Prerelease Promo Charizard Finally Releasing in Japan, Others Should Follow!

Japan is finally getting the alternate artwork of Charizard from Vivid Voltage that was used as our set’s prerelease promo. It’ll release in VMAX Climax on December 3rd.

We started receiving exclusive prerelease promos with the release of Vivid Voltage in November 2020. It’s very likely VMAX Climax will be used to release those cards in Japan — from Vivid Voltage, Battle Styles, Chilling Reign, Evolving Skies, and Fusion Arts. (This excludes Lugia, Houndoom, and Octillery, which were already released in Japan.)

The fact we received Charizard’s artwork over a year ago may imply Creatures started commissioning the artwork on the cards from VMAX Climax well over a year ago, which is how TPCi was able to pick what prerelease promos to release between November 2020 and November 2021.

Or, it’s possible TPCi and Creatures worked together to identify notable cards from each English set as they were planning them and releasing them in the west, then Creatures compiled those cards into VMAX Climax after the fact (like what America does with its sets).