Shining Fates Release - Managing the Chaos

by Tim Haas
As you’ll recall Shining Fates was originally broken up into two major release waves:

  • Wave 1 (Feb 19) - Mad Party Pin, Pikachu V, Big Tins, ETBs
  • Wave 2 (Mar 5) - Mini Tins, Premium Collection


I spoke with the sales reps at all of my distributors late yesterday (Feb 13) and — consistent with recent rumors — Pokemon has officially (and at the last minute) told them that the two major release Waves will be broken up into sub-waves. If this feels familiar it should; this is how Pokemon handled the Champion’s Path release.

edit (Mar 4 @ 8:38AM):
Right now the situation is still a bit fluid, but this is roughly how things are shaping up: The situation is still a bit fluid, but it has firmed up some:

Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4
ETB ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Mad Party Pin ✅ ✅ ❌ ❌
Pikachu V ✅ ✅ ✅ ❌
Big Tins ✅ ❌ ✅ ❌
Premium Collection ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅
Mini Tins ❌ ❌ 😬 😬


(More information is available in a newer post.)


I know this is complicated and frustrating, but as Pokemon mentioned the other day, Covid has really rocked their printing capacity. And from what I’m hearing other TCG’s have adopted the same multi-wave approach for new releases as well.

With all that said, I’ll be processing orders in the order I received them, but with the overarching goal of getting the most amount of product out the door as quickly I can.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to holler at me.

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edit (Feb 13 @ 2:01PM): I've been getting a ton of questions about availability and preorders for Shining Fates, so I'll address them here.

  1. With the release date less than a week away, I'm not doing any more preorders for Shining Fates.
  2. I will definitely have excess inventory available after release.
  3. The excess inventory won't be available for purchase until I get the chaos described above under control. I'll make sure to post on social and send out an email blast when that happens. :)
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