I came across this post on reddit today, www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/7j4ygc/my_friend_makes_custom_pokemon_cards_what_do_you/
Basically it’s a post about how this guys friend makes “custom” cards and sells them. The overwhelming acceptance of the cards in the comments made me realize that people actually DO WANT fake cards. It’s a little depressing… What do you guys think?
I’ve never seen that thread, but I have been thinking about how fake pokemon cards and the acceptance of them reminds me a lot of the video game market.
I used to be heavily involved in collecting and selling retro video games. Prices were almost always steady and that is what got me into selling online. Around the end of 2015 I Sold my entire collection and shortly after the fakes started to get more and more rampant. eBay does absolutely nothing, I could go find 100 fake games listed without any effort at all. Us sellers would order them from alibaba or a site similar and pump them onto ebay. I can’t think of a single nintendo 64 game for example that hasn’t suffered due to fakes. Some prices are still okay, and there are buyers that will pay a better price for a guaranteed authentic game, but there are a ton of people who don’t care.
I often wonder if that same scenario could play out with pokemon cards.
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I personally feel that fake pokemon cards, though more widely accepted these days sadly, will never be anything more than an ugly alley in the city of collecting. It’s there and will probably always be there, kids like the cool weird alley better than the expensive streets with expense shops at times.
It’s definitely become worrying just how many people fruitlessly try to argue that there is any actually good reason for fakes to exist. Hopefully we see Nintendo start to take some action.
People need to learn the difference between creating art and running a counterfeit business.
Someone making “custom” cards like the ones shown here for personal use or to show off their artistic abilities is fine. The line is drawn when it stops being for personal use and you begin selling these cards that use someone else’s intellectual property.
I don’t want to seem all “high horse” and everything but I honestly don’t think these commenters are anything more than casual fans who don’t understand the implications of what they’re supporting.
Really hope Nintendo cracks down on these people, they’re harming the hobby quite a bit.
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Is there really no way to contact TPCI or Nintendo directly about this? I know certain companies have a contact method to report bootlegs and counterfeit items.
Ah, the classic circle jerking reddit. How lovely. I’ve noticed all the negative opinions are all downvoted into oblivion.
@masonkampe I think a distinction between video games and cards, is that video games is very difficult to see the different between a fake and a legit one. A problem I faced when I started collecting video games is that on ebay, I can’t differentiate between a legitimate video game and a fake one, so even if I would pay more money for presumably a real game, I can never tell the difference. On the other hand, a fake card is pretty easy to tell.
@masonkampe I collect sealed N64 & Genesis games, does the fake video game issue extend to sealed games?
There are people who attempt to fake these, but the people buying these are real collectors.
The people buying into the fake 20-25 dollar mario kart, conkers, mario party games, I would imagine are people that want to play the games more than they are interested in collecting. Some people just don’t know either.
I would say sealed games are pretty safe, there are a lot of people out there that make fake boxes and manuals, but I haven’t heard of any perfect replicated seals.
And honestly the manuals, games, and boxes that are usually pretty distinguishable by a collector anyway.
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That is what I assumed! I don’t mess with any loose cartridges, but always heard about the counterfeits. I watch Metal Jesus Rocks + his crew and saw a few examples of fake carts. Are the people buying the fake conkers, mario karts, etc. doing so to make money?
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If you are buying a fake cart most of the time you want to play it. There is a lot of faking when it comes to under printed Nintendo games though so some people might be buying the fakes and dressing them up who knows
Well, there are definitely people buying them from alibaba in mass quantities to make money. I looked once and if you buy enough (at that time) people could get games for 7 dollars each. They would put them on eBay for a considerable lower than market price and sell out fast.
I have also heard there are people who try to pass them off in person, but that hasn’t happened to me. (Probably craigslist, flea markets, etc)
I see people on eBay selling these constantly and not getting taken down. Unless Nintendo steps in I don’t know if anything will ever happen to rectify the situation.
I used 64 as an example because it is my favorite system, but it really is bad on all cartridge systems.
I had a price chart linked to excel that showed a live feed of what my collection was worth at any time. Live relative to the VGPC website, which was actually off on many accounts because there cib games were almost way under priced. When I sold my collection my chart was reading about 52,000 dollars, and about a year ago I looked and it was closer to 35,000. I deleted the excel sheet since then but I wish I could see what it would be today.
And actually where you are pretty safe these days in terms of game collecting looks like disc based systems. There are fakes, and I am sure some day fakes will be a lot better, but they are very sloppy right now. Especially gamecube, gamecube prices are some that have remained strong, and I don’t know if china will ever try to pump out fakes there.
I think it would help reduce the demand if the message that counterfeits are illegal is spread. Maybe some youtubers on here could help with that, because I think kids will rather not have fakes, knowing that.
As a kid, I didn’t want fakes, because they looked bad, and were worth nothing
I wanted everyone’s input on this recent post on the pkmntcgcollections subreddit and the poster’s custom card promotion and plugging the seler’s IG as well. I had this whole snappy little tirade about it, but his posting history seemed to contradict the purchase of a custom card and support of it. It made me wonder if this specific type of custom card might be less egregious than other purchases or if I am right in my frustration.
The whole situation is very weird to me. I don’t see any difference between those “custom” cards and the obvious forgeries. Why don’t the fakes get called custom as well? The only difference is quality. In addition, the people that sell and buy these things are strangely averse to calling them fakes and counterfeits, like they know it’s wrong or silly or something and have to come up with a weak justification. It reminds me of when people abuse glitches or bugs in a video game to get an advantage and feel the need to justify doing it by saying it’s part of the game and not actually cheating. Abusing glitches, “custom” cards, I don’t really care what you’re in to, but why lie to yourself and others about it?
I just don’t get the appeal of an illegitimate card even it is cheaper. I am surprised the subreddit did not take the post down knowing he is promoting a fake card and a forger.
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I’d propose that one’s regard for fake cards is directly proportional to one’s genuineness as a person.
If you produce fake cards you are probably a fake person: spineless, dishonest, disloyal… you name it. I wouldn’t trust you with anything.
The degree of those qualities exist on a gradient scale with production at the top then:
-People like UL who promote and people who sell
-buyers of fake cards
-people who defend fake cards (even if they don’t buy them)
I know it’s quite an epistemological cartwheel to claim such a gradient scale even exists, especially without acknowledging outliers, but generally if someone thinks fake cards are good or acceptable in any way it is an indication of their mendaciousness.
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I would put people who sell fake cards above promoters on the “Fake Person Scale”, granted just slightly. This is just because they sell while rationalizing their decision to do so. Also, UL is definitely an outlier because he is not just any promoter, but one with almost 2M subscribers (even with his low view count these days). Though, you did rightly say attempting to create a gradient scale for this is an epistemological cartwheel so I won’t go too far into that.
On a separate note, nice word choice. I don’t have to google words too often, but I had never heard of the word “mendaciousness” and was pleasantly surprised to learn a new word. I almost want call UL ML, but maybe that is a bit too far.
I seen a guy on Virbank saying he had made “customs” his full time work. I hate to break it to you dude, but you’re a full time counterfeiter.
There is a custom cards creator who is paid $1000s a month via patreon to produce fake cards. Currently Pokemon simply doesn’t care. If they ever grow large enough, Pokemon would obliterate them.
I edit cards on instagram for fun and get 20 million messages asking me to make and sell them, but I hate fake cards so it is ironic in a sense lol. The only ones I like are the painted ones especially Lunumbra it is amazing work and is perfectly legal
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