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Oopser dazers, I forgot to post the high-quality scans for the Supreme Victors and Arceus sets to replace the temporary prerelease ones. Shakespeare of course scanned the new images, so thank-you’s go to him. Unfortunately, the system to display the scans is still broken, so we’re going to have to use the thumbnail pages for now. Expect the system to be fixed in 2014 or 2015 at the rate we’re going. :)

Oopser dazers, I forgot to post that SteveP updated his Deck List Generator program a few days ago. It now contains the Arceus set and is completely updated with all the latest cards and features. If you are going to a tournament, his program is the easiest way to create and print out your deck lists!

The Arceus set Redshark release is now available for download! If you are using Windows, you can download the latest installer by clicking here; if you are using Macintosh, download this link instead. Redshark allows you to practice the Pokemon TCG on your computer and against friends online. It is the only fan-made program created specifically for the Pokemon TCG.

If you are a Windows Vista or Windows 7 user, you must input “c:\redshark” when it asks you what folder you want to install the program to. For all Windows users, be sure to uninstall any previous versions before attempting to launch the installation program.

Part 1 of 3 of the Team Galactic episodes aired in Japan today. If you want to see episode pictures, check out Filb.de’s screenshots. The final two Team Galactic episodes will air in a one-hour special next week.

Last night (more like 2 AM in the morning), Heerosferret, viper.fox, Holy Star, and myself recorded a podcast mainly discussing Arceus and the Arceus movie. We talk about our trips to Japan, seeing the Arceus movie in Japanese theaters, Arceus itself, the pronunciation of its name, Arceus as Pokemon god, religion, Mr. Mime’s fingers (say wha?), changes to Pokemon, tolerance, and other random stuff. The podcast doesn’t have much of a structure – it’s one very long discussion where one topic leads to another. Next time we’ll work on breaking it down into smaller topics. Also, the podcast contains movie plot spoilers, though a lot of it (not all) was already revealed by the Pokemon movie site before the movie was released in theaters.

The podcast is about an hour and ten minutes long. If you want to throw it on your iPod, you can download the original MP3 by right-clicking and saving this link (68.2 MBs). Otherwise, you can listen to it by hitting the play button below. Also, please excuse our intro – we actually had to record it after the podcast ended because I overwrote the original file, but one of our members had left by then, so I had to sort of “interpret” their voice. XD

HAPPINY HALLOWEENY!

