Today, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the Van Gogh Museum launched a Pokemon crossover that sees a Pokemon art exhibition hit the museum alongside a slew of exclusive merch both at the museum and on the Pokemon Center Online.
However, just as the event starts, the museum has been hit by a stampede of scalpers heading directly to the museum store to buy anything Pokemon-related and sell it online for a quick profit. Fans are disgusted by the situation, which could mean the very limited stock runs out way before the exhibition ends in January 2024.
Related: Pokemon TCG: How To Get The Pikachu x Van Gogh Museum Promo Card
Van Gogh Museum Hit by Scalpers the Day the Pokemon Celebration Goes Starts
The Pokemon x Van Gogh Museum celebration brings a collection of Van Gogh-inspired Pokemon artwork to the museum in an exhibit for fans to enjoy. The museum is also selling exclusive merchandise, some of which can be purchased online. It’s the merch that fans can’t buy online these scalpers are looking for most, though based on Twitter, it looks like they’re taking anything they can get their hands on just in case they can make money on it.
Of course, the item that will make the most profit for a scalper is the Pikachu With Felt Grey Hat Promo Card. The card is limited to one per person, and to get it, fans need to buy a ticket to the museum and complete a booklet by going around the museum. It’s not a card anyone could easily get multiples of, so it should be fairly safe from the scalpers in the museum today.
Comments from fans on videos like the one above show the disappointment Pokemon events are starting to cause. “It will always be like this, makes me not interested in the card at all.” It’s a sad state of affairs when an exciting event that celebrates art and a fandom is just an excuse for resellers to stock up while fans await the exorbitant prices after they log into online stores far too late to get what they want at retail price.
It also highlights how scalpers don’t really understand what they’re buying because they aren’t all necessarily Pokemon TCG fans. “Like they can’t even buy the card so they’re just buying whatever they can to sell to make their journey worthwhile.”
Some fans believe there will be an opportunity to get the exclusive Pikachu promo card through The Pokemon Center Online. We’ve not seen anything outside of fan speculation that suggests this, but it would make sense if The Pokemon Company wants to make this card, like others, more widely available to those who can’t physically travel to Amsterdam.
The Van gogh Museum in Amsterdam has been hit by a swarm of scalpers hoping to turn a quick profit by selling the exclusive Pokemon artwork.