Stupid interweb.

Pokemon Wal-Mart Day List Updated! (EDIT #1) - The list of Wal-Marts that will be celebrating the release of EX Crystal Guardians has been updated with almost two hundred new stores! To check if your Wal-Mart will be holding the event, click here. Note: There is still a huge spelling error on that page. :p

Sunflora (EX Unseen Forces) Review - We have two extensive reviews on [Sunflora from EX Unseen Forces] today. All of our reviews will now be included on our new [Card Reviews page] (under 'Trading Card Game' in the drop down menu), so if you want to access a card we have reviewed in the past, you can just go to that page. Also, I realized only yesterday that the commenting thread for ATM Rock was not open to posting for people on our forums, so now it is open for posting. To comment on the Sunflora card reviews, click here.

New Pokemon Ranger Logo - Looks like Nintendo did not like the old logo. The Pokemon Ranger logo has been redone, as shown below, and reflects the Japanese logo a bit more now. Remember, the release date for it is October 30th in the USA.

And since there is nothing to comment on... for this news story's commenting thread, I leave you today with a cool Team Rocket video. Do not play it if you suffer from laughter attacks, heart attacks, panic attacks, attacks in general, or are viewing this website at night while other people are sleeping.

EDIT #1: I have added the release date for Pokemon Ranger to the right menu.

Let's play a game. It's called "Find the two spelling errors and one general error on the following POP announcement pages." :p

Errata on Blastoise and Articuno ex - Blastoise and Articuno ex just became more powerful. POP has announced that the person using Blastoise or Articuno ex's attack will be able to choose which energy the opponent has to discard, not the opponent as previously ruled. POP has also clarified some issues with Holon Energy WP and Ancient Technical Machine [Ice]. To view the announcement, click here.

Wal-Mart to Celebrate Launch of EX CG - Going to miss a pre-release? Wynaut go celebrate the launch of EX Crystal Guardians at Wal-Mart?

Come on in to your local Wal-Mart store between 10 a.m. and noon on Saturday, August 26th, to celebrate the launch of the exclusive Pokémon Trading Card Game EX Crystal Guardians "Earth Shower" theme deck! To celebrate at participating stores, we'll be offering demos of how to play the Pokémon TCG, as well as handing out 2-card promo packs and cool Pokémon activity books while supplies last!

EX Crystal Guardians won't be released until Wednesday, August 30th. Don't miss your opportunity to take advantage of this Wal-Mart-exclusive offer!

The first thing I noticed when reading this article was that they are calling one of the EX Crystal Guardians theme decks "Earth Shower." As we know from the images I posted here on July 17th, the two theme deck names were "Storm Surge" and "Green Cyclone," so what could this new theme deck be? A combination of the two? A brand new one exclusive to Wal-Mart? I suppose we will find out soon. To check if your local Wal-Mart will be promoting this event, click here.

EDIT #1: We are now 96.5% sure they are fake (good thing too since they are ugly).

Fake Pokemon or the New Starters? - The below Pokemon are being classified as FAKE (guilty until proven innocent), so do not assume they are real yet. This image comes from an unknown source, and by the looks of it, the image seems to be fake. Bangiras did translate the names, which are right next to the Pokemon's corresponding Japanese text, but even she thinks the image is a fake. Recently, many Japanese fans have been creating fake Pokemon, so it's not out of the realm of possibility for these three Pokemon to be forged (they like to trick stupid English peoples with their fake Pokemon). :p Most likely, I will edit this story later saying "EDIT #1: Yep, the Pokemon below were fake," but you never know what could happen. They do appear to be of the Fighting, Darkness, and Psychic types just by looking at their coloring, which would correspond with what was said on the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Yahoo site the other day, so you never know if they could be real or not. I will update this later when we find out more information.

Clearer Picture of Korobooshi - N-Touch has posted a better quality picture of Korobooshi, the newest Diamond and Pearl Pokemon to be revealed at the PokeJungle Tours in Japan. Click the thumbnail below for a larger image.

