Fair Warning: this post is over one year old. The information in this post is probably still as accurate as when it was originally posted, but things do change quickly. Please keep that in mind while reading, and thanks for understanding!
A Quick Diversion:

I’m back from vacation, and I really needed that time off. Now I’m a bit fresher, cleaner, more relaxed, and ready to take on the next 11 months before my next 10 day vacation. Good times ;)

 

The Actual News:

Today’s news will cover these topics:

  • The Ultimate Jamboree Video
  • Pokémon 151 Set Release
  • Deholo Card Project
  • Other Random Tidbits
  • Six Safari Zone Cards!

 

 

The Ultimate Jamboree Video

So last summer I posted about how Matt Matoba (of design house Matoba Design) contacted me for an impromptu interview about the lost Pokémon TCG set, Pokémon Jamboree, and eventually wrote an article about it. Well Matt has one-upped himself and turned his article into an awesome video, covering the entire history of Pokémon Jamboree. Check it out: you might see some familiar faces in it! ;)

Pretty great story, huh?

As for the Jolteon card mentioned in the video, if you wanted to see a high quality version of my version of it, check it out below!

This actually isn’t the only story of Matt’s that I’ve been helping him out on… maybe that other story will be ready by the next roundup? Be sure to swing by to find out!

 

Pokémon 151 Set Release

So here’s something I didn’t quite realize until just now… but the Pokémon TCG Classic that was shown off in February’s Pokémon Presents is actually a totally separate product from the “Pokémon 151” set that is being released in Japan on June 16th and later this Holiday season in the West. This is some pretty cool stuff!… if it wasn’t for just ONE glaring issue:

Wait, seriously?! Magnemite and Magneton, the ONLY Pokémon that would have a Metal-typing, aren’t actually Metal-types? You mean there are NO METAL Pokémon?? That’s a serious bummer… but don’t worry, once I get the ScVi blanks done, I’ll be sure to correct this mistake. ;)

Anyways, thanks to Dr. Omanyte, who posted these high quality scans of the starter Pokémon lines and two Trainers over on the TCG Zone of the PA! Discord. Meanwhile, our friends over at PokéBeach posted translations for these cards. Huzzah!

 

 

Finally, PokeGuardian posted about the Bulbasuar, Charmander and Squirtle promos for the set… I imagine these promos will be released in tin sets in the West.

All in all, I’m hyped for this release! As mentioned before, not only is it neat to finally have a single set with all 151 Pokémon in it for its own sake, but it’s actually a dream-come-true for 2001-me because Wizards of the Coast had this same exact idea for a reprint set titled Crosstrainer. That reprint set was never released, but its spirit lives on in Pokémon 151!

Oh, one last thing: if you ever want to feel old, Wartortle from Pokémon 151 has the exact same HP as Base Set Blastoise (100HP). The power creep is real!

 

 

Deholo Card Project

So this is a fun idea that GC|Linkinboss from the PA! Discord had, which I’ve been helping him out with. But let’s set the scene first: ever notice how some Wizards-era holo cards DON’T have a non-holo version? Mostly in Base Set, the Gym sets and Neo Genesis, but there basically has been NO WAY to see what these cards look like beneath their holofoil sheen?


SOURCE: pkmncards.com

Well what if I told you that there actually IS a way to view these cards in all their bare-naked nonholo glory? Think I’m joshin’ you? Well take a look!

This is a bit of a reconstruction, but this is absolutely 100% what the card actually looks like. How did we get this?? Well…

Back in the day, Wizards of the Coast had their own card gaming magazine called TopDeck (rebranded from the Duelist)… and over the years I managed to get a small collection of issues from their prime Pokémon TCG years:

And inside these issues were these various pullout promo mini-magazines which covered whatever hot set was being released, including Pokémon TCG sets. And since Wizards of the Coast made the magazine themselves, they were able to utilize the raw image files straight from the card designers in order to fill those preview pages up. These promo magazines covered at least between Fossil up to Neo Discovery, but especially the Gym sets and Neo Genesis. Take a look, it’s got all the holo cards in their nonholo form!

So Link had the idea of utilizing these raw scans and adding them into actual Pokémon TCG cards scans in order to simulate what their nonholo versions would look like. My role in this was getting Link some high quality scans of these original pages so he could use them to extract the necessary image data for his rebuilds. And there we are! Pretty cool, huh?

