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beturbecky · 3 years

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Pokémon Problem

I’m gonna try and collect my thoughts about this but there is an issue that the Pokémon community needs to talk about more to which I don’t see any, or that I just happen to be missing when looking up Pokémon posts on here and Twitter. I don’t know how long this will be and I’ll probably make some spelling errors along the way (though will try to correct any I see A.S.A.P.), so I’ll make a keep reading bar and put my information below.

As of June 1st, there’s only two posts about the problem here

So we all remember when Logan Paul created his first Pokémon unboxing video last year (or the year before; the pandemic has made my sense of time more terrible than it usually is).

My brother’s the one that first showed it to me, though I’m not too sure it was this ass’s first video. My brother knew I still loved Pokémon since I always ask for something Pokémon related for one of the options for Christmas and I thought that was sweet of him.

As a kid, Pokémon was always a big part of my life. I watched a couple of the show’s episodes, played whatever games I was able to get, and collected cards. Out of all of the Pokémon things I tried to own, the cards were usually the easiest to collect. They were cheaper than VHSs/DVDs and the games, and they were very accessible! Whenever my parents went out, and my sister and I came along, we’d usually be able to nab a pack if we went to the gas station. Not only that, but my grandparents even helped us out by buying any cards or packs they saw whenever they went to any garage/yard sales and would gift them to my sister and I.

Back to the issue-

At first, I thought the Pokémon unboxing video was an innocent upload that would help give birth to new fans of the franchise, and in a way it did. Even if that ass might not have changed and gained any morals, he still had tons of impressionable followers and it didn’t seem like there was anything malicious attached to the video at the time. It was only after thinking about what I was watching that some fears about the video pop into my mind. It seemed like there were lots of excited commotions every so often, to which came from finding legendries and holos inside some packs. This would be normally fine, since these are rare cards, but as the video went on and more rare cards were found the more I realized this wasn’t about reliving the feeling of opening cards to add to a collection, this was just about how much a card was worth and how much money they would eventually get once they sold it.

Don’t get me wrong! People can collect for the purpose of price alone, but as Logan uploaded more videos about “finding” crazy expensive cards inside booster packs, the more my fears became front and center. I didn’t even hear about what else Logan did in these videos until the Pokémon problem got really bad and I had to look up how it became a problem.

Apparently there was a “Pokémon card expert” that Logan Paul decided to bring into his videos to tell the audience how much each rare card was worth as well as advise the team on what packs to buy. Hilariously the dude had purchased packs for other people as well, because of his connection to Logan’s unboxing video(s), and they turned out to mainly be useless or at least non-rare cards. There’s a theory that I have about it after watching this video, so I was going to say how ironic it was that it happened at all, but now I’m pretty sure the dude knew what would be in the box and was hoping the group he was with would open the it once he was gone.

Because of things like this, even with the duped “expert’s” purchase, a lot more people have been getting into buying cards. Again, I’m not saying that buying Pokémon cards for profit is a bad thing, but it’s generally a bummer when there’s more competition with people grabbing good packs just to have a better chance at getting the legendries and holos.

Unfortunately the problems don’t end there and it’s not even the worst of it. Because the videos were doing so well, more people decided to take part in buying their own booster packs and record their finds. Even Youtubers that were not known for Pokémon participated! From what I can see, most videos are basically just the creators trying to get in on the bandwagon, getting into the craze to get money as well as to help grow their channel. Obviously nothing bad and there weren't any messages directly towards the audience to buy as many cards as one can.

Even if the other channels weren’t directly responsible, the usual clickbait titles and expressions thumbnails would work like they’re supposed to and get people to check the video out. It was clear Pokémon was popular again and certain money hungry people knew that this was a safe bet to try and get in on the action. Since it was mainly the card collecting of the franchise that was affected, many people started rushing to start a collection for the first time while others dusted off their old collection and restarted buying packs. I, myself, definitely returned to collecting 4 dollar packs at Walmart when I found any available, yet as the pandemic continued and people had the money to spend, a new problem arose.

