Logan Paul’s record-breaking Pokemon card worth $5 million has sparked a backlash from fans of the Game Freak series. Pokemon players roasted the YouTuber for calling it the “pinnacle” of the Nintendo franchise.
While Logan Paul has never been shy about his love of Pokemon, the 27-year-old YouTuber stunned the Pokemon Trading Card Game community when he revealed he had purchased a Pikachu Illustrator for over $5 million.
The Japanese promo is so rare that only one exists in the whole world that is graded at a 10 – which Paul now owns. The record-breaking purchase may have made waves online, but it’s now angered some Pokemon fans who feel that the entertainer is bad for the hobby.
Pokemon fans hate Logan Paul’s $5 million Pokemon card
In 1998, Japanese magazine CoroCoro held a drawing contest. The select few contestants that won were rewarded a one-of-a-kind Pikachu Illustrator Pokemon card. In 2022, only 30 are believed to have survived. So when Logan Paul revealed that he got his hands on the rare TCG collectible at Wrestlemania 38, Nintendo fans were stunned, to say the least.
The community was further shocked, however, when Guinness World Records confirmed that it was not only a PSA 10 but now held the record for the most expensive Pokemon card of all time in a private sale. In a series of social media posts, Paul detailed the insane lengths he went to secure the item, including a multi-million dollar trade and flying to Dubai.
After showing off the one-of-a-kind collectible that is now housed in an $80k diamond necklace, Pokemon fans on Twitter reacted in anger when the YouTuber also wrote: “This is the pinnacle of Pokémon.”
It’s held in an $80k custom diamond pendant with a Pokéball bail. This is the pinnacle of Pokémon.
YouTube video coming later this month pic.twitter.com/el7lMOS0q3
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) April 4, 2022
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Furious fans took to the social media platform to respond to Paul’s statement.
“This isn’t the pinnacle of Pokemon. It’s the pinnacle of having all the money in the world and choosing to spend it on bullshit,” a user wrote. Another said “Grinding out the Pokemon TCG with a rogue deck you built to counter the meta and playing well consistently enough to win the world championships is the pinnacle of Pokemon. This is spending money.”
Competitive PTCG Player ‘professsorpoke’ also tweeted about the Pikachu Illustrator card and echoed a similar sentiment writing, “Hint: this is not the pinnacle of Pokemon.” One commentator simply posted, “I hate everything about this.”
This isn’t the first time the Pokemon community has been critical of Logan Paul either. In 2021, some fans blamed the YouTuber for the rise in prices and a spike of scalpers leading to product shortages.
Those critical of the influencer have argued that he shifted the family-friendly hobby away from being fun and made it more centered around gaining profits. His move to purchase the rarest Pokemon card to ever exist for $5 million is unlikely to change their minds anytime soon.