2023-09-29
New exhibit opened today with exclusive merchandise
Today marks the opening day of the Pokémon X Van Gogh Museum collaboration in Amsterdam. The event brings Pokémon-inspired interpretations of some of Van Gogh's most famous works to the museum floor and there is some exclusive merchandise to pick up too — the latter of which has apparently brought out droves of scalpers to the venue's gift shop, keen to grab as much of the exclusive collaboration as possible while stocks last.
Videos shared to Twitter by @monkeloidtv and pokeboy26 (via @Jorden1506) appear to show the shop's interior flooded by crowds of people after the collaboration prints, plushies, and cards. It is worth pointing out that while the video caption explicitly refers to those being filmed as "scalpers", we can't say for certain that all those in attendance were after a profitable resale. Either way, the crowded scene is really rather shocking. Note. The second video features an f-bomb at the very end — skip that one if you'd prefer not to hear it.
Of course, this is not the first time that we have seen crowds of people attempting to snap up some exclusive Pokémon merchandise. We previously saw McDonald's UK limiting the purchase of Happy Meals in an attempt to get ahead of scalpers after the limited edition cards back in 2021, and scenes like those above might imply that such restrictions will start to become commonplace in the future.
Serebii's Joe Merrick took to Twitter to comment on the reports from the opening day of the Van Gogh collaboration, stating that buying merchandise solely for the resale potential is "not an acceptable practice":
This makes me so sad and is why we can't have nice things
I saw so many wanting to go over in the first few days just to get any card and merch to resell. This is not an acceptable practice. If you do that, shame on you.
The collaboration runs until 7th January 2024, and we would imagine that the crowds will quieten down over the coming months. That being said, if you are not able to make it to Amsterdam but still want to get involved with the exclusive merchandise, then many of the items can be found on the Pokémon Centre online store including the Pikachu plush, figurines, tote bags and more — though who knows how much will be left after today.
Have you experienced Pokémon scalpers before? Let us know your experiences in the comments.
Source: Nintendolife.com
