No matter the media format, there are a few “unbreakable rules” you’re not allowed to go against. Arguably, the biggest one of all is that of Plagiarism. That is simply the act of taking someone else’s work and passing it off as your own. Don’t get us wrong, lots of people TRY and get away with it, but when they do, it’s always a ticking time bomb until someone finds out the truth, and it blows up in the person’s or company’s face. Enter Pokemon TCG Pocket. The popular mobile card game was just releasing its brand-new Johto-themed expansion when it was slammed with a Plagiarism claim, and the claim was legit.
Let’s start with the art in question, okay? A Chinese artist posted some fan art they had done a while ago and put it against the Ho-Oh card that you could initially see in the mobile card game. As you can tell, while there are subtle differences between the two, it’s pretty much the same image:
After this went viral, The Pokemon Company released a statement online stating that this wasn’t intentional and that a “production issue” led to the image issue. Here’s their official statement:
“We want to share an important update regarding the upcoming expansion, Wisdom of Sea and Sky. It has come to our attention that there was a production issue regarding the illustration of Ho-Oh featured in the immersive card artwork for Ho-Oh EX (3-Star) and Lugia EX (3-Star). After internal review, we discovered that the card production team provided incorrect materials as official documents to the illustrator commissioned to create these cards. As a result, both cards have been replaced with a temporary placeholder that the team is actively working to replace with new artwork as soon as it’s ready. We are also conducting a broader investigation to ensure no similar issues exist elsewhere in the game.”
The team also apologized to both the fans and to the illustrators behind the card game and more for having this happen, and that they would do their best to ensure it didn’t happen again. Not long after this, the artist in question, who had his work “stolen,” noted that he was happy that the card image was removed, as he was really confused as to what was happening.
While this is a situation that “shouldn’t have happened in the first place,” it is good that Pokemon TCG Pocket did right by everyone by removing the image and will replace it with original art soon.
