Inside the Pokémon 30th Collection | Collector's Quest Ep 1

0:00 This is giving me a safari zone.

0:01 Mega Charizard, let's go.

0:03 This is the one I definitely want to talk about.

0:04 This is my favorite.

0:05 30 years as a Pokémon nerd myself,

0:07 we're celebrating Pokémon's 30th anniversary here at BoxLunch.

0:10 We're going to check out their collection, apparel, wall decor, bags.

0:13 Come on a collector's quest with me.

0:17 Hey Tippi.

0:18 Hey, nice to meet you.

0:18 Nice to meet you, Joey.

0:19 Nice to meet you.

0:20 So, what do you do here at BoxLunch?

0:21 I am the merch director for apparel at BoxLunch.

0:24 So, I oversee all the strategy,

0:27 all the licenses we carry for all things apparel.

0:30 Before we jump into this collection that you guys have for the 30th,

0:32 I want to know what's your Pokémon origin story.

0:34 I think it came out when I was eight.

0:36 I remember being bribed to do chores with Pokémon cards.

0:40 Obviously, it's been a dream to work on the product.

0:42 Yeah.

0:42 How was it choosing what Pokémon actually work within the collection versus like

0:47 [music] not?

0:47 That's always like a really tough needle to thread.

0:49 There's a thousand 25 of these guys.

0:51 We did do like a lot of the core characters,

0:53 a lot of the original starters, a lot of Gen 1.

0:56 This is a celebration of like Pokémon 30.

0:58 Yeah.

0:58 So, we really wanted to like target that customer

1:01 that like grew up with it, like me.

1:03 Basically.

1:04 Targeting me.

1:04 I mean, I want to dive into this.

1:06 Could you show me around to like what you guys do just to get behind the scenes?

1:08 Oh, for sure.

1:09 I'd love to.

1:10 Let's go.

1:17 Oh, no, you have Pikachu.

1:18 I Okay, that they make Pikachu in every single thing.

1:21 So, I definitely have Pikachu and I also get gifted it a lot.

1:24 Cubone.

1:25 We have to talk about your love for sad ones.

1:27 sad Pokémon.

1:28 I love Cubone.

1:29 [music] He's my favorite.

1:30 I don't know why.

1:30 I had a great childhood.

1:31 If my parents ever see this, I had a great childhood.

1:34 Clearly Pokémon fan.

1:36 [music] When this campaign came down,

1:37 was everybody in this company or your team just like,

1:38 oh yeah, Joey's the guy you want to talk to?

1:40 Actually, we pitched it to Pokémon.

1:42 Oh, was it good?

1:43 So, yeah, of course.

1:44 Oh, yeah, for sure.

1:45 The thing that I feel like is not really discussed

1:47 or at least in product is like the adventure aspect of it.

1:50 Like these are like kids that are just like basically

1:52 going camping every day and like sleeping Yeah, sleeping in tents.

1:55 So, I'm just like I feel like there's like this outdoor,

1:58 like hiking component that's never really thought

2:01 of when we talk about Pokémon product.

2:03 [music] Was there one, I guess like designer concept that you were really

2:05 proud to come up with that you pitched them that was accepted?

2:08 our windbreaker.

2:09 I do, too.

2:11 [laughter] I love our windbreaker.

2:11 I think we're going to do a bunch more.

2:13 So, if you have any ideas, since you like the the windbreaker about what

2:16 you want to see, please let me know.

2:18 get a custom one.

2:19 I'm just saying.

2:22 [laughter] I think a person you should definitely talk to is our marketing VP.

2:25 That'd be great.

2:25 Let's do it.

2:30 I'm Jillian Lent and I'm the vice president of marketing.

2:32 What is your favorite Pokémon?

2:34 I have to ask.

2:35 I I mean, if I'm going to go Gen 1, it's going to be Eevee.

2:38 So, my favorite is, you know, really an evolution of Eevee and it's Sylveon.