The response to the new VAs was extremely positive on all fronts. Barely anyone disliked them, and PUSA is most likely taking in all of the feedback people have been posting (such as Ash sounding too girly). Also, I am re-doing the EX Holon Phantoms scans now, and they should be up soon.

ATM Rock Card Review - Our strategists have reviewed Ancient Technical Machine [Rock] from EX Hidden Legends. We will now be posting the reviews on the website instead of the forums, and you can comment on the reviews (such as agreeing with them, pointing out errors, expanding on their thoughts...) on our forums from now on. So, to read ATM Rock's review, [click here], and to comment on the reviews for it, click here.

Few More Lucario Clips - People were requesting to hear Bonsly, Weavile, Mime Jr., and Queen (Lady?) Eileen, so I decided to post them. Note that 4Kids mispronounced Bonsly's name - it should be Bon-sly, not Bon-zlee (as pointed out by a PUSA representative yesterday).

• Weavile
• Mime Jr.
• Bonsly
• Queen (Lady?) Eileen

Also, since some people could not get the Battle Frontier opening to play yesterday, I put it into a different format to watch. Click here to watch it. I would suggest you right click the link and download it if it does not play in your browser. Note that the video is dark because the room in which it was filmed in was dark. :p

Pokemon Showcase - It looks like PUSA has taken to television now with advertising new Pokemon products. They must have taken the idea of advertising products this way from the Shop 'N Squirtle (or whatever its called) show on Pokemon Channel. Anyways, the video below on YouTube shows off a lot of their unique products - a lot of products that you probably haven't seen if you don't frequent the Pokemon Center website. Just watching it makes me want to buy some of them (the Ash statue, Pokemon watch, plushies...).

EDIT #1: I was just e-mailed by PUSA with this info "The only thing I wanted to clear up on your post is that Bonsly is
pronounced Bon-sly -- officially. The pun is that it's a "sly" "bonsai" tree, you don't realize it's a Pokémon. Regardless of what others say by accident, I wanted you to know the actual pronunciation."

Lots of media today. I would suggest opening everything in your browser except the conference, which I would save on to my computer and then listen to.

Voice Actors Conference Audio - I was so frustrated and annoyed at the questions fans were asking. "What is your favorite Pokemon?" and Brock-flirting questions were standard. I think I asked the only serious questions, like the "Is PUSA going to change the music every four seconds and change the food to American food" question. Oy.

Comic-con Voice Actors Conference - 33 MBs

Excerpt of Re-Dubbed Mastermind with New VAs

Please give credit where credit is due. :) Also, the second audio file above is an excerpt from the conference audio file. Thus, if you want to hear the reaction of fans and PUSA, listen to the entire conference.

Lucario and the Mystery of Mew Audio Clips - The following clips are of the main movie characters and the re-mixed Regi voices. The part in the movie where Ho-Oh's voice is partly changed to Pid-jit's is also included (all clips are in order of the movie).

• Sir Aaron and Lucario
• Ho-Oh's Voice Partly Changed (entering the tree)
• Banks and Kid (this conversation was totally changed)
• Regirock Appears! (with a remixed voice)
• The Regis Leave! (after Ash and crew are revived)
  

Comic-con Video and Pics - My camera also doubles as a camcorder, so I took a video too!

• Battle Frontier Opening Sequence Video (11 MBs) (after they blew out our ears)
• Sarah Natochenny (Ash) and Bill Rogers (Brock) Together
• Merchandise PUSA Gave Out (since people were asking to see it...)
  

EX Crystal Guardians Blaziken Booster - I forgot to post this the other day. Click the thumbnail below for a larger picture.

EDIT #2: A new Pokemon was revealed again today. Image comes from here. According to Filb.de, its name will be Korobooshi.

EDIT #1: LOL, I just realized I recorded the ENTIRE Lucario movie. I thought I only got the first ten minutes or so because the battery on my laptop was so low, but I got the ENTIRE thing, plus an hour of me at Comic-con talking to people. I don't want to type up the entire script if I don't have to, but if you guys really want me to, post in the forums and I may if there is enough people who want to read it.

