Leeds Pokémon fans queue from 5am to get their hands on 30th anniversary cards
We went down to Travelling Man this morning to speak to some of the tired-eyed superfans.
Pokémon fans have been queuing from the early hours of this morning outside a Leeds gaming shop to get their hands on a special 30th anniversary card collection.
Fans gathered outside Travelling Man in Leeds city centre from as early as 5am this morning (September 15), hours before the gaming shop opened at 10am.
The special collection marks three decades of Pokémon and includes new cards and reprints of classics, with a Pikachu card guaranteed in every booster pack.
But for some Leeds Pokémon fans, getting their hands on the new cards meant sacrificing a night’s sleep.
We went down to Travelling Man this morning to speak to some of the tired-eyed superfans.
Cora Wildsmith arrived at around 5.30 this morning, after getting up at 5am and rushing out the front door, armed with breakfast, cushions and blankets.
“It's nice to be in the queue and have camaraderie with the people like us who have been here for hours as well, we’ve had some really good chats,” they told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
“I’m hoping I can get some good cards too!”
Hailey ‘Bug’ Grenier had also been waiting since 7am, with a table and camping chairs helping them settle in for the long wait ahead.
“I’ve been a Pokémon fan since I was a kid and used to have a huge collection, however I sold it all,” they told us.
“But now I’m starting to collect them again, so I'm very excited.”
The excitement was also being felt inside Travelling Man where area manager Justin Bird said the shop had been allocated a limited amount of stock, meaning it would be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
“There was just a gentleman in the shop who has been collecting Pokémon for 30 years, so it’s a big milestone for everyone” he said.
“It’s been growing and growing in strength and popularity, so I think it means a lot to people.”
This atmosphere was certainly reflected in the queue.
For Joseph Noah Arie, the anniversary marks an opportunity to reconnect with something he loved as a child.
He said: “I’m old enough to know what it was like the first time around, and not much has changed.”
“It’s bigger than ever right now, I feel like I’m partly reliving my childhood being here today- it’s bringing back good memories.”
He said Pokémon had managed to appeal to both children and adults, with fans now spanning generations.
“It seems to have grabbed the attention of so many, from young children all the way up to 40-50 year olds,” he added.
As fans waited to open their packs and discover what was inside, some were hoping to find particularly rare cards- including a RGB Mew, while others simply wanted to add another piece to their collections.
For a franchise that began with two video games in Japan in 1996, its ability to bring generations of fans together is still very much alive in Leeds 30 years on.