I love how the English cards during the WOTC era had unique quirks that differentiated them from their Japanese counterparts -which I understand were printed a few years beforehand in Japan only. But why was this the case? If the Japanese could have been used as a guide?
I’m curious as to the extent of creative input WOTC was allowed into the English TCG. I understand there was translation, the arduous task of bringing the franchise into the West/rest of the world some cases censoring (naked Misty, purple Jynx etc).
But the following items make me wonder:
Yellow border instead of the Japanese gold which stopped after neo destiny. Despite the English e-series being produced by WOTC, I feel like were pretty the same aesthetically as their Japanese counterparts.
English Exclusive Cards. As far I’m aware, there were only a handful of English exclusive cards (Rush’s Mewtwo). Most cards seem to be a translated version of a previous Japanese card. Why were there not more unique English cards?
Shadowed Artbox. This was present in the Japanese base, but missing in 1st edition base. Was this an trial an error process to figure out how to do the drop shadow, or was it a deliberate design decision? Noting they later added the shadow shortly after in the unlimited release.
Or were there copyright issues and that WOTC was tasked with figuring out recreating the cards from scratch?
But yeah, I’d love to hear your thoughts as to why these differences came about!
I really don’t want the conversation to devolve into the “realness” of this card, but if we accept the story behind it - that it was used in the early days to experiment/test the card layout - then it might provide insight to some of your questions www.ebay.ca/itm/Blastoise-Magic-Backed-Test-Print-Pokemon-Rare-Foil-Only-3-Known/383232904376
Interestingly, it does have the shadow
WOTC was briefly allowed certain liberties when translating the cards for the English release. For instance, the red cheeks Pikachu was a change that Wizards made to the original art, which they had thought would make Pikachu appear more like in the anime. This was an example of a design choice that didn’t stick (by request from Nintendo), just like the “shadowless” artwork.
Regarding shadowless: Nintendo probably had similar input into the shadowless design rework just as they did when they requested the red cheeks Pikachu to be reverted to its original form. If you take a look at the character’s artwork border you’ll see that it has an inset frame… compare this to any Magic card of that era and you’ll notice the same type of framing. So why have an inset frame and a drop shadow? The two graphical elements are counter to each other.
The promo cards idea was drawn from the Japanese promo card releases which encouraged the kids engagement in various campaigns. Mew being removed from fossil during the import was part of that decision, again to boost engagement in Pokemon leagues in this case. Remember that WOTC was one of the largest trading card companies in the world at that time…
but WOTC still could have lost their license with Nintendo at any point between set releases. They were only able to successfully maintain a contract until 2003.
If I remember right the yellow border was a decision made for contrast
@jkanly thank you very much for the insight. You’re totally right about the inset frame and shadow too. I much prefer the shadowless cards, they just look so much cleaner, as well as the colours being much more saturated and vivid. I don’t know if I’m being biased through my love of shadowless due to its scarcity…
I wonder what vintage English Pokemon would be like today if shadowless stayed for all sets, and also how far English might have strayed from Japan if promos were more unique to regions outside of Japan. I guess we’ll never know! Also crazy to imagine how fragile WoTC’s hold on Pokemon was. I suppose they would have had to bend over backwards to Nintendo given the cash cow that was Pokemon.
I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head and gave me the answer I was after! Cheers!
