Charizard Millionaire harasses, silences critics

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Screenshot: Nintendo

In late July, Pokmon card collector Gary Haase angered fans who thought he was disrespecting Mitsuhiro Arita, the artist who drew the iconic Charizard that made Haase rich.

While the clip was old, some gave the Charizard Millionaire, who is said to own over 100 of these coveted base cards, the benefit of the doubt. Some may have argued that Haases’ remarks about wanting to erase Arita’s signature from a card weren’t meant to be a dissipation. Haase, according to the thought, was fair to be frank about the harsh realities of card collecting, where value is derived from a condition of cards, not autographs or signatures. But since the controversy unfolded, rather than clarify his position or reiterate his respect for Arita’s work, Haase uses his audience to harass and silence critics who suggest he’s only there to money.

Hasse, it should be noted, was repeatedly called Pokrich. His self-proclaimed public persona as the Pokmon King creates a sense of opulence, which is supported by images where he admits to selling some of his cards. This indulgent image contrasts sharply with the account that he doesn’t care about the money.

Haase did not respond to a request for comment. But the evidence of the harassment campaigns against its most vocal critics has been documented at length in a 48-minute video by YouTuber and TGC personality Frosted Caribou. Earlier in June, Caribou posted a Twitter thread on Haase which, while critical, also explained why the community was abuzz.

In the original thread, she points out that Haase himself should know the value and meaning of a signature, as he has built a career around autographs. Once, for example, Haase attended an event where he sat on a throne, encouraging people to get his signature as the Pokémon King. Adding fuel to the fire, Haase caused so much talk about his own John Hancock that he was immortalized in the collectible card game itself. There is a special Pokémon card you can collect that describes a special rule. If you have the card and it is signed by Haase, the rule states that the card cannot be defeated in play.

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While clearly intended more for fun than serious competitive play, the point Caribou makes in the video is that Haase himself regularly presents his own signature as something valuable and worth watching. possesses. And as a long-time member of the same community he encouraged to collect his signature, she said, he should understand why some find the idea of ​​deleting a signature offensive. Rather than acknowledging the importance of Arita’s work, she argues in the video, Haase seems more concerned about how this might affect the money he makes with the card. For some, it’s especially baffling because the man has dozens of valuable Charizard cards, so it’s not as if the signing has ruined his bottom line. In this context, hearing Haase call the signature worthless does not fare well.

Caribou declined to comment on Kotaku, noting that the video speaks for itself. In it, she talks about how Haases’ attitudes are reflected across the stage. Haase is, after all, one of the most visible card collectors in the proverbial game. And he continues to make videos where he displays his money, sometimes showing how many stacks of 100 he got to sell his collection.

The market and demand for cards has of course benefited the hobby, at least in terms of visibility. But the cost of that visibility is that it created a frenzy throughout the scene, which turned terrible for almost everyone involved, except perhaps the scalpers.

Stores are now overrun with morons who sometimes go too far, forcing some retailers to stop selling Pokémon cards out of fear for their employees. Other times the cops have to get involved. Appraisers who name values, on the other hand, are not only inundated with requests, they are also attacked by people who want to make money. Kids, who are Pokmons’ main audience, can’t get their hands on decks. Real players tell Kotaku that they now have to shell out $ 20- $ 40 for singles needed to compete.

There is room for all of these different entities interested in cards, whether they are collectors, gamers, or casual Pokémon fans. The problem, as community members explained to Kotaku, is not that people want to make money. It’s because, thanks to people like Haase, the monetary aspect began to take precedence over everything else, often to the detriment of leisure. Getting the most visible influencer on the scene to vocally express their support for artists might encourage at least some people to see cards as more than just a way to get rich. Failing that, Frosted Caribou suggests in his video that those who wish to invest in Pokémon cards should at the very least show respect for the people who make the products Haase turned into a career. Optics, more than ever, matter to the community.

Gary Haase shows some of the money earned by selling stakes in the Charizard card collection. There are many more piles of invoices not shown in the frame. Screenshot: Gary Haase via Frosted Caribou (Fair Use)

And right now, for Haase, the optics are crappy. Much of what has been described so far is subjective; you may or may not agree that he has a responsibility towards the hobby. What’s less defensible is that since Caribou posted her thread, Haase has taken to social media to disparage her on the basis of things that have nothing to do with Pokémon cards. While the screenshots featured in the video show Haase asking people not to pile on Caribou, it will come with sarcastic comments about his sanity. Along with all of this, Haase has promoted and shared posts that go after Caribou’s looks, or claim that she’s doing it just to get attention. Followers run with it, sometimes repeating the same language used by Hasse.

The Pokémon Company declined to comment.

The video shows that at one point, Haase appeared to relent, asking if there was a way for them to put their problems aside for the greater good of the hobby. According to the screenshots in the video, Frosted Caribou said yes, only for Haase to continue his crusade against her in the shows and comments. Attempts to talk about it, Caribou says in the video, often derail Haase. As he recounts in the video, Caribou fans are picking on him as well. Caribou denies this and even goes to great lengths in the video to explain all the different ways she has tried to crush the drama to no avail. The video isn’t listed and demonetized because it doesn’t want to risk extra attention by potentially making a bigger mess than what’s already there.

The list of allegations described in the video is long, sometimes referring to now deleted posts. Following some criticism, the video shows how Hasse attempted to recontextualize his 2020 remarks about the worthless signing. In one clip, he says his dilemma was about the size and placement of Arita’s name. He presents the autograph as something so heavy that it interferes with the artwork, suggesting that maybe Arita might be better off signing cards on the back. But Hasse himself has said in the past that he has more than 100 Charizard cards, only a few of which are signed. Arita’s signature also doesn’t cover the artwork, despite what Hasse says. Taken at face value, the clarified position sees Hasse complaining that although he is already wealthy, he could have been even richer if Arita’s pesky signing hadn’t been hampered.

And really, debating the finer points of what he did or didn’t mean is a distraction from Hasses’ actions. He disputes that it’s not about the value of certain clips, only to immediately focus on the value of the cards in many of the social media posts featured in the long exposure video.

Kotaku reports this story because, as Caribou acknowledges in the video, Hasse is currently the face of the community. His actions have an effect on the scene as a whole, and arguably, he’s the very reason Pokémon cards are in vogue right now. Everyone wants the cards that Hasse has. Mainstream coverage, on the other hand, distorts Hasse as a guy who isn’t really there for the money, because look at all the cards he collects. He won’t sell, the articles say, even if celebrities beg him to part with a meager card.

Meanwhile, Hasse turns around and offers this same collection as a business venture where other people have purchased stakes. It turns out that he doesn’t have to sell the cards to make money from them. But also, Hasse has indeed sold some of its cards. Keeping a part of the collection larger, however, allows him to talk about the overall value of his cards. These claims are regularly featured in influencer videos with millions of followers. And the more Hasse says it, the more it becomes true. The demand for old-fashioned Charizard cards is proportional to the promotion of said cards.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding what Hasse really meant. But it doesn’t matter what he says. Watch what he’s doing.

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