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The Super Banter Bros.
The Super Banter Bros. Ep 19 Scalpers No Scalping
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On this week's episode, The Super Banter Bros. talk about scalpers and how they make enjoying fandoms significantly more difficult than it needs to be. Lorcana, Lego, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokémon all get mentioned here.
Has YOUR fandom been impacted by the scalping scurge?
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Hey there. It is I, Senor Donut, and with me, as always, is Mr. Grant Patricio. Hello there. Hello, dear viewer, dear listener. We don't usually open with such a cold and undramatic opening. But I feel with the topic that we're talking about today, we need to take it a little bit more serious of a tone with it. Because today we're talking about the worst bottom feeding scum that exists in geek culture today. But before we get to that, Grant, what have you been playing this uh time around?
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, um, I'm still kind of on my Pokemon kick. Um, on stream, it's been uh mostly Pokopia doing a bunch of fun builds, um, and then off-stream, and a little bit on stream, I've supposed. I've been playing Pokemon Champions and Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness for the first time. And I gotta tell you, playing through two different core fundamental rule sets of Pokemon, and I don't just mean singles and doubles in terms of battling, I mean what counts as a physical attack or a special attack levels of fundamental is i it's a good brain workout, but that's really it for me. Um, what about you, Donut? What have you been playing?
SPEAKER_02Well, I have also been playing Pokemon Champions, and uh I'm not I'm not like as competitive as say someone like you would be. I'm just a casual player um that has gone up to uh Pokeball level rank tier number one.
SPEAKER_00Ooh, swanky.
SPEAKER_02I have no idea what's above that rank at all, but I'm sure you do.
SPEAKER_00Well, um, just look at it like you look at your standard issue list of pokeballs. Pokeball is the you know, standard catch rate, great ball is the one after that, ultra is the one after that. I'm sure there's a master ball tier, and then there's something oft oft elus oft talked about uh it by the highest level players, which are mere allusions to the likes of us, not very competitive types, the champions tier, which is where the highest of the high level go to duke it out for actual spots in actual championships based on their rank, supposedly. Um all we know is that champions is going to be the game that Pokemon go uses for tournaments going forward, um, instead of just having players bring their like RPG games to tournaments. It's all gonna be done in champions now.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_02Wow. I uh I didn't even know that they had like actual Pokemon tournaments. Like I thought it was just the trading card game.
SPEAKER_00Oh, um, at the Pokemon World Championships, there's trading card game, there's Pokemon Go, there's uh the How do you make Pokemon Go a competitive game? There are there are elements which you can battle other trainers in Pokemon Go.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I yep. I didn't know that. I thought it was just capturing and raiding or something.
SPEAKER_00It's captures, it's raids, it's Team Rocket's plot in the real world slash through the game, and um battling other people.
SPEAKER_02Man, I haven't played that game in so long that they've added so many new things and mechanics to it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, I've I dabble into the game every once in a while, but uh there are still so many things I miss that when I decide to turn on the game, it looks like a whole new game. And I'm like, when the heck did all of this happen?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Wow. Uh maybe I should hop back into it and see what's up with it. It's been uh it's been a long time.
SPEAKER_00Go for a little walk with the mini donut. Have him catch some Pokemon.
SPEAKER_02That you know what, that sounds like a good idea. I think he might like that. Because he uh he enjoys the um Pikmin Go uh game that they have out there, and that game is very different.
SPEAKER_00Made by the same people, though, I think.
SPEAKER_02I believe so, yeah. Neantic is the uh company that helped produce that game. Um but yeah, I've been just kind of playing off-stream a lot. I haven't done too much on stream besides the standard uh games that I play. I did I did play some retro games from the NSO on uh my last stream and found out that um I really suck at Super Punch Out now that I'm older. Um and also uh really suck at uh Kirby's uh Superstar Ultra. Um and found out that I haven't really beaten it ever. I've played it, but I've never beaten it. Uh and then I found out that I've never really played Super Metroid either. Like so I've the NSO has been a great way to kind of play games that I never had a chance to play because A, I couldn't afford them when I was a kid, and you know, B, parents wouldn't buy them either. So I'm playing these games that I've never played before and having a ball playing them. And because I get to rewind them when I F up, I can you know come back to it and uh not lose. Um it makes it more affordable. It does, but it feels it feels like cheating. Like I have my my inner child screaming at me, Come on, old man, get better, get good, what are you doing? Rewinding, you know.
SPEAKER_00Um but then you have to tell that inner child, this is what people your age would be doing today because they have the option, and sadly you didn't. So it's one of those it's one of those internal conflicts where it's like, does my gamer pride win out, or do I allow my allow myself to experience the thing as an adult using adult era conveniences? And unless it I have found unless it is Sonic or Kingdom Hearts, I allow myself the conveniences.
