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Bleeding Cool’s journey through the Sun & Moon era of the Pokémon TCG continues. Now that our spotlight series has moved through the first eight sets of this block (Sun & Moon base, Guardians Rising, Burning Shadows, Crimson Invasion, Ultra Prism, Shining Legends, Forbidden Light, and Celestial Storm), now it’s time to look at the next set from this era: Dragon Majesty was released on September 7th, 2018 which is less than a month after Sun & Moon – Celestial Storm. This is the second special set from this era after Shining Legends, which means that it does not have “Sun & Moon” in its title and was released in special branded products rather than booster boxes. Today, we move onto the main feature with the Dragon-types, starting with the Trapinch line.
- Trapinch: This line starts in the Ground-type section with this simple but effective Trapinch drawn by Naoyo Kimura. A mixture of the Pokémon house style and a grainy, soft approach makes this one rather unique. Trapinch is an underrated cutie here and this card reminds me of how much fun it was playing Pokémon GO Community Day.
- Vibrava: Though it looks like a bug, Vibrava is indeed a Dragon-type. This is the second stage of the Trapinch line and this card may indeed be one of the best uses of Ken Sugimori stock art that I’ve seen in modern sets. Sugimori sometimes does original illustrations for the TCG but as the main artist and designer for the overall franchise, it is often his stock character designs that are used for cards. Here, a warped ground and sonic effect make it seem like this illustration was made for this exact card. However, a trip to Pokemon.com reveals it as stock art.
- Flygon: Artist Shigenori Negishi uses clean lines and a simple background for this pretty angry Flygon, but the cartoonishness of the art style seems at odds with the ferocious pose this Dragon-type Pokémon is trying to strike. Flygon got a solid GX elsewhere, but I would’ve loved for a more effective holo-rare for this underrated Pokémon in Dragon Majesty.
Stay tuned for the continuing journey through Pokémon TCG: Dragon Majesty. To look back on this series, click the Dragon Majesty tag below. Next time, this journey continues with the main section of this set.
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