Every week, the Pokemon Trading Card Game becomes a worse place for collectors. If you are not on the ball, it is almost impossible to buy closed products. Individual card prices are also increasing exponentially, as are the costs (and wait times) to rate your cards. A combination of higher demand, the current lack of Pokemon printing options and scalpers contributed to the problems.
Things also reportedly got a lot worse. Recently, a video of Jason “Voice of a Generation” Paige, the singer of the original Pokémon theme song, seemingly conning a child out of a valuable Gengar card surfaced online.
The singer of the original Pokémon theme song has reportedly been caught cheating with a child
The allegations against Paige stem from a two-minute video posted on social media by boostersandbangers. What starts as a wholesome interaction between two kids at a card show (where the boostersandbangers who shared the clip are selling) devolves into what could end up being a huge scandal and a perfect example of the direction TCG is going.
The video begins with the boostersandbangers making deals with a couple of kids. These trades worked in the duo's favor and between them they walked away with a pile of cash and a Gengar (worth around $150) from the Japanese version of the Fossil (Mystery of the Fossils) expansion. Then things turn around.
The children return to the vendor, half proud, half ashamed. “What did you trade Jason Paige for?” boostersandbangers asks. “It's a classified signed card, but it's not real,” one kid says as another pulls a card out of the bag. Seeing the shopkeeper's shock, the boy asks, “Is it bad or good?”
The card in question is a custom design (see: fake) featuring a robot image of Pikachu and Charizard with Paige's autograph scrawled on the front. The card appears to be an advertisement for a grading company.
In the video, one of the kids claims Paige told them it was one of them and that it “would be better for us,” to which bricksandboosters replies, “he's a fraud.” On its website, Paige sells similar signed custom cards for £38 ($51), roughly $100 less than the Gengar is worth.
Although unverified, the video drew a strong reaction from the Pokémon Trading Card Game community. Dozens of videos and posts appeared online with collectors unhappy that this had happened, especially to a young child.
TheGamer has reached out to Paige's team for comment, but we have yet to hear back. We'll update this post as soon as we hear anything.
- Original release date
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October 20, 1996
- Number of players
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2
- Age recommendation
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6+
- Length per game
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Variable
- Franchise name
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Pokemon