Because of the increased popularity of cards, people that think of ways to make a profit have tainted the hobby. People created connections with vendors; they kept schedules of when stores restocked and headed there early just to buy out the store’s card stock and sell for double the price on seller sites or their own.

As of the first of June most if not all stores have pulled cards off shelves and have halted any sales. What used to be a hobby where the products were easy to acquire, now people can really only buy Pokémon cards online. And even then there’s no guarantee... Though I’m only slightly sad for myself for not always being able to get a pack every so often, I’m more frustrated about this situation for the kids.

When I was their age, even if I didn’t really know how to play the game, I loved collecting Pokémon cards for the art and to possibly get my favorite pokémon. Even if I didn’t get them, there are tons of mons that I liked and get excited to see when opening packs! Now, kids that want to get into collecting, or have been collecting can’t go to Walmart or Target to get their usual packs anymore because of this. Like I stated before and even in the picture above, cards aren’t always available online either! Pages of the Pokémon Center’s TCG inventory have mostly been stamped with a sold out sign most of the time. The only other sites that sell them are from the very same people that created this problem in the first place. Scalpers.

Guys, we need to do something about this!

Not just for us to have a better chance at gaining cards, but for kids to be able to actually get a pack for a normal price! The ones who are the actual demographic.

If you guys want to look into this a little more, I have a few other links to inform us of the situation:

https://www.pokemoncenter.com/category/tcg-cards?ps=90&page=1 (pokemon center card page)

https://screenrant.com/target-pokemon-cards-halt-sales-combat-scalpers/ (article about target canceling the selling of cards)

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kv9a9/pokemon-cards-psa-cgc-bgs-turnaround-times (cardboard shortage)

https://www.cbr.com/target-pokemon-cards-armed-customer/ (armed customer causes cards to be pulled from shelves)

Another video to help as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCRnFOJGVck&ab_channel=ETSPokemonCards

#pokémon #pokémon problem #issues #we need to come together as people #remember how most of us were during the first days of PokémonGo?#scalping #scalpers #Pokémon scalpers #pokemon scalper #pokéscalper

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musashi · 4 years

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im gonna try.

in 2016 i was dating a guy. he fucking sucked. he was the worst. i wish i could undate him. i watched the whole pokeani with him. sometime into hoenn i started getting vibes from the way he would react to certain things. if you’re a kin person you know these vibes--when someone... suddenly starts feeling a lot like someone you used to know.

obviously at this point this dude was the person in my life i was closest to. i loved him more than anything in the universe unfortunately. which put me in a weird position where i couldn’t really get all up in his space and demand “hey, are you james?! you have to tell me if you’re james otherwise it’s entrapment!” because when you spend your whole life longing for someone you used to be hand in hand with, there’s this fear in a question like that. that you’re forcing them to take on the role. i didn’t want to ask him or put that thought in his head because what if he wasnt? so i didnt, i decided he could come to it on his own time. he did. he was.

we had a messy fucking breakup i’ve talked enough about on here and probably one of the shittiest things he ever fucking did to me was compare me to jessebelle on his private blog. this is a trend amongst my exes--they kin someone close to me, they decide they don’t like me, they can’t separate me from the character they adore so much, so they erase my identity and replace it with one that better suits them. usually they phrase it “she’s my x” as though insinuating something like that isn’t a terrible fucking thing to do to a person. i’m sure if i ever confronted them about it they’d think its fine.

his reasoning for comparing me to her was simple--he was too much of a coward to break off our relationship in a non traumatic way. he could not sit down and have a discussion with me where we organized our things and went our separate ways. more on that later. i have a personality disorder that makes me go apeshit in the wake of abandonment, and even if i didn’t, i didn’t want my boyfriend of 4 years to suddenly be gone? which in his eyes, made me abusive and controlling and clingy and obsessive and ‘keeping him from his freedom.’ etc etc.

a few months pass and he’s finally getting his shit from my room. we pretend we’re friends to pass the time while we wait for his mom to pull in.

“you think james is gonna catch mareanie?”

