After the huge set that ascended heroes was , have the last couple of sets been duds? It’s the first time in a while I can remember walking into Target Multiple times and seeing the new sets available. Even Perfect Order and Chaos Rising booster boxes are going around MSP and can actually be found in the wild. Still haven’t seen Ascended Heroes. Second thought, why does pokemon print these “special sets” that they know are going to be wildly popular and because their “special sets” don’t have booster boxes or a better way to get packs.
Anyways, it seems the demand isn’t as high for the newer sets. There are definitely smaller sets but I don’t think they are bad sets. You can actually get a ton of value as there are many cool IR’s from this set you can get for under 10$ and even my favorite IR , the Clefairy, is around 20$. I think the smaller and less expensive sets are good for collectors because it gives them a chance to master sets or even build their binders out with inexpensive, but great cards.
So why isn’t the same demand there? For better or worse, there has been a huge influx of people coming into the Pokemon Market. And let’s just say, most of these new comers don’t have ball knowledge and were never a fan of pokemon. They just heard about the hype and believe they can make money off the shiny cardboard. Many newcomers don’t know which generation Darkrai came from or the other starters in Gen 6 with Greninja . They can name 10 Pokemon on the top of their head and 2 of them are gengar and charizard.
The point is not to gatekeeper a children’s card game , but to understand the new money that’s come into the hobby and see it through their lens. These people aren’t trying to build collections, but portfolios. They don’t see the value in a 4$ Manectric card. They want the 800$ Charizard chase or the 1,200$ Gengar. They never used Manectric pokemon in a playthrough or had a favorite pokemon when they were a kid. They don’t see this hobby through a lens of fawnest or even like pokemon . They see a monetary gain. When you see less demand for these “bad sets”, I believe it’s the real norm for Pokemon. Brand new cards shouldn’t be over a thousand dollars. Collectors and Players should be able to get their hands on packs without having to give up a kidney.
I do hope eventually that Pokemon Prints everyone set into the ground , so even the top tier sets will be available for everyone. I’m not holding my breath, but with 30th and Ray set coming out. The hype will be at an all time high, that means scalpers will be coming out of the woodwork for these sets. But, my hope is they print these sets to the max. And I hope that everyone gets products and scalpers get burnt by buying a lot of products that they can’t resell at a profit.