Back from Comic-con... and it's 2 AM in the morning. Thank you, Porygon, for keeping everyone updated for me. Now that I am home, I will go into the specifics of everything. Tomorrow I will update with pictures, audio, and video.

Voice Actors Panel - After we got our passes, we ran over the voice panel room, and surprisingly, there was barely anyone in there. They had so many chairs set up, and they had goodie bags on all of them, each containing two PokeDolls and other stuff. I began to setup my laptop and microphone, and PUSA reps came over to me and asked me what site I was representing. I told them, and they started to bombard me with kindness and goodies (I ended up taking home 19 PokeDolls and two backpacks). They also gave me their cards, and wanted to talk to me afterwards. Anyways, about 10 minutes later, the room was PACKED. Everyone, including the PUSA reps, were surprised out how much people showed up, and they commented that it showed how much fans really cared. I'll post the entire audio tomorrow, but right now, I'll just go over what everyone wants to know about... the voice actors.

Both of them were extremely friendly and energetic, and they got along together extremely well (you'd think they were husband and wife). When they showed the Mastermind clip and the new voices, the audience gave an extremely positive response. I thought that Ash's voice was just a bit too girly and a bit unemotional, but I am sure that as Sarah practices Ash more and more, she'll hit his voice perfectly (after all, Mastermind was her first official dub voice of Ash). Brock did a much better job that his original, old-man Mastermind voice, and I am confident that both voice actors will meet fan's expectations. They sounded, more or less, just like the originals, and with more practice, they will be absolutely fine.

PUSA Promises a Better Dub - When talking to PUSA in private, they informed me that they were going to go the extra mile and make the dub AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE to the original, unlike 4Kids. They will be keeping in MOST of the original Japanese background music, and will be composing extra music pieces for "quiet" moments in episodes. It looks like we will have a better dub under PUSA.

Lucario and the Mystery of Mew Movie

• Oy! THEY REMIXED THE REGIS VOICES!!! That got me so mad. They sounded less scary than the original. Regirock barely said "Regirock," but mostly made those grunts and gear sounds, while Regice's beeping was taken out. Registeel was more or less the same, with whatever few parts he had in the movie.
• The beginning title sequence was pretty much the same as the original.
• The Battle Frontier song in the original battle scene in the beginning was replaced with an extended version of the current Pokemon theme song.
• Most of the changes in the script were humor changes (not all - some things were completely changed).
• Kid was so unemotional. When Brock, Max, and May got eaten, she said something like "Your friends were eaten" (something like that - in the Japanese she originally said "Everyone was eaten - by that") and me and a few other people couldn't stop laughing for five minutes. She just said it so... uncaring. Her other lines were pretty unemotional too.
• Most Pokemon in the movie were done by Eric Stuart, Jr. Mime only said "Mime," Mew's voice was changed in a lot of scenes and sometimes where it originally spoke there was nothing, most of Lucario's grunting (whatever that sound effect is when he doesn't talk) was taken out, Ho-Oh's voice was randomly changed in one scene to being Pidgeot's. o_O
• Pidgeot was pronounced Pid-jit.
• As far as I could tell, none of the video was edited, although I think one or two scenes were sped up just a bit (not entirely sure).
• All of the background music stayed.
• In the original when Ash was screaming for Pikachu, his screaming would practically blow your ear drums out. He had more realistic screaming in the dub.
• In the Time Flower scene where Aaron gives his Aura to Mew, there was an extremely annoying echo sound effect that blew out everyone's ears.
• It was in full screen with a panning effect in most scenes.
• Ash actually said the Pokemon below the tree would die if he didn't do anything. Kid said Ash would "destroy himself" if he tried to save the tree.
• In the credits where Ash is looking at the Aaron and Lucario picture and talking, there is no dubbing.
• Overall, 4Kids did an okay job.
  

