First Partner Series 2 lands June 19 with Series 1 trading at five times retail

The second of the 30th-anniversary First Partner Illustration Collections releases June 19: one promo pack carrying three of nine illustration-style starter promos — Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile for Johto; Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott for Unova; Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble for Galar — plus two booster packs and a sticker sheet, at a $14.99 MSRP. It is the middle chapter of a 27-starter program that opened March 30 with Kanto, Sinnoh, and Alola and closes August 7 with Hoenn, Kalos, and Paldea. All 27 promos are by a single artist, Saboteri, and the artwork connects into one panoramic scene — a checklist designed to be completed.

Series 1 is the reason the June 19 date is circled. The March box sold out on launch day at most retailers, and within two days its single promos out-priced the box that contained them: roughly $36 for Charmander, $32 for Squirtle, and $25 for Bulbasaur on TCGplayer, per Wargamer's April 1 read. Ten weeks on, sealed Series 1 boxes ask $69.77–$74.99 on eBay — one listing at the lower figure shows 684 sold — and specialty trackers describe reseller pricing at two to four times MSRP wherever allocations surface. Those are asking prices rather than averaged comps, read 2026-06-10; the direction is not subtle.

A $15 ticket to the anniversary chase

At $14.99, the First Partner boxes are the cheapest numbered entry in the 30th-anniversary product slate — below the $59.99 Elite Trainer Boxes, far below Japan's ¥27,500 anniversary exclusives — which is precisely why the entry price has been theoretical for most buyers. Whether Series 2 repeats the launch-day sellout is the summer's record to write, and Gloomberg will note what the record says; what is already on the books is that Series 1's $14.99 sticker lasted one day, and its aftermarket multiple has widened, not narrowed, in the ten weeks since.

Japan waits, for once

The program also inverts the era's usual direction of trade. Japan's version of the starter-promo product — the 30th CELEBRATION Card Set, at ¥1,200 — releases October 16, roughly seven months after the West's Series 1. The Mega Evolution era has run the other way: Japanese sets lead by six to eight weeks and Japanese singles price the chases before English product exists. For this one product line, Western collectors set the first prints. Japan's anniversary catalog is instead led by premium exclusives revealed at the Japan Championships June 6–8: a ¥27,500 FUTURISTIC BOX with two Futuristic Rare Pikachu ex promos, initially exclusive to Pokémon Center Online Japan, and a ¥6,200 Espeon & Umbreon premium deck set with Special Illustration Rare copies of each.

Product details per official Pokémon announcements and the linked set documentation as of 2026-06-10. Aftermarket figures are asking prices at the named venues on the dates noted, not transaction averages; Gloomberg does not audit them.