Local Hero Snags Rest Of The Pokémon Cards At Walmart Before Scalpers Can Get To Them

Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin 

Local Pokémon Trading Card Game player and collector Stu Vogel was shocked to see a Walmart shelf fully stocked with Pokémon Mega Evolution Phantasmal Flames Elite Trainer Boxes. Collectibles like these have been in the news as the rarity of certain products from Japan and their high resale value on the secondary market have brought a new player into the Pokémon market – the dreaded “scalper” as they are more commonly known. Scalping, in this case buying Pokémon product and reselling on the secondary market, has become big business in recent years with cards fetching prices many times MSRP – with those price gaps largely driven by high demand and predatory resellers cornering what little supply makes it to stores in the United States. “8 Elite Trainer Boxes just sitting there, I could hardly believe it. I must have showed up right after they restocked!” gushed an excited Vogel. With the game in the spotlight, new resellers are flocking to the already crowded market, leading to competition and sometimes something much worse. 

Videos of altercations between groups of such scalpers in retail locations have been circulating on social media, some of them physical. Shorts like the one where a scalper in an Eagles jersey fights another adult over loose boosters from a vending machine elicited comments ranging from bemused to horrified. “Lock them up” wrote user @TeefLaquina, while other like @CardGobblin egged the participants on, writing “xXx n00ds in bio xXx.” Altercations such as this at multiple retail chains, usually between men and always involving someone in Philadelphia area sports apparel, have become all too common. “I saw one short of a guy in a Phillies jersey rabbit-punch an old lady in the trachea so he could snag the last box of Pristmatic Evolutions” Vogel shared with Commander’s Herald. “It might have been AI because she had 3 thumbs, but I don’t know, if it was real, that’s even worse because then he stole cards from a woman with 3 thumbs.”

Not everyone sees a problem. Local game store owner Julius Feldman says he has plenty of Pokémon products in stock and while there has been some name-calling, tensions haven’t escalated to the point of physical violence. Some in his store have even begun using the cards to play a crude approximation of Magic the Gathering to settle their differences. Asked about the videos of altercations online, Feldman was dismissive, citing false positives. “I saw one of a guy in a Chris Pronger sweater stomping on a guy’s leg over and over, and come to find out that wasn’t even about Pokémon and it was actually just game footage of Chris Pronger.”

Vogel was unapologetic. “I couldn’t just leave the boxes there for some scalper to get their grimy hands on. I rescued them – all of them. That’s 8 boxes going to a real player and not some speculator. The sooner those people give up and find some other grift, the better.” When asked whether he was going to open all 8 boxes at once or keep some sealed, Vogel responded “I am busting one of them for sure, but this basically wiped out my paycheck so I’ll probably just throw the rest on eBay. Have you seen what these are going for?”