Pokémon TCG Pocket: Players' Emotional Response to Time Space Showdown Art

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket's latest expansion, Space Time Smackdown, launched on January 30, bringing a wave of excitement mixed with shock and heartbreak among players due to the artwork on one specific card. The card causing the uproar is the Weavile ex 2 Star full art card, which depicts a chilling scene of predation. In the artwork, a group of Weavile are poised in the treetops, their claws ready, as they ominously eye an unsuspecting Swinub below.

The reaction from the Pokémon community was swift and emotional. A Reddit post titled "NO! SWINUB LOOK UP!! LOOK UP!!" quickly garnered nearly 10,000 upvotes. Fans expressed their dismay in the comments, with one stating, "Always got to be one card per set that shows Pokémon in the process of straight up killing each other," while another pleaded, "Leave the lil guy alone."

NO ! SWINUB LOOK UP !! LOOK UP !!
byu/RegularTemporary2707 inPTCGP

The brutal depiction led fans to reflect on the wild nature of Pokémon, with one user noting, "The ecology of Pokémon is always so crazy to imagine. Like these are still animals, some smarter than others. Just they have the ability to fire laser beams."

Amidst the concern, some fans found solace in another card from the set: the full art Mamoswine card. This card shows Mamoswine, the final evolution of Swinub, looking upward while protectively surrounded by a group of Swinub, suggesting a hopeful narrative. "Hey, Mamoswine protected his baby. Don't worry. He most definitely saw those Weaviles," one fan optimistically remarked. Another added, "The Mamoswine alt card already looks above. He saw them. He saw..."

Gone, but not forgotten.
byu/AshesMemeFolder inPTCGP

Space Time Smackdown, themed around Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, introduces a range of iconic Pokémon including Weavile, Mamoswine, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and more. The set contains 207 cards, making it smaller than the previous Genetic Apex set, which had 286 cards. However, Space Time Smackdown boasts a higher percentage of rare cards, with 52 alternate art, Star, and Crown rarity cards compared to Genetic Apex's 60.

Despite the fan uproar over the Weavile ex card, Creatures Inc. has yet to address the controversy. The company's social media accounts and the game itself have primarily focused on promoting the Space Time Smackdown expansion. They also did not respond to IGN's request for comment on the matter. While a "Trade Feature Celebration Gift" was distributed, containing 500 Trade Tokens and 120 Trade Hourglasses (sufficient for one ex Pokémon trade), the developer has remained silent on the community's concerns.