The Pokemon Trading Card Game has fallen foul of some vicious secondary market price increases over the last 18 months.
I’ve been reporting heavily on the situation, noting in January last year that some of the most popular products had increased by up to 150 percent. I’ve also documented the difficulty of purchasing new products, how Moonbreon doubled in price overnight, and even trekked around Japan to find out what the situation was like over there. It wasn’t good.
With the series’ 30th anniversary now just days away, I decided to take a look at the prices of Pokemon’s 25th anniversary TCG products from the Celebrations expansion to see how they were faring, and in the last three months alone, some of them have risen by almost 65 percent.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Celebrations Products Are Rapidly Increasing In Price
The Celebrations Pokemon TCG Set was one of the most popular in recent times. It featured over a dozen exciting products, laden with cards that were throwbacks to the TCG of the past. Naturally, with a new interpretation of the infamous Base Set Charizard, it was difficult to come by.
With the Pokemon bubble slowly beginning in 2020/2021, people saw Celebrations as a product that, if they held onto, would exponentially increase in price, and that it has.
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While prices have been steadily increasing in the five years since its release, the secondary market for Celebrations is now exploding again, with some products seeing prices increase by as much as 64.75 percent, according to Collectr.
You can check out the full data below:
|
Nov 26 Price |
Feb 23 Price |
Percentage Increase |
|
|
Celebrations Ultra Premium Collection |
$841.74 |
$927.75 |
10.22% |
|
Celebrations Pokemon Center Elite Trainer Box |
$379.97 |
$414.91 |
9.20% |
|
Celebrations Elite Trainer Box |
$213.26 |
$298.00 |
39.74% |
|
Lance’s Charizard Collection |
$96.51 |
$103.02 |
6.75% |
|
Pikachu Premium Figure Collection |
$164.41 |
$187.94 |
14.31% |
|
Pikachu V-Union Collection |
$128.51 |
$138.03 |
7.41% |
|
Dark Sylveon Collection |
$97.95 |
$101.78 |
3.91% |
|
Collectors Chest |
$139.31 |
$141.74 |
1.74% |
|
Zacian LV.X Collection |
$75.83 |
$88.82 |
17.13% |
|
Dragapult Prime Collection |
$53.02 |
$56.27 |
6.13% |
|
Lance’s Charizard Tin |
$112.04 |
$155.43 |
38.73% |
|
Dark Sylveon Tin |
$89.51 |
$147.47 |
64.75% |
As one might expect, the Ultra Premium Collection, Celebrations pièce de résistance, has jumped by more than 10 percent in the last three months. The product, which launched at $119.99, is now selling for more than $920, increasing from $841 in late November.
The Elite Trainer Boxes, two of the other most popular products, have seen 10 percent and 40 percent increases for the standard and Pokemon Center Exclusive versions, respectively, and the Zacian LV. X collection has also risen by 17 percent.
Two of the biggest movers have been the Celebrations tins, which contained five booster packs. The Lance’s Charizard tin has risen by 39 percent over the last three months, and the Dark Sylveon tin by almost 65 percent, making it the biggest riser.
It’s hard to see who is paying these prices, but you have to imagine that, with the rise of Rip-n-Ships, there will be some streamers making a hefty profit, even if they pay these overinflated prices.
- Original Release Date
-
October 20, 1996
- Player Count
-
2
- Age Recommendation
-
6+
- Length per Game
-
Variable
- Franchise Name
-
Pokemon
