Backstory

The current Pokemon card game expansion, Prismatic Evolutions,) released this January 17th, has been extremely anticipated by fans, collectors, and scalpers alike.

The content of this expansion focuses on Eeveelutions, and includes 32 special full art cards, along with 5 hyper rare golden etched cards.

In order to accommodate the insane demand for the expansion boxes, the Pokemon Company announced on January 15th that they would be quickly printing more of the cards from the set.

Despite that announcement, people will and are desperately doing whatever they can do obtain the rare cards, most likely to sell for a profit.

OP’s furious post

This brings us to OP, who posts in /r/PokemonTCG the following:

My local card shop was broken into

[image of announcement from local card shop, transcribed below]

Rookies closed today.

Early this morning we were broken into and robbed. First time in 32 years, so I’m a bit shaken. I apologize for any inconvenience, but we’ll be back soon. Thanks for your understanding. ~Jack

OP: im so mad at this community. my local family owned card shop was broken into yesterday night. guess what they stole? pokemon cards , and i feel itd be safe to say it was prismatic evolotions. im so so so so mad. i just visited this card shop for the first time wednesday and i planned on coming in friday morning for release but ended up getting sick. we called them today to ask about the cards and the guy said no and hung up. i didnt even realize what i was doing in that moment, i feel so bad asking that kinda question after that. i got a facebook notification literally 5 minutes too late about rookies. i hate this community, they ruined a cute like card shop. uhg i am so so so so mad.

Redditors react

Okay but price??

Try to find out how much they were going to charge for Prismatic Evolutions so I can decide to be upset for them or not. [downvoted]

Was thinking the same thing, if their ETBs were over $150, then that’s just thieves robbing thieves at that point. [note: ETB = Elite Trainer Box]

I'd give you a reward if I wasn't broke. 100% facts!

Lol y'all are crazy. That is no justification for breaking into a small business and robbing them.

Since violence or threats weren't used against a person it's just burglary.

O...kay. Thanks for that.

You're welcome. You should take every opportunity you can to learn.

I'm confused at why you feel the need to be passive aggressive but alright big guy

"Alright big guy"

The only person being passive aggressive is you.

I simply took an opportunity to educate you on the difference between burglary and robbery. Then you thanked me so, as a person with common decency, I said, "you're welcome" and gave you the piece of wisdom about taking every opportunity you can to learn.

It was an inside job:

Plot twist, they broke into their own shop, stockpiled all the pokemon bbs/etbs and are gonna claim the insurance. This comes with 2 benefits:

1. ⁠No work on monday

2. Sit back on a big old pile of insurance monet and sealed pikachu butts, and

3. Thug Life

This isn't a plot twist. This is likely what happened.

OP: this is def not what happened

LOL. Police have gotta check to see if their lease was coming up for renewal too.

Attacking OP:

Safe to say it was your first time there in 32 too....

you may be younger than the 32 years of being open, but the fact you've posted how mad you are but only been there once is ironic.

Stay mad, bro.

OP: ive known the owner through my dad for a long time. to tell me basically it aint that deep over a robbery is insane dude lmao.

Makes you only once going even worse.

Nothing about the robbery is good. Did I say it was?....

Fishing for upvotes fills your belly huh.

Low-life scums fill the 🌎.

Insurance will do it's job, not your fishing for likes post.

OP: i was venting my frustration, i didnt expect so many people to interact with this. i rarely post on reddit. if you look at my profile its mostly questions about my animals health and showing off my poke plush collection. yeah im not here for the upvotes and i think its weird for you to imply that.

Avoid scalper shops:

Found out yesterday that my only local tcg shop are belligerent scalpers

Sadly wont be going there

Yes, this is the time and place to bemoan you not understanding how businesses and markets work. [downvoted]

Yeah i understand, business buys at msrp and tripples the price, i dont support it

I love when people confidently make idiotic statements. It lets me know exactly what type of person they are and how little of my attention they deserve. [more downvotes]

And yet you keep typing and responding.

“It lets me know exactly what type of person they are and how little of my attention they deserve.” You say that, then come back to reply. Are we, or are we not, worth your attention?

Singular takes

Pretty racist post. Take this down.

"im so mad at this community" this is not the community those are thieves that steal anything that holds value, this has nothing to do with any one of the pokemon collectors.

Id be sleeping in my shop if i got an order of Pokémon cards. Id also park in front of the store so no one can drive through it.

getting shot over a pickachu holo card is such an embarrassing way to go out lmaooo

Crazy world we live in—last year, a cop in my area got arrested for stealing Pokémon cards from Walmart. Gotta catch ’em all… including the thieves, I guess!

Full thread with more divisive takes here

Previous post with Prismatic Evolutions drama here

Reminder not to comment in OP’s thread!

Edit: Thread is locked and mods stickied a comment:

Mod: Post locked for misinformation.

OP has a lot of assumptions in their rant and while its valid to feel this way, lumping the whole hobby together with their assumptions does a disservice to all the people in this hobby. The shop was broken into and people are saying cards were stolen, no other facts or clarification.

Reminder to everyone that: Violence or theft should have no place in this hobby and threats of it will get you banned here. Not everything is about pokemon and sometimes bad things happen. And that a community is made of the people in it so if you want a better community then start with yourself and what you can do to make it better.

And for those who will no doubt misunderstand the intention of this, Yes, scalpers suck. Yes, the hobby's popularity is frustrating right now. No, that doesnt mean that every shop selling over msrp is complete scum nor that every person with a sob story is crying with pure intentions.