A deeper look into the mysterious stories and worlds hidden within the Pokemon TCG. Enjoy! Follow me on Twitter for reposts of Pokemon fan art I find: / deltaseekeryt Sources: pastebin.com/q...
I'm not done with the video yet but just wanted to compliment how incredible this is - the sheer breadth of research you've done here is incredible and you can see your sheer passion for the TCG, and you don't feel the need to overdo it with cheap humor. Seeing all this gorgeous art you've collected alongside your explanations is a real treat!
folks have theorized that those extra sandstorm cards came from the scraped wotc set jamboree - there's a matoba design video covering some of this that seemed compelling to me!
Love when the WOTC legacy of the tcg bleeds into the Pokemon side. It’s just a cool little fact that I sometimes forget about, like, “oh yeah, they were on that first”
A Legends game wouldn't be out of the question imo (especially since they haven't directly interacted with the mainline games keeping the altered typing mechanic self contained if need be), particularly after the formula's run its course a couple/few times and they feel inclined to further experiment with it.
The existence of Perrin and the Hisui pokemon in Kitikami kinda disprove this. The fact that Perrin is obviously a descendant of Adamin shows an interaction with the mainline.@@EvilApple567
@@EvilApple567 That would be so cool. Have Holon City as the hub, then the surrounding forest as the first area, then the lake, then the crystal beach, and lastly a big wild area with the floating island acting as the site for the final battle.
Dang those aqua/magma grunts giving comments are cool, I wish unique dex entries were more common. Couple other cool things to add: -Around the celebrations expansion there were promo cards that called back to past card archetypes, including a delta Mimikyu. -There have been unique characters introduced in Temporal Forces, the supporters Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking and Explorer's Guidance.
This video is sooooo awesome I am so happy to hear someone finally talk about how epic the “Break” era is. I enjoyed this video so much. Really really amazing work. Well done
I’d love to see Pokémon bring back Delta Species. I got into the TCG in the Gen 3 era of cards so I’m super nostalgic for them! We need more lore based cards!
Dunno if you know, but they released a Water-type Delta Mimikyu not that long ago! Its illustration shows Mimikyu touching a crystal in a jungle, and the picture and border have a holofoil similar to the one used on the original Pokémon ex. It comes with a Light Toxtricity and a Hydreigon C too.
delta species are one of my favorite cards. i think they did one promo for one of the anniversaries but i could be wrong, but i would love for them to do a whould love for them to do a whole set again.
TCG Online and Live never releasing in Japanese is crazy. I'm guessing it's because cards release more frequently in Japan and there's a lot more tournaments there.
It's because both were made by The Pokemon Company International, which apparently isn't responsible for or doesn't care about the JP side. I should've added that in the video
If I have to assume it's because of mainly two factors: First of all it's on PC, which Japanese players only recently have begun using more. Second, despite having the same cards, the sets and even bundles are completely different in Japan and the rest of the world. On the other hand, the upcoming Pocket has an unified release where it's the same everywhere including Japan.
A truly fantastic video. I loved this walk through the history of the TCG. Thank you for putting this together. Mad respect for the amount of work this must’ve taken.
As someone who has a weird obsession with trying to locate the delta species locations basis in the real world, (I did most of that kind of speculation on bulbapedia), I am over the moon at this fantastic video. Thanks, DeltaSeeker.
Also worth mentioning with Plasma Blast, that there is Elite Four Pokemon that show up in their rooms (Houndoom, Reuniclus, Golurk, Machamp) and Iris Pokemon as well as some Elite Four Pokemon are featured fighting back against Team Plasma and most have an orange glow (Aggron, Lapras, Musharna, Drifblim, Archeops, Sigilyph, Druddigon, and Haxorus)
I also think its a bit unfair to write off Sun & Moon as having no lore. Ultra Prism is a set based around the Sinnoh Region, and many cards feature Ultra Wormholes despite being in Sinnoh, implying some sort of crisis (Murkrow UPR, Manaphy UPR, Bastiodon UPR, Luxray UPR. Maybe something to correct in the next video
My favorite thing to do with the cards as a kid was coming up with stories for the pokemon in the cards. Since i wasnt willing to learn the real game, it was a fun excuse to look through my cards over and over
Honestly this is the content I live for, hidden lore is so fascinating and I learned so much from this video. Like those old Japanese ads went crazy, damn. Also all this video did was further convince me that TCG peaked in gen 3. Like its cool that they made fates collide and all, but the break stuff was quite boring and really doesn't hold a candle to delta species or the region on the map (now noticing how ironic it is they put the town on no map onto a map lol). Keep up the good work
