Regional Differences: Korea's Shiny Red Gyarados

Welcome to another edition of Regional Differences, the series that examines regional differences between Pokemon TCG releases. Today's article addresses a really neat regional discrepancy I only recently uncovered. It's off to the Lake of Rage to take a new look at one of the first shining Pokemon: Gyarados.

Background

To celebrate the release of the Heartgold and Soulsilver video games on the Nintendo DS, the Pokemon TCG entered into a new era of its own with the launch of the Heartgold & Soulsilver ("HGSS") expansion. In Japan, the set was released as two separate booster subsets, "HeartGold Collection" and "Soulsilver Collection" on October 9, 2009. The English version of the expansion was released as a single booster set on February 10, 2010. With the new expansion, the TCG parted ways with LV. Xs from the Diamond & Pearl and Platinum eras, introduced new Pokemon Prime and Legend  cards, and gave the expansion a formatting overhaul in both the English and Japanese versions of the TCG. 

The English version of HGSS featured one of the most iconic Pokemon from the video games as the last official card in the set list: the shiny red Gyarados.

The card was available in both holo and reverse holo variants. As a brief aside, the card's set number, 123, is the same set number given to the Secret Rare shiny red Gyarados EX in the more recent Breakpoint expansion. Talk about a call back! 

In Japan, the shiny red Gyarados was released in neither Heartgold Collection nor Soulsilver Collection, but as a promotional card in the "Random Basic Pack", a Japanese exclusive product. The Japanese version of the card is not available as a reverse holo.

The Japanese Random Basic Pack.
Learn more at http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Random_Basic_Pack_(TCG)

In both the English and Japanese releases, the shiny red Gyarados features the card formatting introduced in HGSS. I thought that was the end of the story, but I recently learned (after a bit of fishing... get it?!) that there was another version of this card that was released using the old format from the Diamond & Pearl/Platinum era. Without further ado, I present the Korean version of the shiny red Gyarados:

Presented with the English version for ease of comparison

So why is the Korean version of the card so different? At the time HGSS was being released to the rest of the world, the Pokemon TCG was dead in South Korea. The game had been put on legal hiatus after the release of ex Power Keepers and while HGSS was releasing in English, the relaunch of the South Korean TCG was still several months away. When the game finally returned to South Korean shelves, it was decided that South Korean players, who had missed the entire Diamond and Pearl and Platinum eras, should be brought up to speed with cards from those previous sets. On May 13, 2010, "Start of an Adventure", the first expansion in the Korean relaunch was released. It was the first of 10 Korean exclusive special sets that contained a mix of cards from the Diamond and Pearl and Platinum eras of the TCG. Coverage of those sets is a topic for its own Regional Differences article; the point here is that while Japan and the United States were entering into the HGSS era, South Korea was entering its unique version of the Diamond & Pearl/Platinum era. 

According to Bulbapedia, the Korean version of shiny red Gyarados was released as a promo card in "Random Pack 1," a Korean product that I assume was similar to the "Random Basic Pack" in Japan, but I have found no information online to confirm my hunch or otherwise shed light on the product. Nevertheless, it appears that Pokemon Korea, Inc., the company that oversaw the Korean relaunch with help from PCI, decided it would be better to keep the formatting of the card consistent with the other cards being released in South Korea at that time. 

Because of this decision, South Korea's shiny red Gyarados is noticeably different from the versions of the card released in other languages. And that's pretty cool. 

Thanks for reading and as always, let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggested revisions. 

Regional Differences: Diamond and Pearl Pt. 4 the Rise of Darkrai

Regional Differences: Diamond and Pearl Pt. 4 The Rise of Darkrai


Welcome to another edition of Regional Differences, the series that examines regional differences between Pokemon TCG releases. Today's article resumes our discussion of the of the Diamond and Pearl era of the TCG. You can read the previous articles here:


Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


Today's discussion focuses on the most powerful force in the universe, corporate synergy. 

More specifically, how corporate synergy in the Pokemon multi-media empire led to substantial regional differences between the English and Japanese TCG over the course of the next three sets in the Diamond and Pearl era. 

Background

There are a number of important dates to consider when discussing the sets in this article, so below are the flow charts from the first Diamond and Pearl article to keep everyone properly oriented.

