Week of August 3, 2003

More ADV4 Info

A Quick Diversion: I'm gonna be gone for a while. Bjork is in town and I have tickets to her concert. Yeee!

Looks like the Japanese site Pokemon-card.com is teasing us with theirbit of ADV4 info, like the cheeky monkeys that they are. GymLeaderPhil of Pojo fame emails me about it, says he sent some texts into Babelfish, and this is what he got:

"Participated with the "Pocket Monster Ruby/Sapphire" "magma group & aqua group", respectively construction to be completed, appearing for the first time in the Pokemon Card ADV "the magma group" deck, as "an aqua group" deck decided! Becoming the card which their Pokemon entered and to be had what kind of ability? And expectation expands even in the trainer card, it is the up-to-date work of main point attention!"

Uhm... using my Power Transmato-scope device and handy Transmato-gloves, the above text can be retranslated from Engrish to English. (My, technology today!)

Apparently there'll be two 30-card minidecks with ADV4, obviously a Team Magma and Team Aqua deck. Then it just teases us by asking "what sort of abilities will their Pokémon have? Stay tuned for the answers!", and mentions that ADV4 will also have some amazing Trainer cards as well. (Just as long as they reprint Professor Oak, I'll be a happy camper.)

Oh, and ADV4 will be out this October. NO actual specific date, all I know is "this October". Good times.

OK.... that's all I got.

The 'Gym Version Three

A Quick Diversion: Want some really good music? Anything by the group Pinback is a must.

The PokémonGym, one of the greatest Pokémon websites around has had a great legacy over the years. It used to be a website of great insider information before it got shut down by USA Networks back on January 2001. Later it was ressurected as a message board by Wizards of the Coasts and redubbed the Wizards PokéGym (or WizPoG for short). However since Wizards lost the Pokémon TCG license, that meant the 'Gym was gonna disappear once the internet once again.

But the 'Gyms admins and moderators (one of them being myself) kept a sharp eye on the situation and decided to take the 'Gym into our hands and ressurect it once again! This time it's now a community owned forum, run by the admins and mods. Good times. :D

You can find the new 'Gym at www.PokeGym.net. Say hi to me and the rest of the admins/mods while you're there!

Keep in mind that we have plenty of things instore for you over the next few months, feature wise and so forth. And since we don't need to follow the Wizards Code of Conduct any more, the forums won't be a strict as it was in the past (something that had been a bit of an annoyance for you in the past). Not to mention any of you who were banned at WizPOG will get a second chance at the new 'Gym. Hee hee!

But yeah, swing by for a spell, and let help continue the legacy of the 'Gym! :P

Another ADV4 Tidbit

A Quick Diversion: Gum

Something else I've uncovered today concerning ADV4... I did a bit of loose translation of some Japanese ADV4 text, and it says....

"This time it is not the usual ADV series, magma group aqua group is united to the center, so is"

Or in other words, ADV4 won't be like the previous 3 sets, as it'll somehow involve Team Aqua and Team Magma from the Ruby/Sapphire games. ... So is ADV4 the ADV's Rocket set?

More on this as it develops. Good times. ;)

Some Pokemon-TCG.com News Du Jour

A Quick Diversion: Bu-bu-bu-benny and the Jets! C'mon, Elton John is great!

Remember how I told you a while back how old skool Wizards Professors will get a free chance to be a Nintendo Professor without having to retake the test? Well, now's a good chance to do it! Click here ONLY if you're an old skool Pokémon Professor. This free offer however is good until September 30th, 2003. If you're an old timer but don't submit your application until after the 30th, then you'll have to retake the test again. ... And I'm told it's harder this time. ;)

If you're not a Professor though, I assume that after October 1st, you'll get a chance to take the Professor's test. Good times. :D

The main Organized Play website also got updated, it now has specific information on the Ruby/Sapphire Challenge Series. Score. ;)

That's all I got.

EX: Sandstorm images

A Quick Diversion: I have too much time on my hands. And I don't have enough things to do. That, too, sucks. Kinda. I just hate being bored.

EB Games's pre-order page

The Caravan deck stars Cradily.
The Oasis deck stars Armaldo.
... Yay?

And if you click here, you can see the booster pack image with Zangoose. Unlike the earlier seen booster pack, which featured Seviper.

And according to EB, an exact (or more likely, an approximate) release date is September 17th. Only a month plus a few days to go.

Hmm... I just noticed something. Look at the second paragraph on EB Games. 108 cards in EX: Sandstom?! That can't be right. Where did they get that number from?! ADV2 was only 53! Unless they plan to combine ADV2 and ADV3 (Like Wizards did with Card-e 2 and 3, and 4 and 5)... but that would equal 137... Unless... they're doing a "remix" of the sets for the U.S. release, like Wizards did with the Gym sets. Man. Now my head hurts.


Oh! Nervous breakdown!

Some ADV4 News

A Quick Diversion: I have like a ton of things to do. And not enough time to do it in. God this sucks.

I've got SOME ADV4 news for you. More of my secret-yet-100%-real insider news that I seem to get before everyone else does. Good times. ... So far not much is known about ADV4. I don't even have a release date. BUT, I do know at least 4 cards that'll be in the set. Lesse...

Kabutops ex [illus. Ryo Ueda]
Arcanine [illus. Hajime Kusajima]
Murkrow [illus. Mitsuhiro Arita]
Umbreon [illus. Kagemaru Himeno]

Now with a title like "ADV4 Duel" and these 4 cards, it's still difficule to determine a sort of theme for the set. But it seems like "classic" Pokémon will be big in this set, made apparent by these 4 names. More so, you might expect Eevee and the other 4 'Eons in this set, a Growlithe, and maybe a Kabuto and/or Mysterious Fossil (again). Or some other card to get Fossil Pokémon in play. Something.

More on this as it surfaces.

New Japanese promos

A Quick Diversion: Is a Russian Ditto hosting the show?

#36 - Ash's Treecko

#37 - May's Torchic

#38 - Brock's Mudkip

So, now they've made promo cards based on the three main characters of the cartoon. No big deal. But I do want that May's Torchic. I like Torchic. And I like May. It's a win-win situation. Except when I lose money to pay for it. So... then it's a win-win-lose situation? I guess...

So you're a lizard. Don't kill Leno. You cannot!