THE LIBRARY
Collector guides, cover censuses, and edition answers, documented issue by issue. Every page answers one specific question, completely.
← Back to POKÉMON on the Library shelf
POKÉMON
121 shelves
The Pokémon Gallery
Red, Green and Blue, covers first: the Japanese boxes of 1996 and the American boxes of 1998, with the history and the origin question behind them.
The History of Pokémon Red and Blue
Red and Green in February 1996, Blue as the mail order special edition, and the Western pair built on Blue: over 31 million copies, from bugs and a link cable.The pair that started with bugs and a cable, and sold over 31 million copies.
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What inspired Pokémon?
A childhood spent catching insects, in Satoshi Tajiri's own account.
Why do Japanese Pokémon cards have different backs?
Japan's 1996 back and the world's 1999 back never unified, and tournament rules still count them as marked cards.
The History of Pokémon Cards in Japan and the West
Media Factory in October 1996, Wizards of the Coast in January 1999: two publishers, two backs, and two 1st Edition timelines that never lined up.
Do Japanese Pokémon cards have 1st Edition stamps?
Yes, but only from 2001: Japan adopted the stamp just as the West was dropping it, and Japanese Unlimited prints are often the scarcer ones.
The Pokémon Promo Gallery
The Burger King gold cards, the movie promos, Ancient Mew, the Poncho Pikachu universe, sticker cards and phone cards: Pokémon's promotional history, documented…
Are the Burger King gold Pokémon cards real gold?
The 1999 Burger King gold cards are real 23-karat gold plating on thick metal, sold for $1.99 with a meal during the First Movie campaign: six Pokémon, a Poké…
What comes in a complete Burger King gold card set?
A complete Burger King gold card example is four pieces: the gold-plated metal card, its plastic Poké Ball, the certificate of authenticity signed by Howard…
Why were the Burger King Poké Balls recalled?
Burger King recalled the Poké Ball containers in December 1999 after two infants suffocated on the ball halves. The campaign also included 59 toys, PokéTrivia…
What cards were given away at Pokémon: The First Movie?
Four Wizards Black Star Promos: Electabuzz 2, Mewtwo 3, Pikachu 4 and Dragonite 5, each stamped in gold foil with the Kids WB movie logo, handed out sealed at US…
What does the Ancient Mew card actually say?
Ancient Mew's runes are a cipher for the Latin alphabet: the card is a 30 HP Psychic Basic whose attack Psyche does 40, whose flavor line reads
How many versions of Ancient Mew are there?
Six distinguishable prints: three Japanese prints from 1999 (the
What movie promo cards came after the first movie?
The Movie 2000 gave Ancient Mew, then the three legendary birds; Pokémon 3 gave the first reverse holo outside Japan; Pokémon 4Ever closed the Wizards era; Japan…
The Poncho Pikachu Gallery
All twelve Poncho Pikachu promo cards documented: the nine XY-P cards of 2014 to 2016 and the three SM-P cards of 2017, every one illustrated by Kouki Saitou and…
How many Poncho Pikachu cards are there?
Twelve Pikachu poncho cards: nine in XY-P (two named Mega Tokyo's Pikachu, seven named Poncho-wearing Pikachu) and three in SM-P, plus eight Poncho-wearing Eevee…
What came in the Poncho Pikachu Special Boxes?
The Charizard X and Y boxes of January 1, 2016 held two promos, 62 sleeves, a deck case, a 720-card long box and five booster packs; the Rayquaza and Vulpix…
Why was Birthday Pikachu banned?
Wizards banned ____'s Pikachu on release because its attack gets stronger if it is your birthday, and any player could simply claim it was. The blank-name card…
Where did Flying Pikachu and Surfing Pikachu come from?
Both are 1997 CoroCoro Comic promos: Surfing Pikachu in the September issue, Flying Pikachu in November, with a rarer JR East Stamp Rally Surfing variant under…
Mario, Magikarp and the Pretend Pikachu: the costume promos
Beyond the ponchos lies a full costume department: Pretend Magikarp and Gyarados (2015), Mario and Luigi Pikachu (2016), seven Pretend Boss Pikachu as the…
What are Amada Pokémon sticker cards?
Amada Printing's Saikyo Seal Retsuden, from 1996: 50mm square peel-and-stick seals sold in cheap foil packs and lottery pulls at candy shops, beginning with a…
What are the Merlin Pokémon stickers?
Topps Merlin Series 1 (1999) put 276 stickers, the full Kanto Pokédex plus scenes, sparkles and puzzles, into six-sticker packs with a companion album; six more…
How are sticker cards different from trading cards?
A sticker card is defined by its backing: peel it and it stops being a card. They differ from TCG cards in format, numbering, distribution and in what
What are Pokémon phone cards?
Japanese prepaid NTT telephone cards, teleca, printed with Pokémon designs from 1996 to 2003: sixty-nine documented designs from movie campaigns, Pokémon Center…
Pokémon phone cards, year by year
The documented designs in order: PiPiPi and CoroCoro cards in 1996, the Center and movie sets of 1998, Lugia in 1999, the Entei and Pichu cards of 2000, then…
THE FIRST WORD
First word on new listings, plus a subscriber promo code for the eBay store.