The exclusive product was gone in minutes.

It’s no secret that Pokémon merchandise is incredibly popular with fans, both in Japan and around the world. Following the arrival of Pokémon Centers around the country, exclusive limited-edition releases have become hot commodities, and locals have no problem with queuing up in front of stores to buy products up in bulk, despite the immense criticism they receive online.

Now with Pokémon’s Sun and Moon games and anime TV series just released, fans are looking forward to more new merchandise appearing on shelves, but if yesterday’s exclusive release is anything to go by, they might have to push, shove, and elbow their way to it. These crowded scenes below come courtesy of a customer at the Nagoya Pokémon Center branch, and show just what happens when one of Sun and Moon‘s new characters makes an appearance on a limited-edition product.

https://twitter.com/yamatonadeshi20/status/807031313488171008

The character at the centre of the crush was the blonde-haired girl, Lillie, and the product being sold was a Pokémon Center-exclusive “deck shield”, a sleeve used to hold game cards. While it’s not out of the ordinary to see fans going crazy for such a unique item, when it’s resellers buying in bulk like these people were, you can expect to see a barrage of criticism from fans online.

▼ These bags filled with Lillie deck shields is just one customer’s haul.

https://twitter.com/pomupo_/status/807061404544954368

According to this Twitter user, the resellers had no regard for any of the merchandise, stepping all over the goods as they fell onto the floor.

https://twitter.com/allmaity9/status/807035184042283008

This Twitter user was also appalled by the behaviour of the bulk buyers.

https://twitter.com/_monapoke/status/807102400162996225

▼ In three minutes, all the Lilie sleeves had gone.

https://twitter.com/yu_3_855/status/807029506137427968

The result of this excessive buying soon became apparent on online market sites like Yahoo Auctions, where hundreds of Lillie deck shields began appearing, selling for up to 3,600 yen (US$31.21), which is way more then the 720 yen retail price they sold for in-store.

With so many fans eager to own an exclusive Lillie product like this, it’s surprising that Pokémon Centers have yet to impose a limit to the amount that customers can purchase at a time, as other stores often do. If nothing changes in future, we hate to think what scenes of chaos we’ll end up seeing, and how high prices will skyrocket once the glamorous Lusamine appears on an exclusive item.

Source: Hachima Kikou
Featured image: Twitter/@yamatonadeshi20