Prolific skateboard deck designer Bear Walker has a pretty good track record of working with Pokémon Center, producing licensed decks. While recent offerings have been more mass produced, early designs were quite limited, and have since become very valuable on the aftermarket. Read on for a short history of the collaboration between Bear Walker and Pokémon Center, and what makes a skateboard resell.

Who is Bear Walker?

Bear Walker is a prolific skateboard designer and producer. With nearly 10 years of making skateboards under his belt, Walker's boards are well respected among skateboarders. Hand-carved boards and premium materials are an important part of his boards, and despite the higher price tag, they seem to do well.

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While Walker is mainly known for his custom work, recent years have seen a series of high-profile collaborations with major IPs like Marvel and Pokémon. These collaborations typically combine recognizable characters and designs with Walker's own unique style.

Do Bear Walker Boards Resell?

Bear Walker boards are not typically known to resell, with some exceptions. Since he is known more for custom work, there's not much of an aftermarket for his bespoke designs. Additionally, while his recent collaborations with Marvel and Pokémon have proven popular, these are generally produced in fairly high numbers, and are able to be purchased at retail.

However, Walker's initial collaborations with Pokémon Center to produce the Series 1 and Series 2 boards have resold very well. These boards were produced throughout 2020, and even now, mint condition Series 1 boards can resell well over $500, after retailing for $250.

What is a Series 1 Board?

Series 1 refers to the first line of boards Bear Walker would produce as part of collaboration with Pokémon Center. Debuting in February of 2020, Series 1 boards would feature five different designs: Charizard, Pikachu, Gengar, Gyarados and Mewtwo.

Each design would be sold for $250 exclusively through Pokémon Center's online store. To reinforce this high price tag, just 250 units of each design would be produced. This would be a major factor in the popularity of these boards, and is also a huge part of what made them such a good item to flip.

Later in 2020, Bear Walker and Pokémon Center would unveil Series 2, this time featuring designs of Togepi, Rayquaza, Umbreon, Mew and Toxtricity. Like before, only 250 units of each would be produced, for $250.

Why Did Series 1 and Series 2 Boards Resell?

Series 1 and 2 boards would go on to resell well because of their limited production. While Bear Walker had primarily produced custom, one-off boards before this collaboration, the Series 1 and 2 designs allowed him to strike a happy medium between bespoke, high-quality design, and mass market appeal.

Despite retailing for the high price of $250, each design being limited to 250 units practically guaranteed they would sell out and sell well. For Series 1, the Gyarados and Mewtwo designs would sell exceptionally well, and this would be reflected in their aftermarket prices. These skateboards could resell for $400-$500 a few months after release.

For Series 2 boards, Rayquaza and Mew would stand out as favorites. They would resell for around $500 as well, and a few Rayquaza boards would sell for nearly $1000.

The limited production of each design meant that if any one design proved more popular than others, it would sell out fast and resell high. Experienced resellers could see this squeeze coming, and knew that getting in early on a board would be a great opportunity. Even now, two years after their release, good condition boards can resell for hundreds over their retail price.

Another factor for their success on the aftermarket was the explosive popularity of Pokémon at the time. Early 2020 would see the continued rise of value for Pokémon cards, and Pokémon Go was about to have its second major heyday. These boards could not have come out at a better time, and the resale price proves it.

Future Bear Walker X Pokémon Center Boards

While the incredible success of the Series 1 and 2 boards is impressive, it hasn't appeared to carry over to the more recent collaborations between Bear Walker and Pokémon Center. Since the release of Series 2, Walker has created 14 new designs for the Pokémon Center online store. While these have sold well enough at retail, the resell price has tanked.

This is likely because unlike the earlier boards, these new designs are limited to 1500 per design. This massive increase in production is a sign of confidence that Pokémon Center has in Walker's work, but also means an end to the exclusivity that made these boards appealing to resellers. As of the time of this writing, all of the designs are currently in stock on Pokémon Center's store.

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Despite this turn of events, the newfound popularity of Walker's boards bodes well for the future value of Series 1 and 2 boards. Unless Pokémon Center decides to do a reproduction of these designs, they will remain hard to find and valuable for collectors, and as Walker grows in reputation, so will the value of these early boards.

For resellers, a couple lessons can be drawn from these skateboards. For one, quantity is everything. Gold is valuable because it's scarce, not because it's shiny, and the same goes for these boards. Only 250 units made of any design should be ringing bells in a reseller's head.

Pay attention to collaborations between major IPs and smaller artists. We saw the same thing earlier this year with the partnership between Microsoft and Wolverine to produce the Master Chief Boot. These initial collaborations often serve as a way for the manufacturer to test the waters, and will typically have a limited production run, ideal for resellers.

Would you resell a skateboard? Not sure where to get started? Check out our other articles for ideas on what to buy and what to sell. If you're looking for easy items to flip, or just a few tips to take your resale business to the next level, we've got what you need.