SPEAKER_02Do you think every game should have that convenience baked into it?
SPEAKER_00I mean this could be another topic for another day. We've got a much more sinister topic ahead for today. Um but as far as brief can uh briefly adjusting uh uh addressing that, if it makes sense for the game's design, any measure of accessibility or convenience that can be added, it would be nice to have. But there are some games that might not warrant the design choice. And if they don't warrant the design choice, uh then maybe not. It might just be a get good-ish situation.
SPEAKER_02Well, you just kind of brought up the thing that I was thinking about accessibility. Like, not not all games have great accessibility options, some have amazing ones, and these accessibility options are so that all gamers can partake of this game and enjoy it the way that it was meant to be enjoyed, right? Whether you have uh, you know, hearing impairment or visual impairment or motor skill impairment or whatever, these accessibility features are there for all players so that they can play a game uh in the way that it was intended to be played, or in a modified way that would allow you to enjoy the game and its subsequent story.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02Do you think that a rewind feature would be a kind of accessibility feature for those that cannot get good, as you so said?
SPEAKER_00I believe so. I believe so. And it's it's for the reason you said to be able to enjoy the game as originally intended, to be able to give yourself either another chance to redo in the moment, or by factoring in something that we happen to have talked about on our last episode. Go watch that if you haven't already. Um save states. Being able to being able to uh just put yourself in like save the game right before the troublesome area, just to be like, oh right, I had trouble with this. Let me refoc let me um let me recalibrate why I had trouble. Or now that I've had a break from it, maybe I can solve the problem, maybe I can beat the boss instead of having to take the entire dungeon over again or the entire stage over again to you know not put yourself through that level of extra potential frustration if you manage to get there. Uh, some and this is why I say with the exceptions of Sonic and Kingdom Hearts, I would appreciate those features. For me, learning the gameplay loop is part of the fun of Sonic and Kingdom Hearts. So I don't necessarily mind learning the gameplay loop of those games, thus having to restart a boss or play through a couple of zones to get to the final boss again. Because I get to learn the gameplay loop and that part's fun. If that's not fun for you, then yeah, having a rewind, having the save states to get you to enjoy the story or more power-ups or things like that. I think when able to be implemented, can and should be from an accessibility angle. But I do also understand where developers are coming from where it's like, hey, not necessarily wanting to go that far for the sake of feeling like the story may be cheapened somehow. So it's it's something for the developers to toy with, but the more players on your game, the better. And if you can make it more accessible, if you can make it more accessible without detracting from the core function and purpose, that's do that, yes.
SPEAKER_02I I think it should be baked into every game, honestly. Like every game should have the option for it, right? So that way, you know, people that need it can have it there. And like you said, the frustration, the uh level of stress that it would put on someone's heart that maybe has a weak heart and can't deal with stress or whatever, you know. I think it would be a fantastic addition to any game as an option.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02Um, and I think that uh the stigmata behind it should be, you know, taken away. Because as streamers, I'm sure we get trolls in our chat or whatever that you know say, oh, you're you need to get good or whatever, or oh, you're cheating by rewinding it or whatever. And it's like, I mean, no, I'm I'm trying to enjoy this game and I'm trying to beat it. And does that cheapen the experience for you know myself? I mean, maybe, but I'm enjoying this game a lot more because of it, you know? Yeah. So I hear you. I I I think it should be there. I think it should be caked into baked into every cake, uh, as they say.
SPEAKER_00Um but that's first time first time I've heard it about games, but you're you're you're you're a donut, so baking into cakes makes more sense for you.
SPEAKER_02Yes, even though we fry our donuts. Uh, but that being said, um we are not talking about things like that today. What we're talking about today is what some would consider a blight on uh geekdom, what some would consider a cancer uh to uh just being a fan of something in general, whether it's a sporting event, a concert, um shoes, or even comic books, or even packs of shiny, tiny cardboard pieces of paper.
SPEAKER_00Something you and I are both very familiar with.