Last time’s quiz asked, “Which of the following shows/movies or their characters have NOT been made into or parodied by a Pokemon character or story?” The correct answer was Tokyo Story. Most people voted for Star Trek: The Next Generation, but Pokemon has parodied it before.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation (42.0%, 4,077 Votes) – In the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, Pikachu is nicknamed “Jean-Luc Pikachu,” a reference to Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the Enterprise in The Next Generation. (Played by Patrick Stewart, the bald guy – you know, Xavier from X-Men, the voice of Lord Yupa in Nausicaa, the voice of the head of the CIA in American Dad?) Pikachu is also shown wearing the iconic Star Trek communicator.
• Batman (14.0%, 1,399 Votes) – In the episode “The Superhero Secret,” one of the characters is secretly a superhero named “Gligarman.” He rides a motorcycle and tells Ash and friends to blow a whistle if they ever need help (Superman). His real last name is Parker, a reference to Peter Parker from Spiderman. The episode also features a secret laboratory (the Bat Cave) and Gligirl (Bat Girl). Gligarman’s Gligar seems to be a reference to young Robin.
• Titanic (9.0%, 884 Votes) – The S.S. Anne episodes where the ship sinks. Not necessarily a reference to the 1997 movie, but more of the actual event, which the movie (creatively) portrays. The dub narrator also says a few Titanic references, like “Holy Titanic!” In “Lights, Camerupt, Action!”, a Natu and Xatu appear as lovers on a spaceship torn by an ice asteroid, which is more of a reference to the story.
• Frankenstein (9.0%, 870 Votes) – The whole premise of Mewtwo Strikes Back. Scientist creates monster, monster kills scientist. Except it is with Pokemanz and cloning rather than corpses and electricity. The monster also wishes to fit-in, but can’t, like Mewtwo. (Note: The monster isn’t actually named Frankenstein, the scientist is. It’s just called “the monster.”)
• Tarzan (7.0%, 643 Votes) – “The Kangaskan Kid.” Tommy was accidentally dropped into the wild when he was young and raised by wild Kangaskhan. He screams like Tarzan and swings from trees, though doesn’t crash into them like in George of the Jungle.
• Princess Mononoke (6.0%, 549 Votes) – Pokemon 4Ever copies the basic plot of the latter part of this movie. The “spirit of the forest” in Mononoke (“voice of the forest” in Celebi) is attacked by humans (Vicious), changes into something monstrous (giant badly-rendered 3D Frosted Mini Wheat Celebi monster), goes crazy and destroys the forest, then dies. In the Pokemon movie, though, Celebi is revived. Pokemon has copied many Studio Ghibli plots before, both in episodes and movies. It is also interesting to note that Regigigas has the same sort of striping on its body as the forest spirit. If you watch the Shaymin movie, the way Regigigas walks is similar to the way the spirit walks after its head is cut off as well.
• Yojimbo (5.0%, 508 Votes) – Parodied in “Showdown in Dark City.” A wandering samurai (Ash) happens upon a town where two rival families (the two Gyms) are fighting for dominance (the status of official Pokemon Gym) and terrorizing the townspeople to the point where everyone’s in hiding (identical to Dark City’s residents). After the samurai defeats the bodyguards from one of the households (Team Rocket), both families begin to court his services. The samurai makes up a name (based on a nearby object, similar to Ash’s “Tom Ato”) and questions both families to decide if either one is noble, but ultimately finds that they aren’t. He sets up camp in a restaurant (Ash also does this) and engineers a battle that results in the destruction of both families (Ash spilling paint on Electabuzz and Scyther to make them go berserk). In the Pokemon episode, this results in everyone learning a lesson and living happily ever after, which is the ONLY point that differs from Yojimbo.
• Tokyo Story (4.0%, 429 Votes) – Pokemon hasn’t really copied this movie in any way despite its fame. It probably couldn’t, anyway. The movie is about a modern family that doesn’t pay any attention to their grandparents. The family finds the grandparents a hassle to host when they come to visit because of their busy lives. The movie ends rather tragically. You should watch it!
• Castle of Cagliostro (4.0%, 427 Votes) – Looker is basically a nod to Inspector Zenigata from the Lupin series; Castle of Cagliostro is a Lupin movie. Both are detectives, from the International Police, and look similar in appearance.
• Total Voters: 9,786

PokeBeach is currently looking for a volunteer who has strong experience in PHP, databases, and other web programming languages. If you are a Pokemon fan who knows this type of programming, have a lot of time on your hands, and would be willing to volunteer your time and effort to helping this website, please drop us an e-mail at [email protected] with your credentials, your IM address, and examples of your work. We want this website to progress further than before, and we need your help doing it! Thank you!

Registration for the tournament is now closed.

We are now hosting a server on Shoddy Battle, a free program that allows you to play Pokémon video game battles against other people online. Our server is currently programmed with all Platinum moves and Pokémon and currently has a ladder for the OU and Uber tiers. For information on how to download and operate Shoddy Battle, check out our new Shoddy Battle page.

On that note, registration for the fifth PokéBeach video game tournament is now open! There are still a few spaces left for people to join, so don’t miss out on PokéBeach’s largest video game tournament to date! Want to see where your team stands in a field of 96 competitive players? Then post here to sign up! If you don’t already have a PokéBeach forum account, you can register here. This time around, the tournament will be held solely on Shoddy Battle, so download it and show off your best team to be named PokéBeach’s new champion!

This new quiz only took Bangiras and myself three hours to make. -_-

“Which of the following Pokemon does not fit?” was this past week’s quiz question. A hint was included that stated “It’s not obvious just by knowing the names.” Basically, the answer wasn’t something as elementary as “all of them are Stage 1’s except Uxie” or “only Uxie is a Legendary Pokemon.” We don’t do simple quizzes (at least we try not to), which is what the hint was alluding to.

Do you see what most of these Pokemon share? Noooo? *smacks on the head!* Look harder. Now do you see? Still no? *pokes in the eye!* They all have a jewel on their heads, spare Dragonair! Dragonair is the Pokemon that does not fit. A lot of people probably got this quiz wrong because they thought the answer was the obvious Uxie, but you had to look at the actual Pokemon to discover the answer as the hint was suggesting.

