Pokemonhas been putting exclusive TCG cards in McDonald’s Happy Meals pretty much everywhere for years, with the exception of Pokemon’s home country, Japan. That all changes next month when Happy Meal-buying Pokemon fans in Japan will be given cards along with their meals, one of which can’t be found anywhere else.
Details about McDonald’s Japan’s first-everPokemon TCGcrossover have been shared on social media, with images of all the cards fast-food customers can collect already revealed. There will be six cards to collect, five of which are reprints from other sets with a McDonald’s logo on them to differentiate them from the regular versions of the cards.
However, the Pikachu card, which will be given away with every single Happy Meal during the promotional period, features brand-new burger-themed artwork. The McDonald’s exclusive card features Pikachu trying to grab a burger that’s just out of its reach on a tabletop.The other five Pokemon included in the promo are Sprigatito, Quaxly, Fuecoco, Riolu, and Ralts.
Pokemon promo cards are coming to McDonald’s Japan for the first time
That Pikachu burger card is going to get scalped, isn’t it?
According to Pokebeach, everyone who buys a Happy Meal in Japanbetween August 9 and August 11will receive the Pikachu card along with one of the other five promo cards, which will be selected at random. The promotion will coincide with McDonald’s Japan’s regular Pokemon crossover that puts Pokemon toys in its Happy Meals starting on August 8.
Pokemon teams up with McDonald’s to give away promo cards via Happy Meals elsewhere on a pretty regular basis, usually every 12 to 18 months.The latest crossover was dubbed Dragon Discoveryand, as you might have guessed, leaned heavily on Dragon-type Pokemon for its theme. The promo came to the US and the UK, as well as other parts of the world, relatively recently, so it’s going to be a while before Pokemon cards return.
That likely means the asking price for that Pikachu burger card is going to get pretty high pretty quickly. Yes, even though the cards are being given away with children’s meals, they’re not immune to being scalped. The Pokemon TCG market is wild and unpredictable right now, with prices surging left and right, sometimes for no clear reason.
While not from McDonald’s, the latest example of promo card values surging happened as recently as last week whenthe asking price for promo cards from Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield went through the roof. My guess is this new Pikachu card will fall into the same category as the Van Gogh Pikachu promo card,although hopefully this one won’t lead to museum employees losing their jobs.
