On July 30th, the Sea and Sky expansion pack for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket was rolled out, allowing players to gather the new cards right away. Yet, one specific Pokémon has sparked controversy among gamers, not due to its in-game skills, but because of its artwork. Eagle-eyed fans have noticed striking resemblances between the official Immersive Ho-Oh ex card and a piece of fan art, leading some to suspect that the Pokémon TCG Pocket card was copied from this fan work. However, an official statement has since clarified the situation.
In the Pokemon TCG Pocket set’s Wisdom of Sea and Sky, there seems to be a striking resemblance between the Immersive Ho-Oh ex card and artwork created by fan artist lanjiujiu in 2021. This similarity has sparked speculation among fans that The Pokemon Company and DeNA may have used an artist’s work without proper authorization, as the illustrator of Ho-Oh ex, SIE NANAHARA, might have copied the design.
The statement acknowledges that the artwork in question, from Pokémon TCG Pocket, has been replaced with stand-in images. While DeNA and The Pokémon Company did not directly state the art was traced, they admitted that “the card production team provided incorrect reference materials,” suggesting that fan art by lanjiujiu may have been used to create the Ho-Oh ex. An inquiry is ongoing to check for additional instances of copied artwork within Pokémon TCG Pocket.
Upon an internal examination, we found that the card manufacturing team inadvertently supplied incorrect reference documents to the artist tasked with designing these cards. Consequently, both cards have been swapped out for temporary placeholders. Our team is diligently working on producing new artwork to replace these placeholders as soon as it’s available.
We’d like to share an update about the upcoming expansion in #PokemonTCGPocket.
— Pokémon TCG Pocket (@PokemonTCGP) July 30, 2025
Previously, some video game companies have been criticized for using fans’ work without permission, such as Bungie with the game “Marathon.” It’s important to note that since much of the artwork for “Pokemon TCG Pocket” and “Pokemon TCG” is commissioned rather than done in-house, it may not necessarily involve The Pokemon Company. Instead, it could be solely the artist responsible. Here’s hoping this is an isolated incident and the issue will be addressed swiftly in “Pokemon TCG Pocket.
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2025-07-30 17:44