I had the pleasure of talking with a former WotC employee for almost an hour in my card shop today, he shared lots of information with me, and it was a dream for me. We had a lot of small world moments, as we’re both from Tacoma. He told me a lot about what he did for Wizards, but also how they really let him down once the Hasbro acquisition happened. He was not willing to go on record, as most Wizards employees would not. I’m feel very fortune to have been given the opportunity.
I received a surprise in the form of these images once I got home, he had a big part in creating the first English Pokemon set for Wizards. This is one of MANY (rough estimate: 50) press sheets that were printed with the Blastoise Prototype. You’ll noticed this doesn’t look exactly the same as the ones James and I have, but there were many variations, as these were used specifically to find things they liked / didn’t like in regards to developing the print of the cards. He’s unsure as to when the Yellow / Gold boarder would have been added.
His explanation as to why it looks the way it does, is that, this was part of the initial presentation Creature gave them. He mentioned sitting in a design meeting with their non-english speaking developer, and it being extremely difficult, because they had to communicate simply by pointing at their collective computer screens design software. I believe the comic sans font was an initial concept Creature had to appeal to American Children, he couldn’t say.
Enjoy.