I can't tell you how excited I am to watch this! I've been waiting for someone to do a video like this as this is something I've also noticed while looking through sets but no one talks about them! Great job! Also Believe it or not, the Sword and Shield era (besides Peaceful Park) did have some unique worlds to some degree in year 2 which you didn't mention that I've listed below: - Eevee Heroes also seems to focus on friendship and this little fictional town seeing that a lot of the cards seem to take place in this location and many of the Pokemon in the set interacting with said location. Raichu + Rotom seen in Sewaddle and vice versa, Mudkip + Araquanid form a larger picture with Sandghast, Eldegoss + Smeargle + Mawile + Meowth, Umbreon V special art with Grimmsnarl, Flareon and Pinsir which all appear in the set. Same with the Glaceon VMAX seeming to take place in a nearby forest with other Pokemon all seen in the set. Said town can also be seen in Eevee, Pancham, Pangoro, Swadloon and a few others. - SWSH7 shows these peaks that appear in many artworks, most notable seen in the dragon type cards and in the Rayquaza VMAX special art. Can also be seen in Tropius, Vicitini, Claydol, Shelgon, Salamence, Flapple, Medicham V, Dragonite V, Makuhita, Absol, Cufant, Dialga, Deino, Hydreigon and Slakoth. - Fusion Strike seems to occur in Wyndon based on the card artworks and Mew VMAX's special art too, with all the Fusion Strike Pokemon showing up in it's V. All related images are only on Fusion Strike Pokemon in the set. - This is also not including SWSH5 (Isle of Armour), s5a (Galarian Bird related locations) and s6h/k (Crown Tundra locations). Also with SM, at least with the second year the Japanese main sets were done with focus on different generations, sm5 +sm5a = gen 4, sm6 = gen 6, sm7 = gen 3, sm8 gen 2 and sm9 gen 1. On top of this sm6a was a reprint set similar to XY Evolutions but with Neo to ex era cards instead. But with the way English sets are made all the identity is mostly gone which is probably a reason this is the case.
There is definitely some planned settings in the recent sets, but it seems like they don't really commit to it making it hard to decipher. It doesn't help that since Sun & Moon, JP sets have been releasing at a rapid pace which makes the equivalent international set a merger of several vague themes. Most recently, Wild Force/Cyber Judge has original Supporter characters (for the first time since Fusion Strike) and the trailer shows some unique locations, but they don't seem to be depicted on the cards.
I'm so blessed to have been a kid just in time for all the Holon and Delta goodness, there's never been anything like it since. I tried chalking it up to nostalgia but it's genuinely incredible.
Delta species are probably my favorite concept because that was around the time i got into the series. Would love if they brought them back either in the cards or games and anime
I really enjoyed this sort of historic stroll of the tcg while following themes and storytelling motifs. It really makes you appreciate the card art and nuance that fills the TCG. Very well done vid!
I loved Holon as a kid. I think the lack of clarity makes it more fun. Legend Maker being inserted...did not help with that, but even just the facts as they are is fun. One thing I always noted - Castform, along with the Voltorb and Magnemite lines, are stated or implied to be artificial which definitley opens up some possibilites. My thought is that perhaps the Holon's variants of them are an attempt of imbuing the type-changing energy of Delta species in a more direct way. The unevolved pokemon can share this energy, but only weakly (1 colorless energy), while the fully evolved ones pull energy away from the ones they're helping, but can provide whatever they need (Double Rainbow, but have to return an energy first). Interesting... ...Of course, the rainbows could be a way of allowing more metal costs to be printed, especially in the first set, since we were limited to 4 metal (special) at the time, and giving something to Metal and not Dark could be unusual for a 4-set series. Who knows. EDIT: I SHOULD'VE WAITED FOR THE DUMP AReact Energy could be related, maybe though. I always thought that mechanic was wierd...Maybe the unevolved Holon's Pokemon were more related to that? =Y
Fantasic video! The Holon region was the setting for a number of fanfics I'd written years ago, and the mystery surrounding it and the hidden lore of gen 3's TCG holds a special place in my heart. There's a special magic to the older artstyles native to that period in pokemons history, and the desire to explore those hidden secrets. It was a blast to relive that feeling. Great job! Can't wait for the next one.
I would like to say, I think Chilling Reign is an example of a set that at the very least has a thematic tie, it's highly associated with winter, and a significant chunk of cards are devoted to showing Pokemon in the wintery enviroment: kind of funny for a summer set! I also think the SwSh era was pretty fun for the way it handled its Dynamax pokemon, and offers a point of diversion like the Plasma sets-Dynamax pokemon are not merely projections made from Galar particles, but physical creatures who can interact with their enviroments and exist outside of battle states, like a bizarre phenomenon that other people and pokemon experience with awe.
Yeah, but Chilling Reign and Battle Styles are moreso tie-in with the SWSH DLC. Fusion Strike was more in line with being the lore set of the series, but as the main gimmick was focused on the "battle styles" it's mostly an extended tie-in with the first DLC and Legends:Arceus to an extent.
