Pokémon drops new crossover products all the time, but the brand’s partnership with the Van Gogh Museum broke the internet briefly due to how quickly it sold out. Most of the collab collection just got a digital restock, though it’s missing a key TCG product that caused the messy fallout.
Throughout the day on April 17, various items from the Pokémon x Van Gogh Museum product line that originally launched in September 2023 were restocked on the official Pokémon Center website. This included figures, TCG accessories, and more that feature artwork with Pokémon in the style of famous Van Gogh works.
This restock is great for people like me who really wanted to grab some of the crossover items when they first launched, but were left waiting on the sidelines because the first drop sold out in less than an hour. That was mostly because every person who purchased one of the collection’s items would get a Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promo card with their order while supplies lasted—which led to TCG collectors and scalpers torpedoing the entire drop.
Not only did the collection sell out almost instantly, but the Pikachu promo card was quickly listed for as high as $500 on second-hand websites, along with price hikes for the then-sold-out merchandise. Scalpers also caused major issues at the physical crossover exhibit at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, where they stormed the store to buy out the exclusive merch and harassed people exiting the museum to try and purchase additional promo cards. It got so bad that the museum stopped offering the card altogether, though it has been made available since then at various retailers in the Netherlands.
With this online restock, the Pokémon Center is not offering any of the Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promo cards, just the Van Gogh products on their own. This unfortunately means anyone without the limited-time promo likely missed their chance to get one. At least I got all of my Corviknight Inspired by Wheatfield with Crows TCG accessories after thinking I missed out on such a cool collab.