Why the 4Kids/PUSA Switcharoo Happened - I talked to several PUSA reps about this, and I have talked to several 4Kids voice actors about this, and in combining their two stories, the reason why the change happened is clear. PUSA took away the rights from 4Kids to dub the show because they asked for too much money, and 4Kids knew they asked for too much money. Thus, PUSA decided to take the dubbing of the show back to TAJ Studios, which did the dubbing for the first five or so seasons of the show. PUSA then approached the main voice actors of the show, such as Meowth and Ash, (despite what the VAs say), but 4Kids WOULD NOT let them go work for PUSA. When Veronica Taylor found out she was losing her job, she phoned PUSA almost every single day begging them to make 4Kids change their contracts, but PUSA could not do anything about it since they were under contract with 4Kids. When I e-mailed Taylor and told her about what I heard about her talking on the phone to PUSA a while ago (since I had heard this story before and had it retold to me today), she replied with "I feel my privacy has been invaded and I will no longer talk to you (something like that)." PUSA also informed me that while the VAs constantly are denying the fact that PUSA approached them to do the voices, THEY DID, and they were in contact with some of the actors, such as Taylor on a constant basis. Thus, if you want to blame anyone for this, blame 4Kids, not PUSA or the voice actors. As a PUSA rep put it today, "It's no one's fault, everyone is a victim (in reference to the old VAs and PUSA)."

Also, no matter what ANYONE does or says, PUSA WILL NOT be changing the voice actors back to the originals (they specifically mentioned that certain individual's radicalism towards trying to save the old voice actors would not sway them, especially when they did not even have their facts straight). They CAN'T, since it was 4Kids' decision. They have already settled in with their new VAs, and nothing will be changed in the future, no matter what a select few fans do (stop wasting your time, folks). The end. Everyone needs to learn to adapt to change, and if you cannot even get used to a couple of voice actors, then you are going to have some real problems in the real world. PUSA said they understood why fans were upset, saying that they were upset too and it is completely understandable for fans to be upset. However, there was nothing they could do to get the original actors to dub the show, and thus, they had to go find new ones. It was even said that at one point, they were seriously considering canceling the show, but instead, they decided to take it into their own hands. The general consensus was that they were sick of people "beating the dead horse," and that they have moved on to working on the show now, not worrying about the old VAs anymore. They will not be returning to the issue.

EDIT #4: Yet again it my duty as Porygon to bring you the latest news straight from Comic-Con in San Diego, California!

PokeBeach Chat - First I'd like to mention that the new chat room has had a good amount of members lately, but we can always use more. Stop on by right here.

Plushies Galore - WPM reports that PUSA gave out a ton of goodie bags. He estimated the cost of the merchandise they gave out was around $30 per person. The bags were full of plushies and other random Pokemon objects. I sure am glad I missed the chance to go. Yay!

Lucario Movie Dub Notes/Changes - Expect semi-spoilers, I'll keep the non-spoilery at the begining. Remember that this list is compiled completely from WPM's memory, so not everything could be right/somethings are bound to be missing. WPM also insited I put in random notes he had about the movie, they don't really mean anything other than his opinions. Feel free to enjoy...those.