Heya! Fantastic video. I was super into a lot of third generation pokemon stuff, and was a large collector of 3rd gen TCG product, and helped document a lot of different things (scans, renders, and translations) for product that was never documented well from 2016-2021. A lot of this included 3rd gen era pokemon center product from NYC and Japan that never had official scans or translations released on the internet, and knowledge of which had to be found by stumbling into a lot of the product on Japanese auctions. Thank you for doing your due diligence and covering a lot of these topics extensively, as the amount of speculation and misinformation has destroyed a lot of history and stories about these cards and sets. The integration and re-packaging of half decks, quarter decks, movie sets, etc, and shaping how Eng and JP sets differed is something a lot of people just let go as "how it is". But you nailed it, every little bit, and I even learned a few things myself! Hoping to see more content from you in the future!
Awesome video! So great to see this so well researched :D I'm really glad you found the internet archive lore article from Holon Research Tower! It makes me want to comb through my digital & physical collection trying to find more info!
Relic Hunter from Skyridge is actually based on a character named Yurika from Himeno's How I Became a Pokemon Card Manga. There are a lot of expansive lore connections between the cards and that manga if you ever seek to do a part two deep dive.
You did a fantastic job with this video, especially with setting the record straight on the Holon lore. Now, I'm hoping for a future sequel set that explores the mysterious island floating over the Holon region. Maybe one day.
This is why we love Pokémon. The Legends Arceus sets really stand out in the modern era. Paradigm Trigger being some lost island is really cool. Hope to see Pokemon invest more into these little details. Great video and very informative!
REALLY cool video! Finally, someone who cares about the same thing I care about in the pokemon tcg! I really enjoy seeing the pokemon's world through all the connected cards, it really instills a sense of wonder, and I wish they did it more! You're right, they do game locations some more now, but I would love more original locations, characters, and objects in the tcg! I'm a bit excited for the upcoming Kitakami set, Twilight Masquerade!
I like making up for lost time and learning about these sets, especially the 2003-2006 era of cards. The EX set have such interesting lore but are barely talked about, and their print runs were so low compared to so many others. I love that the Pokemon Company puts so much thought into the cards & themes of different sets.
As a Pokémon fan who doesn't care at all about the TCG, you more than earned my sub. This is a really interesting deep dive into a fascinating aspect of the franchise and its history I never knew about.
I'm soooo so happy you covered the holon lore. Those sets have some of my favorite artworks, and I've always picked up miscellaneous cards at shops when I see them. It seemed like every time I found a new card I was getting a piece to a puzzle, but never got the full picture
I wonder how much misinformation around Holon, comes from the fangame Pokemon Insurgence - which implemented its own interpretation of Holon as a post-game region.
i really hope that one of the inevitable upcoming Legends games dips into the TCG lore. i’d love a Legends: Mew or Legends: Deoxys that expands upon the Holon region
As someone who has a very limited experience with the TCG, I was very surprised to learn that a lot of mechanics end up being solidified and reused throughout the series. I played the GameBoy TCG game and a touch of the modern online game, and several moves have very similar effects so many years later. Rapidash with agility, which deals damage and has a 50% chance to make you immune to damage on your opponents next turn, as an example.
Really good video, thanks for summarizing that all. It was amazing to see. Especially the Holon and the Parallel World stuff from X and Y. I base a lot of my characters around Holon so it felt special to see it explained this way.
I think a return to the Holon region would be very cool! We’re already seeing type changes with the Legends series, so I hope it’s not out of the equation. The Delta sets were so iconic to me as a child.
As a player that retired after Black and White I totally agree with the sentiment of fascination brought by the unique regions in the tcg The way merely looking at the cards and trying to figure what's happening in this expansion specifically since the aesthetics had a theme and how after B&W most of the charm disappeared However I am pleasantly surprised by that last XY gen plotline, objectively speaking it's exposition is way more heavy handed so I can't help but prefer good old Holon and Aquapolis but it's something
This e-series area looks legitimately more interesting and diverse, while also having more natural and believable traditions from area to area than Paldea (they actually put a water town at the edge of a desert in Scarlet and Violet). This area also looks more compact and convenient to traverse than Paldea, that wouldn’t require a bike or a ride pokemon to travel around.
I think a good thing to have mentioned at the end is the fact we aren't getting our next pokemon game until next year, leaving a pretty big potential gap for the tcg to do something unique and unrelated to the video games/other current sources.
Amazing video! Worth the wait! Love how in depth you went on the Holon stuff - and hope you don't feel to disheartened that some of your speculation was voided by the page you found - this video will be a great resource going forwards Looking forward to the next part
The Sandstorm EX cards are from the cancelled wizards of the coast set "Jamboree". When the WOTC lost the rights to distribute cards in america, a lot of the cards from the set were taken and used for Sandstorm EX.This explains why these cards were exclusive to the usa right away, as well as many cards from the set have wording more akin to magic the gathering cards.