• Uxie (44.0%, 2,805 Votes)
• Dragonair (21.0%, 1,357 Votes)
• Weavile (12.0%, 744 Votes)
• Persian (10.0%, 612 Votes)
• Slowking (6.0%, 386 Votes)
• Espeon (4.0%, 245 Votes)
• Golduck (3.0%, 222 Votes)

Our HeartGold and SoulSilver coverage begins next week! Last time when we covered Platinum, we provided the quickest and most thorough coverage you could find anywhere on the internet, playing through the game nonstop. This time there will be four of us playing the two new games – Bangiras, Yaminokame, Jason, and myself, so you can bet we will have all the news, all the changes, and all the excitement covered for all you fans as we have in the past. Be sure to check back here next week and make sure to tell your friends!

The artwork in the new banner above has been drawn by Xous, our favorite site artist! We hope you like it! Xous had to go through a lot of trouble translating my terrible artwork into a recognizable image, as you can see to the right. Lugia is a reference to a certain monster Lapras is based off, Ho-Oh’s pose comes from the first episode of the show, and HGSS girl is under attack because we miss Kris’ old design (I added the blood at the last minute; hope no one is offended). Think you can draw better than Xous? Well, you may be able to show off your skills soon…

The past week’s quiz question was, “Which of the following popular ‘animals’ has NOT been made into a Pokemon?” The correct answer was Buckbeak from Harry Potter. All of the other “animals” were absorbed into the Pokemon franchise in some shape or form.

• Buckbeak (41.0%, 2,064 Votes) – There is no Pokemon that looks or is designed in spirit of Buckbeak.
• Uri Geller (15.0%, 754 Votes) – His “ability” to bend spoons using psychic powers (trickery) was used to make the Pokemon Kadabra, whose Japanese name is Yungerer as a nod to his inspiration. Unfortunately, Geller discovered a Dark Kadabra card and took insult: “Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokemon character. Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image.” He took Nintendo to court and sued for millions, but the case was apparently thrown out. However, Kadabra was never made into a Pokemon card again after Skyridge. At Worlds 2006, I asked Pokemon Card Laboratory why Kadabra was absent from the card game and got a “my-lips-are-sealed” motion, despite them telling me other things about the TCG that I asked. In 2008, I interviewed Masamitsu Hidaka, the old director of the show, and he stated that the case was not in fact settled and that Kadabra was put aside for now. Either way, we still don’t have a Kadabra card! To top all of it off, Geller can’t even bend spoons with his mind or detect water like he claims.

• Godzilla (13.0%, 642 Votes) – Uh, hello? Tyranitar? Rawrrrrr.
• Totoro (11.0%, 546 Votes) – Totoro is the mascot of Studio Ghibli and the creation of Hayao Miyazaki, the same guy who made Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, etc. Totoro sleeps a lot like Snorlax, and chibi Totoro is obviously the inspiration for Munchlax. Compounding this is the fact that both companies (Ghibli and Pokemon) know each other on a personal level, as seen in this radio show that aired before the Shaymin and Ponyo movies came out in Japan last year. By the way, if you’ve never seen a Ghibli movie (whether you are a child, adult, teen, or old person), you are seriously missing out!
• Yeti (8.0%, 377 Votes) – Yeti, or the abominable snowman, is the obvious inspiration for Abomasnow.
• Kappa (7.0%, 355 Votes) – Kappa is a Japanese monster that lives in lakes – it likes to eat children and sometimes adults. When I went to Japan and stayed at Lake Biwa for a few days with my school, which is in a rural area, some of the locals actually believed it exists. I asked what to do if you come across it and they said it has a dish on its head that you have to break, which will drown it. Golduck’s PokeDex entries state it is often mistaken for Kappa, but the Ludicolo line seems to more physically resemble what a Kappa would be.
• Nessie (6.0%, 288 Votes) – Nessie, or the Loch Ness monster, is the inspiration for Lapras (it is a sort of Plesiosaurus). Its original English name was even going to be Ness, as seen on that promotional sticker given out before Pokemon was released in America.
• Total Voters: 5,026

The last quiz asked, “Which of the following is least likely to happen in Pokemon movies?” The correct answer was “Characters using their fists to defeat the villain rather than their Pokemon.” While it has happened before, it is the least likely to occur. I realize that “Characters experiencing amnesia regarding movie events when in the TV show” does not actually take place within the movies, but the spirit of the question was obvious. Try this week’s quiz! If you know exactly who each of those popular names are, consider yourself a pop culture expert!

