It’s hard to explain the feeling I get from watching normies act clueless about video games. Especially now that gaming culture has so much mainstream acceptance, there’s something almost therapeutic about the confusion that washes over your average Gen Xer whenever they’re confronted with the fact that video games exist and people enjoy playing them. There’s been a lot of unhinged excerpts from Mario movie reviews floating around social media that are enraging fans, but they delight me to no end. Please continue comparing Bowser to actors that died in 1954 and puppeteers that were semi-popular in the ‘70s. I’m living for it.
As more and more Hollywood adaptations of games like The Last of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie come along, I’m worried we’ll start to lose the disinterested voice of the common man. I never want grown-ups to stop asking me if I’m playing one of those internet games, or what the heck we do all day on that there gamestation. It’s humbling when someone that owns property is disgusted by my hobby, and it brings me joy that I know so much more about something than they do.
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This is pretty universal experience for anyone that grew up playing video games, but I’ve never seen it so perfectly captured as it is in a season 17 episode of Pawn Stars where a guy tried to sell Rick a replica Frostmourne from World of Warcraft.
Rick is known to be a curmudgeonly, out-of-touch guy. Whether that’s just a character he plays or his authentic self, it’s easy to imagine that a Nevada pawn shop owner probably doesn’t have a lot of expertise in nerd shit. In this 2020 episode, a certified, cargo shorts-wearing Gamer proudly rocks up with a life-sized, officially licensed Frostmourne replica, and spends the entire segment trying to explain to Rick that World of Warcraft is a Big Deal.
The guy’s got some help from Chumlee, Pawn Star’s resident stoner (and sexual assaulter, allegedly) who tries to tell Rick why anyone would care about a big-ass sword from a video game. Rick is not impressed, obviously, and he becomes incensed when Chumlee insists he picks up the sword and poses with it. He gets even more irritated when the sword owner announces his asking price: $5000.
The sword was in fact officially licensed from Blizzard by a company called Epic Weapons. A limited run of 6,500 swords were created in 2008 to coincide with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and were sold for $400. You can see the number 966 written on the bottom of our guy’s box, which is likely its actual authentication number. Many of these swords have been sold in auctions over the years, some for as much as $1,200. The replica tagged #1 was sold in 2008 for $20,700.
Before they get into the negotiation, Rick asks the most hilarious boomer questions imaginable. “So what do you do in the game, you just fight other people?” The guys then do a terrible job explaining what WoW is. One of them says yeah, there’s like, lots of characters and stuff. Then the other one says well, you’re able to fight other people playing on their computer, but you can also fight other characters that are controlled by the game. The look Rick gives them is the exact same look my uncle would give me every Christmas while trying to explain the premise of whatever game Santa gave me: confusion, detachment, and pity. “Is this one of those games where people stay up for two to three days to play it?” No Rick, this is THE game people stay up two to three days to play it. And by people, I mean me.
Eventually Rick calls in the expert, because there’s always an expert on standby to give a quote. This time it’s Steve Johnston, owner of Rogue Toys. Steve has clearly done a bit of research beforehand. He accurately quotes how much Blizzard has earned on WoW ($9 billion at the time, $12 billion today) and also comes up with a more realistic asking price of $1,350, based on, I assume, the current eBay listings at the time. He also verifies the authenticity - which anyone can do because it’s stamped right into the blade. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you’re a sicko like me), Steve gives himself away when he explains to Rick “you definitely had to have this sword if you wanted to be one of those top-tier players.” Frostmourne is not, and has never been obtainable in WoW. Steve is a fake gamer.
In the end, Rick offers our guy $600, he counters with $1000, and they settle on $750. This sword isn’t listed onGold & Silver Pawn Shop’s website, so it would appear it sold at some point in the last three years. Interestingly, Blizzard is preparing to release a brand new Frostmourne replica in May. You can preorder it right now for a staggering $1,500. It looks identical to the original. The wall mount, included with the Epic Weapons version, is sold separately for $200. I’m tempted to buy one myself, just so I can see the look on Rick’s face when I go to Vegas and try to pawn it off to him.
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