Pokémon TCG Pocket Players Love and Hate Heartbreaking Time Space Showdown Art

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket's latest expansion, Space Time Smackdown, released on January 30, has stirred significant controversy among fans due to the artwork on the Weavile ex 2 Star full art card. The card depicts a group of Weavile lurking in the treetops, poised to attack an unsuspecting Swinub below, sparking outrage and emotional responses from the community.

A Reddit post showcasing the card's artwork garnered nearly 10,000 upvotes, with comments like "No Swinub, look up! Look up!" reflecting fans' distress. One user lamented, "Always got to be one card per set that shows Pokémon in the process of straight up killing each other," while another pleaded, "Leave the lil guy alone." The conversation highlighted the brutal nature of Pokémon ecology, with one fan noting, "The ecology of Pokémon is always so crazy to imagine. Like these are still animals, some smarter than others. Just they have the ability to fire laser beams."

Amidst the controversy, some fans are clinging to a hopeful narrative suggested by the full art card of Mamoswine, Swinub's final evolution. This card shows Mamoswine looking upwards while seemingly protecting a group of Swinub, leading fans to speculate a protective scenario. Comments such as "Hey, Mamoswine protected his baby. Don't worry. He most definitely saw those Weaviles" and "The Mamoswine alt card already looks above. He saw them. He saw..." express this sentiment.

Space Time Smackdown, themed around Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, introduces characters like Weavile, Mamoswine, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and more. The set contains 207 cards, which is smaller than the previous set, Genetic Apex, with its 286 cards. However, Space Time Smackdown boasts a higher percentage of rare cards, with 52 alternate art, Star, and Crown rarity cards compared to Genetic Apex's 60.

Despite the uproar, Creatures Inc. has remained silent on the controversial Weavile ex card. The company's social media and the game itself have focused solely on promoting Space Time Smackdown, and they did not respond to IGN's request for comment. The only acknowledgment of the trading update, which arrived the day before the expansion, was a "Trade Feature Celebration Gift" offering 500 Trade Tokens and 120 Trade Hourglasses—enough tokens to trade a single ex Pokémon—but the developer has otherwise stayed quiet on fan complaints.