SPEAKER_02So what are we talking about today, Grant? We're talking about scalpers. Bum bum bum blah blah blah blah blah la la la la la la la la la very nice. Thank you. So scalpers have been um have been around since uh you know sporting events sold out in the past. They they that's what they usually that's how they started out. They would be outside of a venue going, hey, I got these tickets, you know, I'll give you these tickets for a lower price uh than than you would get them on inside. Uh, and they would be, they would be fake tickets or whatever. And then they started, you know, actually buying legit tickets, but because the tickets were in such high demand, you would buy these tickets at a much higher price uh than you would have if you had acted on it sooner or been able to get them in the first place. It used to be a physical thing where somebody would have to go and buy a product physically or a ticket physically, and then they would resell it physically somewhere. But as time evolved and marched forward and we got the use of the internet, this turned into an online thing where somebody would buy up as much of a product that was in high demand as possible and try to flip it so that they can make money off of some poor bloke uh or whoever managed to buy a product at a much higher rate than they would have. Um both you and I have you know seen the effects of it on the prices of stuff. Uh, because, like you said, we're both into, you know, those shiny cardboard, uh, thin pieces of cardboard that are out there on the market. But because I mean, myself, I am more into the uh Disney TCG Lorcana than uh into Pokemon or Magic the Gathering, these uh have been seen more in that field. And now that uh the one piece trading card game is a thing, that is also uh being bought up by scalpers uh in order to flip them and make a profit. Now, you can look at it in one of two ways. You can be like, well, this person is making money, they're trying to feed their families or whatever by using this shady ass tactic, you know, because nowadays it's shady because it's not done in person, everything is purchased online uh through the use of bots in order to get as many or as much of a product as possible so that they can sell it at whatever price that they wanted to sell it at. Um personally been affected by anything like that, Grant?
SPEAKER_00Um, to my knowledge, thankfully, no. Um, but that is simply because, and to you know, to elaborate on your point a little bit, um, scalpers do also try to get their product or their inventory in person, depending on the product or the launch. Uh, and I say this in terms of like um new booster set releases for Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! One piece, sometimes for video games or certain um I I I think there was a a midnight drop for a Sonic related something that I got myself in on. Um actually, no, wait. I haven't. I didn't do this. I was almost faced with this, but I didn't do this because my sit my chosen sister Sam, uh, shout outs to you, sis, um, was able to get in line with somebody and make sure that I got a set of the secret drop Sonic the Hedgehog Magic the Gathering character cards. Ooh. If I had not gotten Sam to get me a set while in that line, if I really wanted those cards, I would probably be paying scalper prices right now because they would have used the bots to buy up all the cards and then resell them for inflated prices, um, even to the point where reputable sites like TCG Player would have to use the inflated prices if the scalper storefronts are linked with them and they somehow don't know it and all that stuff. I don't know the back ends very much because all I know is if I see a thing that fits my vibe, brand, aesthetic, it hits the inner nostalgia or inner child, and if I can find it then and there, I usually just grab it. And for me, like doing a lot of the getting stuff on the like having to go to things on the day and wait in website cues is more for like uh in physical experiences, more like the concert tickets or Disneyland Pride Night, that sort of thing. It's an event with an item that I can't necessarily replicate for more the experience than the physical thing. Uh the Sonic the Magic The Sonic the Magic the Gathering Card story was the closest one I had, but then Sam revealed she was doing it for me, she got in line first, got the set, and I'm like, Gorge like sis, and that's pretty much where it ended.
SPEAKER_02I've never heard of it happening for a video game. Um, but I'm sure that there has been uh times for that. Um I more remember it with video game consoles, like yeah, the launch of the you know, PS4, PS5, the Switch 2.
SPEAKER_00Oh god, PS5 and Switch 2 were definitely heavy on scalpers.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they it was uh so much to the point that you know regular people like yourself, myself, uh had a very difficult time finding the console at the uh MSRP, right? We had to buy uh consoles at higher prices or whatever because of that. Thankfully, myself and yourself, we bought our stuff uh without having to go through that. Um but it was it was big, it was in the news and everything. There are even more things that have been in the news, uh, you know, even more so recently. The scalpers that I want to focus on today specifically uh are the card scalpers, because there are scalpers for you know any and everything. Like I said, uh sports events, uh concert tickets, um game consoles. We just brought that up.
SPEAKER_00Laboo Boo that that that that online trend, Laboo Boo has a huge counterfeit market with scalpers and the whole bit.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you know, it goes from scalping and then to counterfeiting anything that could be made a profit of, uh, you will find a scalper trying to sell it. And most of the time it is, you know, uh people that have the ability of bots to bypass online ordering queues and end up with 70% or more of the actual product before a person that was, you know, a fan that was just looking to get one or whatever, uh, is able to buy them. And it's it makes me upset that, you know, there are people that are you know taking the experience away from a fan. Like a lot of these Pokemon cards, uh it's a children's card game. You know, kids love these Pokemon and they want to be able to collect them just like they are in the game and to be able to play them and share them and trade and do all this other stuff with them. They're not interested in the you know, uh high value of these cards.
