Pokémon‘s 30th Celebration set might be devastating scalpers with its excellent pull-rates and low resale prices, but it’s still causing all of the crazy when it comes to people trying to buy cards. With stock getting stripped from stores within minutes of landing on shelves, and different retail outlets trying different methods to control crowds, more and more footage is emerging of idiotic behavior from so-called “collectors.”
Thanks to the inestimable work of Instagram channel Pokestreetz, which regularly curates clips of Pokémon scalper behavior, we can get a glimpse of the incidents that have been taking place all over the country since last Wednesday’s launch of the 30th anniversary collection. And we can enjoy them all safe in the knowledge that these asshats aren’t going to be making the megabucks in scalping and reselling these items that they were expecting.
Figuring out how to control the crowds that show up for new Pokémon TCG drops is an increasingly common issue for individual stores, with different retailers taking different approaches, often on a branch-by-branch level. For instance, there’s the Northridge, California Target that decided the best method was to have people stand away from the store in the parking lot for hours ahead of opening, and then have an employee come out and shout, “GO!” as they were allowed to race to form a line right outside the doors. It went about as well as you’d expect. Limited footage shows the bizarre short dash from the parking lot to the side of the store, and cuts off right as the jostling really kicked in.
A second angle of the same incident shows how kids were in the mix here, getting shoved against the wall by full-grown adults, all in the name of being first to buy the shiny cardboard.
Things were far more serious at a Target in Gilroy, California, where scalpers and potentially genuine customers camped out overnight outside the store, some in tents, some in folding chairs, and then accusations began to fly about someone jumping the line. At that point, it’s alleged that a knife was pulled. Things start to get really rough as the fight moves into the parking lot and punches are thrown, with the scuffle only breaking up when sirens are heard.
The phenomenon of “ghost chairs“—where people bring folding chairs for the overnight encampments, and then leave them empty and go elsewhere, assuming the ghost-occupied seat will maintain their place in line—has become increasingly prevalent. As you can imagine, this causes consternation, especially when the technique is used to nip off to a whole other store to buy more products to scalp, then return back to one’s former spot.
There’s also footage of a guy getting arrested by police in South Carolina. Apparently, after he tried to cut in line outside a Target, then refused to leave after getting told to go by the store’s manager, the cops were called and he was briefly handcuffed. Then, according to the video’s description, eyewitnesses claimed he drove straight to a Best Buy to line up there instead.
Meanwhile, in Conroe, Texas, a woman screams “YOUR DAUGHTER’S TRIPPIN’!”, continuing, “SHE SAT IN MY CHAIR FOR EIGHT FUCKING HOURS!” Who knows what is actually going on in the clip, but try to focus on the fact that these are adults trying to buy cards for a children’s game.
In case you were wondering who’s in charge of lines outside of stores, in the case of a Hawthorne, California Best Buy, it’s this guy:
Some stores tried a ticketing system, which makes a lot of sense given the circumstances. Someone at a New York Target figured this was a system he could game when he stumbled on the ingenious idea of “editing” his #27 ticket to read #12 by writing over it in pen. A brilliant plan, other than that #12 had already been called, and, you know, he wrote the new number in with a pen.
It wasn’t all bad everywhere, however. Some overnight lines reportedly stayed peaceful, and one in Langhorne, Philadelphia even had a cook-out.
Which is all to say: grow the absolute hell up, absolutely everyone.