We will have early "[DP5: Temple of Anger, Cry from the Mysterious]" scans, translations, and information toward the beginning of next week, like when we have early English set scans.
No news is bad news, so I'll just post more manga chapters!
The Injured Persian - The chapters posted here are out of order (as are the cards Himeno features, in terms of when they were released), so "The Injured Persian" is from the third volume of Himeno's "How I Became a Pokemon Card" manga series as the third chapter. It focuses on Persian from [Jungle]. Click the thumbnail of the first page below to read the chapter. Again, thanks go to Ketsuban for translating the chapter!
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This is the second update today. Be sure to read the previous news story!
POP 7 "Scans" - We now have fifteen of the seventeen POP 7 scans (not photos). Currently, we are missing the scans for Ampharos and Latias, but we still have the photos of the two from last week, so they are included below with the scans (meaning we now have images of all 17 cards). Click the thumbnails for larger scans / pictures.
As I have said for the past year, I am still working on the new layout and website, and once it is up, we will have scans and set lists for all promo sets. So, you are going to have to refer to this news story for POP 7 scans until everything is up and running.
Life in Iraq - "Kids on Air" is a one-hour children's television show in Iraq that features several popular franchises from around the world, including Disney and Pokemon. In an interview between CNN and the man who runs the show, Pokemon is mentioned several times, both by the CNN interviewer and two children who are asked questions during the interview (both of them say they like Pokemon). The show is apparently an escape from the troubles of war for kids in Iraq, and is the number one children's show in the country.
You can watch the CNN interview by clicking here. Thanks go to EeveeLover for giving us the heads-up about this video.
These daily updates take WAY too much time.
New Random Japanese Cards - The official Japanese Battle Road website today posted new promo and [DP5: Cry from the Mysterious, Temple of Anger] cards. You can view them all below. Riolu, Lucario, Luxio, Metang, Drifblim, and Magnezone are from DP5, whereas Dusknoir, Pikachu, Buck's Training, and Cynthia's Hope are promos, probably available through the Battle Road tournaments (Pikachu is a reprint from the [Entry Pack 2008 DX] decks with alternate art). We should have more information in the future regarding these cards.
Bangiras was only able to read one of the images - Buck's Training; its translation is below this paragraph. The card is definitely "different," as it is a Supporter with a built-in Tool (in terms of what the card does). It seems that the Diamond and Pearl era is focusing on the Elite Four more, as evident by their greater roles in the video games, the animé, and the TCG. Perhaps Ash is going to actually face them at the end of D/P, since the TCG usually ties in to the show? That assumption might be going a little far, but the TCG is sometimes a good indicator of Pokemon that will appear in the show and movies, so it may apply to humans as well (not only that, but Cynthia and Lucian have both appeared in the show, and Cynthia will probably appear again - this and the cards are possibly foreshadowing greater involvement of the Elite Four later on).
Buck's Training - Supporter
Draw 2 cards. If this card is in play when your Active Pokemon attacks, the attack does 20 more damage to the Defending Pokemon.
EDIT: Oh, Himeno is actually a woman. ^_^;
How I Became a Pokemon Card - Kagemaru Himeno is a TCG artist who first started illustrating in the [Jungle] expansion for cards like Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon, and who more recently illustrated cards for [Great Encounters], such as Blaziken and Togetic. She is a consistent artist throughout the history of the Pokemon TCG, having illustrated a card in almost every major set.
What most TCG players probably do not know about Ms. Himeno is that she released a popular Pokemon TCG manga (comic book) in Japan many years ago, titled "How I Became a Pokemon Card." The manga provides stories behind Himeno's earlier illustrations, tying her tales to the world of Pokemon. A total of six volumes was released, each with five to seven chapters on average (each chapter provides a story on a single card).
Thanks to Ketsuban, a popular Japanese manga translator in the Pokemon community, we will now be hosting scanlations of Himeno's work.
The first chapter of the first volume Himeno released, titled "The Day Dratini Grew Up," details the story behind Dratini from [Team Rocket]. Click the chapter's title scan below to go to the chapter's page, and then read the instructions on top.
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I wonder who the young trainer is who saved Dratini... Looks like he is the kind of guy who would end up working in a lighthouse or something. :p
EDIT: Thanks to Ruddy Kitty, we have Dialga LV.X's scan now! It is included in the news story below.
Dialga, Palkia, and Darkrai LV.X Tin Promos - Our master card scanner, Shakespeare, bought the Darkrai and Palkia LV.X tins from his Target today and scanned the cards (using his brand new scanner, too)! Click the thumbnails below for larger scans. Each tin costs $15.00 and comes with one "Great Encounters," one "Mysterious Treasures," and two "Secret Wonders" booster packs.
