A significant number of preorders for Ascended Heroes Elite Trainer Boxes, the latest hot product from the Pokémon TCG, appear to have been cancelled for unknown reasons. On social media this week, frustrated fans shared emails they'd received from The Pokémon Company explaining that their orders would not be fulfilled, with numerous users claiming to have received the same message.
Details are thin on the ground on this story. It's not clear how widespread the issue is, or what has caused it, and speculation and rumor is rife in the community. The two most commonly voiced theories are that The Pokémon Center simply accepted more preorders than it had inventory for, or that this was some sort of targeted measure aimed at combatting scalpers. But with no official statement at time of publication, these seem to be baseless guesses.
Online, I've seen content creators praise The Pokémon Company for taking action against those who abuse the system with bots and automation. Meanwhile, other fans protest that they had perfectly legitimate orders for just a single ETB cancelled.
Humans are great at spotting patterns, even when they aren't there, so of course all sorts of theories have been thrown out to explain what connects the cancellations, from the type of credit card used, suspiciously common names like 'John Smith', or the type of building or apartment complex you live in.
As far as I can tell, everyone's just throwing out guesses, although one subreddit has made a poll to try and figure out commonalities between the cancelled-on customers.
Wargamer reached out to try and pin down some more concrete details, but the response was simply that "TCPi won't be commenting on this subject at this time."
For those still receiving them, the Ascended Heroes ETBs are expected to arrive on February 20.
Did you manage to snag an ETB and avoid an upsetting email telling you it isn't coming anymore? Let us know over on the Wargamer Discord! And don't miss our guide to the most exciting, snazzy, splendiferous rare Pokémon cards in the world.