Pokémon Center’s 30th Celebration ETB drop was somehow its smoothest yet
The Pokémon Center released 30th Celebration products last night, and despite all my concerns, it was smooth as Butterfree.
When I saw the Reddit post that Pokémon Center queues had gone live, I was already 40 minutes late - and I expected the worst. A six-hour queue timer popped up, and it kept jumping up and down, with little concern for my nervous anticipation. However, just an hour and a half later, my purchase of two Pokémon 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Boxes was secured - and surprisingly, it was the smoothest of any recent drops.
If you could see my drafts in my writing folder, you’d see it full of Pokémon TCG hot takes. But, I was also working on a piece accepting the fact I wouldn’t get any products from the upcoming Pokémon set. I had fully dealt with and understood my chances were slim, yet I walked away last night beaming from ear to ear, stunned I managed to pre-order against all odds. That article has, unsurprisingly, been ceremoniously deleted in my excitement.
I’m not going to pretend my story is a unique one, nor am I going to pretend it was easy for everyone. Several collectors joined the queues later than me and scored their pre-orders (unlike England in the final 15 minutes of the semi-finals), while some got Error 17d in expected yet still frustrating fashion. Even then, it seems like The Pokémon Company has finally mostly nailed drops. At least something is coming home, and it's a trophy full of cards and chases (hopefully).
Callum Self
Even eBay tells the story of last night. Initially, ETBs sold for upwards of $750 for the pre-sale (which is against eBay terms of service, may I add), and yet, now there are sold listings for around the $220 mark. That’s still a big increase over the retail price, but comparatively, it shows many managed to get stock as the queues continued to dwindle.
So, how did something like this go better than before, with expansions that were less in-demand? Well, firstly, while not confirmed, it’s likely The Pokémon Company is printing a lot of this set, and the extended pre-order window gives them more time to manage the existing orders. The smaller packs will also help deal with demand, with five-card packs instead of ten-card boosters.
Having all of the products ready on the home page, available to add to your cart with a quick press of a button simplifies the entire process. Every page click is a risk of getting kicked out, so removing that from the experience solved a lot of issues and errors I had with the Perfect Order, Chaos Rising, and Pitch Black drops - all of which I didn’t manage to get.
I’m not expecting perfection. Any system that has potentially millions of people accessing it at once is going to stumble and fail sometimes. No matter how random the drops get, the instant someone sees it and notifies social media, the frenzy will begin. The Pokémon Company nailed this drop compared to previous ones, thanks to a variety of features and systems, and while it came a little later than expected, it’s better late than never.
Do I think all issues are solved? No. There are still plenty of collectors who lost out on Pokémon 30th Celebration pre-orders, seeing 200% increases on eBay and are forced to pay resale prices or lose out, and that’s really frustrating. But, in the same breath, more collectors have got their hands on an ETB than I’ve seen in years, and that’s something to be happy about.
Thank you, The Pokémon Company. You did good this time.
