The artwork on a skateboard is generally something people give a lot of consideration. The idea of buying a skateboard sealed, not knowing what will appear on the deck, would typically be very strange indeed. That is, until there’s a Pokémon card printed on it, at which point all bets are off (thanks Polygon). Skateboard manufacturer Santa Cruz just launched a range of 30 different decks featuring some of the most popular Pokémon card arts, which were placed in sealed bags and bought blind for $140. They sold out instantly.
“What you find in a Pokémon TCG booster pack is always a surprise,” says the store description on the Pokémon Center website, “and now you can experience that same excitement with a limited edition blind bag skateboard deck from Santa Cruz!” Which is a very peculiar equivalence. That doesn’t seem to have put anyone off, however, and despite a purchase limit of one per customer, the sealed decks have sold out in the U.S. and UK instantly.
Each board features a classic card art, starting with the obvious Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard from Base Set, then going through various eras of sets like Team Rocket’s Dark Espeon, Lugia EX from Plasma Storm, M Charizard EX from XY Flashfire and the infamous Moonbreon from Evolving Skies. Then again, you could also pull a board featuring Evolving Sky’s bog-standard Sylveon V, or the Vaporeon GX promo, both of which are cards that currently sell for around $5 and are unlikely to be anyone’s desire. (There are beautiful Sylveon and Vaporeon boards that have been sold in the past, but these are not those. I own the Leafeon Bear Walker design, and treasure it.) It seems utterly bizarre to me that someone would put up $140 on the off-chance of getting one of the one or two designs they particularly wanted out of the 30 possible.
But so many have done just that, whether scalpers or genuine collectors, that you cannot buy the boards any more. They’re completely sold out on both the Pokémon Center site and the official Santa Cruz store, as they are on the UK, Canada, and Australia stores. (You can ask to be notified about restocks, however.)
You won’t be surprised to learn that you can currently buy them from eBay, where the sealed bags are showing up for around $300, or a bargain $212 if you want the bland Jolteon ex design. You can double it to at least $600 for the Pikachu & Zekrom Team Up card design, and the same for the Mega Charizard EX. And that Base Set Charizard? I’ve seen it listed for $1,800, although some have sold for as low as $400, but more typically $500 to $800. The Umbreon, based on the Moonbreon card that currently sells for $2,300, is also going on eBay for between $500 and $800. Because everything is broken.