SPEAKER_00They don't want the pristine collector's value that the scalpers kill them for. They're not they're not like that. They're they're fans. They want to be like you said, they want to be able to trade their Pikachu IRL somehow with somebody for their Electabuzz IRL somehow. Uh it it just and it grinds my gears if I'm a microphone for a second. Of course, please, soapbox. It it it grinds my gears the lengths that people will go to to try to effectively scam, which is what scalpers are at the end of the day, they are some form of scammer. It it the crazy lengths they'll go to scam a business or a fan or anybody just for a quick profit on a thing that they know either they want or they know that will be in high demand just generally. Like I saw a video online where some dude was scalping Lego sets. Replacing like and then you know getting the sizes of the bags that the label that the Legos were in, filling it with that exact number of bags of dried pasta noodles because it replicated the sounds of Legos when you shook the box, meaning you would have to open the box to verify. Right? And you can't exactly open a box if you want a customer to return it unopened. I mean, you can and all that, but then you would have to reseal it. It wouldn't be able, it would count as used and all of those other potential pieces of rigmarole. But I saw online dude scamming people out of Legos and then getting full refunds for the Lego sets by selling these re by returning these Lego sets filled with pasta doodles instead of the actual Lego pieces.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's that's wild to me. This guy not only scammed the you know corporation, which you know, fuck the corporation, yeah, whatever. Fuck those guys, but he would have all of these pieces, individual pieces, bagged up pieces of these Lego sets, and be able to sell them off and not only scam the money, get the money back from the place, the retailer that he bought them from, but also be able to get money in from the pieces that he sold online. So this guy was making uh money uh just off of this this whole thing. Like, crime is crime, and you are robbing an experience away from someone, like this, these Lego sets, they could have been a gift for somebody at a birthday party or a Christmas present, somebody who was really excited about it, and then they opened the box to find macaroni noodles instead of Lego pieces. What a horrible experience that would have been. And then you, as the parent, has to go back to the retailer and be like, hey, I opened this box that was sealed and there were no Legos inside. There were macaroni noodles. Now you have to go through the whole process of like, I did not scam this person. I'm not trying to scam you. This is what happened, right? And you're the one that's getting weird looks from other people, like in line or whatever. You're the one that they are uh assuming did this crime, and you're just like, no, this is what happened, you know? It makes you want to like almost open everything and you know, capture yourself on video so that way you know that uh you didn't do it and you have proof of it, which is such a wild concept to me. I have to videotape myself opening every single thing uh that you know that I have because of scalpers and scammers, you know, it's it's wild. And the thing that really grinds my gears about it is now as a parent, I have to worry about that. But also, if I really want something now, something that brings me joy in this horrible dark world, I have to worry about people buying it up and then reselling it for you know exorbitant amount of money that I don't have. So I miss out on the experience of you know putting a Lego set together with my kiddo or uh, you know, putting a Lego set together for myself because I like putting Lego sets together. So yeah, it's just uh the whole experience just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And, you know, you you come back and say, oh, well, that's that's the uh that's the fault of capitalism. You know, capitalism is what drives people to do these kind of things or whatever. Uh, and oh, they're not hurting, you know, fuck corporations. They're they're not hurting people, they're hurting corporations. No, they're they're hurting people by doing this because they're taking that experience away from fans. Like people used to wait in line together for launches of things and be super excited about the thing that they were standing in line for for midnight releases or whatever, or finding actual communities as much as that word and I have a very difficult relationship, they would find communities at these concert-ticketed events, standing in line to pick up the tickets or at the at the merch booth.
SPEAKER_00They would find communities at these midnight game launches for a new console. They'd chat with each other and say, Oh, what games are you gonna get? What made you choose this system? What other systems do you have? They would find connection there and make possibly lifelong or longtime friends. But because scalpers and scammers and thieves and generally other people who don't want the innocent fan to have nice things decide to get in, get involved, and step in, that's what's hurting the average person. Yeah, sticking it to corporate America, they need it stuck to them. What else is new? But should the enjoyment of people be sacrificed for a quick buck or a quick promo opportunity? Personally, I don't think so. Like, there should be a way, and as despite how great technology is, they nobody could figure this out. There should be a way for those who want to enjoy the nice thing to be able to enjoy the nice thing without that kind of worry. Like, we've got enough going on in the world to be hyper vigilant about as it is. Why is the PlayStation 7, when that comes out in 40 years, um, soon to be one of those things?
SPEAKER_02Why 40 years, granted?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I'm just making up numbers here, but you get the point. Um, I had Mega Man in my head in the year 20xx for some reason, and I just applied that logic to the PlayStation. Oh, I know why. It's Kingdom Hearts. It's been how long since we got Kingdom Hearts 4 news? Feels like that's gonna come out in 20xx 40 years. That's probably why I said it. Anyway, um, all that time alone.
SPEAKER_02Never dropping Kingdom Hearts, never dropping Kingdom Hearts.
