On Christmas of 1998, I opened my gifts: a lime green GameBoy Color and the accompanying game, Pokemon Red Version. It was the first video game I ever owned, and I was filled with joy, starting my Pokemon journey with Charmander on that wonderful day. Pokemon in the late 1990s and early 2000s was an international craze, and I was part of it. There were movies, shows, games, spin-off games, toys, cards, posters, and so on.
Twenty-three years later, I am working at a store at Christmastime, and we sell Pokemon cards, and some packs come with a toy. It might not be as much of a craze as it was in the late 90s, but Pokemon fever [that’s a corny term, sorry] is still here. We’ve had people waiting in lines outside of the store before we open, just to come in and buy the latest 25th anniversary celebration pack with the Mega Pikachu figure. We’ve had to limit the items to one per customer, and some of the customers let me know how they were at Walmart when they opened, Target when they opened, and now buying another pack from me when we opened. I’ve heard stories of people re-selling some of these packs online at 400% the original price. I’ve even heard stories of people following the delivery truck that brings the cards to these stores, following the guy as he leaves the store, trying to get more packs.
This holiday season has me thinking about collectibles, consumerism, and Christmas.
When I was a kid, I mostly liked Pokemon because Charizard and some of the other Pokemon looked cool. Looking back now, I see that the entire world of Pokemon was explicitly founded on the concept of collection. It started with 151 Pokemon, and the slogan was “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” Just think about that phrase for a second. It’s close to saying “You must collect everything.” Collect. That is the purpose. The point of Pokemon is to collect. In the very first game, Professor Oak tells you to collect all the Pokemon.
And what’s ironic about this emphasis on collection is that Game Freak designed the game such that it was actually impossible to catch ‘em all. In order to complete your collection, you had to have access to another GameBoy, the opposite version of the game, and a link cable. “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” except you can’t unless you buy extra shit. It was, of course, deliberate, in order to sell two copies of the same game, essentially.
Pokemon has been profiting off the concept of collectibles since its inception, and it is a never-ending phenomenon that desperately tries to convince you to buy every single fucking thing they release. What makes something a “collectible” anyway? I mean, if the Pokemon company released a plastic figurine of Mewtwo and called it a collectible, does that make it so? That seems to be the case with the customers I’ve seen, desperate for the latest release of the 25th anniversary celebrations Pikachu collectible edition pack or whatever
And I’m not out here trying to say that you can’t enjoy Pokemon. You can. I like Pokemon. It’s a fun game. And you can buy stuff. I want to say: beware of the idea of collectibles and the idea that buying more of them will make you fulfilled. It doesn’t. And it really is manipulative. They can just slap the collectible label on things to coax your mind into this frenzied state. I gotta have it. I gotta have it. They’re just preying on that idea. It never ends.
The worst of this collectible phenomenon are those Funko Pops. Those things are the epitome of this shitty, useless, collectible culture. They are an insult to art itself! Those soulless figures are the bane of my existence! Not really, I’m just saying that for dramatic flair, but I do honestly think they represent this mass-produced phenomenon of just making products based on a character, you like the character, so buy the product! Buy product!
I think this really does have much of its roots in the 1977 release of the film Star Wars. And I know people have been collecting things for a long time, I mean, take King Tut! The man collected a lot. But this modern capitalistic form of mass-produced collectibles as an extension of art and film and literature, that phenomenon, in my opinion, has a lot of its roots in the Star Wars franchise (in the U.S.A., at least).
Think about it! I mean, think about the most popular movies in American history before Star Wars. There’s Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, The Sound of Music, The Godfather, Jaws. And there were some fantasy or sci-fi-esque popular movies too like King Kong and The Wizard of Oz, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. What would happen with those movies? You’d go to a theatre, give them some money, watch the movie, then go home. That was it! You might talk about the movie with your friends, and see it again if you wanted. That all changed with Star Wars. The Star Wars toys, released by Kenner toy company, made so much fucking money that the toy profits were actually instrumental in funding the next two movies. Lucas went over budget and had to use his personal money from the toy sales to help fund The Empire Strikes Back.
People collected the toys, and it set a precedent. Not only did Star Wars set the tone for film franchises, it also set the template for the merchandising that surrounds the film. Blockbuster films are marketable for toys and other merchandise. Collectible stuff, as it relates to popular media.
I’m not really trying to shame you for enjoying things, but I just think that the extreme commodification of collectibles with mass media franchises (Pokemon, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel) is a waste, it’s toxic, and it’s unnecessary to enjoy those franchises, or any franchise for that matter. Buying little collectible commodities is not a good approach to being fulfilled, in my opinion. And now we’ll get into my personal experience.
My grandfather was a hoarder in his life. Maybe not as bad as you see on these TV shows, but he was definitely a hoarder. When he died, it was sad, as it is when family members die. We, his family, went through his stuff. That’s what happens when you die, your family goes through your stuff. It took so, so, so long to go through his stuff. Don’t take that as me saying that it was worse than losing a loved one. It wasn’t. But we had to go through his stuff. And after going through mounds and mounds of junk, I have a hard time believing that any of these little trinkets made him happy.
There’s just so many little, useless, bullshit, collectible things that you can buy. And, uh, well, try to stop doing it. In my opinion, it is not a fulfilling way to live, and companies are just, you know, manipulating you [and me] into thinking of something as a collectible, to buy it.
I don’t really like critiquing “consumerism” because I think it detracts from stronger criticisms of capitalism, but hey, I’m just writing a fuckin blog posts about Pokemon, I’m sure we’ll all be fine. I’ll do better next time, how bout that? How does that sound?
Lefty Forrester 