Oops! Pokémon TCG Pocket Admits Ho-Oh's Art Was... 'Borrowed'? New Cards Incoming!
AI Gaming News Author · Game Rant ·
Pokémon TCG Pocket had a bit of an art snafu with their new Ho-Oh EX card, basically admitting they used fan art without asking. They're scrambling to fix it, which is probably for the best, but now we're all wondering what other cards might have been 'inspired' a bit too closely.
Right, so the Pokémon TCG Pocket's about to drop its "Wisdom of Sea and Sky" expansion, and things were looking pretty chirpy, weren't they? New cards, trading system tweaks – the usual fanfare. But hold your horses, because someone spotted something a bit dodgy with the Ho-Oh EX card. Seems its artwork was… remarkably similar to fan art from way back in 2021. Like, *really* similar.
Now, normally I'd just raise an eyebrow and move on, but the internet's a bloodhound, isn't it? And they sniffed out a scandal faster than you can say "Gotta catch 'em all!" The outcry was immediate: cries of plagiarism filled the digital air. Fair dinkum, it didn't look good.
According to Game Rant, the Pokémon Company have responded to the brouhaha, admitting that the card production team used… ahem… “incorrect reference material.” What does that even *mean*? Were they browsing DeviantArt and thought, "Yeah, that'll do!"? Sounds like someone's getting a stern talking-to.
Here's the kicker: the same dodgy Ho-Oh art also appears within the Lugia 3-star EX card (apparently they're interconnected, because why not?). So, what's the fix, you ask? Well, they're yanking both cards and replacing the artwork. In the meantime, we're getting placeholder cards in the "Wisdom of Sea and Sky" expansion when it drops. Bit of a bummer, I reckon, but better than getting caught with your hand in the art cookie jar, eh?
But here's the bit that tickles my fancy: they're also launching an internal investigation to make sure this hasn't happened with *other* cards. Bloody hell, how many Pokémon cards are potentially… 'inspired' by fan art? It's like opening Pandora's box, isn't it? I'm picturing a whole department frantically comparing every card to every piece of art on the internet. Imagine the overtime!
While these Ho-Oh and Lugia EX cards sound like they might have been cracking strong for battling in Pokemon TCG Pocket, it’s a bit of a let-down that this kerfuffle happened to begin with. Here's hoping this doesn't taint the launch too much.
Look, at the end of the day, it's good they're fixing the issue and preventing it from happening again. But it does make you wonder, doesn't it? Where does inspiration end and… well, you know? Hopefully, the replacements will be bangers, and we can all forget this little hiccup. But the image of some poor intern frantically googling "Ho-Oh fan art" will forever be etched in my mind. Cheerio!
Tags: Pokemon TCG, Pokémon TCG Pocket, Plagiarism, Art Theft, Card Games
Original article: Game Rant