ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Commencing operation . . .

Overview

I have had a challenging weekend. I planned to attend a DragonForce concert on Friday, and then visit the London Pokémon Centre on Saturday. I intended to pull an all-nighter in London between the two events, as I figured it would be a waste to travel back home, only to then catch an early morning train back into London. Let us roll back the clock and start from the beginning, though.

DragonForce Concert

I left home just after half-past six and caught the seven o’clock train to London Waterloo, where I was scheduled to meet up with one of my mates. I felt pretty prepared for the cold night that awaited me. I wore my camo trousers with a short-sleeve shirt. I had a jacket and my full-length trench coat also. So three layers on top and arguably two layers for the bottom. I also had two beanies, a scarf, and my thermal gloves. I should have been able to weather the cold front that loomed ahead.

Anyway, my mate ended up slightly delayed, but we met up and then took the Northern Line tube to Kentish Town, where the O2 Forum was located. We met up with a third mate and one of his work colleagues and then entered the building. I got searched for around three minutes by security. This is what happens when you have a matrix style full-length coat and a jacket with lots of pockets.

We had seated tickets, which were a lifesaver. I was able to take off my jacket and coat, relax and listen to the music. We arrived over halfway through the penultimate band’s performance. An all-female Japanese metal band called Lovebites, which I had never heard of until that day. They were outstanding, and they exceeded my expectations. Check them out if you are into metal music.

DragonForce came on as the final band for the night, and they were extraordinary! They covered many songs from their latest album Extreme Power Metal as well as several classics from their older albums such as Valley of the Damned, Black Fire and Fury of the Storm. They did an interlude where they played some video game soundtracks, which were just amazing, especially since that is the type of music I play on the piano. They covered a track from Final Fantasy but also one from Farming Simulator of all things. One of the guitarists was playing the banjo, and it was hilarious. DragonForce finished strong with their flagship song Through the Fire and Flames.

Pokémon Centre London

After the concert ended, I parted way with my mates and took the Northern Line to Tottenham Court Road and then the Central Line to Shephard’s Bush, where the Pokémon Centre was located. For those who do not know, a Pokémon Centre is a shop that sells Pokémon merchandise. They are mostly found in Japan, but there is also a store in Singapore. There are also four stores in America, but these are simply glorified vending machines. The Pokémon Centre store in London was a pop-up store, lasting for four weeks in this case before disappearing. There has been other pop up stores in the past. New York had one, and so did Paris. This was the first time a Pokémon Centre had ever been placed within the United Kingdom.

I started exploring the Westfield shopping centre, and it was massive. You could easily spend a whole day shopping there. I grabbed a foot-long sandwich from Subway and ate half of it as a midnight snack. By the time I went to check out the queuing point for the Pokémon Centre, a long line had already formed. Almost a hundred people had already turned up by around one in the morning!

Unfortunately, Nintendo had not anticipated how popular the store was going to be and, therefore, did not have enough merchandise in stock to supply the demand. This led to people turning up to the shop purely for profitability purposes. They would grab the most popular stuff and then resell for a profit. I went last Saturday, which was the third weekend after the store opened. The staff issued a warning that after that weekend had passed, there would likely run out of London exclusive merchandise. I knew this meant that even more people would be turning up on the Saturday for a final opportunity to grab the unique items, but I did not anticipate it being THAT busy so early in the morning!

I later learned that some people had been to the Pokémon Centre the day before and then queued up for Saturday at six o’clock on Friday! I had not planned on queuing up until around three to four in the morning, but after seeing the line, I realised I had to join the queue now before I was pushed even further back. I had expected to be one of the first to arrive, but that was certainly not the case.

As I walked to the back of the queue, I noticed some people had blankets, pillows, and chairs. They were better prepared for the long haul than I. I found my spot and took a glance at the immediate people in my vicinity. There was a lady next to me sitting on a fold-up chair playing Pokémon Ultra Sun, working her way up the Battle Tree facility. I asked her about her progress, and we broke into conversation. She came out with the funniest things; I was constantly laughing.

Suddenly she pointed behind me. I turned to look but could only see that a few more people had joined the queue. I looked back at her quizzically, but she held her finger motionlessly. I looked again but could not understand what the hell it was she was pointing. The lady I was now looking at then mentioned that the other girl was pointing at her pet rabbit.

PET RABBIT.

WHAT!

COULD THIS MORNING GET ANY BETTER?

I did not notice, but yes, there was a dark grey bundle of joy nestled around her shoulder. In my defence, I did not have my glasses on, it was pitch black, and the rabbit itself was a dark grey colour so blended well in the darkness. She told us the rabbit’s name was Shadow and explained that he was there for emotional support as, without him, she struggled to get out and about. Sure enough, there was a fluorescent vest on the animal with the words Emotional Support Animal.

