New posters have gone up today in Pokemon Centre promoting the next set due out on the 15th of March, Megalo Cannon, which we reported on before in December. On top of officially acknowledging the sets upcoming release, it also unveiled that Porygon-Z will be the box campaign promo for the set.

Porygon-Z is 208BW-P, and has the ability Plasma Trance, and Tri-Attack. Of course, like all prior box promos, Porygon-Z will also feature in the main set with different artwork. Also notable, Azelf is on the side of the box, along with one more Pokemon that's currently unidentifiable. You can check out the poster below!


Click for larger

A big thanks to denkimouse for the heads up!

As usual we'll keep you informed of news as it comes.

Resource(s):
@Shellspider

Three new special packs have just recently been announced via supply websites like Rakuten and AmiAmi.

Called Holo Card Special Pack Black Kyurem, White Kyurem, or N, the packs are set to contain 1 special holo card (possibly a full art, but at present it's unknown) along with 8 booster packs from Red Collection through to Plasma Gale. From the looks of the product listings these packs are exactly like the Zekrom and Reshiram Holo Card Special Packs released in August last year, hence the suspicion that these may have full art SR style promos.

The packs are due out on the 20th of April, and retail for 1,260円 each.

At present we have no images of the product.

Thanks to Nate for the heads up!

Resource(s):
AmiAmi

The Pokemon-Card official site updated tonight with a small update. Firstly, Shiny Collection which is due out on the 1st of February has been moved to the feature rotator, and with it we've got a look at MeloettaEX, the first EX card (and with Generation VI coming, likely her only one) in the BW TCG run. MeloettaEX is 011/020. They also showcased the SR ReshiramEX and Gardevoir which were both revealed earlier at the Jump Festa reveal.

MeloettaEX looks beautiful, and the fact that all the Shiny Collection cards have holo unique to each and every card makes her look even more beautiful than ever. You can check her out below!



Additionally Daichi Pan are doing a cross promotion with their Pokemon Pan range and the PTCG. From the 1st of February there will be special packs available at most places Pan is stocked, which come with two Pan (either petite melon or petite curry) and a single card. Four of the cards at present are simply reprints of prior promos with a daichi pan logo on them, but there is a fifth secret card that hasn't been revealed yet which will have it's own original illustration unique to the campaign.

You can check out the current images of the known promos below:



As usual we'll keep you informed of news as it comes!

Resource(s):
Pokemon-Card

Set Name: ラセンフォース (Rasen Force)
Set Logo:
Number of Cards: 58
Checklist: Download (PDF)



Notes: Oh my where to start. BW8 is the set block that got me passionate about cards again. Between personal issues and a lot of health problems, including breaking both my foot and wrist in October, I didn't exactly have a lot to look forward to when it came to things until these cards were announced. I got an extremely excited call from denkimouse about them and we were both excited to see Bolty get his Beast Forme on a card. And when the Toho leaks happened? There were more tears. Another shiny bird, in Rasen Force, this time a Shinbora. The excitement was infectious, that's for sure.

Rasen Force and Raiden Knuckle both continue the trend of having Plasma Gang related Pokemon, and in addition to a lot of them being in the set, all of the Eeveelutions which were released across both sets as a tie-in to the I ♥ Eevee promotion going on are Plasma 'owned'. The artwork across the sets are also extremely dynamic and all carry the same thematic: Pokemon adjusting to a suddenly snap-frozen Unova. Or, as denkimouse called it, Pokemon Angry At Frozen Unova.

Of the two boxes I got I pulled an entire set, bar SR full art cards, and missed two of the three UR cards. I did however pull Shinbora ;) And I cried over livestream about it. If in all the years Collectorviper has been around it's somehow not been apparent I love birds, well, there you go.


Trivia:
• This set was released in Japan on the 14th of December 2012.
• There were no corresponding decks released for this set. Instead, there was a Serperior campaign promo pack released with a special holographic Serperior and some packs of BW8.
• Rasen quite literally means spiral, relating to Deoxys as the set's focal Pokemon.
• This set has yet to be released in English.

