUD, though it’s normal to get offered cars and boats to trade for cards quite frequently.” This is just one of the proofs that Pokemon trading card prices are at their highest yet.

Even Celebrities Are Into the Hype

In the same news article, Huck attributed the booming trade of Pokemon cards to the involvement of popular millennial celebrities – with the likes of rapper and big time YouTuber, Logic, who made it into the headlines after paying a record-breaking 240,747AUD for a rare Charizard, then spending 30,124AUD on a box of unopened Pokémon, containing another Charizard card and a few other rare cards!

Another big name among YouTube personalities that got into the hype is Logan Paul who regularly unboxes new and rare Pokemon cards on his channel. He even has his very own Pokemon adviser in the person of Jake Greenbaum who at the same time is a blockchain investor.

In a February episode of his unboxing series, Paul went live on YouTube to unravel an enviable 4 million AUD worth of first-edition Pokemon trading cards. The video garnered over 4 million viewers, which coincidentally was broadcast on the day marking the release of “Pocket Monsters Red and Green,” the game that introduced the first Pokemon to the world.

From a video game played by kids on Game Boy consoles to animated shows that enabled a fanbase to grow in schoolyards and neighbourhoods, this band of so-called Pocket Monsters is re-fuelling the childhood memories of many adult fans, making an already popular fad into a trading industry that soars so high like Mega Rayquaza!

Fun childhood memories cannot be repressed… more so in the time of pandemic. Definitely, Pokemon fans won’t be left behind because they simply just GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL!