New Years Almost

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. My Speech and Debate teacher has to move out of her house by today, and she hasn’t been getting a lot of help these past two weeks, which was totally unexpected since a lot of people volunteered to help her but never showed up. So, I have been helping her to move out, along with a few other people. It has ruined some of my plans for the site, however, I think getting her out of her mold-infested old house is much more important than updating a website. I did stay home a few days to do some necessary things (such as h/w) and to take some breaks (since this is supposed to be Christmas/Winter vacation), but other than that, I haven’t had much time to do anything. Sorry.

The Situation with 4Kids and Pokemon – Rumor Control
Over the past week, whether you have heard it or not, there has been much speculation going on over 4Kids and their rights to dubbing the Pokemon anime. All of the speculation stemmed from a press release that 4Kids made public last week (see previous news story), which stated that Pokemon USA (PUSA) had taken over the licensing of Pokemon. This meant that PUSA would now handle the merchandising of Pokemon toys, clothing, etc, and not 4Kids, who previously did. However, with 4Kids’ release of the press release, there have been many misunderstandings and rumors going around that 4Kids will lose the dubbing rights to the show (which I myself even misinterpreted and believed). Further adding to this rumor is a news article posted on a large anime site, Anime News Network, which stated that they had learned that 4Kids had lost the rights to dubbing the show. However, no sources were named in the article, nor did the site explain themselves. Thus, it can be assumed that the website also misinterpreted the press release. As of now, the ONLY official word from 4Kids has been that Pokemon USA is taking over the licensing of Pokemon in general, and nothing more. The rumor that 4Kids will soon lose the dubbing rights to the show has NO FACTUAL BASIS, as NOTHING official has even suggested that they will lose the rights. All of the talk started from the misinterpretation of the press release, and people (including me), just began to go into the mindset that 4Kids would be losing the rights to the dubbing of Pokemon, and thus interpreted everything as saying so (it’s psychology people ). All in all, the only thing changing as of yet is that PUSA will be handling the licensing of Pokemon, and once again, NOTHING ELSE.

Kids’ WB Changing their Schedule
This is just a reminder to those of us who have poor memory. Many months ago, Kids’ WB announced that they would be getting rid of their afternoon block (the Aftertoons Show), and would be replacing it with regular WB shows. It has unfortunately now come to this point in time. Pokemon and all other Kids’ WB shows will not be appearing in the afternoon anymore on the WB. Instead now, the Saturday morning block will be extended by one hour to compensate for the loss (like it really compensates). This is sad news for many of us who try to catch Pokemon in the afternoons, since now it will not be on daily (unless Cartoon Network decides to run Pokemon again daily). Due to afterschool activities, many children do not watch afternoon shows anymore, and thus, ratings have gone down for all television stations for their afternoon children’s blocks. I believe, though I am not positive, that the WB was the last station to actually have a cartoon block, so it was bound to happen eventually. The afternoon children’s block will be gone starting January 2nd.

EX Legend Maker Pre-Releases – Prize Structure Change
This may be old news to some, but I have confirmed with insider sources the following information. As we all know, at the end of recent pre-releases, everyone has gotten four additional booster packs of the pre-release’s set. This was changed last year when the entire prize structure of pre-releases were changed from winners getting a booster box to everyone getting the four additional booster packs at the end of the tournament. The prize structure is changing once again. Instead of receiving four booster packs at the end of the tournament, everyone will receive two booster packs, plus a deck box that is themed to the new set! The official Pokemon Organized Play website hints at this in their Fact Sheet of the EX Legend Maker pre-releases:

What are the prizes?

All participants will receive a Pokémon TCG: EX Legend Maker Prerelease promo card and an EX Legend Maker pin, while supplies last.

In addition, all players who complete the event will receive 2 additional booster packs of EX Legend Maker cards and other exclusive EX Legend Maker TCG merchandise.

Now you can put those brand-new cards into a deck box and keep them mint at your EX Legend Maker pre-release! To find an EX Legend Maker pre-release near you, you can use the official [Pre-Release Locator]. For more information on EX Legend Maker pre-release events, you can read POP’s [Fact Sheet].

Diamond and Pearl FAR from Completion
Junichi Masuda, the director for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, has recently stated in his [web diary] on the official Gamefreak website that Diamond and Pearl are still far from completion. It seems as if the Ruby and Sapphire generation will be the longest one we have had thus far, as the next generation of games continues to get delayed more and more. Could this be good news? Well, seeing as how Diamond and Pearl will be using ALL of the Nintendo DS’ features, and it has taken this long for Gamefreak to design the game, it may mean that Gamefreak is making sure that the two games are absolutely perfect. After all, the more and longer you work on something, the better it usually is, right? Let’s just hope that Diamond and Pearl come out before the summer, as the Japanese have promised in the past.

Temporary Banner Change
Yay! No more annoying snow! I whipped up a quick banner the other day (clear your cache), and have changed it to reflect the best of 2005’s Pokemon TCG decks. Nidoqueen, Zapdos, Medicham, Dark Tyranitar, etc – all decks that were extremely successful this year, and that may be more successful in the future. I will change the banner once again around New Years. Enjoy for now!