That Meganium card was just the first card that Link shared with us on the PA! Discord, but I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of them released. And if you’re just as curious, pop by the PA! Discord, as Link will be posting them there as they come. Good times! ;)

 

 

Other Random Tidbits

These are some of the other news bits that came up over the last few weeks or so which I want to share with you guys:

  • Sugimori Scans Rescanned: YouTuber and archivist Lewtwo and ExcaliburZero went back to some of Ken Sugimori’s earliest generational scans in order to get the most accurate colors of his work possible! Read more here.
    • Now to be clear, they didn’t have access to Sugimori’s original artwork, but what they had to work with was perhaps the 1st generation copy of the original artwork, whereas the artwork we saw in other Pokémon media were 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation reproductions. Still pretty cool to see how much detail is lost when you make copies of copies of copies!
  • Pokemon TCG Online is sunsetting over this month and will officially close June 5th. More info here.
    • CRAP! I’d better scan in all my PTCGO code cards asap!!
  • James Carter Cathcart, English Pokémon Voice Actor who had been working on the show since day one (playing Gary Oak and, since 2006, Professor Oak), will be retiring due to throat cancer. Read more about it at EuroGamer.
    • I salute this man for keeping Gary Oak alive over all these years. And still making him sound like a jerk over that time (even tho Gary has since mellowed out)
  • Dr. Omanyte shared this cool video for us fakers: How to make your own e-Reader cards! This 1h30m video stream covers EVERYTHING you need to learn about the process.
    • AWESOME! Now as soon as I know how to program my own e-Reader Pokédex entries, then I’ll be ready to release my own! MWAHAHAA
  • Dr. Omanyte also shared this with us on the PA! Discord: the scripts for the two lost Team Rocket vs Team Plasma episodes have been released! More info here on @Akilvers on Twitter.
    • It may not be the episode themselves, but it is the full script for both episodes, and it has been translated into English… so it’ll only be a matter of time before someone animates it or at least turns it into a webcomic.

Finally, I’m still plugging away at the ScVi blanks! I’m trying to do what I can in between real life, but I think I have a decent plan forward for what I need to do with the rest of the types. Below is my Twitter post showing Basic, Stage 1, Stage 2 and Basic ex cards… I only have the Stage 1 and 2 of ex cards, as well as Tera versions of the ex cards to go! And then the other eight types!

As always, I appreciate your time and patience as I work on these for everyone. :)

 

 

Six Safari Zone Cards!

This week I have six new Safari Zone cards from GC|Linkinboss! Only because I made a mistake last week and reposted two cards that I had… ahem… forgotten that I posted… ¬_¬;;

Check them out!


I always liked Guard Spec. for being a pinch card to survive one extra turn. Better than a Defender too, AND it’s not an Item card! Did they ever make a new card similar to Guard Spec. for modern releases?

When I played Pokémon TCG Draft back in the day, the kinds of cards that always saved my bacon were ones that did a lot of “ping” damage… cheap attacks that could do Poison, or other status effects. I probably would’ve used Sandshrew a lot in that case, particularly as an alternative to Grass-types being Poisoners. I MAY throw in a Sandslash or two, just to help be a sweeper.

Porygon may be another useful tech Pokémon to include in a draft deck, if only as a way to stall for a turn or two. Still, having to use two energy just to change its resistance is a bit steep, so I probably would’ve used it only once or twice in an extreme pinch.

Meanwhile Paras isn’t very useful on its own… but I wonder what its evolution will be like?

Finally, Gastly… oh man, back in the day when Trainermon was the standard and everyone had like 30-40 Trainer in their deck, having Gastly in people’s decks might be seen as one of two things: a viable solution to get people to stop playing so many trainers, or an annoying piece of shit that just makes games that much more annoying and boring and no fun. There probably would’ve been some serious discussion involving it, because the idea of being forced to include a Gastly in your deck (especially since its Spookify attack only requires 1 Colorless energy, thus making it supremely splashable) just to play the game would’ve been a serious problem. Still, I think it would’ve been worth having part of the format in general, if only to get that discussion going and to find a new solution to the over-reliance of Trainers. But alas, that never did get to happen.

 

 

Alrighto, that’s it for this roundup! I hope you enjoyed it as always, and I look forward to sharing another one with you next time! Huzzah, good times!