But, crucially, what Pokémon cards offer that other collectables do not is not merely a diversified commodity onto which children can project their own values freely, but one that subtly includes its own value system. Pokémon cards work, I would hazard, precisely because the cards always already refer to nebulous "objective" values (rarity, price on the market, the power of the card or Pokémon in the game) against, beyond and within which children negotiate their own subjective and collective values. That is, the Pokémon brand offers its own official set of values, not to enforce those values on young collectors but as a sort of touchstone or reference point to orient the working-out of value by child agents, even though these official values are often virtually meaningless within children's social worlds. It is because children can refer to these "objective" values that they are able to sustain the illusion of value they create through shared narratives and conviviality.

Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, loc. 383