The Pokémon Company apologizes and blames "overwhelming demand" for its Van Gogh collab stock issues

The Pokémon Company says it is "actively working on ways" to restock its Pokémon x Van Gogh Museum collection after scalpers promptly cleaned out the limited edition items.

Citing "overwhelming demand", the company apologized for disappointing fans who had missed out and said it would let them know about restock options "at a later day".

"We apologize for all the fans eagerly awaiting our Pokémon Center x Van Gogh Museum release today," the company said across its social media channels.

"Due to overwhelming demand, all our products from this collection have sold out. 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.

"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. Details will be released at a later date."

Official statement regarding today from r/PokemonTCG

The statement is not enough to assuage the disappointment for some, however, not least because dozens of the free promo cards some purchasers received are already on eBay, asking hundreds of dollars for what was a pro bono item. 

"This is complete utter bullsh*t," said one particularly irate fan. "I spent 36 hours and ended up with a bunch of error codes and it telling me to remove the item. I can't f*cking stand the way this has went.

"Three different times… I had an item in my cart…

"Yesterday, the Sunflora canvas got lucky on refreshing, this morning the Eevee figure from a link on Twitter, then the moment the store opened up today. I tried like 5 times to get the pins in my cart, it refused. I ended up trying for the journal. After I start to fill out shipping information it loads me to the cart and says I need to remove OOS items to finish. I do that, go back to the store just to find nothing.

"What a sh*t show."

The Pokémon Company didn't say when it hoped to restock the promotional items, only that it would release more details "at a later date".

On the subject of card games – did you know that a Toronto retail worker sold a rare Magic: The Gathering card to musician Post Malone for $2 million?

Brook Trafton – who realized his "childhood dream" when he discovered the rare card earlier this year – parted with his prized collectable after what he'd thought was a standard meet and greet with Post Malone turned into an "unexpected" sale.

After hiring a lawyer and a public relations firm, Trafton was contacted by representatives of Post Malone who said he wanted to meet him and see the card for himself. 

"He's like: 'Yes, I will take this card'. It was so magical. I'm not going to lie. I cried a little bit. I cried a lot."

As for what's so special about this particular card? Hailing from Magic: The Gathering's Lord of the Rings set, the "One Ring" card is completely one-of-a-kind, making it one of the game's rarest finds, particularly as it was discovered in perfect mint condition, too.

Find out more about Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield's new game studio.