As the new Pokemon Detective Pikachu movie draws near, the Pokemon Trading Card Game is showing a new side to the game to promote the movie in a mini set.
The hotly anticipated first live action Pokemon movie, Detective Pikachu, is set to hit theaters on May 10, 2019. With over 800 Pokemon to choose from, it’s become a real Where’s Waldo of sorts in every trailer to see who shows and who doesn’t. The Pokemon Company is putting out a special Pokemon Trading Card Game set surrounding the film, and during The American International Toy Fair in New York, it showed off three new cards.
Hot off the tails of the Charizard, Greninja, and Detective Pikachu reveals, as well as the different sets and packs that would showcase the small set, fans weren’t sure what else they could expect for the next run. During the New York Toy Fair, The Pokemon Company showed off new cards featuring Mr. Mime, Jigglypuff, and Psyduck.
We don’t know much about how these characters will show up in the Detective Pikachu movie, but all of them have been shown in snippets of various trailers. Mr. Mime (card number 11/18) was the show-stopping comic relief, Jigglypuff (card number 14/18) is a lounge singer of some sort, unfortunately causing the show’s patrons to fall asleep. And Psyduck (card number 7/18) seems to be owned by a character, even riding around in a backpack of sorts on someone’s back in trailer clips.
Aside from the six revealed cards, several Pokemon have been shown in the trailers that have not yet been seen on cards.
Detective Pikachu is due out May 10, 2019. These Trading Card Game cards will be the first look into potential insights on how the movie will play out (for those who didn’t play the Detective Pikachu game that came out on 3DS in 2018 in the U.S.).
With only 18 cards in the set (not including eight secret, rare cards), Pokemon fans will likely treat this the same way they do promotional cards (that is, they’ll likely want to collect the whole set). And, if the cards become available to competitive play, they could change the way the meta works. Once the entire set is revealed, it’ll be up to The Pokemon Company to determine if and how they’re officially added to the Trading Card Game‘s competitive scene.
The first wave of products in the Pokemon Trading Card Game Detective Pikachu line will be released April 5, 2019.
