The query got here to me throughout a current journey to Japan when, wandering by Tokyo, I listened to a rap by the artist Takashi Murakami. Simply the day earlier than—on a Monday, with galleries closed—at an artist’s suggestion, I had visited Nakano Broadway, a mecca for manga and anime lovers, or just for the nostalgic. There, I encountered a market frenzy I wasn’t absolutely conscious of. Whereas looking classic shops for Chanel and Louis Vuitton luggage in Shibuya, I noticed entire outlets devoted completely to Pokémon playing cards and collectible figurines. Inside, the patrons weren’t children however folks my age and older, actively gathering memorabilia that tethered them to their childhoods—objects which have additionally acquired plain financial and funding worth.
I used to be born within the Nineties. Pokémon, Digimon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Dragon Ball and numerous different anime and manga didn’t simply fill my childhood tv programming—in Italy’s Berlusconi period, non-public channels like Canale 5 and Italia 1 devoted huge blocks of airtime to imported Japanese anime—however launched me to a world of buying and selling playing cards, toys, video video games and each form of gadget that might construct complete imaginative and narrative universes round us. These worlds formed not solely my and my friends’ play however, I’m satisfied, our imaginations and even our personalities.
In Nakano, as on earlier journeys to Japan, I discovered myself looking for that one Pokémon or Digimon determine I used to be lacking, compelled to purchase it. What drove all this was not solely nostalgia but additionally the enduring results of that world-building and branding—a complete cultural and narrative ecosystem sticky sufficient to carry our consideration lengthy after childhood.
Across the identical time, the Wall Road Journal printed an article by Krystal Hur highlighting how Pokémon playing cards have change into a “sizzling funding,” reportedly reaching a roughly 3,821 p.c cumulative return since 2004, based on an index by analytics agency Card Ladder monitoring trading-card values by August. That determine eclipses even the S&P 500’s 483 p.c rise over the identical interval or Meta Platforms’ 1,844 p.c climb since going public in 2012.
The craze for the monster buying and selling playing cards, first launched in 1996, apparently intensified in the course of the pandemic after influencer Logan Paul revealed in 2022 that he had acquired a near-perfect-grade Pikachu Illustrator card value $5.3 million, setting a Guinness World Report for the priciest Pokémon card ever bought in a non-public deal. Even when the precise determine is tough to confirm, the general public market has its personal headline data: In March 2022, Heritage Auctions bought a 1999 First Version Holographic Charizard (PSA 10)—the enduring chase card—for $420,000. One other bought earlier this 12 months for $175,000.
Hur’s article additionally featured a handful of “success tales” of thirty-somethings who now “diversify their investments” by Pokémon playing cards, like a 27-year-old account supervisor in Ohio who funded his fiancée’s 3.5-carat diamond engagement ring and a part of their wedding ceremony by promoting the gathering he had begun within the Nineties. (What number of instances have I wanted my mom hadn’t thrown mine away?) But one collector overtly admitted that his shopping for was primarily based much less on monetary calculus and extra on sentiment: “A variety of us are chasing items of our childhood,” stated Matthew Griffin.
Skeptics argue that the Pokémon card market is inconsistent and irrational as a result of it runs largely on nostalgia and symbolic worth. Others counter that it could nonetheless be safer than different pandemic-era various property, like baseball playing cards or sports activities memorabilia, as a result of fictional characters like Pikachu are timeless in a approach no athlete’s profession can ever be.
This brings us to a sequence of putting parallels—and key juxtapositions—between the Pokémon card market, different nostalgia-driven economies and as we speak’s artwork market. these might reveal insights the artwork world can study from Millennial and Gen X shopping for habits because it struggles to draw the following technology of collectors.
Nostalgia-driven numbers
Pokémon is only one of many I.P.s which have surged in reputation amongst Millennial collectors, the place nostalgia cycles have change into engines of worth creation. In current conversations with friends throughout totally different areas—notably within the Asia-Pacific and the U.S.—I’ve observed a shared development: classic cameras, vinyl data and even relics like VHS tapes, CDs, and DVDs have gotten more and more coveted by Millennials and Gen Z. The marketplace for retro consoles (e.g., Nintendo 64, Recreation Boy, Sega Dreamcast) and the cartridges that accompanied their childhoods is booming. In July 2021, Heritage Auctions bought a sealed copy of Tremendous Mario 64 (1996, N64) for $1.56 million—the primary online game to interrupt the million-dollar mark at public sale.
A bodily object tethered to an analog previous now carries each aesthetic and identification worth, notably in as we speak’s hyper-technological age. For these of us who grew up watching the dizzying curve of technological evolution unfold—from cassette to CD, from the primary limitless SMS plans to smartphones—these objects are anchors of reminiscence and existential witnesses. The identical urge for food drives youthful patrons towards comedian books, graphic novels, classic watches and retro vogue. Casio G-Shock, Swatch and Seiko dive watches, as soon as basically disposable, are actually hunted down in locations like Nakano Broadway or by on-line resellers. Vogue manufacturers have capitalized on this by recycling Millennial childhood aesthetics tied to the Nineties—Balenciaga is a transparent instance. Costs for Jordan retros, Nike Dunks and Adidas Superstars are climbing, powered by ’90s and early 2000s nostalgia, whereas new sneaker drops promote as a lot on ‘I needed these once I was 12’ as on freshness of design, as evidenced by the revivals of Puma classics or Onitsuka Tigers.
