I wanted to get E4’s opinion on the current state of modern English.
With 151, Surging Sparks, Prismatic Evolution insane demand and future popular sets (Gym Heroes + Team Rocket) on the horizon…can Pokémon keep up with printing each set heavily?
On the horizon:
151 -New premium collection box Q1 of 2025
Surging Sparks -Booster boxes on TCG player are 155+ and set hasnt released
Prismatic Evolution -Pokemon Center had to lower max quantity to buy on ETBs and still went OOS
New “Gym Heroes” set to be released
New Team Rocket set to be released
Sets that probably could use more supply as well:
Twilight Masquerade (160+ TCG)
Paldea Evolved (135+ TCG)
Can Pokémon keep printing these sets heavily? Will they need to at some point just keep moving onto the next set to maintain their regular cadence? Even with owning Millennium print group, I’d imagine capacity is still a concern for them.
Yes, Pokemon can and will continue to print these sets heavily. They have no incentive not to do so given the immense demand. Remember, most sets are within rotation for the TCG Standard Format for years, not months.
Pokemon will print cards that are within standard format, which often includes reprints of slightly older sets during releases of new sets. Remember when Lost Origin and Silver Tempest (SW/SH Era) were being reprinted during Scarlet/Violet early releases?
Historically, it took many months to schedule print jobs at the major printing companies. This was because so many different businesses were clamoring over the same printers. Now that TPC/TPCi owns the Millennium Print Group, they don’t have to worry about other companies monopolizing print time. In other words, they can more nimbly choose to print what they want, when they want, (almost) at a moment’s notice to meet demand.
We need to give TPC/TPCi a bit more credit. They run an incredibly efficient ship given how many sets and products are distributed each year.
Don’t think I ever said 1 set had more demand than the base set? I was speaking on the multiple sets that all are heavily demanded, while keeping up with their current release cadence + full product line that’s more diverse than base set.
151 is around 1/2 the 1999 base set PSA pop report in about 1 year vs 25 years. Just as a fun note.
I feel like many don’t understand how 1 dimensional this is. The resale market is a secondary market. The pokemon company international does not give a flying fuck about the secondary market. They only care about making money. If people are buying their product and they continually sell out, they’re gonna print that product until consumer demand is exhausted.
Maybe I worded this strangely. I’m not saying what one of these sets are going to stonk. Or “OMG I hope Pokemon short prints this set so I stonk”
I work in the accounting department of a large manufacturing company and was more curious on peoples thoughts on Pokemon’s manufacturing capacity to keep printing these past released sets, along with sets that are coming in the future. Not to mention the variety of product SKUs that are made.
TPCI has had a string of very popular heavily demanded sets all seemly in a row. I would assume that the print facility focuses the majority of its capacity to up coming sets months in advance. If all of a sudden set after set needs more printing, I’m sure at some point physical capacity will be met.
The secondary market for these ultra modern sets have depicted the popularity of any specific set.
I disagree with a piece of this. Not during this time period, but if Pokemon releases a string of weak sets and no one is buying from LGS or big box. Big box retail space is extremely valuable and wont keep ordering if product isnt moving…same with LGS that will actually lose money. Of course Pokemon is going to care and stop printing it if overall demand isnt there. Think of the dead era…
I tend to agree to a certain extent, but why didn’t they print more Evolving Skies? There was plenty of time after their final reprint to print even more but they chose not to.
ES was still during the product shortage and when they were trying to ramp up production. There were ES packs in a lot of auxiliary products later on (tins, Charizard UPC, etc). They just didn’t go back to print more ETBs and booster boxes. The packs also were abundant in grocery stores for an odd amount of time
