After discovering something unusual at Target, this man is coming after collectibles resellers for ruining the experience for kids, families, and working-class people. He has a point.
What are collectibles, and why do people buy them?
There are various communities of people that collect everything from figures of characters from movies, animes, and games to anime and sports trading cards to home goods.
Some people are motivated by their deep interest in a specific subject and the community that trading creates, while others are linked to the nostalgia of it all.
While collecting is a rather wholesome activity for many, capitalism has taken away some of the joy of the experience.
See, it’s just like concert tickets, which further skyrocket in price when resellers get a hold of them. collectibles are becoming increasingly more difficult to find at the more reasonable in-store price. This ends up forcing people to hand over double or triple the cost to a reseller or just prevents them from actively participating in the hobby.
This TikToker is so over it that he had to do something about it. You can do it too.
Uncovering hidden collectibles at Target
In a viral video with more than 1.5 million views, action figure collector @80s_kid_and_collectibles tries to do fellow collectors a solid every time he’s in Target.
See, resellers like to hide merchandise so other people can’t buy it or so they can come back for it. Luckily, @80s_kid_and_collectibles is hip to one of their prime hiding places. You’d never expect where it is.
In the video, @80s_kid_and_collectibles is walking in the toy aisle and sees the shelves of Topps collectible baseball cards are completely bare.
Then he picked up the bottom aisle (who knew those even moved), where he found a dozen boxes of the cards alongside about seven sacks of Pokémon cards.
“This is ridiculous,” @80s_kid_and_collectibles says. “…This isn’t one kid hiding a box for later. This is insanity right here.”
To democratize the collecting experience, @80s_kid_and_collectibles went ahead and removed all of the hidden items (which were collectively worth a few hundred dollars) and put them back on the shelves for collectors to discover and buy.
“Really nice try, hiding stuff. Sorry it didn’t work out for you. Better luck next time if there is a next time for you. Don’t do [expletive] like this,” @80s_kid_and_collectibles says.
“Everybody deserves a chance to do this stuff.”
@80s_kid_and_collectibles says that disgruntled commenters will probably call him a “wet blanket” or say he’s not a “collector’s bro.”
“Now somebody more deserving can have a chance to buy these,” he says as he continues his restock. He also quips that people who hide that many cards for their personal gain aren’t collectors; they’re “man-baby children.”
Commenters react
“When online says they have it in stock, but you can’t find them in the store,” a top commenter said.
“When I was a lead at Target I made it part of the closing routine on Saturdays to have the recovery toy team check under,” a person said.
“Prices also destroy a hobby,” another wrote.
“My daughter is desperate to spend her christmas money on Pokémon cards. But every store we’ve been to is out. I’m pulling up the shelves from now on,” a commenter added.
@80s_kid_and_collectibles Resellers suck #toycollection #toycollecting #toycollector #toyhunter #toyhunting #actionfigurecollecting #actionfigurecollector #actionfigurecollection #actionfigures #figtok #figtokcommunity #target #targetfinds #targettok #targetrun #sportscards ♬ original sound – 80s_Kid
The Daily Dot reached out to @80s_kid_and_collectibles for comment via and to Target via email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