( Scans: Rasen ForceCollapse )

Last Updated: 16/01/13

Set Name: コールドフレア (Cold Flare)
Set Logo:
Number of Cards: 65
Checklist: Download (PDF)



Notes: Much like Dawn of Arceus, and Red Collection, both Cold Flare and Freeze Bolt fall into the category of being very special sets for someone like myself since I had the pleasure of picking up my boxes for it in person. This time we went to Pokecen at Hamamatsuchō where I shouted everyone breakfast as we waited for the centre to open. Being the new card release day, it was pretty packed, and it was actually interesting being able to see fellow Japanese TCG collectors in their element, piecing together baskets of packs (there was one woman who had about 8 boxes worth of both sets in hers!)

I did a livestream opening of both sets to a large audience from pkmncollectors, Tumblr, and the PKMNCollectors 2012 Group in general. It once more was really, really lovely to hand cards over to people when I pulled spares of what they were after in person. I just love doing that kinda thing. It makes me happy, it makes everyone else happy too.

The two sets as a whole are stunning. Being the July set of course these sets featured Black Kyurem, White Kyurem, and Keldeo as major stars with their first EX cards, and Keldeo's Resolution Forme being a big player in the whole thing. The art? Stunning. The choices of Ultra Rares? Even better. True story: I burst into tears when the Toho auction leaks happened live two nights before the set was due out and we were all watching them come through after dinner and saw Altaria got her own shiny card. The literal joy of being a collector, guys.

Trivia:
• This set was released in Japan on the 13th of July 2012.
• There were no corresponding decks released for this set. Instead, there were three movie campaign packs wherein you could get a promo Virizion, Terakion, or Cobalion along with some packs from the sets.
• This set along with Freeze Bolt were conglomerated to create Boundaries Crossed in English.

( Scans: Cold FlareCollapse )

Last Updated: 16/01/13 Set Complete

As a part of the pre-BW9 run, there is a concept pack subset run due out known simply as the Shiny Collection (シャイニーコレクション) due out on the 1st of February next year. During today's Jump Festa in Japan, the set got an early preliminary release and images of the cards have begun to surface across 2CH and Twitter.

The set features 20 numbered cards, and so far two confirmed Secret Rare cards. Like Dragon Selection, the set has a smaller box size and card ratio, with 4 cards a pack and most of them are holographic. And boy are these cards holo. Check out the photos fresh from the 'net below! So far we've got Servine (002/020), Pikachu (007/020), Gardevoir (010/020), Stunfisk (012/020), Purrloin (013/020), Eevee (014/020), Ursaring (016/020), Elesa (020/020), ShayminEX (021/020), and ReshiramEX (022/020).

Check them out below!



Thanks to denkimouse for the heads up as usual.

Resource(s):
http://twitter.yfrog.com/user/amutaaan/photos

Like clockwork, Toho auctions updated tonight with the early reveal of the two new sets due out this Friday in Japan: Rasen Force and Raiden Knuckle. And boy have we got two very, very nice sets for regulars to check out today.



The two sets as a whole are stunning, with a good mix of Plasma Pokemon and regulars, and the inclusion of every single Eevee evolution as part of the Eevee Collection promotion happening in Japan is a really nice touch. The Secret and Ultra Rare cards? Amazing. With them each set comes to a total of 58 cards each. 58 cards of Pokemon being incredibly angry that Unova is frozen.

Rasen Force SR/UR Cards: HeatranEX, DeoxysEX, Latios EX, Ghetsis, Shiny Empoleon, Shiny Sigilyph, Ultra Ball.
Raiden Knuckle SR/UR Cards: ThundurusEX (Beast Forme), LatiasEX, Tornadus EX (Beast Forme) Professor Juniper, Shiny Garchomp, Shiny Garbodor, Max Potion.

You can check them all out under the cut. Keep in mind there are a lot of images and it might take a while to load. A big thank you goes out to Toho Auctions for their uploads. My boxes are ordered and I'll be hopefully both sorting and scanning these babies soon, health pending!