These markets function on symbolic worth, outlined above all by sentiment, which isn’t so totally different from the symbolic financial system that underpins artwork costs. But for this stuff, nostalgia—when mixed with rarity and shortage, typically manufactured by restricted editions, blind packing containers, or shock drops—is sufficient to justify hovering costs, even amongst Millennials who’re extra skeptical, extra price-sensitive, and fewer keen to overpay. As Tim Schneider not too long ago identified in The Grey Market, the best problem for an artwork supplier as we speak is persuading skeptical patrons {that a} work—particularly by an artist their very own age—is “ok” to advantage the value tag, at a time when all the pieces else in life can also be dearer.
So why is that this totally different? Within the case of nostalgia-driven collectibles, reminiscence itself turns into monetized, justifying even six-figure gross sales when the thing is the one tangible key left to unlock it. However the true query is: What solid such highly effective sentimental bonds that they hardened into identification and tradition, remodeling disposable childhood ephemera into grownup investments?
Enduring cultural properties
Pokémon playing cards derive that means from a broader franchise universe, which anchors every product inside a wider narrative and cultural worth. Branding has change into synonymous with world-building, able to creating enduring, genuine cultural and emotional resonance—an identitarian connection that goes far past easy fandom. That is the facility of storytelling, of constructing a delusion that accompanies an object. It’s an element that the marketplace for Pokémon buying and selling playing cards shares with different collectible toys, corresponding to LEGO, motion figures, or comics tied to franchises like Star Wars or Marvel, amongst others.
The current Labubu craze, which quickly expanded from Hong Kong youth tradition to the broader world—with folks lining up and even preventing to gather this kawaii monstrous plush—follows the identical logic. But it surely has already begun crossing into the artwork {industry}. Throughout its Basel version in June, Artwork Basel launched a limited-edition Labubu figurine (in its signature “Basel blue”) completely on the Artwork Basel Store. Solely 100 have been made, priced at SFr 200. The drop bought out instantly, and on-site whispers of flippers floating $5,000 resale provides surfaced inside minutes. The present Labubu public sale file is for a human-sized “big” mint inexperienced model, which bought for round $150,552 (¥1.08 million) at a Yongle Worldwide public sale in Beijing.
All these markets thrive on cults of character constructed by manufactured mythology, remodeling into IP-based storytelling that multiplies worth by merchandising. Within the artwork world, in contrast, the main focus stays totally on artist biography and “critical” crucial discourse, immune to pop-cultural world-building and even to branding. “Whenever you purchase a Rolex from Rolex, it says Rolex; work from Gagosian are signed Koons or Saville,” collector Jeff Magid wrote in an opinion piece for ARTnews, addressing related questions.
This provocation reveals how the artwork world continues to fall quick in providing status-signaling objects—and, I’d add, group belonging and recognizability—that luxurious manufacturers and up to date collectibles have perfected. Pokémon, Labubu, sneakers and classic collectibles (throughout tech, vogue and design) are unmistakable way of life alerts. Mixed with shortage and shared rituals, they construct and maintain cultural capital that may be seamlessly transformed into financial capital.
Related communities and decrease buy-in limitations
Accessibility issues. Pokémon playing cards, Labubu and many of the collectibles markets talked about above have achieved early onboarding due to their relative affordability. Pokémon packs or Labubu blind packing containers begin at $10-20, a low barrier that attracts children and youths into the narrative and the act of gathering early, establishing a long-tail trajectory to stay engaged and ultimately transfer into increased value factors as their disposable earnings grows. Nostalgia cycles then maintain the worth alive, making certain continuity throughout generations.
Curiously, in current days, former auction-house enfant horrible Loïc Gouzer reposted on Instagram his now-iconic promo video for his cross-category curated sale, If I Stay I’ll See You Tuesday…, held at Christie’s in Could 2014, the place he positioned Basquiat subsequent to Koons, Hirst, uncommon vehicles and sneakers for the primary time in what was then a radical act. The public sale was revolutionary on the time as a result of it embraced streetwear advertising and marketing logic: drop a disruptive trailer, construct hype, collapse classes and make gathering really feel cool slightly than fusty and unique.
Coming from a youthful technology into the growing old world of auctions, Gouzer instinctively understood the necessity to reinvent storytelling and branding, adopting the cultural language of youthful audiences—skate movies, streetwear aesthetics, cross-genre mashups—to reframe how worth was perceived. His cross-category auctions additionally tapped into the logic of nostalgia cycles: pairing excessive artwork with luxurious toys of a special order—vehicles, watches, memorabilia—made the public sale ground really feel like a Millennial collector’s fantasy closet.
