First Partner Illustration Collection — Series 2
Called 16 June 2026 · #pokemon-alerts · Resell Vault Drops
- In · retail
- £14.99–18
- Out · eBay UK solds
- £40-45
- Net · per unit
- +£23-28
- ROI · at the low end
- 135%+
Why we called it
The First Partner series is Pokémon's 30th-anniversary promo line — cheap, nostalgic, and reliably 2–3x at resale. Series 2 dropped on a Friday; by the Tuesday before, members had allocation intel most store managers didn't have.
The briefing was granular: Menkind branches holding ~100 boxes each, an Entertainer branch with 48 in the back and another delivery due, Waterstones at ~30, Sports Direct with barely 10 despite the biggest queues. The route wrote itself — skip the queue theatre, collect the volume quietly, and be done by mid-morning. The follow-up review called it plainly: the in-store cook was a huge success across the board.
The edge
What members knew before everyone else worked it out.
- Verified per-branch stock counts, sourced from delivery sheets and member calls.
- A route built on expected value: Waterstones → Entertainer → Menkind, avoiding the low-stock queue traps.
- EU pre-order angle included via a Dutch retailer for reshippers, days before UK release.
- £17 in, £40–45 out — multiplied across the ~100-box allocations members were pointed at.
How it played out
- 16 Jun
The briefing
Three days out: retailer strategy, phone-ahead scripts, and early allocation estimates.
- 18 Jun
Final counts
Branch-level numbers land — 100 at Menkind, 48+ at Entertainer, 10 at Sports Direct. The route is finalised.
- 19 Jun
Drop morning
Members run the route from opening. The review the following week confirms the cook succeeded across the board.
The takeaway
Everyone knew the release date; members knew the stock counts. On a £17 product, that difference — 100-box branches versus 10-box branches — was the entire trade.
You missed this one
The next call is already being written
Every flip on this page was pinged to members before it happened, with retail, resell and risk attached. Pro membership includes every drop alert, in-store stock checkers and the weekly calendar.
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