'Sky Legends' Officially Revealed!

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
There's really not been many main expansions that had consistent theming, especially not in English where they combine 2-3 different sources that don't mesh together. Even a tiny set like Jungle had random things like Clefable, Mr. Mime, Electrode, etc tossed in despite not fitting the so-called "jungle" theme at all. lol

Only the smallest subsets like Southern Islands, Double Crisis and the Radiant Collections got it right.
I don't think EVERY card in a set needs to be consistent with a theme in order to have one. Roaring Skies, Furious Fists, etc. aren't 100% sky and fighting themed, but they're enough so to when you look back at them, you remember "hey, that's the set with all the flying types that's in the sky and stuff!" or "That's the one where a bunch of buff pokemon beat eachother up in a boxing ring"! It doesn't have to be 100% to be thematic. Small subsets are only done perfectly because of how condensed and small they are, to where they have that ability ot be 100% working on a theme.

That being said, I think that Sun and Moon takes the "Not all cards have to be thematic!" thing a bit too far and makes sets completely muddled and unmemorable. It's like you said, them shoving 2-3 sets together that don't fit. I wish they'd slow down for once.

If only the customers got a say in what Pokémon get new cards...
Like Frost said? It'd be pretty much just the popular stuff. It's easy to forget that you're in a minority of an opinion when you're in one. I would argue in terms of sheer representation this generation does Ultra Rares better than the last few, but that's just me. I think they're actually being more diverse in that sense. It's a shame though, that we're getting this in the Hyper Rare and Gold Item generation where the amount of set bloating muddles the fact that Honchkrow and Shuckle are now getting Ultras aside the popular favorites. It's a nice touch in my opinion and one of the few pros this gen has.
 

NaganadelIsBeast

Pun Intended
Member
I like the Ultra Rare arts. But I think 4 different arts for a single add is just getting excessive. (Hoping I didn’t start another flame war). I definitely like how Pokémon that really don’t get representation like Whimsicott, the coming Mawile, Ampharos, and Naganadel are getting cool arts and potentially good cards. I hope gen 8 can perfect this by giving us Japan sized sets, but as I said Pokémon is now more biased towards making money, so the sets will increase in size opposed to decreasing.
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
I like the Ultra Rare arts. But I think 4 different arts for a single add is just getting excessive. (Hoping I didn’t start another flame war).
I don't think you're starting anything when this is a general opinion that's shared across a lot of this forum, myself included. Of course some people like the artworks too, but it's nothing I've ever seen flame wars on. This place is pretty peaceful.

I hope gen 8 can perfect this by giving us Japan sized sets, but as I said Pokémon is now more biased towards making money, so the sets will increase in size opposed to decreasing.
The TCG is a moneymaker they've always tried new ways to appeal to people to profit off of, that hasn't ever changed really. They just do it differently in many generations, i.e. this one appealing towards the casual and competitive markets. I honestly think it can go either way-set sizes have increased and decreased all the time, if you compare something like e series to EX era (Ruby And Sapphire sets), set sizes are a lot different. Now, it's more likely than not that set sizes are going to either stay the same or increase. But with Sword and Shield looking so good as it is in terms of a game, I'm hopeful the TCG can reflect this so we can finally get out of the worst generation of all time, in BOTH games and the TCG.
 

Frost

Ice/Fairy Stan Account
Member
I think the real issue is that a hobby like a trading card game is getting harder and harder to keep profitable in this increasingly digital age. I think we're all on the same page that the number of chase cards in Gen 7 is ridiculous, but PCL's answer to that so far has been to add even more variations of the chase cards. lol? And between them trotting out Charizard GX and full art waifus every set now the desperation to get people to buy is transparent. From my viewpoint, at least.

I wouldn't even mind the giant clusterfuck sets if they could have a clear vision for them. They must know at this point that there's going to be a main Japanese expansion and then two subsets that get combined into a monstrous English set because that's been the last year and a half or so of the game. So work with it. You want Lost Thunder to be "the Johto set"? Actually plan the Pokemon out so that you get all 100 Johto Pokemon covered within a 250 card English set. It takes a little bit of planning but not an excessive amount. Gen 4-era's TCG was able to do it.
 

NaganadelIsBeast

Pun Intended
Member
The flame-war thing was a joke, just like a lot of things I say.

I have high expectations for gen 8. Well honestly, maybe they’re not so high because of SUM lowering my standards, but I don’t know. I’m enjoying this season’s anime though.

