The Pokémon TCG 30th Anniversary Set Is Bringing Back Fat Pikachu With a Weirdly Modern Twist
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
The Pokémon Trading Card Game's upcoming 30th anniversary set features a new Fat Pikachu card by original artist Ken Sugimori, but fans are pointing out that its strangely proportioned, oversized head gives it an uncanny, AI-like vibe.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game is gearing up for its massive 30th anniversary milestone, and The Pokémon Company is rolling out a celebratory set featuring thirty different variants of its iconic mascot. Among the reveals is a brand-new illustration from veteran artist Ken Sugimori, who originally penned the beloved, wonderfully chubby Pikachu design back in the nineties. Over the decades, the electric mouse has famously shed its baby fat to adopt a sleeker, more athletic silhouette. This new anniversary card attempts to bridge that gap by bringing back the classic plump proportions, but the execution has the community talking for all the wrong reasons.
As reported by Polygon, fans examining the new artwork quickly noticed that something feels off about the proportions. While the body retains a round shape, the head is noticeably larger and entirely disproportionate to the rest of the frame, lacking the harmonious cherubic balance of the original 1996 artwork. Social media timelines immediately lit up with comparisons, with many players joking that the design carries an uncanny, AI-generated vibe. It is not an accusation against the artist, but rather a shorthand used by the community to describe the jarring nature of seeing a childhood icon rendered in a style that looks right and completely wrong at the same time.
Fortunately, the rest of the upcoming thirty-card Pikachu collection leans into some genuinely fun and creative territory to make up for the unsettling head-to-body ratio. Other standout cards in the set include a gluttonous variant by Shimari Yukichi showing Pikachu feasting on berries, and a devastatingly sad card by artist sowsow featuring a frowning Pikachu clutching a Friend Ball while nursing a measly twenty-damage attack. With the set scheduled to drop on September 16, collectors and players alike will soon have plenty of chances to hunt down these cards, whether they want the nostalgic novelty of the new Sugimori art or the heartbreak of a depressed electric mouse. You can read the full breakdown over at Polygon.
Tags: Pokémon, TCG, Tabletop, Nintendo, Card Games
Original article: Polygon