( Special: BW8 Rasen Force/Raiden Knuckle Early Reveal!Collapse )

Apologies updates have been sparse, life itself has been very hectic and I've had a lot of health issues, but the big updates'll keep on coming the better I get.

Hot off the heels of the release of BW8 which is happening at the end of the week, already distributors have details and preliminary images of the next set which will be hitting us in March of 2013.

BW9 is called Megalo Cannon and features Genesect as the feature Pokemon which will undoubtedly see an EX. The set is due out on the 15th of March 2013, and will have 76 cards + secret/ultra rare cards. Given Genesect was teased as the potential leading movie Pokemon for the 2013 run, and now is being featured in the anime, it seems our next July set will be vastly different from peoples initial predictions.

You can check out the booster artwork below, where Genesect is shown using it's Shock Plate. Will we see multiple EX cards of this legendary like we did the Arceus Lv.X cards? Only time will tell.


(Click for a larger version)

Additionally, a new Combo Deck will be released on the same day. Simply named Combo Deck 60 Blastoise + KyuremEX the deck will retail for 1,680円 and presumably features 60 cards (of which only around 15-25 of those will probably be unique.) You can check out the preliminary placeholder flyer below, but details are very scarce for this one right now.


(Click for a larger version)

Many thanks to denkimouse for the heads up and the new info! Rasen Force and Raiden Knuckle spoilers will probably be up in the next few days so keep your eyes peeled.

Resource(s):
Sunyshore

Hey there followers!

Long time no post. A brief apology for my absence, I'll be making a more thorough post detailing why I've been more or less absent since my trip abroad in July but I do extend my apologies for falling off the grid. However, that's news for another day.

On a much more exciting note, we've got the first news of the December card block, hot on the heels of BW7's release. BW8 is due for release on the 14th of December, and will feature two sets: Rasen Force which features Deoxys, and Raiden Knuckle which features Thundurus (Therian Forme). Each pack has the standard 5 cards, and will cost 158円 each. There will also be a matching deck case, and sleeves.

At present it's unknown how large each set will be, but given it's a dual block we're likely going back to smaller sets VS the much larger run we just saw with Plasma Gale. You can check out the booster artwork below! Because Deoxys and Thundurus are legendaries, it's likely more than safe to assume they will be seeing EX cards. Also of note, Rasen means Spiral, while Raiden means Thunder (and) Lightning. Due to the kana-ized set names we've decided to leave them as such.


(Click To Enlarge)

Additionally, there is also going to be a Campaign Pack released the same day as the set. Featuring two packs from each set, the Campaign Pack will also have an original Serperior promo card. The Campaign Pack will sell for 630円 and you can check it out below!


(Click To Enlarge)

A massive thank you to the lovely denkimouse for this news. As usual, we'll strive to keep you informed of the latest card news as it comes.

Resource(s):
Sunyshore

Howdy folks, tonight Toho auctions updated with the early reveal of the two new sets due out this Friday in Japan: Freeze Bolt and Cold Flare. I'm actually in Japan right now, so I'll be heading into Hamamatsuchō to pick up boxes, along with the new promo cards, before coming back to do a live stream here at the fabulous denkimouse's place.



The two sets as a whole are stunning, with a lot of contenders that were rather unexpected. BW6 as a whole has been a mostly guarded dual set block, with many of the cards unknown until the reveals that started this afternoon with the SR cards.

Speaking of...

Freeze Bolt SR/UR Cards: CreseliaEX, KeldeoEX (Resolution Forme), White KyuremEX, Belle, Shiny Terrakion, and Shiny Altria.
Cold Flare SR/UR Cards: CelebiEX, LandorusEX (Beast Forme), Black KyuremEX, Cheren, Golurk (UR) and Rocky Helm.

You can check them all out under the cut. Keep in mind there are a lot of images and it might take a while to load. A big thank you goes out to Toho Auctions for their uploads, and to Jon of Pokebeach for scouring up some shots of Golurk and Terrakion as no one has scanned them in yet. Like I said, boxes on Friday. Very much looking forward to it all! Take care.

( Special: Bolt Flare Early Reveal Extravaganza!Collapse )