She fed the animal a carrot, and it was the most adorable thing, watching the rabbit nibble away at it. Two more people joined in, so we had a group of six people, including myself. I think we could all do with some emotional support, so Shadow became our group mascot! We talked about many things, and time passed fairly quickly.

By three in the morning, the temperature had become brutally cold. Even with all of my clothing, my feet and hands were beginning to numb. The chill permeated through my garments and penetrated my body.

Two members of the group decided to go to McDonald’s to get some food and drink to keep warm. We rotated the chair around, so everyone had some time to sit down during the long wait. I spoke with one of the other girls in the group and learned that this was her second visit to the Pokémon Centre. She had initially only planned to visit once, but as she had enjoyed it so much, she came down for round two.

I had to respect that. Even more so, when I found out, she travelled from Berlin to Amsterdam to London to make it to the Pokémon Centre! She was travelling around Europe and managed to schedule a return trip to London for the second Pokémon Centre visit.

As she had already been before, she became the oracle of our group. She gave us the inside knowledge and the low down of the shop layout. We started talking about what we wanted from the Pokémon Centre. She desired to get an umbrella as she did not have the chance to get one last time. I wanted a jumbo Wailord plushie. The lady with the rabbit wished to procure a giant Mew plushie. Hopefully, it would work out for all of us.

Eventually, we survived to five in the morning, where the security team could officially allow us to enter the Westfield building to queue indoors. We escaped the bitter chill, and a wave of warmth enveloped us all immediately upon entering the shopping mall. We found our place and sat down. A couple of us ended up lying down on the floor to try and sneak in a few hours of rest. I was unable to get any sleep, but the physical act of resting was still good. We had survived the freezing outdoor temperatures, and the worst was over. Now it was only a waiting game.

After nine in the morning, we noticed a lot of unfortunately confused people who wandered around and tried to join the queue near the front. We were partitioned off at several sections, so there was a notable gap between where we were standing and the group that was closest to the Pokémon Centre entrance. Multiple times security had to redirect these lost souls to the back of the queue, which was outside the building. They were in sheer disbelief when they realised they had to go all the way outside if they wanted to queue up. I admit our group found it rather amusing, and I had no doubt others shared our amusement.

Twenty minutes before the store officially opened, they had to close the queue due to the sheer volume of people who had turned up. The number had reached over one thousand, which was insane. Finally, the store opened, and the Pikachu mascot came out and did his parade alongside the queue. By the time we entered the store, it was around eleven o’clock. We grabbed our baskets and then split up to grab the things we wanted. I went all-in on the plushies; the five I picked up are listed below, in order of preference.

1. Jumbo Wailord
2. London City Pikachu
3. Squirtle
4. Sobble
5. Venusaur

As I picked up my jumbo Wailord, I noticed there were not any giant Mew plushies on the shelves. The girl in my group who wanted one was in tears as she spoke with one of the staff members. Apparently, he told her they had run out and walked off. I am not a man who shows much emotion, but I sympathised with her.

Imagine waiting over ten hours, half of which was outside in freezing temperatures, all for the sake of purchasing one thing, to find then that said item was out of stock. I may not have shed tears, but I certainly would have been devastated if they had sold out of jumbo Wailord plushies before I could grab one. There were not many Wailord plushies left when I had arrived, so I was lucky.

The girl persisted, however, determined not to yield to her fate but to fight it instead. She asked another staff member, and I believe she informed her that a new product delivery would be arriving soon. Sure enough, a short while later, the staff lady returned with a giant Mew plushie and handed it over to the girl. She was still crying, but I believe they were now tears of happiness rather than sadness. I was glad that things worked out for her in the end.

I went to pay for my stuff and briefly went upstairs to check out the demo of the latest Sword and Shield Pokémon games before exiting the store and regrouping with everyone else. We quickly ran through some of the main items we each managed to purchase, but then it was time to part ways. Our arduous mission had come to an end. After saying goodbye to the fellowship, I took the train back home.

Conclusion

I am not a sporadic, all-nighter person. I am very much a stick to a consistent routine type of guy. I have to say, though, I was incredibly lucky during this venture. Seated tickets for DragonForce was a godsend; I would not have been best pleased if I had to stay standing with all of my layers of clothing. There was plenty of extra bench space for me to take off my jacket and coat, to relax.

While it did rain on Friday, Saturday morning stayed clear, despite it being savagely cold. It would have been a total disaster if it rained during the early hours, while completely exposed, stuck outside.

I was able to grab the items I wanted, especially the jumbo Wailord plushie. He will surf on the couch, which I am going to use as an additional cushion when I am playing video games. It has the appropriate dimensions to act as a cushion to place between my arms and lap, to ease the tension from my elbows. It was a purchase that was equal in both aesthetics and application!