🍿 Pokémon movie sequel is back on! Allegedly!

Hello and Happy February,

The groundhog saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter if you trust a rodent. Lucky for us, we only recognize Diglett in this house.

Happy collecting from your friends at Mystery Poke Slabs.

The end of PTCGO is nigh. All hail PTCGL!

If you play TCG Online you know that it's gotten pretty stale from a software standpoint. The long-awaited update—Pokémon Trading Card Game Live—took forever to come out of beta. Originally slated for 2021, the US didn't get access until November of last year. Transitioning right away was fraught with risk. Migrating your account from PTCGO meant never getting access to it again—not to mention relinquishing your Pokécoins and any Battle Decks you'd built.

But now that the bugs have been cleaned up, and PTCGL is mostly stable, the writing is on the wall. The Pokémon Company has announced that card set development for Online will halt on March 1. Crown Zenith will be the last new set added. In other words, "please go use the app now". If you wanna get a head start, PTCGL is available for download now.

If you're an active Online player, here's everything you need to know about the sunset period from Pokémon support.

Scarlet & Violet Triplet Beat revealed and the art is s'cute 🥰

The follow-up to Crown Zenith has been given a March 10 release date for Japan. Scarlet & Violet's first sub-set will feature all Gen IX Pokémon from the Paldea region and their evolutions.

Fuecoco evolves to Skeledirge and Quaxly to Quaxwell, but based on these starters we might just want them to stay smol.

PokéBeach compiled a rundown of the set. Or check the stream if you want better close-ups (Japanese language)

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu 2 is still getting made. Probably.

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu released in 2019 to critical blah but audience praise. In fact, pre-hype for the movie was so strong that they greenlit the sequel even before the release of the first. It ended up grossing $433 million in the year before the world got weird and the studio has been fairly mum since. Thanks however to Tom Cruise and James Cameron, movie executive exuberance in Hollywood is back baby! So we might be seeing Pikachu on the big screen sometime soon according to a representative for Legendary Entertainment, stating the project is still “in active development,” (via Polygon).

Complicating things might be bigger elements of the corporate machine. Legendary ended their distribution deal with Warner Bros. in November 2022, opting to partner with Sony moving forward. And Netflix has since deepened it's relationship with the Pokémon franchise while it works on a live-action series for the streaming giant. Let's hope the suits can get out of their own way and that Ryan Reynolds returns to voice our lovable hero.

🔗 Quick hits

Polygon is keeping track of stock for Pikachu and Gengar Squishmallows, because as you might imagine they're selling out EVERYWHERE.

Wargamer has a solid wishlist of things they'd like to see from Disney's new TCG Lorcana

The Gamer showcases the best Mew cards ranked by artwork. Our only gripe is Fusion Strike Mew being ranked #5. That art is so slick.

YOUR PAPER RECTANGLES DESERVE A LARGER PLASTIC RECTANGLE

The price difference between a super rare card in your binder vs one that's been graded can be insane. We want to help you get from point A to point B (B is for bougie). If you're curious what you're holding and how it prices out once graded, enter your card info at PriceCharting. Go ahead. Surprise yourself. Then let's talk.

Behind the meme

Redditor u/trailer8k was watching Season 1 when magic happened. The episode that launched a thousand Pikachu memes.

Video of the Week

Pro Pokémon player opens up real-life Pokémon gym in New York City

L8r 👋