2:41 The girl loves an accessory and a ribbon.

2:44 We love that.

2:44 She's a little glamorous, a little feisty, you know, my spirit [music] Pokémon.

2:48 Oh, I love [laughter] that for you.

2:49 Oh my gosh.

2:50 Okay, now that we have that settled, I mean, our good day where it is,

2:52 I want to jump in more about the behind the scenes.

2:55 Did you find it hard to kind of work back with like nostalgia

2:57 versus like the folks that are kind of newer to the Pokémon fan?

3:00 I think what's really lovely about it is there is something for everyone.

3:04 We were really lucky Pokémon was so generous and were

3:06 able to use so much of [music] their beautiful art.

3:08 So, you know, working closely with their team,

3:10 but then our entire team to tie the amazing products

3:13 and I think they really created something that is trend focused,

3:17 but still taps into that nostalgia.

3:19 The whole collection just played into that outdoor

3:23 gorpcore trend and tied to streetwear so beautifully.

3:26 I think the windbreaker is a good example of that.

3:29 Shooting it is one actually one of my favorite

3:31 photo shoots that we've done this year.

3:32 Really?

3:32 Um we were able to integrate things like the Poké Ball and it lights up.

3:36 Um so, you can use it for home, you can use it in so many different ways.

3:39 No way.

3:39 Um and leaning into the adventure, but also very streetwear.

3:42 Sailor.

3:43 We would love for you to unbox and really see it.

3:45 take me away.

3:46 Let's do it.

3:46 All right, let's do it.

3:48 We want you to do an unboxing.

3:49 This is a fan moment to just unbox all this.

3:51 So, yeah.

3:51 I'm really excited.

3:52 I'm really excited, too, cuz I know it's our product,

3:54 but I'm actually not sure what's in here.

3:57 Tissue paper.

3:59 You shut up.

4:00 We're starting off with your favorite.

4:02 I know.

4:02 Look at it.

4:03 It's my girl.

4:04 This is really rad uh halter for for some

4:06 of our like most popular characters that we do.

4:09 He's one of my favorites.

4:10 Oh, for sure.

4:10 This is adorable.

4:13 Oh my gosh.

4:14 Yes.

4:14 Can we talk about these socks?

4:15 We can.

4:15 Umbreon.

4:16 It's my I think she's everyone's favorite like Eeveelution.

4:19 I think me and you bonded over Sylveon being Sylveon.

4:22 We were just talking about it.

4:23 How dare you?

4:24 But yes, she's lovely, too.

4:25 But how dare you?

4:27 Oh, man, we're getting into the I'm sorry.

4:29 Mega Charizard, let's go.

4:31 So, this is something we're really excited about expanding this cuz

4:34 if we [music] really haven't been out in the market at all.

4:36 This looks so good with the Poké Ball, too, in the front.

4:38 For sure.

4:38 Come on.

4:39 Okay, can we please talk about this?

4:41 This is one of my favorite product types to do

4:43 for Pokémon cuz you can fit multiple characters on it.

4:46 You can do like a really cool scene.

4:48 This is giving me a safari zone.

4:49 Yeah, oh for sure, nice.

4:50 I mean, we need like Kangaskhan in there.

4:53 We need please with the little baby one?

4:54 [laughter] Okay.

4:56 This is also giving me safari zone.

4:58 That really is true.

5:00 Like Viridian Forest.

5:01 Yeah.

5:02 We feel like the adventure,

5:03 like the outdoors aspect of Pokémon really isn't tapped into very much.

5:07 I mean, it's coming through on all this stuff so far.

5:09 I also love that you brought in a new silhouette

5:12 for women that it really feels on trend and right.

5:15 You can style it in so many ways with it being a little bit more cropped.

5:19 Okay, this one, the patches.

5:21 We really wanted to feature all the different regions, especially.

5:24 Yeah.

5:24 We are putting a Hoenn in here, Kanto in here.

