Yup, certainly not the experience of the average consumer. It was basically just to show that bots didn’t immediately buy everything out.
I got lucky and got a plush from the UK, and a journal.
The wife can have those, I got a card for me and a card for @Viral provided they don’t cancel my orders.
We could be operating on different definitions, but if an item is sold out before it makes it to a public page, I would call that “immediately being bought out”. Of course it wasn’t all bots. I always think people overestimate the effect of bots and underestimate the organic human demand that exists.
The pokemon center website as it exists now is not a trivial thing to bot, it takes an advanced level of skill or time to figure it out.
I hope people can build houses with bricks of these Pikachus
Same, was able to add the Snorlax deck box, but by the time I click the Place order button, it was sold out.
I do feel TPCi giving a promo card for each item you bought was a mistake, should’ve just limit 1 promo card per order. For sure this just made people bought extra merch just to get another promo card.
I don’t think we have different definitions at all, I agree everything was immediately bought out–but this was mainly driven by tons of interested, genuine fans, not reseller bots as certain people are saying. The fact that lots of people on our discord and under a lot of the stock update twitter accounts were able to make orders is evidence of this. Bots were there, but I also think people overestimate their prevalence.
Of course, if you weren’t F5ing twitter and discord constantly at the right time and/or didn’t know what to do for a release like this, you were screwed, which obviously isn’t ideal. Even if you did, you still might not have gotten anything.
Perhaps I’m just still suffering from 2021 trauma when literally every new TCG release was botted so hard people couldn’t even get through with any legit orders. Compared to that, this felt smooth to me. But it’s a far cry from a smooth release, and I wish they had more product to sell. It’s sad that a release like this doesn’t have as wide of an opportunity for enjoyment as possible.
The one thing I really don’t understand is why not a restriction at the address level? 100 packages going to the same location is such an obvious signal.
Until supply and demand seem to even out to where these releases are approachable for a pleb like me, I’ve settled to just paying whatever the secondary market price is a few weeks after release, or whenever the price settles.
The buyout makes sense given lots of people are priced out of the Munch (pikachu/mimikyu) Promos and Pokémon’s popularity in general, but it would’ve been nice if it didn’t sell out before I got an email from Pokémon about the promotion. Are we sure there’s going to be more waves through January or is what I read from some commenters just speculation?
The peculiar thing about this, and I am not gonna label this release as a failure, but it seems like a step backwards from Special Delivery Charizard where Pokemon got out in front of things.
Wow i cant believe this was supposed to be a several week long event and they are already entirely sold out of merch.
I think a lot of people probably think “the munch promos are so expensive, this will be the same!!”
Either way, i wasnt rly terribly interested in any of the merch, but it wouldve been cool to get some stuff. Hopefully theyll start shipping promos out with any order from PC so i can grab more sitting cuties :))
Nobody asked but another thing I want to say is I appreciate how this was announced 2 weeks before as opposed to the stamp promos which iirc were announced in May with a release dragged out all the way to October.
Remember the way they announced Fallout 4? Same vibes.
I got a few items and dupes of the figures and playmats, missed out on the puzzle, totes, poster, notebook. Willing to trade for puzzle and totes, otherwise will pay aftermarket price in a week when ebay gets flooded with merch people dont want but buy for promo
Edit, i think the figures will make great Christmas presents for my fam if i dont trade! since im not going to keep them
On the other hand, they accurately predicted the demand that the stamp box would generate in the middle of the covid pandemic and turned it into a lottery system. Then again, I don’t think there is a worse way of “selling” a high demand retail product than a lottery lol.
Seems to me like the best method is a print-to-demand system with a delayed or staggered release.
Was able to get the deck box with all the arts on it, but none of the lax stuff I was looking for. Happy to have got something and the promo regardless. Now I battle the seceondhand market.
Glad i got one.
try to get my brother the eevee bag and got it.
he happy and so am i.
Picture this, a guy at work, a dentist possibly, maybe in his mid thirties, between patients, frantically adding anything into his cart on the pokemon center website to obtain a promo card all while his dental assistants are telling me…ugh… I mean him… about the next patients who are ready to be checked… He’s thinking, it’s not working… it’ll never work… all hope is lost. He closes his laptop surrounded by a group of dental assistants. They ask him, “Did it work, did you get it!?” Him: “Unfortunetly not, but it’s okay… life will go on.” A group of sighs commence.
He will likely get it for $30 in a few months though, so all hope is not lost.
-Matthew
I was super lucky to get the corviknight playmat, pikachu sleeve, deck box, and pikachu figure. It was rough.
Can i please steal this for my profile pic? Lol