“yeah. absolutely, yeah.”

i think about that topic of conversation a lot.

mareanie first leaked on the side of a TCG box, and when i saw her all those years ago my heart did the thing it does when it feels a connection. i played through the whole game without raising one, or going out of my way to find one, but she was somewhere in my head. when she got revealed for the anime, i thought to myself, “oh, thats why i like her so much! she was one of mine.” not one of jessie’s, but you know. one of ours.

and then her episode aired, and it planted in me something a lot less tangible. at that point, her only trait was that she loved james, who looked like someone else. she loved james, and her love was poison.

i... understood.

i’d never had a “copingkin” and with all the years that have passed i wouldn’t consider mareanie one anymore, because memories did come later. but its absolutely how she got her start with me. james was my ex and my ex was james and they were the same but they also weren’t the same and it didn’t matter because either way all i’d ever be to anyone i loved was toxic. i clung to mareanie. eventually, i developed better feelings toward myself.

sm058 aired. i watched mareanie’s ex boyfriend look like james and cheat on her. i watched the way he spun false stories in an attempt to keep her from standing up for herself. i watched what it did to mareanie--how she’d go downcast at corsola jewelry because it reminded her of him, how she’d scare off any other female pokemon that came near james because she was terrified he’d replace her with someone he liked better.

a while later, my ex, or someone affiliated with him, sent me this message:

and i took solace in that i finally had something i could respond with

a lot of people i’ve been close with fear me. i don’t actually know why. despite my theatrics in mundane everyday, i don’t have much of a temper with people i’m very close to. i fawn hard, i look to compromise, i listen more than i talk, sometimes to a fault. but either way, a lot of people who have decided our relationship has run its course are simply incapable of having that discussion with me. they either fade, or they leave. and when they leave, it’s always when i can’t chase after and demand a proper goodbye. it’s always when i’m vulnerable.

i wake up to hard blocks. people remaking their whole social media to get away from me before i knew they even felt that way about me. further back, notes left with my teacher for her to give to me when i came in for class. presents on my doorstep. text messages. most commonly of all, i go to sleep with someone and i wake up alone.

i woke up one morning at my sister’s house with him and he was erratic. he seemed stressed out, but wouldn’t tell me about what. i held his hand and told him to look through his cat tag on his blog. it was just a tag of cats he’d reblogged, one i reminded him about when he was sad and needed a boost. if he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, cats were all i could offer. he gave me one last smile as he was looking through it.

“i’m gonna go on a walk,” he said.

“okay,” i said. “please be safe? i’ll miss you.”

and i slept. and i woke. and he was gone.

there was a servine plush he’d gotten at pax next to me and nothing else. he insists there was a note but he’s insisted a lot of stupid shit. he later told me servine was supposed to be a gift, one final thing for me to remember him by. as if he hadn’t spent a million mornings getting ready for work beside me, where i’d wake up in tears and hold onto him for dear life--

“where are you going?” i’d say

“work, love,” he’d tell me, every time.

“please don’t go. please come back.”

i was never sure if he would. after all i’d seen, how could i be?

“i promise i will.”

and he always did. until he didnt.

i wasn’t surprised he had left that morning, but somehow the present hurt more than the abandonment. i hated how he tried to sugarcoat it, convince himself it was some bittersweet end to an era of his life and he was the tragic hero torn between two loves. thats not what happened. he cheated on me with my rapist, and then he abandoned me, and he stuck a cute little snake monster atop my budding crown of thorns to stop himself from sticking them and realizing he’s been the poison one all along.

he wasn’t my james. my james is here, the light of my life, leagues better than he’ll ever dream of being. my james is patient and understanding, my james knows me better than i know myself and shares her every hope and dream with me. my james adores the ways i cling to her and would never think to resent them, she grabs me twice as hard and tells me i’m her everything. my james thinks the feeling of toxins in her blood is the sweetest rush of all.

but i couldn’t do it. even though i’m in better hands now, i just can’t. he left her while she slept and he left the z ring on her as though it would fix the wound of that. i wish he’d done it differently. i wish hed said goodbye, i wish he’d hugged her tearfully and told her he’d come back to visit, i wish they cried and hugged and bewear scooped up mareanie in her arms and soothed her. i wish he hadn’t left the z ring. i wish he’d done everything different.

i don’t know how to put all this into words. it hurt me somewhere deep, somewhere niche, somewhere layered and specific and messy. mareanie as a kintype was built on a foundation of fragility--love and emotion and the mortifying ordeal of being known. i guess if i had to put a word to this it would just be heartsick.