With that out of the way, let's talk about:

Pokemon is, of course, much more than a TCG. It is a multi-media empire that includes everything from TV shows and movies to mobile games. Every so often, the initiatives in one branch of the empire will reach out its tendrils and ensnare the other parts of the Pokemon machine. Take, for example, the tenth Pokemon movie, "The Rise of Darkrai." This film marked the debut of Darkrai, a legendary Pokemon from the Diamond and Pearl video games (pictured below). 

2spooky4me

The Pokemon Company higher-ups decided that the theatrical debut of Darkrai should coincide with its debut in other media, including the TCG.  In Japan, the Rise of Darkrai movie premiered in theaters on July 14, 2007, one week after the release of Shining Darkness, the third set in the Japanese Diamond and Pearl block. In connection with the release of the film, Shining Darkness heavily featured Darkrai, Dialga, and Palkia, Pokemon that played prominent roles in the film. In the United States however, the film did not premiere until February 24, 2008. The problem facing the Pokemon Company International ("PCI") was how to handle the third set of the English TCG’s Diamond and Pearl block which was scheduled for release in November of 2007, three months before the release of the film.

PCI essentially had two options: either alter the contents of the set to preserve corporate synergy, or release the set with the contents unchanged. Unsurprisingly, PCI went with the first option and removed Dialga, Palkia, and Darkrai from Secret Wonders and moved them to Great Encounters, the fourth English set in the Diamond and Pearl block (which released right around the English debut of the film). 

That of course left PCI with the issue of how to replace the cards they removed from Shining Darkness. Fortunately, the fourth set(s) in the Japanese Diamond and Pearl block, Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash, had just released in Japan, so PCI took certain cards from those expansions and added them to Secret Wonders.

Gardevoir Lv. X: released in Secret Wonders in English and Dawn Dash in Japanese

So for those keeping score at home, the following cards were featured in Shining Darkness but were removed from Secret Wonders and added to Great Encounters: Darkrai, Dialga, Palkia, Darkrai Lv. X, Dialga Lv. X, and Palkia Lv. X. The following cards were added to Secret Wonders from Dawn Dash, Moonlit Pursuit, and the Japanese half-decks released alongside those expansions: Gardevoir, Roserade, Electivire, Magmortar, Weavile, Roselia, Electabuzz, Magmar, Gardevoir Lv. X, and Honchkrow Lv. X. 

Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash

Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash are interesting expansions worth briefly discussing. Each set contains 70 cards, nearly all of which are only available in their respective expansion. In other words, nearly all of the cards in Dawn Dash can only be obtained in Dawn Dash booster packs and nearly all of the cards in Moonlit Pursuit can only be obtained in Moonlit Pursuit booster packs. The emphasis on unique content for the subsets was a welcome departure from Space-Time Creation, where nearly all of the cards in the set were available in both Diamond Collection and Pearl Collection. While the contents of the subsets are almost entirely unique, they are both still considered part of the overall DP4 release as, like Diamond Collection and Pearl Collection, Dawn Dash and Moonlit Pursuit share a single “DP4” set symbol.  

In the English TCG, the contents of these sets were split into three different expansions. First, as previously noted, certain cards from Dawn Dash and Moonlit Pursuit were moved forward into Secret Wonders to replace the cards removed from Shining Darkness. Second, the bulk of the remaining cards from Moonlit Pursuit, plus the cards held back from Shining Darkness, made up Great Encounters. Finally, the remaining cards from Dawn Dash, along with certain unreleased Japanese promo cards and the Japanese ancillary product “Entry Pack ’08” made up the fifth English set in the block, Majestic Dawn.

Entry Pack 08. You can read more about this product at http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Entry_Pack_%2708_(TCG)

So to summarize, because of the importance of corporate synergy, the English and Japanese Diamond and Pearl eras, which had otherwise been fairly similar up until this point, embarked on widely divergent paths around July 2007 due to the release of The Rise of Darkrai. As a result, collectors have the benefit of collecting a number of unique sets that vary widely in composition from their regional counterparts.

You can see my completed sets of Secret Wonders, Great Encounters, Majestic Dawn, Dawn Dash and Moonlit Pursuit by following the links below.

Secret Wonders

Great Encounters

Majestic Dawn

Dawn Dash

Moonlit Pursuit

As always, please let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for revision. 

Finally, if you are a new or returning collector and are looking for a place to start in the Pokemon TCG, be sure to check out my article on the newest English set, Sun and Moon, on Flipside Gaming's website at https://www.flipsidegaming.com/blogs/news/a-pokemon-tcg-collectors-guide