SPEAKER_00Are you kidding me? Of course not. Like, I got as soon as Winnie the Pooh and Cloud Strife could be in the same game, I was sold. Anyway, um, like all of this to just to just to go back and say, like, we shouldn't have to worry when the next console comes out if we can afford it and we want it to be able to get it without scalpers ruining the whole experience. We shouldn't have to worry about the new promotional Lego sets being replaced with macaroni noodles because they happen to be in the shape of Winnie the Pooh or the starter Pokemon. Like it I don't understand why, like making money, feeding families. I get it, that's their rationale. Doesn't make it not a crime, doesn't make it not hurting somebody. It just I don't understand why scalping and scamming became such a viable option. And I don't like that it is and I wish that it wasn't.
SPEAKER_02It's because people will buy it. People with disposable income will buy it, and they will buy it at high prices. That's the thing, that's the reality of it. As long as people buy up these uh scalped goods, they will continue to be scalped. Nothing makes me happier than seeing a scalper lose money on purchases that they've made. When I see somebody that has like 50 Switch 2s that uh are no longer rare because Nintendo decided to pop out more, makes me so happy on the inside because they bought all of these things expecting to make a profit, but then a company comes out and says, Oh, hey, that was uh that was a limited release window for this, but guess what? We have more on the way. So now they have to race to sell their product before they can't make a profit anymore, you know?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but people will continue to buy these commodities because they are those commodities, they are fans of that brand. Like uh shoes are a big thing. Like people get limited edition drops of Nikes or Yeezys or whatever other shoes are out there on the market, and they have uh they have cons like for sneakerheads, people that go to cons and they sell shoes and buy shoes. Um, and it's it's all to make money because someone is out there that is looking to buy a limited edition drop of something, whether it is uh you know, cards or shoes, uh, or not many, not many experiences uh are up there, but most of the things that that I'm specifically referring to are items, commodities that uh that you would go out of your way to find. Those limited edition drops of things like the secret lair, uh Magic the Gathering crossovers that they have, right? Those are things that you know they don't make a lot of. And because retailers don't make a lot of something and it becomes rare, that's when scalpers come in and decide that they want to take a chance and buy all of the product that they can up, only to sell it at a high markup. People will buy, and because people will buy, it will continue to happen. And retailers have gotten around it in certain ways. Um, you know, you have for example, the Nintendo Switch 2 launch when Nintendo was officially selling their Nintendo Switch 2. You had to have a Nintendo account, and it had to have been active for more than a few months or whatever.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_02So when they released the news on this, it made it more difficult for scalpers to buy their switches directly from Nintendo. For retailers, it was you know, it was different, and retailers have their own kind of online portals or whatever programs to stop scalping uh from happening, but it's still it still happens. Exactly. There are like just looking up the term scalper, I found YouTube videos on you know the five best ways to start scalping or make a profit or whatever.
SPEAKER_00Like it's you, scalpers are making tutorials now? Yeah, disgusting.
SPEAKER_02It's a thing, brother. People are making this up because it is a lucrative side hustle that people could do because they don't have to be present for it, they program a bot to do it for them, and then they go out and start selling their stuff at a high markup. That's the thing. When when you don't get the chance to buy something that becomes a hot commodity, and you feel that FOMO hit hard, and you try to buy anything that is uh at retail value, you'll you'll say, Oh, hey, this isn't that bad of a markup. It's like 10 bucks. I'll I'll buy it, right? But because you buy it, the next one is like, oh, this person's buying it for this much. You know what? I'm gonna increase my price just a little bit. So now that 10 becomes 20, that 20 becomes 50, and it keeps on going up if it keeps on getting bought.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Supply and demand, we were taught about it in high school, and uh people twisted it to be be this horrible thing that takes the experience away from true fans.
