In the second weirdest story to feature both Pokémon and the American government this month, TCG fans are currently scrambling to purchase a brand new card due to oddly apt comparisons between it and the current president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Earlier this month, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo butted heads with the United States Department of Homeland Security.
As detailed in an article by Eurogamer’s Ed Nightingale, official social media accounts run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uploaded a video featuring copyrighted music and clips from the Pokémon anime, captioned with the phrase “Gotta Catch 'Em All”.
The Pokémon Company responded to the video by issuing a takedown notice, and, despite outcry from fans who urged Nintendo to sue the United States government, the controversy seems to have already fizzled out.
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However, it seems that Pokémon TCG fans don’t have short memories, as the prior controversy may have fueled the popularity of a newly released Pokémon card, which many believe to be a direct reference to Donald Trump.
The first expansion in a new set of the Pokémon TCG, Mega Evolution, is set to go on sale on October 10 next month. Official re-release events have already been held however, resulting in thousands of packs from the set making their way into collectors’ hands.
The release of the new Mega Evolutions set is meant to coincide with the Nintendo Switch 2 release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, set to drop on October 16, and features artwork from dozens of the ‘Mons that will appear in the game, including a special Full Art Rare of Gumshoos.
Since the cards made their way into American and European markets, several threads on the r/PokemonInvesting subreddit have popped up discussing the Full Art Rare Gumshoos suddenly spiking in price, including one thread titled “Thoughts on the Donald Trump card?”
As another thread in the same subreddit explains, the card seems to be exploding in price overnight, with some sellers on TCGPlayer listing the card for upwards of $100.
This isn’t the first time that the Pokémon Gumshoos has been compared to Donald Trump, mostly because it features a large, slicked-forward blonde hairdo and small, dead eyes. Hands look kind of small, too.
The comparisons may be surfacing again due to the text on the card itself though, as Gumshoos 153’s main ability is a move called “Gathering Evidence”, which some have linked to the ongoing controversy surrounding the relationship between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.
A few commenters in the subreddit also believe that the story is being used to “pump and dump” the card, a process in which several buyers purchase all of the available listings for one card and then relist it under a higher price, in a bid to raise its perceived value before dumping their stock.
It should also be noted that, back in 2016, during an interview with Game Informer, Game Freak’s designer and producer Junichi Masuda outright stated that any comparisons between Donald Trump and Gumshoos were unintentional.
Regardless, the community seems to have come to their own conclusion on the matter. It’ll be very interesting to see if the card continues to climb in the next few weeks, following Mega Evolution’s official release.