Wild Pokemon running out of their habitat following a crash or explosion.
Celebi movie, Darkrai movie, Shaymin movie (and all of the time in the show). If something crashes in the wild, expect the next shot to show Pokemon running out with high-pitched voices.

A revival or death.
Being in a Pokemon movie is hazardous. Ash dies and is revived in Mewtwo, Lugia is “revived” or healed in 2000, Celebi dies and is revived in 4Ever, Latios “dies” in Heroes, Lucario dies, Darkrai “dies” (sort of), Giratina 99% “dies,” and *SPOILER* Pikachu “dies” in Arceus. When I talked to a Pokemon official at Worlds in 2005, they stated that Pokemon never die. Lucario would disagree, though the movie came out just a month before Worlds that year.

Ash running into a barrier to break it.
First movie punches Mewtwo’s barrier, second movie runs into Moltres’ cage barrier, third movie runs into the Unown’s barrier, fifth movie runs into Latios’ cage barrier. Note that he has never broken any of the barriers. Maybe that’s why he stopped after the fifth movie.

A misunderstanding or communication error.
Do I really have to list them all?

A plot focusing on traveling to somewhere.
Beginning of Mewtwo movie, all of the Lugia movie, on a smaller scale in the Entei movie, on a smaller scale in the Celebi movie, all of the Jirachi movie, half of the Lucario movie, most of the Manaphy movie, all of the Shaymin movie, *SPOILER* through time in the Arceus movie.

Legendaries beating the tar out of each other.
Self-explanatory. Mewtwo vs. Mew; Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres vs. Lugia and each other; Deoxys vs. Rayquaza; Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai (the name of the movie!); Shaymin vs. Giratina (sort of); Dialga, Palkia, Giratina vs. Arceus.

Everything resetting to how it was before the problems started.
Mewtwo stopping the storm and erasing Ash and crew’s memories, the world’s natural balance being restored in Lugia, the crystallization disappearing in Entei, Altomare’s defense mechanisms shutting down and the Fossil Pokemon returning to their bones, Groudon returning to the earth and Jirachi going back to sleep, the Tree of Origin in Lucario returning to normal, Alamos Town restored in Darkrai, *SPOILER* Arceus restoring Miichina. It’s like the stories unwind a thread of yarn, bad stuff happens, and then the thread is woven back to normal as if nothing ever happened.

Characters experiencing amnesia regarding movie events when in the TV show.
A recent example would be Officer Jenny explaining to Ash and crew about Darkrai in “Sleepless in Pre-Battle” (the Darkrai vs. Cresselia episode). Other times they either don’t acknowledge that they have seen the Legendary Pokemon before or pull out their PokeDex as if they have never heard of it.

Telepathy used as an excuse to forego animating mouth movements.
Every movie involving Pokemon who talk. Mewtwo, Lugia, Entei, Jirachi, Lucario, Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus all conveniently use telepathy. No Legendary Pokemon that speaks has ever used its mouth to predominantly talk.

Bad guys except for Team Rocket getting arrested.
Lawrence III, Annie and Oakley, The Phantom, Zero. Avoiding arrest is about the only thing Team Rocket is successful at. Of course if they were arrested, there would be no more show, as almost every single episode revolves around them giving our “heroes” some action or trouble.

Characters using their fists to defeat the villain rather than their Pokemon.
Practically never. The closest we get is Ash trying to punch Mewtwo in the first movie and *SPOILER* him struggling with Giishin in Arceus.

• Characters using their fists to defeat the villain rather than their Pokemon. (61.0%, 7,563 Votes)
• A revival or death. (10.0%, 1,262 Votes)
• Bad guys except for Team Rocket getting arrested. (5.0%, 619 Votes)
• Characters experiencing amnesia regarding movie events when in the TV show. (5.0%, 569 Votes)
• Legendaries beating the tar out of each other. (4.0%, 528 Votes)
• Wild Pokemon running out of their habitat following a crash or explosion. (3.0%, 425 Votes)
• A misunderstanding or communication error. (3.0%, 364 Votes)
• Ash running into a barrier to break it. (2.0%, 308 Votes)
• Telepathy used as an excuse to forego animating mouth movements. (2.0%, 254 Votes)
• A plot focusing on traveling to somewhere. (2.0%, 249 Votes)
• Everything resetting to how it was before the problems started. (2.0%, 224 Votes)
• Total Voters: 12,365

Last… time’s quiz question asked, “Which of the following Gym Leaders did Ash most legitimately defeat to earn his badge?” This question was essentially asking which Gym Leader Ash defeated using his skills rather than some reason unrelated to defeating Pokemon to win. There are several ways to argue which badge Ash most legitimately earned. A Trainer should defeat the Gym Leader the first time around and by only defeating their Pokemon. That means the more interruptions, rematches, etc. that occur, the less legitimate winning the badge is.

