Scalpers Are Already Ruining the Evangelion x McDonald’s Collab

While unfortunate – and frustrating – resellers are everywhere, and follow trends in every community to keep up with exciting new projects in every corner of fandom culture to try and take advantage of community members and earn a quick buck. While this trend is particularly infamous in gaming, anime has its fair share of resellers as well – and that’s never been more obvious than with the latest collaboration between Neon Genesis Evangelion and the fast food giant, McDonald’s. The limited edition collaboration features three brand-new mech figures called the Big Mac Unit 01, McDonald’s French Fries Unit 2, and McShake Unit 0.

As reported by Oricon JP, it seems as though the exclusive product line is being affected by the reselling community in Japan. In December 2024, there was a lottery raffle held to select the winners of the figurine set. Despite the fact that winners were only just announced on January 16th, 2025, Japanese flea market sites and other reselling hubs have the figure sets listed, being priced between 12,000 to 20,000 yen. Not only is this frustrating because the original set goes for 3,900 yen, but it’s also led to speculation that sellers have these items listed without them actually being in stock.

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According to Mercari’s terms, one of the sites that has the Evangelion x McDonald’s figures listed, states that the site prohibits selling products that the seller does not physically have on hand. The service has this policy to protect buyers, giving them the ability to ask the seller in-depth questions about the product and its condition before placing their order. According to Oricon, listings featuring the new figures only use images from the official promotion, as well as screenshots of the winners.

Netizens Speak Out Against Resellers Selling Evangelion Collab Products at a Premium

It seems as though fans looking forward to the collaboration are rightfully bitter about the situation. Ever since Mercari and other listings have begun popping up online, disgruntled Evangelion fans have been speaking out to try and urge fellow fans not to buy the exclusive goods at an unfair premium. Some comments include things like, “McDonald’s [Evangelion] lottery figures are being resold too much on Mercari! Collection will start from the 20th, so anyone listing them now should be reported for ‘item not in hand’”, “McDonald’s, you knew it would be resold… this is the worst”, and, hilariously, “I wish they’d eradicate the McDonald’s [Evangelion] resellers.”

While the series of events is unfortunate, it’s also become commonplace in every fandom for there to be resellers waiting in the wings to buy up as much exclusive fan content as they can get their hands on with the sole intent of marking it up to sell later. It’s a frustrating trend that preys on fans’ deep-rooted love for a specific piece of media, and for niche merchandise, like the Evangelion McDonald’s figures.

H/T Oricon JP