Summary
I don’t ask for much when it comes to licensed merchandise collaborations. Whether it’s adding cool character skins toOverwatch 2or puttingPocket Monsterson everyday household goods, I just need some basic effort to put in. And when it comes to Pokémon especially, I am ready for any and all offerings. I look at the Pokémon Center website each and every week and own no less than four rugs themed around Pikachu. I am the target audience.
And yet… Thenewly revealed collaboration between Pokémon and hardware manufacturer Razerleaves me feeling cold.
Finally revealed this past week, after much teasing and bravado, the products in question look very… flat. Lame. Boring. Like a basic elementary school Trapper Keeper I got at Walmart as a kid that just had the stock photo of the Red/Blue starters thrown on them.
Razer’s new selection of crossover gear features a simple print showcasing some of those basic Pokémon in a yellow hue. Maybe this honks someone’s horn, but it ain’t honking mine, especially when I think back to the regional exclusive releases Razer has done in the past featuring Pokémon.
Why does China get Gengar, and I get what looks like a rejected clip art submission for a cereal box?
Razer and Pokémon Collaborations Across The Globe
It might be because I already spend a lot of money in this space, but I need to be impressed by hardware these days. I’m hard on my mice and keyboards. Case in point: My current keyboard is the Razer Huntsman V2. I’ve had it less than a year and there are keys on it already failing due to overuse.
Bonus points if you can guess which key. Hint: I play a ton of Overwatch 2.
Perhaps that explains my initial weariness overthis very boring Razer x Pokémon collaborationcoming to the United States. Branded collabs are never a seal of quality. That said, if the mouse, keyboard, and headset looked less generic, I’d be willing to consider picking them up. Right now, though, there doesn’t seem to be much point.
They lack the flair of Razer’s international Pokémon releases. This includesan extremely rad release in China featuring the ghost-type Gengar, as well as releases with various Eevee evolutions.
Razer hates me…
And it’s not like the hardware company doesn’t release incredibly cool and cute products in the West. I can go to any Target and most likely find the Hello Kitty x Razer branded collab releases, including a headset with cat ears.
Not often will I complain that I am not allowed to consume enough. I’m pretty sure they’d take my DSA card away if I did. That said, I don’t think it is too much to ask of Razer and Nintendo to make the coolest gear more widely available. Then again, this could be a matter of the secondary market ruining everything, withPokémon TCGalready being rife with scalping and irrationally rising prices.
We also can’t forget theVan Gogh Museum Pokémon collaborationthat led to a mass riot on their initial day of release and completely sold out stock on the Pokémon Center website. I’m willing to accept that as a potential reality, but I think there’s a more direct – and sad – reason. They know we’ll buy anything.
The Pokémon Machine Must Be Fed
Let’s be honest: when it comes toPokémon, there’s a not-small number of consumers out there that will buy whatever we’re given. I’m not immune to this. I literally check the Pokémon Center website each week, keeping in mind that the free shipping threshold sits at $20.
Did I need the Lapras floaty to keep my bottles and cans upright while swimming? Of course not. But I did get two of them. Yes, I do have a metal sign that says “YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE BIDOOF ZONE”; the item being so rare that someone tried to buy it off me on Twitter.
And guess what: If any of these Eevee keyboards came out here, I’d buy one in a heartbeat! I’m still considering importing the Gengar headset. Why? Because Gengar is rad, shut up.
I’m too far into my life to not just buy the things that make me happy. In my 20s I may have hemmed and hawed, worrying about how spending my cash on “toys” would look. But as I turn 40 in two months, I find I just don’t care anymore. I literally just bought a canvas wall print of Eevee and Pikachu for no reason other than it made me smile.
It’s okay to buy the things that make us happy… But to do that we have to actually be able to buy said items.
Razer, Pokémon: get your act together and start work-shopping much cooler gear… If this collab were in-game Pokémon I’d be releasing them back into the wild as soon as I caught something cooler…
Like a Mankey. Or ten Pidgey.
