What cards were given away at Pokémon: The First Movie?

Four cards, one gold stamp, and a sealed pack that only said: Catch Mew!

When Pokémon: The First Movie opened in American cinemas in November 1999, participating theaters handed every ticket holder a sealed cellophane pack. Inside was a single card from a set of four, together with an announcement card teasing "Catch Mew!" The four were Electabuzz (promo 2), Mewtwo (promo 3), Pikachu (promo 4) and Dragonite (promo 5) in Wizards of the Coast's Black Star Promo series, each chosen for its role in the film, and each stamped in gold foil at the top right of the artwork with the words "Kids WB Presents Pokémon: The First Movie."

They were not the first Black Star Promos: a Pikachu given out through the Pokémon League in July 1999 holds number 1. But the movie four were the first the general public ever touched, in their millions, most of them opened in cinema seats and carried home in pockets. The artwork is by Ken Sugimori and Toshinao Aoki.

Japan had done its own version a year earlier: the May 1998 issue of CoroCoro Comic carried a jumbo-sized Mewtwo Strikes Back promotional card drawn by Sugimori, a year and a half before the film reached America.

THE FOUR

Wizards Black Star Promos 2 to 5 · November 1999

Pikachu, Wizards Black Star Promo 4, showing the gold Kids WB First Movie stamp in the corner of the artwork

Pikachu · Promo 4 · LV.13

The mascot's movie card, shown here in the CGC archive photograph: the gold Kids WB stamp sits at the top right of the art, the mark of the whole set.

Electabuzz · Promo 2 · LV.20

The electric bruiser from Mewtwo's clone army, and the lowest number of the four.

Mewtwo · Promo 3 · LV.60

The film's creator-villain, and the headline card of the set: a Psychic Basic with the Psyburn attack.

Dragonite · Promo 5 · LV.43

Mewtwo's courier, the Dragonite that delivers the invitations in the film, at the highest level of the four.

HOW THEY WERE GIVEN OUT

Sealed, random, and one per ticket

The sealed pack

Each pack held one random card of the four, cellophane-sealed with a "Catch Mew!" announcement card in front. Which card you got was luck, decided before you reached your seat.

The gold stamp

The stamp is the set's signature and its quickest identification: gold foil, reading "Kids WB Presents Pokémon: The First Movie," across the top right corner of the illustration.

English only

The four stamped cards are an American theatrical issue. Japan's film promotion ran through magazines and pamphlets instead, on its own designs.

What cards were given away at Pokémon: The First Movie?

THE FOUR

HOW THEY WERE GIVEN OUT

THE FIRST WORD