Man.., this place seems way more chill than the official PTCGO forums...

Frost, I agree %100
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
I think the real issue is that a hobby like a trading card game is getting harder and harder to keep profitable in this increasingly digital age. I think we're all on the same page that the number of chase cards in Gen 7 is ridiculous, but PCL's answer to that so far has been to add even more variations of the chase cards. lol? And between them trotting out Charizard GX and full art waifus every set now the desperation to get people to buy is transparent. From my viewpoint, at least.
They're really going the wrong way at it, I honestly think with how popular Pokemon has been as of late, and how the competitive TCG has been getting more and more members, having those chase card variations would not have made a difference. Pokemon has been booming since 2016, it's apparent in how much cards like Base Zard have gone up since then. Nothing would have changed if they kept their sets at a lower number of chase cards. Regular. Full Art. Full Art Trainer. One-two secret rares. It was perfectly fine this way. In fact, I think the way things are going discouraged collectors like myself to give them money. I know that doesn't matter in the long run since collectors are the minority, and their marketing shows this, but still, if they wanted to appeal to everyone, they were doing it fine before.

I wouldn't even mind the giant clusterfuck sets if they could have a clear vision for them. They must know at this point that there's going to be a main Japanese expansion and then two subsets that get combined into a monstrous English set because that's been the last year and a half or so of the game. So work with it. You want Lost Thunder to be "the Johto set"? Actually plan the Pokemon out so that you get all 100 Johto Pokemon covered within a 250 card English set. It takes a little bit of planning but not an excessive amount. Gen 4-era's TCG was able to do it.
You actually bring up something very great here, and honestly, when I look at some of my favorite sets, like BREAKthrough, Boundaries Crossed, and Expedition, what do those sets have in common with the ones now? They're huge. It makes me realize this-I wouldn't mind these massive sets either, in fact sometimes these releases can be exciting. But, you're very, very right about it. Focusing it and making these things actually coherent would be a HUGE step in the right direction. I'm also pretty sure you or someone else mentioned this, but these giant sets would be fine if there wasn't SO many chase cards in the desperate attempt to sell sell SELL, that doesn't even NEED to be desperate because, like I said, they're selling fine as it is. With these massive sets we could have very well had every single Pokemon be covered as a card, but they just don't seem to know how to do that.

Less chase cards, more focus. The solution is obvious. It'd get collectors like myself buying things again, at least. And I don't think kids or competitive players are going anywhere.
 

NaganadelIsBeast

Pun Intended
Member
Yeah basically that. I’d be fine with these sets of the cards were better. For example, look at Alolan Golem GX. It’s so dull for a card that could have so much potential.

But the thing is, with Pokémon’s bias towards money, they know there making good cash, but it’s that they want more. The problem with big franchises is now they just want more and more money. Take Star Wars, for example. Before the last few years, Star Wars wasn’t really an active franchise. But then they started making new movies. Lucasfilm knew Star Wars fans would come back, and make big sales. And here’s the thing sales=money. And they couldn’t get enough. That’s what’s happening in Pokémon, to a certain degree.
 

Frost

Ice/Fairy Stan Account
Member
This is actually a game I played at the end of the BW block, when I was super dissatisfied that 200 of the then-older Pokemon didn't appear even once throughout the BW TCG. I looked at every BW release and tried to figure out where I could have cut out repeat Pokemon to fit in ones that were ignored. I even left BW1-3 alone because the clear idea there was Unova Pokemon only. I was still able to fit almost all of the missing Pokemon into the BW sets by cutting out the repeats.

SM-era example: Super-Burst Impact is clearly supposed to be the Johto themed set in Japan. We have two Chikorita and two Hoppip cards in this main expansion. Why? Cut one each of those and we have Sunkern and Sunflora for the first time since HGSS. Random Gen 7 Pokemon (Pikipek, Mareanie), Ultra Beasts (Blacephalon GX, Poipole, Naganadel) and Alolan forms (Meowth and Persian) are tossed in too. Throw out the four Colorless spots given to the Pikipek line in favor of Sentret/Furret and Teddiursa/Ursaring. Rework a few other things and you free up spots for those cut Alolan Pokemon in the subsets or another main set down the line. But the people in charge of the TCG just don't really approach things these way and it's frustrating.

