During these revolting times, what we need are heroes. Step forward one such person, offering a bright light of hope into our murky days: the Kabuto King. This anonymous figure (because all the best superheroes are) appeared from nowhere in August this year, with a single and singular goal: to collect every first edition Kabuto card from the Pokémon TCG‘s Fossil set. He’s currently at 1,748.
Why? Because no one else did yet.
New Kabutos: 30
Total Kabuto Count: 1748The show goes on 👑 pic.twitter.com/saoScQIslC
— Kabuto King (@KabutoKing_) November 29, 2025
It’s not uncommon for Pokémon collectors to try to find one of every card of a favourite pocket monster. I, for instance, have collected one of every English-language Mantine and am working on the Japanese versions now. But most people tend to stick to one of each, rather than every single one of the same card. That is Kabuto King’s goal: gathering the cards in any condition, graded or loose, in their thousands, with the intention of buying up every single one.
What makes the Kabuto King’s quest quite so excellent is that Kabuto is…look, I’m not setting out to offend anyone, but it’s hardly the most glamorous of Pokémon. Not one of Ken Sugimori’s most inspired designs, the creature first introduced in the original Pokémon games is essentially just a brown horseshoe crab with glowy red eyes at the front. Kabuto first appeared in the Pokémon TCG in 1999’s Fossil set, in the ignominious position of 50/62, tucked between the similarly unimaginative Horsey and Krabby. It received no holo pattern, and until the last few months—even with a 1st Edition badge—was of almost no value. In July of this year, you could have bought yourself one for less than a dollar. Right now, the market price, according to TCGPlayer, is over $28.
Catching on as a meme, many people are rooting through binders to see if they’ve a spare card they can send the King’s way (I checked, I don’t, sadface emoji), while the masked figure scoops up every example they can find on eBay and other marketplaces. And as a result, the prices are climbing fast. Kabuto King himself has noticed that eBay sellers are suddenly declaring themselves “sold out,” likely in order to relist the previously worthless cards at their new, higher price.
Wow. Ebay sellers cancelling orders from days ago saying “out of stock”…
That is BS. They will 100% re-list later at a much higher price. If you list something and someone buys it for your asking price you need to honor it.
— Kabuto King (@KabutoKing_) December 1, 2025
Incredibly, after a post from the X account on November 26 went viral, some are trying to compare King Kabuto’s antics to those of NFT sellers and the farce of artificial scarcity. As observed by @StarPlatinum, humorless people began claiming this action is the same as “whale concentration,” presumably because the crypto-brained are really incapable of discerning reality from the imaginary nonsense that drives their every moment. Big news here, but Pokémon cards are actually real objects, tangible and corporeal, and as such, their scarcity is never artificial. This is just one person buying all the real-life cards because they want to, and it’s funny. And, of course, no one cared a jot about the Kabuto cards before they started.
With daily updates on X, Kabuto King shows a photo of all the new 1st ed Kabuto he’s bought, and then the bulk box in which they’re all being stored. It’s a beautiful sight, and the speed with which it’s all happening is breathtaking. The card had never been worth more than $10 in its 26 years of existence, but now it is the priciest non-holos in the Fossil set! Extraordinarily, it’s currently valued higher than the non-holo Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos, traditionally the three best regular cards to pull in the set. It’s only $11 behind the cheapest holo, too—Muk, watch out, it’s coming for you!
What a splendidly joyful thing to see happening: it’s utterly harmless, deeply charming, and having a bonkers real-world effect on the price of a formerly unloved piece of cardboard. Step aside Gengar, there’s a new card everyone’s hoping to pull from Fossil. Although a sealed 1st Edition Fossil pack will cost you $250 to $370 (people want the Aerodactyl pack art much more), you might want to think twice.