Every week, the Pokémon Trading Card Game becomes a worse place for collectors. Unless you're at a prom, it's nearly impossible to buy a sealed product. The price of a single card is rising exponentially, as is the cost (and waiting time) to get the card graded. A combination of high demand, lack of printing capabilities for current Pokemon, and scalpers has caused the problem.
The situation is said to have gotten much worse. A video recently surfaced online in which Jason “Voice of a Generation” Paige, singer of the Pokemon theme song, appears to be tricking a child out of a precious Gengar card.
The singer of the original Pokemon theme song was caught defrauding a child.
The accusations against Paige stemmed from a two-minute video posted on social media by Boostersandbangers. What starts out as a healthy interaction between two kids at a card show (where boosters and bangers who share clips are sold from a vending machine) ultimately evolves into a situation that could develop into a massive scandal, and perfectly illustrates the direction the TCG is heading.
The video begins with Booster and Banger making a deal with a pair of kids. The deal worked out in the duo's favor, and they walked away with a pile of cash and a Gengar (worth about $150) from the Japanese version of the Fossil expansion pack (Mystery of the Fossils). Then things change.
The children return to the merchant, half proud and half ashamed. “What did you trade Jason Page for?” Booster & Banger asks. “That’s a graded, signed card, but it’s not real,” says one child, while one child pulls a card out of the bag. Seeing the merchant's surprise, the boy asks, “Is that bad or good?”
The card in question is a custom design (see fake) featuring pictures of a robot, Pikachu, and Charizard, with Page's autograph scrawled across the front. The card appears to be an advertisement for a rating company.
In the video, one of the kids says Paige tells them it's a one-for-one and “it'll be a better deal for us,” to which Bricksandboosters responds, “He's a scammer.” Paige sells similar signed personalized cards on her website for £38 ($51), about $100 less than Gengar's price.
Although unconfirmed, the video sparked significant backlash from the Pokémon trading card game community. Dozens of videos and posts have surfaced online, with collectors particularly upset that this happened to such a young child.
TheGamer has reached out to Paige's team for comment but has not yet received a response. We will update this post as soon as we hear any news.
- original release date
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October 20, 1996
- number of players
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2
- Age Recommendations
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6+
- length per game
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variable
- franchise name
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pokemon