ETA: I was posting this in the catch-all Sky Legends thread on the main board as WPM added a news story and so this ended up on the comment section about Jessie and James FA. whoops!
 

NaganadelIsBeast

Pun Intended
Member
Yeah but the thing is, Sunkern and Sunflora don’t sell. They added 2 Chikorita and Hoppip because they’re more popular, a. k. a. They sell better.
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
Yeah but the thing is, Sunkern and Sunflora don’t sell. They added 2 Chikorita and Hoppip because they’re more popular, a. k. a. They sell better.
I don't think any casual fan is going to pay attention to what commons are in the set though. 2 chikorita and hoppip vs a sunkern line isnt going to make a difference when what casual fans want is the shiny ultra rares.

Anyways... enough on that from me (apologies that this overflowed into the full art reveal!) , that full art is absolutely fantastic. That's a good collectible right there.
 

Frost

Ice/Fairy Stan Account
Member
Yeah, what AshCo said. They're common filler cards either way, does it really make a difference if one is a second Hoppip or another is a Sunkern?

The Pokemon they decide to double up are random at best too. They're always two common evolving basics of an arbitrary type. Sometimes they're starters, other times they're randos like Remoraid. Is Poliwag so popular that anyone would care if one of its extras in Unbroken Bonds went to Finneon? *shrug*
 

crystal_pidgeot

Bird Trainer *Vaporeon on PokeGym*
Member
The reason I care so much about themes is because it gives lesser Pokemon a chance to shine so having typed sets means a Pokemon like Roserade could get a GX, since they are at least forced to make eight or so GX Pokemon so a person like me waiting for a set of bird Pokemon could be excited for it. Its part of the reason they need to make the bird type a thing and separate it from the flying type because its also easy for a flying set to be full of Charizard and Rayquaza.

I just want a focus because every Pokemon has fans and those fans deserve to have a Pokemon they love as an ultra rare.
 

rustedharmony

Aspiring Trainer
Member
It looks like they are stuck in a box... Or case... Or a PSA case.... As if to predict this card will be popular enough to get mass amounts of PSA submissions... popular enough to blow up pop numbers & price magins.... Pay Day... Team Rocket casino making big bucks while they still feel the pulse of th audience...
 

DMYSYS

Aspiring Trainer
Member
This is actually a game I played at the end of the BW block, when I was super dissatisfied that 200 of the then-older Pokemon didn't appear even once throughout the BW TCG. I looked at every BW release and tried to figure out where I could have cut out repeat Pokemon to fit in ones that were ignored. I even left BW1-3 alone because the clear idea there was Unova Pokemon only. I was still able to fit almost all of the missing Pokemon into the BW sets by cutting out the repeats.

SM-era example: Super-Burst Impact is clearly supposed to be the Johto themed set in Japan. We have two Chikorita and two Hoppip cards in this main expansion. Why? Cut one each of those and we have Sunkern and Sunflora for the first time since HGSS. Random Gen 7 Pokemon (Pikipek, Mareanie), Ultra Beasts (Blacephalon GX, Poipole, Naganadel) and Alolan forms (Meowth and Persian) are tossed in too. Throw out the four Colorless spots given to the Pikipek line in favor of Sentret/Furret and Teddiursa/Ursaring. Rework a few other things and you free up spots for those cut Alolan Pokemon in the subsets or another main set down the line. But the people in charge of the TCG just don't really approach things these way and it's frustrating.

ETA: I was posting this in the catch-all Sky Legends thread on the main board as WPM added a news story and so this ended up on the comment section about Jessie and James FA. whoops!

I really like your posts because you put a lot of thought and consideration into these things.

Having said this, it reminds me of the thought and effort that fans put into tracking the series chronology/timeline. Yeah, GameFreak presumably has a series bible and has put some effort towards a coherent timeline and minimal continuity errors, but they've been cropping up more often lately and seems to have culminated with the introduction of Ultra Space/multiple timelines and universes, so any future continuity errors can be handwaved as being a different continuity. Fans are bending themselves over trying to figure out something no one paid to figure these things out is actually putting an iota as much effort into.

It's not surprising there, but it is sort of surprising here that TPCi/whoever's running the TCG isn't putting the level of effort into representation of Pokemon across block expansions as you are. It's really not difficult, the Excel spreadsheets you've thrown together are not too difficult to keep track of especially if you end up being the one actually making all the cards. It's so weird they don't do this!?!
 
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