LEGO Pokémon pre-orders and "scalpers": don't mistake who's responsible

It's all the rage these days; everything is an excuse to blame supposed "scalpers" and other "investors" for the various and sundry shortages of the most popular products. Already very popular in the Pokémon card community, the mania for attacking those who supposedly ruin the hobby by snapping up available stock to resell at exorbitant prices has logically arrived at LEGO, accompanied by a barrage of videos, shorts, and reels explaining that "scalpers" are the ones who must be targeted and eliminated to restore the atmosphere of the large LEGO fan family and allow good little children to get their toys.

It's much simpler than that, and everyone has a role to play in this story: Without buyers, there are no scalpers. These pseudo-investors, who often fancy themselves business geniuses and want to make a quick buck off the backs of gullible clients, always portrayed as poor victims, only exist because they find these clients, who are in reality willing victims.

The real culprits behind this situation are precisely these customers, those who agree to pay two or three times more for a product than its public price because of their FOMO (Fear of missing out) and who can afford it. If there's no demand, there's simply no supply, or at least prices always end up dropping so that those who thought they could gorge themselves on the backs of the most gullible recoup their money. We saw this, for example, with the Playstation 5 upon its release.

I see people everywhere complaining about the massive resale of the promotional set. 40892 Kanto Region Badge Collection by those who made the effort to get up and pre-order the LEGO Pokémon set 72153 Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise (€649,99). Those who are complaining today could have also pre-ordered their set at €650, but they prefer to come and criticize the person who tied up this sum in order to have the guarantee of obtaining a promotional product whose resale allows him to reduce the cost of the initial set for trying to get the best price.

What is the fair price for this little box on the secondary market? The one you're willing to pay? The one you consider fair based on your budget? Or the one that capricious adult collectors are willing to pay because they can no longer live without this promotional set in their collection? Bad news: customers only decide prices when it comes to paying more and more; the age-old auction system stems directly from this principle.

In all cases, the listed prices are what the sellers hope to get, not the prices actually paid by the hypothetical customers of these resellers. Real estate agency windows are full of listings for properties that are unsellable at the listed price; otherwise, these properties would have been removed from the windows long ago. And those who spend today nearly €300 on eBay For a promotional set on "pre-sale" or nearly €1000 for a box that will be widely available in a few weeks at its normal price and that sellers don't even have in hand yet, these are the idiots who allow the so-called "scalpers" to exist and thrive. Especially since in this specific case we know that the promotional set 40892 Kanto Region Badge Collection will be available again from February 27, 2026, just like the set 72153 Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise.

So-called "scalpers" aren't sophisticated con artists; they're simply people who prey on the obvious stupidity or existential problems of their supposed victims. This phenomenon isn't new to LEGO or elsewhere, but the Pokémon universe has always been a very popular example of this trend, which many, in my opinion, analyze from the wrong perspective.

Don't target the wrong people; those who make the secondary market so powerful are the ones who spend exorbitant amounts on products that often end up being available at their regular price. As for products that are no longer available, patience often allows you to find them at a more reasonable price than the one charged immediately after their removal from the market, which creates panic among the most vulnerable. Sellers sell, customers buy—nothing new there. The market only goes haywire when the customers in question are fickle but willing buyers ready to pay any price. It's primarily them who should be blamed.