#wordy wendy #kin ramblings #absolutely no fucking reblogs #sm #sm012 #sm058 #sm146 #the great calamity #wendy rambles #like if you read i guess

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madeleineandwilliam-ff · 6 years

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Chapter Eight: Part Two

Author’s Note: Hello, everyone! My last update was in June...JUNE!! I’m officially terrible. Anywho, here is your long awaited Part Two for Madeleine’s St Andrews visit. So many of you have messaged me endlessly about the continuation of this story. Your words of support and encouragement are what brought me back to this story...now let’s hope I can actually give you a few chapters to enjoy before life gets crazy for me again! As always, keep the messages coming. I love to hear your thoughts and love to fangirl right along with you. Hope to talk soon (and yes, that means there’s more Madde x William to come!) ! - xoxo Jill

November 2001

The next day, Madeleine and William enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes and coffee in their hotel room.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” Madeleine asked as she sipped her coffee.

William smiled. “Hmm, do you want to explore St. Andrew’s more?”

Madeleine bit her lip. “We could or.....”

William raised his eyebrow at her. “Oh, I’m sorry Princess. What did you have in mind?”

“You promised that you’d teach me how to ride a motorcycle. And let’s say that the weather will be decent today and you did promise me, William Wales.” Madeleine said with a grin.

William chuckled. “And this is coming from the girl who said my motorcycle was a deathtrap.”

Madeleine rolled her eyes. “So now you’re the sensible one in this relationship? If I remember correctly I was told to be young and reckless on our first date, oh and let’s not forget the breaking and entering....”

William pointed a finger at her. “Touché, Party Princess. Get yourself ready and you will learn how to ride a motorcycle today.”

For a November day in Scotland the weather was fantastic. The sun was shining, no rain, and Madeleine and William only required lightweight jackets in order to stay warm. William took Madeleine to one of his favorite spots so far in St Andrews, and it just so happened to be the ideal place for her to learn how to ride a motorcycle - West Sands Beach.

William had her in the parking lot that overlooked the beach to practice, mainly because it was secluded from the rest of the town. There were only a few people on the beach because of the time of year, which worked out perfectly in Madeleine and William’s favor.

Madeleine looked out onto the ocean as William unloaded his bike from the Range Rover driven by his bodyguards.

“This place is beautiful.” Madeleine exclaimed as she watched the crashing ocean waves.

“That it is, you think you could get used to it?” William asked as he came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Madeleine turned around in his embrace and smiled up at him. “Why don’t we cross that bridge when we come to it, hm?”

William bent down and kissed her forehead. “Deal.”

Madeleine clapped her hands. “Alright so how do I ride this thing?”

“Well first of all, you’ve got some reading to do.”

Madeleine’s face scrunched up like a toddler about to throw a temper tantrum. “You’re kidding me, right?”

William circled around to the Range Rover and grabbed a thick book from the backseat. “Welcome to Motorcycles for Beginners, love.”

Madeleine took the book from him and observed it, cover to cover. It was titled Ducati 797: For Beginners, she read the brief synopsis on the back of the book and then flipped through the pages.

“Did you read this, William?” Madeleine said as she tossed the book over to her bodyguard, Ludvig, who barely caught it. Meanwhile her other bodyguard Olle began to chuckle, knowing where this conversation was going.

“I did read it, it was very helpful.” William replied, crossing his arms.

Madeleine bit her lip and nodded at him, closing her eyes. She was trying to figure out exactly the right words to say to him. “William, darling. If you don’t figure out how to show me to ride that motorcycle without reading that worthless book, I will figure it out myself and drive off into the sunset and right to London by myself.”