As of now, there are twenty-one Diamond and Pearl promo cards. Every single one of them is a reprint of an existing card, just with alternate artwork; there are no original cards.
DP01 - Turtwig
DP02 - Chimchar
DP03 - Piplup
DP04 - Pachirisu
DP05 - Tropical Wind
DP06 - Buneary
DP07 - Cranidos
DP08 - Shieldon
DP09 - Torterra LV.X
DP10 - Infernape LV.X
DP11 - Empoleon LV.X
DP12 - Lucario LV.X
DP13 - Buizel
DP14 - Chatot
DP15 - Shinx
DP16 - Pikachu
DP17 - Dialga LV.X
DP18 - Palkia LV.X
DP19 - Darkrai LV.X
DP20 - Magmortar
DP21 - Raichu
State Championships start this weekend! To locate one near you and for more information, click here. You should also check out new erratas on cards if you are going to compete in one!
POP 7: Japan's Reprinted Theme Deck Leftovers - All POP 7 cards are reprints of cards already available in English sets, just with alternate artwork. Every single card in the set comes from Japan's "[DP3: Shining Darkness]" (Dialga LV.X and Palkia LV.X) and "[DP4: Moon Hunting / Dawn Dashing]" (Electivire vs. Magmortar) theme decks. In Japan, some cards from their main sets are reprinted in the theme decks with different artwork, and these reprinted alternate artwork cards are what make up our POP 7. Click the links below for photos of the cards. We should have scans at a later time.
Rare
1 - Ampharos
2 - Gallade
3 - Latias
4 - Latios
5 - MothimUncommon
6 - Delibird
7 - Flaafy
8 - Kirlia
9 - Stantler
10 - Wormadam Sandy CloakCommon
11 - Burmy Plant Cloak
12 - Burmy Sandy Cloak
13 - Corsola
14 - Mareep
15 - Ralts
16 - Sentret
17 - Spinda
No Additional Characters in SSBB - In an IGN interview with Masahiro Sakurai, the director of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, it was revealed that no additional characters will be playable in Brawl in the future. Many fans were hoping characters like Mewtwo would be downloadable through WiiConnect24, but Sakurai has completely denounced such a plan.
IGN: We have to ask because there are so many rumors about this. Are there any hidden characters to come? Can you unlock more hidden fighters by way of WiiConnect24 or will you offer new downloadable content -- new fighters, for example. -- using the service?
Masahiro Sakurai: No. There are no characters that can be unlocked via connecting to WiiConnect24 or interacting in that fashion. And I may be mistaken here, but the Wii doesn't have a hard drive -- it's a disc-based system -- so I don't think we'll be doing that, I don't think it's going to happen.
It was revealed by data miners a while ago that Mewtwo was originally in SSBB (in some capacity), but was cut. Some of its data is still in the final game, which is why many fans thought it would be downloadable at a later time and then be playable.
On a random note, Plusle and Minun were in SSBB's data as well (probably as Ice Climber-esque characters), but were also cut from the game. Even more off-topic, Sakurai was considering Blaziken as a playable character, and waited to see if its popularity would remain in place with the release of Diamond and Pearl before deciding. Lucario, however, proved to be more popular, so it was made into a character instead. In the end, we still get Pikachu, Pokemon Trainer, Lucario, and Jigglypuff, which is a large amount of characters to include from a single franchise in SSBB.
This update was posted at midnight, so there may be another update later today (Thursday).
DP5: "Dawn Dashing" Logo - We have obtained the "Majestic Dawn" product information sheet, which features the set's logo! The cropped-out DP5 set logo can be seen to the right, obviously.
"Majestic Dawn" is set for release on Wednesday, May 21st, and the prereleases should take place the two weekends prior (May 10-11, 17-18).
SSBB at Sears - There were rumors circulating today that Sears department stores accidentally placed their shipments of "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" on the shelves early, and to discover if this was true, I called a few in my local area. The Sears near my school sold all of their copies (meaning they DID have them), and the Sears near my home told me "we have four copies on hand." Excited, I called my mom and brother, and they went to the store immediately. Sears had not unpacked or organized any of their recent shipment yet, which is where the product was located, so my mom was told to check back either tomorrow or the day after when everything would be out. Apparently, the computer which lists what they have in stock includes incoming shipments, even if they are not physically out on the shelves yet.
Be sure to check your Sear stores to find out if they have the game in stock early! Call before you go, and ask the employee to physically locate the game - do not ask them to go by the computer's listings.
Pokemon and PokeBeach in Odd Places - And after calling home, I went to a special seminar on "Dark Energy," which is some sort of matter that is causing the universe to expand. It was hosted by Michael Turner, an expert in the field who coined the term. He's pretty famous, and goes to major universities to explain dark energy in laymen's terms.