SPEAKER_00In a very dark and twisted sense of the word, they got creative with it, but they decided to use that creative power for evil. And um to quote Sonic the Hedgehog here, that's no good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know why they would do that, but yeah, the thing that's the thing that's wild to me is how these like okay, so a fan buying a cart full of things or of items, like when it comes to trading card games, it's a very low chance of you pulling an amazing card in a stack of packs or whatever, yeah. Right? It's you have very low odds of pulling anything great uh that you can either A, use in a deck that you've built, or B sell so that you can buy more packs in the future, right? It's very rare to get that. But when a fan buys, you know, a box of cards or something, then that's them buying it because they want to either create a master set or they want to uh get a good card or be able to get a collectible card to save, to grade, whatever, right? But then you have the scalpers that go in and they buy up as much of the product as they can slash want to, right? Because they're not looking to open it, they're looking to resell it. They're looking not to find a high card, they don't care whatever's in there could be more valuable than what they purchased. They don't care about that. All they care is about that illusion of having something in it that is rare. So you'll see these resellers go on to uh, you know, websites like eBay or other uh sites of that nature, and they'll say, We weighed this product and it weighs this much. Because sometimes the cards that are really expensive, they weigh slightly more than the normal card. I'm talking about you know, milligrams difference between card sets. So if somebody weighs a pack and says it's this much weight, then that means that there might be a better likelihood that you get a really good card in there. And they will mark up the price of a single pack so that you buy that pack because you think that there might be something in it, when in reality there might not be something in it. But it's just that markup, the illusion of what you might get uh being greater than what you spend on it, because you might get a better card in there that could make up for what you paid for it. And that's not a super likely thing that happens either. It's just that concept of, hey, I'm buying this not because I'm a fan, I'm buying this so that I can make money off of it. And the thing that really disturbs me is the trend of just the worst of humanity that you could ever imagine. I read a story about someone who, and it could have been a fan, it could have been a scalper, I have no idea. If if I see someone with a literal Costco cart just full of Pokemon cards, that to me screams scalper. Yeah. Right. This person, because I don't know if they were a scalper or not, I didn't, you know, see, I wasn't there firsthand. All I saw was the aftermath, which was somebody had gotten hit by a car, right, as they were leaving the Costco with this, you know, shopping cart full of Pokemon cards. So they go flying, the cart goes flying, all of the product scatters everywhere. Instead of checking on the person to see if they were okay, people rushed the Pokemon cards. The worst of humanity is showcased within that scalper community group. And it's it makes me so sad and angry when I see humanity go to that level. And I don't know, man, like in the past, when I have purchased something, I've thought, hmm, maybe I can hold on to it and sell it, right? Yeah, but I've never went into something buying like 50 of an item and being like, I'm gonna resell this for value or whatever. Yeah, I'm the same way. It's it's fine if you hold on to an item because it might, you know, appreciate in value, but like hoarding content to sell immediately or whatever to make bucks, that's I don't know, man, that rubs me the wrong way on so many different levels. And the channel, because they have channels for this apparently, where unfortunately that doesn't surprise me anymore. Where you see the worst of humanity in these uh in these kind of situations, right? Where adults are fighting over children's card games, throwing fists, throwing elbows. Just I don't know, man. Like it it gives the whole community, like the whole Pokemon community a bad name when these people go out there and they're wild and out doing crazy things like that. The channel that I saw that video right over a children's card game. Um it just it gives me the worst feeling uh when I see humanity sink to that level. Um, and of course, there are other things that humanity is sung to that have been horrible atrocities against humankind. Um, but that was for like, you know, war and stuff, like the atrocities that are committed in war on the daily nowadays.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02But then you have a children's card game that is inciting such violence and stupidity, and it just makes you ashamed to be even grouped in that that uh that that same discussion.
SPEAKER_00To extrapolate on that, like it's why can't people love the things or other people or hobbies or anything? Why can't people love what we love without some sort of ne'er do wells, I'm going to call them, acting in such acting in such deplorable ways? Like it's like I said a little while ago. Why can't the average Joe Schmo who's a fan of something, who wants to go to an experience, why can't we have nice things? Why can't the Joe Schmoe who just wants something special? Why are we not allowed to enjoy that something special without witnessing the worst of human some of the worst of humanity, being ashamed for wanting to even enjoy the thing or having to be duped into it? Like for so much of the world now, not just collectibles, but for experiences for literally for restaurants sometimes. Like it's not the same type of scalping or whatever, but regular, like the Joe Schmoes can't enjoy those things without all these other caveats, without either having to know someone to get in or knowing to make a reservation six months in advance or knowing that you're gonna have to deal with scalpers getting back to the material stuff. Like why can't it just be a way where humans have a little bit more integrity and realize, oh hey, I'm meant to have this thing if I follow this process? Let me follow this process. Why just because there is a system to game doesn't mean necessarily there are some systems that deserve to be gamed. Yes, I am not saying don't game any system. But why do people lack the judgment to understand what systems need to be gamed and what systems just need to be left alone? Like drives me crazy why people just don't want others to have nice things. And yes, simple root is they want the nice things, but why can't we all have the nice things?