Model dilution and cross-industry delusion
Right here we are able to return to the “illumination” sparked by discovering that Murakami had additionally ventured into rap, amongst so many different expressions of his model—or higher stated, of his “branding.” Takashi Murakami is arguably one of many first artists to undertake and absolutely combine these dynamics, making pop-cultural world-building a core factor of his aesthetics and observe. By way of Kaikai Kiki, he blurred the road between tremendous artwork and merchandise. By making use of his immediately recognizable, recent, youthful model—populated by kawaii characters rooted in Japanese manga, objects, and even experiences—he pursued a pop-culture logic of world-building whereas embracing a level of brand name dilution that lowered limitations to entry. On this approach, a youngster shopping for a keychain or plush mascot at ComplexCon might enter the identical collector’s universe as a seasoned purchaser spending hundreds of thousands at Gagosian or at public sale on one in all his monumental work.
Notably, Murakami didn’t invent this playbook; he absorbed a cultural logic already deeply embedded in Japanese popular culture, as his notion of “Superflat” was designed to articulate. Capsule collections, restricted drops, and the collapse of boundaries between “excessive” and “low” have lengthy outlined Japan’s cultural and inventive industries. Early streetwear pioneers like A Bathing Ape (BAPE), COMME des GARÇONS and Neighborhood constructed empires on shortage and hype. On the identical time, manga and anime cultivated devoted fandoms the place merchandise was as central because the story itself.
By asserting that up to date Japanese visible tradition had already flattened its hierarchies, Murakami’s “Superflat-ness” supplied a theoretical framework that made his fusion of tremendous artwork, commerce, and popular culture not solely coherent however important to his observe—by no means a compromise of inventive integrity. Even his collaborations with Louis Vuitton or Uniqlo weren’t betrayals of artwork however pure continuations of a Japanese cultural financial system the place model, object, and fandom consistently intertwine, creating symbolic universes that patrons can each belong to and accumulate.
Alongside Murakami, KAWS stands as one other highly effective mannequin, this time on the American facet. His toys and Uniqlo collaborations have already fostered a technology of younger collectors who later graduated to six-figure Companion sculptures as their first main artwork purchases. Daniel Arsham has performed an analogous sport, focusing on Millennial collectors along with his Pokémon sculptures whereas constructing pipelines by extra accessible editions and sneaker collaborations.
The sequence, together with the gadget-inspired works, started as a proper collaboration between Daniel Arsham and The Pokémon Firm, which partnered to current Relics of Kanto By way of Time (2020) on the PARCO Museum Tokyo, the place he reimagined Pokémon as archaeological relics unearthed a thousand years sooner or later. The collaboration continued with A Ripple in Time, a sequence of exhibitions and installations throughout Tokyo organized by Nanzuka that paired Arsham’s fictional-archaeology model with Pokémon lore. This section expanded the challenge to incorporate bronze sculptures, idea artwork, animation, and reinterpreted Pokémon playing cards rendered in Arsham’s signature eroded aesthetic. Many of the Pokémon sculptures have been produced in extraordinarily restricted editions—99, 500, or fewer models—and distributed by raffles or lottery techniques slightly than internet drops, creating built-in shortage and positioning the challenge squarely on the intersection of artwork markets and collectible fandom economies.
In the meantime, a museum like MoMA already appears attuned to each the potential and the danger of brand name dilution in cross-industry collaborations. The establishment not too long ago introduced a capsule assortment with Mattel that includes seven merchandise impressed by artists and artworks from MoMA’s everlasting assortment. The collectible figurines vary from a Van Gogh Barbie carrying a night robe printed with Starry Evening (1889) to 2 Little Folks Collector figures modeled after Monet’s Water Lilies and Salvador Dalí, full along with his unmistakable mustache. The gathering additionally contains an Uno deck that includes particulars from six MoMA-owned artworks and a Sizzling Wheels duplicate impressed by the museum’s Citroën DS 23 Sedan, amongst different gadgets. Launched on November 11, simply in time for the vacation season, these art-infused toys shall be bought at MoMA’s Design Shops in New York and Japan, in addition to on the Design Retailer’s web site and the Mattel Creations web site. The partnership additionally contains Mattel funding MoMA’s Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Household Artwork Lab, an interactive area for youths and households on the museum’s first ground.
As I argued not too long ago, cross-industry collaborations supply artists essential gateways whereas cultivating new audiences. On the identical time, platforms like Avant Arte are proving that there’s a younger, keen viewers prepared to have interaction with artwork—as long as editions really feel genuine and accessible, and group stays central to the narrative. In keeping with current surveys, the worldwide collectibles market has surpassed $496 billion in 2025. If the artwork world needs to keep away from shrinking in each quantity and monetary weight because it struggles to broaden its purchaser base, then making artwork extra “collectible”—at a number of value factors and throughout totally different phases of life—could be the solely sustainable technique for cultivating lifelong engagement from the following technology of patrons.