It can both be called Delta because of it being the fourth type and because of the Alpha/Delta formations - as in, the game creations likely had that in mind too when creating the artwork too, just for eagle-eyed players to notice. There's what the in-game explanations are and then the meta explanations, or ways explanations/characters/etc allude to mythology or other media or concepts.
Glad to come across someone else who was fascinated by the Holon sets! As for myself, I actually incorporated a good amount of the art from those cards into my (way-too-long) fanfiction, The Adventures of Red, on AO3. Basically, a story which sought to unify every game in the series into a sort of timeline of sorts. Although Holon was only really the main setting for four chapters of that story, and it focused on Will, and not Red, if you love the concept of Holon, I think you'll quite enjoy my interpretation of it too...even if I absolutely included Mew as a cornerstone of the events of those chapters, either erroneously or not. :P
The lore dump mentioning "power spots" is interesting, considering that that's a name used specifically in gen 8, and is Stonjourner's signature ability lmao
Aquapolis has a lot of alt art of pokemon cards where we got our own english released card art versions different from the Japanese prints, not reprints but similar to how they handled call of legends. I love Pokemon TCG Lore and connected card arts, one that's not well known is the POP Series 9, a lot of them show various pokemon on a beach but when pieced together some pokemon seem like they don't quite fit in despite sharing the same connected background
the very first deck i bought was the crystal guardians deck. it had an electric charmander, and i was so confused. I thought , "Isn't charmander a fire pokemon? Did I just buy fake cards???"
As a kid I used to think Crystal Guardians was based on the Lucario movie, which was out around the same time and also featured large crystals. I had even seen photos of japanese Lucario cards and thought they were in the set somewhere.
One thing I think is part of the Pokemon tcg lore is that trainers send out all 6 at once and the benched pokemon stand behind the battlefield. It would explain why you can attack benched pokemon with attacks, heavy Pokemon are harder to retreat, and there are cards that let you manipulate the placement of Pokemon. The most tell-tale sign comes in the first and third artworks of Pokemon reversal, which very clearly show the benched pokemon waiting in the wings during a stadium battle. That said, several versions of "switch" depict pokeballs, so it's debatable. We haven't seen a benched pokemon in card artwork in over a decade, so take that as you will. Another difference is that evolution seems to be a temporary thing, since there are items and attacks that can reverse it. Once again, this is debatable since SP, V, EX, and Radiant Pokemon start out in their evolved forms.
Great video, I really loved the breakdown of the early ecard sets. I knew the aesthetics of the set carried through to the cards, I had no idea about the magazine that had all those extra details about the region and that seemingly they had the whole thing planned out ahead of time. Same goes for that XY-era fighting set, I never thought to look at the connective tissue. Likewise the Holon deep dive was really cool, especially when you begrudgingly found proof that the forest set was infact related lol. I wonder what game of telephone lead to bulbapedia's article. Going into the final section, I was expecting more in depth look at the Volcanion/Gardevoir set just because even at the time I remember thinking that there was a lot of background lore around it. But I guess it was just a case of what we see is what we get, in contrast to the crazy shit apparently going on in the Break Sets. I know you don't like it as much, but the brief section on Plasma was cool too. I knew there was a freeze aesthetic, but I never paid close attention and saw it was more than just Opelucid. nor did I notice the end of the Plasma era specifically had the ice starting to recede; that's a pretty cool detail! It is pretty surprising to me that the SM & SWSH era just avoided showing any real theming. I do think that the Crown Tundra-themed sets started having more stuff based on the Tundra specifically, at least? I kind of wonder if they might have avoided it since the English side had to keep mashing sets together, but the SV-era seems to have more consistent theming (the upcoming Teal mask set in particular is going hard in the festival theming) so who knows. I do think you got close to something abotu how the TCG only *really* gets weird/original with stuff towards the end of a generation and how that might have affected things. Games more consistently come out close together. Harder to have breathing room, maybe? I will say, however, that the Paradox Pokemon cards are interesting. Rather than Area Zero we see in the games, they all seem to be roughly based around a different theoretical past/future they might have come (or a more varied Area Zero). The illustration rares of the 6 DLC Paradoxes in particular show some stunning original environments to inhabit that remind me more of the UB worlds from USUM.
This video is masterpiece! Really dig vibe of e reader series, it has been little bit of black sheep in tcg community because of card layout but its so great!
the energies are lore too. in pokemon, the elemental types have a lot of terrain for the lore and the fact detached elemental energy exists isn't irrelevant, considering it exists in the videogame lore too but is produced directly by the pokemon
As someone who semi-frequently edits Bulbapedia, sorry the information on the Holon region is so inaccurate. I'll try to fix it if it hasn't been already.