SPEAKER_02Why is it just gotta be this corporations are making money? The end goal is making money, greed is the reason that this is happening, corporations. Don't give a shit about their product going out to their fans. As long as it's leaves their shelves, they get the money that they are getting. They're not seeing the markup on it. They're not seeing that profit. They are getting the normal standard price that is already marked up, right? On their front. So they're making their money regardless of who buys the product. So I used to work for a very large retail chain that had a store on Fifth Avenue, a nationwide, right, store. And during one of the products launches, they've had a lot of different launches in the past. Um, but during one of their newest product launches, there were a lot of resellers that were in line waiting during the coldest months of the year for this product. A lot of them were old Asian immigrants who didn't speak any English at all. And were probably hired by um, you know, who knows who? The mob, the mafia, uh, the triad, the yakuza, I don't know, whatever. Some some kind of criminal organization probably had hired them in order to stand in line and wait every day for this product to come in. Like I said, they spoke very little to no English. They would come in groups and line up all night. Whenever I saw these people, I would be so, so saddened because of the experience that they are having, having to go to this these type of lengths to be able to make money. Like, these people weren't the end product people, they weren't the ones that were buying these things for themselves, they weren't even buying them to resell them themselves. They were buying them so that they can give this product over to whoever hired them in the first place. And it sucked because a lot of times I saw I saw my grandma or my grandpa um in these old immigrants because you know they were being taken advantage of. I I had had enough of it. And I, you know, I sent an email to my store manager, I sent an email to the whole store, basically, you know, stating what I felt was horrible treatment of these people that were waiting outside. Like, this is wrong. We shouldn't have these people waiting outside in the cold. Is there a way that we can have them inside or maybe have them come in in like, you know, shifts? Like, hey, these people are waiting. Let's bring them in for a little bit to warm up and then they can go back outside or whatever. I don't know. I'm not I'm not a genius when it comes to you know coming up with strategies or whatever. Right. But I wrote this message in good faith with the best of intentions because I felt bad for these people. And my ass was called into the HR office, and I was told that I did things incorrectly, because I sent it out to the whole store, because I sent it out to the store manager, the store leader, instead of my direct manager, and that I was now basically on probation, and that I could be fired for what I did.
SPEAKER_00That was a firable offense?
SPEAKER_02Yes, apparently so. But they told me that they would need to talk to like HR would need to talk to Corporate about what had happened and that they would get back to me on it. So I don't remember the exact time frame, but three to six months sounds about right, where I was worried that I was gonna lose the job that I had just gotten uh months previous. I had the sword of Damocles literally hanging over my head with this new job that I thought I was really good at. And this company basically put me on a you know, on a list to see if I had any other things come up that could be firable. So because I cared about people, which this company said, you know, they did too, which this company said they did too. Exactly. It was it was part of their mantra for the longest time. Our soul is our people, right? That's what their mantra was, one of their mantras, one of their many mantras. And because of that, because I cared enough to say something about it, they scared me into putting me in a position where I was terrified I'd lose my job.
SPEAKER_00All because you actually cared about people, exactly.
SPEAKER_02These resellers that were waiting in line, they whatever story that they had behind, nobody knew, nobody knew the story. For all I know, everything that I've said to this point is just hearsay, uh, and you know, just fantasy. All I know is that when I went outside to check on the queue, because they kept people uh, because this was a 24-hour store, they kept us employees. Uh, some of us would have shifts outside to make sure that people were doing okay in the queue. Not doing okay, but I guess keeping the they they would call us uh, you know, queue leads or whatever. So we would go out and we would look and make sure that ever that nobody was skipping the queue or cutting or whatever. We would have hour shifts out there to make sure that, you know, people were following the rules to be in the queue or whatever. Because I saw poor huddled masses and was concerned about them, and thought that we as a company could do better, and thought that if I wrote uh an open letter to everybody, that we could all as a unit come up with a better way to make sure that these people were okay. Because of that, I was threatened with losing my job. And these corporations, they don't care about people. They don't care about them. All that they care about is lining up their fat fucking wallets. They don't care who the end user is. And I I hope that there are other companies out there that truly believe that and do right by their customers. But it's really hard.
SPEAKER_00It really is just profit-driven, like you said.
SPEAKER_02It is. It is. Did you know that there were also people, not these people that were buying product, but did you know that there were also people that were waiting in line and selling their spot in line as well? That's insane. That's insane. This product when it launched was really, really hot. Super hot. And anybody that could be caught buying a product, you would see them on the news. Because there were news crews almost every day that were checking in on this shop and seeing what the big hubbub was about. So when we technically uh, you know, had the day crew come in for their shifts, the night crew would be out clapping and smiling for the cameras for the people that were in line first. Because they got to go downstairs, they got to buy their product, they got to come out with big ovations and cameras and lights on them as they came out being the first person to own said product. That made headlines. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's about the headlines, and it's about the pocket lines, it's the profit lines. It's all about making sure you you exceed the lines you put down for yourself, which or the corporations did, which uh drives me so it's gotten me so flustered that I can hardly words.
SPEAKER_02That's what it is. Greed will always be the driving force behind why these scalpers are out there. It's not just the corporate greed because the corporations don't care who they sell their product to. They'll sell it to whoever, and when once it's sold, they don't care what happens to it. Unless it's part of some lawsuit where somebody gets hurt or damaged by it.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. I'm sorry to bring you down with all of this, Grant.