After heavy discussion in our chat room, we have concluded Ash is a loser and that he did not defeat a single Gym Leader 100% legitimately. If we had to pick, he probably defeated Lt. Surge and Blaine using the most skill. Want to debate which badge he won most fairly? Discuss it on our forums!

• Brock – Lost to Brock in the first match. Used an electric machine to power-up Pikachu rather than battle Pokemon to make it stronger. Caused sprinklers to weaken Onix. Chose not to finish the second match. Was handed the Boulder Badge despite not having defeated Brock.
• Misty – Battled Misty instead of the technical Gym Leaders. Match interrupted by Team Rocket. Handed the Cascade Badge for defeating Team Rocket and because he “would have” won if he used Pikachu against Misty.
• Lt. Surge – Lost the first match badly. Won the second match using speed and given the Thunder Badge.
• Sabrina – Lost the first match badly. Went to Lavender Town and “borrowed” Haunter. Ran out of the second match when Haunter disappeared. Did not finish the third match. Handed the Marsh Badge for immobilizing Kadabra in Haunter making Sabrina laugh herself silly.
• Erika – Tangela paralyzed Bulbasaur and Ash recalled it, she switched to Weepinbell and Charmander defeated it, Ash recalled Charmander for Pikachu after Gloom stunk up the place. Team Rocket burned the gym down and Ash saved Erika’s Gloom. She handed him the Rainbow Badge not for defeating her, but for his bravery.
• Koga – Pidgeotto lost to Venemoth and Ash sent out Charmander, but the battle was interrupted by Team Rocket. The match continued after Psyduck sent Team Rocket blasting off and Charmander defeated Koga’s Golbat, granting Ash the Soul Badge. However, that would make them tied, meaning that either Koga cannot count or the continuation was actually considered an entirely new match.
• Blaine – Lost to Blaine the first time. Ninetales defeated Squirtle, Pikachu zapped Rhydon’s horn (“Aim for the horn!”) and knocked it out, Magmar defeated Pikachu. Charizard defeated Magmar in the rematch.
• Giovanni – Did not even battle Giovanni. Battled Team Rocket using Giovanni’s Pokemon but defeated them.

• Lt. Surge (35.0%, 8,008 Votes)
• Brock (15.0%, 3,368 Votes)
• Blaine (15.0%, 3,360 Votes)
• Giovanni (11.0%, 2,414 Votes)
• Koga (7.0%, 1,682 Votes)
• Misty (7.0%, 1,668 Votes)
• Sabrina (5.0%, 1,214 Votes)
• Erika (4.0%, 885 Votes)
• Total Voters: 22,598

Over the past year, Shakespeare has been rescanning his entire collection of over 4,500 cards using his high-quality scanner and the scans have finally arrived on the site! It took almost a year to individually rotate, crop, edit, and enhance each scan one-by-one, but the painstaking job is finally done! We actually finished editing the scans a month before summer started, but various things (Japan, Worlds, life, etc.) kept getting in the way of me uploading them and adding them to the website. Thank you Shakespeare for all of your dedication and hard work in collecting and scanning all the cards!

The new scans are clearer than ever before and are larger than previous batches of scans. The old batch of scans was posted here when dial-up was still commonplace, but now that most people are using a high-speed connection, we felt we could make the scans a little larger with less compression. The previous scans were already the best quality you could ever find, but these just blow anything and everything completely out of the water. Yes, we are literally crazy when it comes to scan quality! Just compare a few random samples below. You can open the scans simultaneously when clicking them and can drag them next to each other to compare the old quality versus the new quality.

I was watching TV the other day and the Channel 4 news weather man said Facebook and Twitter are hip and fresh. The newscasters were even shoving their Twitter URLs down everyone’s throats. So I thought wynaut – why don’t I do the same for this site? Become a fan of PokeBeach.com on Facebook! You’re not web 2.0 if you don’t! The Facebook page will be updated whenever there is a major update here and will also be used to provide progress on whatever is being worked on for the site.