5:27 Johto is also in here.

5:28 my favorite generation.

5:29 I like the patches.

5:30 It kind of gives me like a girl scout, boy scout.

5:32 Nice.

5:32 Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see that.

5:33 To serve.

5:34 Okay, this is the one I definitely want to talk about.

5:36 my favorite part.

5:36 This is my favorite.

5:37 Yeah.

5:37 Oh my gosh.

5:39 Did you guys have to create all the patches

5:40 separately or differently or were they the same?

5:42 Yeah.

5:42 Yeah, everything was like uniquely designed with the help of Pokémon, of course.

5:46 They're just amazing at like getting us what

5:48 we need to do the best product possible.

5:51 So, we obviously have like a really amazing Loungefly business.

5:53 They're really great partners to work with.

5:55 The detail.

5:56 Yeah, all appliqued.

5:57 There's not print on any of this stuff except

5:59 for the sides just to get the characters in.

6:01 You guys got Mew and Mewtwo.

6:03 Yeah, obviously that was why you saved your master ball in the first game.

6:05 Yeah, but sometimes you just like slip and you're like, oh crap.

6:08 I I caught a Magikarp.

6:09 I caught a Magikarp like an idiot.

6:12 [laughter]

6:11 The Poké Balls, we just feel really amazing about

6:14 doing more than just the standard red and white.

6:16 Okay, I'm really excited about this cuz this is

6:19 giving me the episode where Serena meets Eevee Dang.

6:22 in the flower garden.

6:24 Just go with it.

6:26 [laughter] That is exactly what we were going for.

6:28 Obviously, wanted to do something that like has Pokémon on it,

6:31 but we also want to be a little bit of a fashion piece.

6:33 Yeah.

6:33 Where it has like the beautiful florals that are really easy to wear,

6:37 kind of minimal, but elevated.

6:39 This is very classy.

6:40 Eevee's a classy girl.

6:41 Yeah.

6:41 I would love to talk a little through some of these.

6:43 Oh, sure.

6:43 Yeah.

6:44 Because it's the 30-year anniversary in celebration,

6:47 we wanted to pick some styles that were kind of in during that time.

6:50 Like the striped tees.

6:51 Yeah.

6:51 For that, we wanted to do it in really nice embroidery.

6:54 Here's Growlithe.

6:54 Growlithe.

6:55 We never see this poor dog.

6:57 Exactly.

6:57 He does so much for Officer Jenny.

6:59 For sure, that's so deep [laughter] cut.

7:01 And then similarly, these like faded washes.

7:04 Cute.

7:05 Eevee as well as Gengar.

7:06 This looks so cozy.

7:07 [music] I could just take a nap in this.

7:08 Oh, yeah.

7:09 No big deal.

7:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

7:09 This is all embroidered on the bottom.

7:11 Well, that's crazy.

7:12 It's so much detail.

7:14 [music] How does it feel to see this collection

7:15 drop on the 30th anniversary for Pokémon?

7:17 It feels amazing.

7:18 I mean, it just takes [music] me back to being like an 8-year-old,

7:20 being reminded what it was like to be a kid,

7:22 but also knowing that it's something that you grew up with and it grew with you.

7:26 I think everything we do is about joy and [music]

7:28 sparking joy and really that idea of like self-identity,

7:31 but in that you're part of something bigger.

7:34 [music] Pokémon is this global community that you get

7:36 to be a part of and everybody has a favorite.

7:38 And I think with this collection especially,

7:40 it's this idea of like you're expressing who your favorite is,

7:43 who you are and what you love.

7:45 Thank you so much for having me at BoxLunch.

7:46 I love being able to walk through from start to finish with you all.

7:49 This was amazing.

7:50 I love seeing all the products come to life.

7:52 I'm going to walk out with that.

7:53 I mean, yeah.

7:55 [laughter] Awesome.

7:55 Thanks everyone for joining and we'll see you next time.

8:01 [music]