Hi, I’m more into the cards than the anime - movies and since getting back into cards after 22 years and near completing my Team Rocket set I’ve been wondering who this character is. Is it a rocket grunt or is she a main character in one of the movies. Thanks
I always assumed that she was the model of the Generic Team Rocket grunt for the early gens. The manga also has a long haired Rocket female grunt. I also assumed that Jesse from the anime was based on this character.
I am surprised that people are suggesting anime characters. The TCG does not feature anime characters. The TCG and the anime are separate, unrelated adaptations of the mainline video games and very rarely crossover.
Huh? They overlap all of the time. Here are some brief examples. Most of the illustrations of the characters are from the anime as the video game sprites are abbreviated artistic designs.
I believe stagecoach is correct. The tcg and anime borrow from the video games, but the tcg very rarely borrows from the anime. Most tcg illustrations are adaptations of the video games.
I’m confused by this post and your examples. I am not sure how to reply. Even some of the art in the thumbnail for your links features art from the video games. Misty uses art from Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee in your thumbnail. Blaine uses art from Fire Red and Leaf Green.
In the example you gave for instance, the Misty and the Lorelei are directly from the Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee art
Generally, the only influence the anime has is indirectly by how the anime influences the re-releases of some of the games. Ex. how Jessie & James appear in Pokemon Yellow but not in R/G/B
All these characters are from the VG though. There’s not really a card that has an anime character that didn’t also first appear in the games with exception to a few movie promos
Yes, the characters are originally made in the video games. My point is that the stylizing of the designs heavily borrows from the anime and movies when made into cards, as the video games’ pixelated renditions of the characters are imperfect.
For example, this awful CG Lillie isn’t fit for trading cards.
I think this is exemplary and helps illustrate the way the brand works. But I am also currently struggling to put into words something I took for granted as a Pokémon fan - which is how the arms of the brand are delineated. It’s something I’ve always understood implicitly and now having to verbalize it I’m struggling to find the words.
The way Pokémon works is that Game Freak develops a generational video game. Generation I, Generation II, Generation III, etc. These games feature Pokémon, locations, personalities, and a surplus of canonical brand elements which then become accessible for adaptation into the other aspects of the brand.
The anime previously adapted these elements by having Ash visit the region and meet gym leaders interpreted from the video games. The card game is much more focused on the Pokémon itself, but in more modern times there is a stronger focus on the human characters - which are also adapted directly from the video games that introduced them. The anime and the TCG both have their own way of adapting the content and it tends to be a one-way street.
Additionally, brand control and style-guides are produced simultaneously for adaptation. This is why we have seen anime reference sheets as leaks ahead of video game reveals. These standardizations mean most characters look basically the same across all their depictions, whereas older TCG sets, games, and anime series often have unique looks for each character.