“Mads, the book is very helpful. You have to know the basics and how to respect the bike before you get on.” William replied as his cheeks flushed red.

Madeleine nodded. “Maybe I should have Olle and Ludvig teach me when I get back home to London.” Madeleine turned to them. “Do you two require so much reading before someone rides your bike? You know in order for them to respect it.”

Ludvig chuckled and Olle grinned. “Not exactly, Your Highness.”

William put his head in the palm of his hand. “You’re overreacting.”

Madeleine rolled her eyes and mounted the bike. “This is not hard, William. All you do is TCG.”

William furrowed his brow. “What the hell is TCG?”

“Throttle...Clutch...Gear Lever. Maybe you should be the one reading the book while I take a ride on the bike.” Madeleine said a mischievous smile on her lips as her eyes met William’s.

William huffed, realizing it clearly wasn’t worth the fight. “Ok, so I went a little overboard with the book. I apologize, Princess. But just be careful when you’re in the driver seat.... ok?”

And then that’s when it hit her. Madeleine had awful flashbacks of the day of August 31st, 1997. The photos, the newspapers, the news reports, the worldwide public mourning. It was the day Diana died. The day William lost his mother due to a automobile accident in Paris. It wasn’t an easy event for anyone to forget, but as she got closer to William this was only a small glimpse of how she would see how the horrific event impacted the man - the son of the notorious People’s Princess - she was falling in love with.

“Let’s make a deal, how does that sound?” Madeleine asked, taking this new detail into consideration.

“There are always conditions with you, aren’t there?” He replied as he handed Madeleine a helmet.

“Only when there need to be.” Madeleine paused as she put the helmet over her head and tightened the chin strap just so. “I’ll read your manual on the dreadfully long train ride home to London, but I want to actually ride your bike today. Deal?”

He sighed. “Fine, but you’re not hitting the road till I say so.”

“My, my you’re so protective, William Wales.” Madeleine said, smiling up at him as he climbed on the back of the bike and wrapped his arms around her waist.

William rested his head on Madeleine’s shoulder and whispered into her ear, his warm breath sending chills down her back as the words left his lips. “Show me what you’ve got, Mads.”

“Watch me.” Madeleine replied as she flipped the motorcycle on and into gear, she then effortlessly steered it across the parking lot.

William’s grip around Madeleine’s waist tightened as she gained speed around the vast parking lot. “Not too fast. Please.”

“Don’t backseat drive. It’s not a very attractive personality trait, love.” Madeleine said with a smirk as the wind hit her face. It was refreshing to prove that she could indeed drive this motorcycle without William’s manual.

The fresh, salty scent of the West Sands Beach smelled heavenly as they whipped back and forth, up and down the parking lot. Each time they passed Olle and Ludvig, whom were idly watching, and giving Madeleine a high five each time she passed.

“You know, I don’t believe this is your first time driving a motorcycle.” William said as they raced back up the parking lot for the umteenth time.

“I never said I hadn’t driven a motorcycle before. Where did you get that idea from?” Madeleine said as she stopped by Olle and Ludvig to take a break.

“Well, let’s see, you referred to my bike as a “death trap” the very first time I took you on it. Where did you ever learn how to ride a bike?” William replied, a perplexed expression on his face.

“I do have an older brother, you know. Carl Philip taught me a few summers ago while we were at Solliden for the season. I’m no pro but I’m no beginner, love.” Madeleine paused as she smirked at the confused look on his face. “And it is a deathtrap on the busy streets of London to a person who has only been on a motorcycle on the palace grounds.”

“But if you knew how to ride a motorcycle, why did you ask me to teach you how to and why did you just give me the runaround about that book?” William asked, his brow furrowed.

Madeleine bit her lip. “Well, you see, I never said I was a pro. At Solliden I was never a pro, I once crashed into a wall and then there was a bush incident. I wasn’t very good with Carl Philip as my teacher, quite horrible actually. I think this is just a fluke, if I’m being honest here.”