• Nothing cut or edited as far as visuals go.
• Non-vocal Background music stayed intact.
• Quiet scenes in the Japanese version had more talking in them, rather than just putting in extra BG music..
• Whenever a person was talking over a Pokemon voice in the Japanese version, the dub had the Pokemon's voice redone.
• Most script edits were humor edits involving Team Rocket. Only a very few were otherwise.
• Toned down a lot of the screaming, less realistic/serious. Pory Note: I think this is typical of Anime and the Dub of Pokemon personally.
• Some scenes may be sped up from the orignal version, WPM is unsure.
• Begging does not work. It was in full-screen, with panning. WPM says this helped to reduce important things cut out much better than previous Pokemon movies.
• Grammar was a little off in a few scenes according to WPM.
• Less emotional than the original in general, specifically with the Queen and the kid.
• WPM thinks the Queen had a british accent. (??)
• Opening sequence stayed the same as in the japanese version.
• Opening battle scene changed to the current Pokemon theme song, extended version. The Puffy-Ami-Yumi song was taken out from this.
• "Almost all the pokemon in the movie were voiced by Eric Stuart", Weavile being one that WPM brings up.
• Ending song was changed.
• Ho-Oh's voice was randomly taken out during a scene and replaced with Pidgeot's voice.
• The Regi's voices were remixed, not redone says WPM. He also said they were less dramatic and "scary" as a result. This was one of his biggest problems with the dub.
• Regice's scene had the same voice, it's beeping removed.
• Direct mentions to the words like "death" and "dying".
• Aaron's voice was too soft; Lucario's voice was too grumpy. WPM thought Aaron and Lucario needed to be switched.
• Lucario's grunting sounds were removed from most of the scenes.
• Lucario may have been voiced by Eric Stuart; Aaron might have been someone from Yu-Gi-Oh or Goku's VA. WPM seemed very uncertain.
• Mime Jr. never really said "Jr", it just repeated "Mime".
• Mew's talking in the dub was less than in the original version.
• There was a weird echo in the end that hurt people's ears that was not in the original Japanese version.
• First half of the movie had more humor than in the orignal.

WPM also mentions that the Sarah Natochenny (Ash) and Bill Rodgers (Brock) were in the theatre watching the movie with everyone else. WPM was also surprised at the amount of people who apparently hadn't seen the movie beforehand, since any true dedicated fan would have it memorized just as well if not better than he! Expect sound clips (not the entire movie, we wouldn't want to get in any sort of trouble now) of the movie in a future update! WPM also tells me that he and a small group are following (stalking) the new VAs around; he might be able to squeeze a few more questions out of them. Stay tuned for more Comic-Con coverage!

EDIT #3: Wuz crackin' fam'? Porygon's back to report an even more significant amount of news. Oh, where to start...

Roselia Evolution - Click. Make of it how you wish, I would've expected it to be more different, personally. (Thanks to filb.de and Wikipedia)

Lucario and the Mystery VAs -WPM is going to go to a screening of Lucario and the Mystery Mew at Comic-Con. According to him, he has seen the Japanese version enough time to notice any edits and will report them once he sees the movie. Wonder how good of a job he'll do finding them. Before the screening, he's going to have a chance to talk to some of the new voice actors who will also be attending the film along with other PUSA representatives, since he's said they were eager to speak with him once they knew he were representing a Pokemon website. WPM says he will leave his mic on "accidentally" when speaking to them. Oh, WPM you sly fox, you. He also wanted me to mention that the new voice actors seemed very friendly and excited about their new positions. Also that the initial fan reaction to the redubbing was a positive one.

Pokemon's Mysterious Special - After the movie, he will go to the Nintendo booth to check out the English version boxart of the Mystery Dungeon games. Not much to be expected from that, but there is a lot to expect from the new special issued by PUSA to promote the Mystery Dungeon games later this year. As some of you may know, the special is planned to have the Pokemon speaking to each other in English (or whatever language is most associated with your location) in the game. So the special itself is going to have Pokemon speaking with a voice that you can understand. (rather than using subtitles like in "Island of the Giant Pokemon") Pokemon.com will also put up the voices of the Pokemon in the future for fans to hear on their website. But stuff like this is really showing that PUSA means business in dubbing Pokemon, that or they're hoping we'll start liking them after the violent tear-away from 4Kids. Heh.

Lucario and the Mystery Mew TCG Card - Lucario and the Mystery Mew will also include a Mew TCG game card with the DVD. I'm uncertain if this is a reprint or not, but maybe we'll get lucky.

Slee Bonsly - WPM also wants me to mention somewhere that PUSA representitives say the name Bonsly "Bons-Lee" rather than "Bon-Sly". I realize that this defeats the Bonsai-Sly pun, and that Pokemon representitives aren't infallible when it comes to something as simple as the pronounciation of a name. Please keep in mind that that WPM only reports things as told to him.

EDIT #2: Porygon here substituting for WPM as mentioned earlier.