SPEAKER_00Not every episode uh can be Brighton chipper and all that, but we had to get this off our chests. It's geek culture. It hits geek culture among the hardest, if not the hardest, where scalping happens. So not everyone can be, not every episode could be one where I crack jokes.
SPEAKER_02They don't give a flying fuck. Regardless of who gets the product. That want the end user experience to be a great one and memorable, that want that Nintendo 64 kid to be the one that is, you know, saying, look at how happy this kid is because he's got the product. To be that little baby Grant holding his Sonic the Hedgehog plushie and holding up his Sega Genesis.
SPEAKER_00That's the way it needs to be.
SPEAKER_02That's the way I wish it were, too, my friend. But with the way things are, man, very limited, very limited amounts of people will have that same kind of experience because of the scalpers, because of the markup. And because we want our kids to be happy, or we want to be happy, we will buy those things, even at the markup.
SPEAKER_00We either have to play the game or miss our chance. And that's my god, that's depressing. Like it, it's depending on the context, that could be you know a much more uplifting message. But here, that's that's just depressing.
SPEAKER_02So sorry to depress you, dear viewerslash listener, but uh we had to get the we had to get this off our chests.
SPEAKER_00We did. And yes, as as as two nerdy um millennials, as two nerdy millennials who grew up with video games, who grew up with a lot of the trading card games as they were starting out, a lot of the popular ones, this meant a lot to us. And we wanted to have some of the experiences we were deprived of because of scalpers. Uh, donut you and the kiddo wanna want to have some of these experiences as the kiddo gets older and not want to have to worry about scalpers. I will too. Um, should kids enter my future. It's it just I don't know that there's even really a call to action here because it's like you said, so long as there are these folks who will buy the scalp prices, the scalpers will continue to exist. If the scalpers continue to exist, the cycle repeats into infinity. It's I don't know how to change the system, but there needs to be some sort of systemic change to like discourage scalpers to the point of them saying what's the point.
SPEAKER_02There needs to be more regulation in the market. There needs to be more release of product. Limited time, limited edition drops need to be a thing that doesn't occur. Or if it does occur, it needs to be heavily moderated so that the end user gets what they are looking for.
SPEAKER_00Right. And I think we touched on something similar for video games in a previous episode, but like the approach they're taking now for like limited time console exclusivity, in that there is the the limited time feel of it, with like uh how Final Fantasy VII Remake did its PS5 exclusive for the first year. But then the other kids will get to play. And we're upfront about it. Just don't make your choice. Um it's like, and that's something that the producer of the product already has limited, already has control over and has stated up front. So it it at least provides other ways for people to have the experience, even if it's not right up front. And that those folks will still get their right up front experience knowing that it's their time for it, if you get what I mean. Um it's just like I I thought I had words, but they just boil down to why do people have to people that way? Why? I I don't like the surface level reasons, the corporate greed, I get it. I just on a fundamental level, why does it have to be that way? That's where the I don't get it comes from. Yeah. And I wish I did, but nothing. My brain has nothing. And it sucks. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Sorry to be such a downer of an episode for you, Grant.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it it just look, we have to cover some of these things some of the time. We're we're still doing the banter. Not every episode can be one where I make off-the-cuff jokes. Not every one. So that that that's just my thoughts on the whole thing. It's just uh to paraphrase little Karibo, I have so many questions, and all of them are why. Uh, but that that must be my thoughts. Uh Dona, why why don't why don't you take it? Why don't you take us away? I I've got I've got nothing else. I've got nothing else. Why don't you take us away?
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much for joining us on this very true rant, uh, just about what we really dislike about uh some of our fandoms, all of our fandoms, honestly, is the fact that scalping exists and it's a thing, and it will continue to be a thing until corporate greed is non-existent, and people are able to uh buy their things without um without having to pay insane markups for them.
SPEAKER_00So when is that gonna happen? We'll find out next time.
SPEAKER_02We'll find out next time on the next episode of Banter Brothers Z. Sorry, uh that's not actually what's going on. Uh but yeah, uh we we hope that you enjoyed our rant this episode. Uh please uh let us know if you've had any horrible uh experiences due to scalpers out there in the comments. If you're listening to us on your favorite podcasting source, uh do engage with us on social media concerning this episode or anything else. Otherwise, I have been Superbanter Brother, senor donuts, and with me, as always, is Superbanter Brother Grant Patricio the Insanely Depressed. And we hope to see you next time when we talk about the next thing, which is something hopefully, hopefully a lot more lighthearted than this.
SPEAKER_00Good night, everybody.
SPEAKER_02Take it easy.