William sighed as he watched Madeleine shrug her shoulders. “You could have killed us! Now do you see why I wanted you to read the manual?!”

Madeleine waved her hand in the air. “Now, now take it down a notch, Drama Queen. I wouldn’t have gone so fast these last few rounds had I not been confident in my driving skills. And, not to mention I am going to read your precious manual on the train ride home.”

William had dismounted the bike but inched closer to Madeleine. She could be quite frustrating when she wanted to, but he loved how she challenged him. He grabbed her hands and interlaced his fingers with hers. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

Madeleine smiled up at him, as her eyes met his. “Someone has to keep you on your toes, my dear.”

“Well, I have no doubt that you indeed will continue to do that.” William said as he very softly pressed his lips to hers for a short and sweet kiss.

Madeleine and William continued their afternoon on West Sands Beach with the serene, crashing ocean waves as their only company and of course the watchful eyes of their protection officers from afar. They walked the beach and talked for hours with each other. They talked of their dreams, played games, picked seashells, and desperately attempted to make sandcastles.

They found themselves watching the sunset in the warm of embrace of a comfortable silence as the end of the day neared. Madeleine had her head rested upon William’s shoulder, his arm wrapped around her as the sun cast its golden rays down on the glimmering ocean.

“I don’t want this weekend to end.” Madeleine said as the sun slowly fell behind the horizon.

“It has been perfect.” William said with a sigh.

“When can we see each other again? We’ve been spoiled with two days together.” Madeleine replied, dreading even the smallest thought of leaving for London in the morning.

“I have my winter break in a few weeks, final exams start next week.” William sighed. “When do you leave to go home to Sweden for Christmas?”

“The sixteenth of December. When do you come home to London for winter break?”

“I return on the fifteenth of December, after my last exam.” William replied.

“So that leaves us with one day together for the next month, and I don’t return to London until after the New Year. Which means you’ll probably be back here to St Andrews.” Madeleine stated, her shoulders fell as she pulled her head off his shoulder and looked up at him. “One day, William.”

“Is that doubt I hear in your voice? No, no, no...what conversation did we just have last night?” William asked as concern filled his blue eyes.

They both weren’t unbeknownst to the odds that would be put against them. Long distance relationships were almost always likely to fail, especially if two high profile college students were the protagonists. The media would run wild with theories, their siblings and friends would fill them with doubt. But they had to be determined, they had to beat the odds. For they were in it for the long haul.

“We said a lot of things last night, William.” Madeleine sighed. “I’m not implying what you’re thinking. I’m not giving up on us by any means. But one day together, for who knows how many days. I don’t know if I, if we, can do that. Do you think we can?”

William shook his head as a smile came to his lips. “Who says its one day? Right now it is, yes. But that doesn’t mean some rearranging of schedules can’t be done. Madeleine, I said to you last night we’re in it for the long haul. I’m a man of my word. I believe we can do this, long distance, one day at a time.”

Madeleine took his hand as she inhaled deeply. “You’re right. And you know what...that one day....it’s going to be the best day. We’ll make sure of it.”

“So I guess I should ask you now, huh?” William asked, grinning at her.

“Ask me what?” Madeleine replied with a furrowed brow.

“Well, make it official...of course.” William took Madeleine’s hands in his and with a enchanting grin asked, “Will you be my girlfriend, Princess?”

A blush came to Madeleine’s cheeks as she grinned. “Oh gee, I don’t know. I have sooo many options and well this is just a wee bit secondary school of you. But I suppose, my answer would have to be...YES!”

Madeleine fell back onto their blanket in an overwhelming burst of joy and disbelief all in one. She didn’t know how she could have possibly gotten so lucky with someone as great as William at the age of nineteen. William chuckled as he hovered over her and his lips met hers in an exhilarating moment, as their lips rapidly entwined as they lay in the chilly Scotland air.

#royal fanfic #royalfanficcollection #royalfanficcentral #madeleine and william ff #princess madeleine ff #prince william ff

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