Redubbed Special - WPM has called me back from Comic-Con to report some (good?) news for those of you who might have not fully enjoyed The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon special the first time it aired, which is impossible, because everyone adored it. EVERYONE.
Apparently the special is coming to the Lucario and the Mystery of Mew DVD, not only that - but it has been redubbed! WPM was lucky enough to hear a sample from it, and says Ash, Brock and May sound much closer to their original voice actors than they did last time. (I overheard someone in the backround saying Brock still didn't sound good if you want a second opinion.) When WPM returns, he will post up the entire conference on the website through some sort of sound-file, so you'll be able to hear them -somewhat- in action!

New Ash VA - However, the only VA who had changed from the original Mastermind cast was Ash.
So, without any futher ado: The new ASH KETCHUM IS Sarah Natochenny. Brock still remains Bill Rodgers as he was before. But as WPM said, he took a very different approach to his voice this time around, which was supposedly much closer. Hope for everyone's sake he's right this time. As for the rest, I will edit this update whenever WPM calls me back, if he ever does...

EDIT #1: I've arrived in San Diego and will be walking over to the convention center now. If I don't update the site within the next hour or so, then I do not have wireless internet. In that case, I'll call Porygon on my phone and he will update the site with the news I get.

Alright, the train station I am at that goes to San Diego has internet, so the train station at San Diego has internet as well. I'll update the site when I arrive at San Diego, then tell you all if there is internet at Comic-con for me to do live updates. Cya!

Comic-con is tomorrow and I still plan on being there. I bought my train tickets and Comic-con tickets, so the only reason I would not be going tomorrow is if the world exploded, in which case no one would be going. :tongue:

I heard from someone that Comic-con has paid WiFi, so I think I will be able to do live updates (it might not, though...). Therefore, I probably will be able to sit in the voice actor conference and update this site with questions and answers that are asked and given during the conference. Obviously, I will be able to post who the new VAs are as well. Then, when the VA conference is over, I'll upload the sound recordings, pictures, and videos I take. After that, I will have to go over to the TCG area for two hours to work, and then I will go watch Lucario and the Mystery of Mew when I am done (with an accidentally turned-on microphone in my laptop bag). Afterwards, I'll accidentally upload voice recordings so we all know who is doing the characters' voices.

Now remember, I don't know yet for sure yet if Comic-con has WiFi, so if it doesn't, I may have a bit of trouble getting all of this info posted here. If it does have WiFi, then everything should go as planned above.

When I get to Comic-con around 9:30 AM PST tomorrow, I'll post if I have a WiFi connection. If I don't update by 10:30 AM PST, then I probably do not have a WiFi connection. In that case, I'll probably run to a cafe or something once the VA conference finishes and upload my findings.

Also, Comic-con will have playable demos for Mysterious Dungeon Red and Blue, so I will update this site with information on those two games as well.

Be sure to check back tomorrow, and tell your friends to check back here if they are a fan of the Anime and care about the new voices and Lucario movie! You can also post questions you want me to ask the VAs in this news story's thread by clicking "Discuss this News Story" below.

We had some downtime today, but it wasn't because of Turkish hackers. My webhost, Dreamhost, had their server die because of four different factors (a switch died, software issues, mailing issues, and the death of a network card), so naturally, all websites on that specific server went down with it. Lucky us! By the way, if you have not noticed, all of the pages on this site, such as the [Ken Sugimori gallery] and chat room, are back up. The [Build a Deck] guide has also been updated, which teaches people new to the TCG how to build a deck. I am still trying to get the online games and fake card blanks section up, however. I don't have any news or updates right now, but I will tomorrow, so be sure to check back!

I have to say this everyday so people see it and spread it. On Thursday, I will be attending Comic-con, where I will record the new voice actors' voices and take video / pictures of them. I will also be watching Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, since it will be debuting for the first time in English at the convention, so I will report everything I see and hear concerning it. Spread the word to your Pokemon Anime friends! Also, feel free to post any questions you want me to ask in this topic's thread. I will be asking questions to both PUSA reps AND the voice actors.