Kalyst said:
Way to ignore everything else I just said. Anywho-
Its one thing for a company to offer said option that is such a great way to market. I mean who doesn't like free stuff? However there's the factoring in of all the TO's and the actual locations and the management. Some card shops may or may not do this. One one hand they may see it as a good opportunity to get people to buy product. But lets be honest here-unless there's some sort of event keeping said children or adults in the store with possible purchasing power, I seriously doubt they want fast in and out foot traffic. I figured that was pretty self explanatory but I guess not?
What would be even better, imho, is doing it in conjunction with a tournament as a participatory prize sort of thing. If you enter (which TO's can technically charge a 5 dollar "fee" which can go to the store) you can get one of the starter kits, youre supporting the store AND you get to play in a tournament (either you can do it as an out of the box if there's enough cards and assuming all the contents are XY only etc etc)
But heck what do I know right? Im not part of their product management or anything fancy XD
My harsh attitude was against that poster who thinks that Pokemon TCG is a separate entity from every other trading card game. Imagine drawing a venn diagram with 2 circles, one representing MTG and one representing Pokemon. If Pokemon were nothing like MTG, then there would be nothing in the overlapping portion of the two circles, and for a fact, I can name many things that can go into the overlapping section. He also said, in response of me saying we never get full sets before Japan does that we at least get a few cards before japan. That is also false, because we don't get at least a few cards, we get at most a few cards. Saying that we get at least a few cards is like saying that the minimum number of cards we get before japan is a few, and there is no limit to a maximum, which is obviously false, because we haven't even received a full on set with 100% new cards before Japan, let alone the first set in a new generation.
Ok look, the whole MTG vs Pokemon thing started when I suggested some alternate ways to get the first XY TCG set out, before there are enough cards from Japan to import. Here is one thing. WE are NEVER going to get full sets before Japan. But let's say we do get an XY set in November, or December, but what would it be? EX battle boost + the beginning sets from Japan. That's not even remotely XY to begin with. Now what are we supposed to release if there is probably going to be around 40 new XY themed cards from Japan to import? We surely can't create a set from just 40 cards.
Because we can't release a full XY set in November, and trust me, TPCi loves to release sets to tie in to releases, and this time, it is like fitting a square peg in a round hole, there are alternatives.
Preview tins with a 3 card booster from a 40ish card XY set featuring cards from the XY beginning set. I am estimating 40ish cards because the BW one had 37 different cards. And a optional gimmick is to make all the cards in this preview pack holos, or reverse holos.
A second idea I came up with is the trainer kit, the two player starter set. I am sure that the 40ish different cards that the XY beginning set will probably have can be used as cards in the trainer kit, and be released before the main set would be released for the first time.
Here is another idea. Do what MTG does, and release 30 card sample decks for free to game stores, and possibly to people who buy other pokemon merchandise. You buy Pokemon X, and through any means, either by store clerk, mail in, or whatever, you get a 30 card deck for free. Heck, even a school teacher who heads a trading card game club can spread the game to multiple kids, by handing out free 30 card half decks. Your argument, from the previous post of yours, not the one above mine, but the other one, was because you mentioned things that have nothing to do with the topic. How does the gameplay of Pokemon and Magic have anything to do with how we are going to get X and Y when Japan hasn't release their product yet? My response was also against a poster who said that Pokemon TCG is NOTHING like MTG, but in terms of product releases, it is more closer to MTG than Yugioh, Vanguard, and even WoW. Of course MTG plays differently than Pokemon TCG, but what does it have to do with when XY is released in the international market?
Here's another thing, you say that the market for Pokemon TCG and MTG are different, but I have to say that the market for Pokemon TCG in the US and Pokemon TCG in Japan are different as well. Looking at the products the Japanese are releasing, it seems they are promoting the game, and designing the game with the "game" in trading card game in mind. If TPCi were in full control of design and development, we would have had 18 types with their own energies, well 17 now, but 18 soon. The fact of the matter is, TPCi isn't the designer and developer for this game. They could at most make a few cards before Japan, but they have never made a set before Japan did. They did once with ex Power Keepers, but that set wasn't even released in retail stores in Japan, more like an limited time online order thing.
If not comparing Pokemon TCG to MTG, I should technically compare Pokemon TCG to Kaijudo. Both markets are little kids. Some say that Kaijudo is the peewee minor league MTG for the little kids before they play the big boys game. Different market, and WOTC uses similar marketing strategy, such as set specific precons, a vs deck comparable to MTG's duel decks, and they just released an all shiny holo deck similar to MTG's defunct premium deck series. I'm not saying that Pokemon TCG should outright copy WOTC, but there are some things that they can copy, such as giving away free sample decks to better give an understanding to children that this isn't like collecting hockey cards. That was only one thing that I said TPCi should do to release XY to tie in with the game before the actual full XY release, and you and this other guy are saying that I am comparing this to the entirety of Magic?
Oh, another thing I need to compare MTG with Pokemon TCG with. In the Pokegym forums, at least, I heard arguments that TPCi can't make a over 200 card deck builder set, but let's say there is a market for this kind of stuff, because the market for this kind of stuff is unimportant to this argument. The argument I was making was, WOTC can release a 285 card box set and sell it for $19.99. This was when I was adamant about including at least some energy cards in some box sets, because WOTC included lands in their fat packs. I wonder what is so different about WOTC and TPCi that they could release 285 cards and sell it for cheap, and TPCi could not do something similar, that releasing 40 extra energy cards, heck, even common cards, would drastically raise the price of the product. Last I checked, both MTG cards and Pokemon cards are made of the same material, and probably use the same ink.
It is the way it is, but I say this again, we are never getting full on sets before Japan does. If XY is released in October, and let's exaggerate here, Japan decides to release their XY cards in February, then too bad. We aren't getting XY sets until after February. It is simple as that. I initially thought that the EX battle boost set was to let the international markets catch up on TCG releases, but from what they released so far, with the beginning sets, the whole catching up thing is all a lie.
If we release EX battle boost in October, and XY1 in January, that would be what, a 3 month gap between the VG and TCG release? It isn't the end of the world to release a TCG set 3 months after the VG release, and I am certain that TPCi is also thinking the same thing. The worse that could happen is to release a poor quality product that has nothing to do with the video game that they are trying to tie in with. Again, it is all up to Japan. It was Japan who decided to sync up the video game release because the video game has a "pick a language" option built in. Why release it in Japan first, and internationally later when you can play in whatever language? If Japan doesn't have any plans to try to sync up the TCG releases, then there is nothing TPCi could do about it but to release it later.
I still think it is impossible that we are getting full sets before Japan, especially the first set of the generation, Not unlikely, but impossible, as impossible as passing a final exam when you haven't even studied at all, and the night before you played video games all night and had little to no sleep. It would take a miracle to ace a test that you never studied, and never got any sleep before the test, and similarly, it would take a miracle for TPCi to manage to release the first XY set before Japan does.
