Pokémon’s Van Gogh collaboration turned out to be kind of a disaster
By Charles Pulliam-Moore, a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.
The horde of people that descended upon the Van Gogh Museum yesterday to snatch up as much merchandise as they could was the first sign that the Pokémon x Van Gogh collaboration might be a bit more chaotic than expected. While there was hope that all the fracas might die down and give everyone a chance to get in on the fun, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case.
Initially, it seemed like The Pokémon Company’s plan was for people to be able to easily find multiple pieces of merchandise from the special Pokémon x Van Gogh Museum collection online at the Pokémon Center, even if you couldn’t make it to the actual exhibit in Amsterdam. This afternoon, though, The Pokémon Company announced that its online store is already completely sold out — seemingly for good — despite the collaboration having only just begun a day before.
“We understand this is disappointing to many who were looking to our official email and social media channels for guidance on how and when to purchase,” the company said. “We are actively working on ways to provide more ‘Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat’ promo cards for fans shopping at Pokémon Center in the future.”
Though we reached out asking whether there might potentially be a restock down the line, The Pokémon Company did not get back by the time of publishing.
It never exactly made clear when the Pokémon x Van Gogh swag — an assortment of painting prints, tote bags, card sleeves, and a holographic promo card — would become available this week. On Friday morning, pieces from the collection began
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