I'm sitting in the lecture, in the dark, not even thinking about Pokemon (which is rare for me). Usually I have music playing in my head from the movies, am thinking about my website, or am reflecting on news going on in the Pokemon world (I am sadly obsessed). Half way through the lecture, Turner begins to talk about what common people conceptualize dark energy as. First he shows a drawing his son made, which was a cartoon recreation of a scientific web of dark energy (it was accurate to the image Turner showed us earlier in his Powerpoint). Next, he shows a picture of a black hole (saying people associate dark energy with it, but that the association is wrong)... Then, he displays a picture of the Milky Way with an aura of dark energy surrounding it, telling us that more knowledgeable people (such as college students) picture dark energy like that (and that such a visualization is accurate, since dark energy surrounds our galaxy at 100 times its mass).
All of a sudden, he shows a scan of [Darkness Energy] from [Neo Genesis]! I think I literally jumped out of my seat because of how odd the situation was - he is talking scientifically throughout the entire lecture, and then out of nowhere he shows all of these old people and older students a Pokemon card! I couldn't believe it! He didn't comment on it - it was more for laughs, but I was still pretty surprised. You just can't ever escape Pokemon, and it's surprising that someone as scholarly as this man would know what Pokemon is (he has children, one of which was 9 or 10 when Pokemon was popular, so that could explain it).
Of course, that's not all. What's even MORE surprising is where he got the scan from. Bet you can't guess. ;)
POP 7 today? Tomorrow? We'll seeeee...
Mystery Dungeon 2 Info - A new Mystery Dungeon 2 section is now up on Pokemon.com, providing details on the game's story, an introduction to the game as a whole, the basics, the wild Pokemon, and information on Pokemon abilities. A personality test is also available, assigning your characteristics to a Pokemon based on a series of situational questions (the test was not very accurate with my personality, telling me I was a Cyndaquil and Treecko, but it's still fun to take). Remember, "Explorers of Time" and "Explorers of Darkness," the sequels to the original Mystery Dungeon games, will hit the shelves on April 20th in the United States!
Great Encounters Apprentice Patch - Thanks to Deckmaster, we now have the newest [Apprentice patch]! I have learned how to use WinZip's .EXE creator program to a much better degree, so now you simply need to download and run the patch, and all the files will go in to place in the Apprentice folder. You don't need to move the Cardinfo.dat file like in the past - the .EXE file does it for you. For more information on this TCG program, check out our Apprentice page. For information on Redshark, our own TCG simulator, check out our Redshark page.
One of the essays I turned in the other day came back saying "STOP USING THE PASSIVE VOICE," and because of that, I received a B+ and not an A-! So, I am going to practice using the active voice here in hopes of losing the habit. :D
Mystery Dungeon Sequels' Release Date - "Explorers of Time" and "Explorers of Darkness," the sequels to the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, are set for release on April 20th in the United States. An official Nintendo press release revealed the date today, along with the English box art for both games. Click the thumbnails below for larger images.
EDIT: Added one last note regarding Darkrai movie edits below the "DP5: Majestic Dawn" story.
This is the second update today. Be sure to read the previous news story!
DP5: Majestic Dawn - The product description for the fifth English Diamond and Pearl set, Majestic Dawn, has revealed several interesting cards that will be in the set:
The Discoveries Continue in Diamond & Pearl - Majestic Dawn
The fifth expansion in the popular Diamond & Pearl Series will feature exciting Pokémon like Leafeon, Glaceon, and Garchomp LV.X, and more brand new Diamond & Pearl Pokémon like the mysterious Water Pokémon Phione. And with more of the powerful Pokémon LV.X plus more new gameplay combos, the Diamond & Pearl Series just keeps getting more exciting!
In Stores May 21st, 2008!
So there you have it! We finally get Garchomp LV.X and Phione, as well as the Eeveelutions!
Darkrai Intro Edits - I'm just going to put this note here instead of in the movie news story from yesterday, since no one will see it. I watched the first part of the Darkrai movie that I missed yesterday (from getting to my room late), and they actually edited out about 5-7 seconds from the intro (where the pink and blue lights are clashing and the movie logo and Pokemon logo appear). The music is even out of sync in that scene when compared to the Japanese version, and several seconds of the music are completely cut too, causing the song to "jump." Someone didn't do too great of an editing job for that part. So yeah, the movie was not left untouched - it was shaved by a few seconds. Also, Jirachi, Celebi, and Manaphy's voices were changed in the "World of Pokemon" intro, even though the Japanese actors still said the same names (Celebi spoke its name twice in the dub, the second time under an English actor).
