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During the Sword & Shield era, the Pokémon TCG has released at least one special expansion every year. A special expansion is a set of cards that does not include the current era’s title in its name and is often directly themed to a certain topic. Another feature of special expansions is that they come only in set-specific products rather than booster boxes and individual packs. For example, a main series set would be Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance and Sword & Shield – Lost Origin, while a special set would be Shining Fates, Celebrations, and the topic of this new spotlight series, the Pokémon GO expansion. Released on July 1st, 2022, this special set was made in partnership with Niantic Labs, the mobile developer behind the iconic game Pokémon GO. The set adapts and pays homage to certain elements from the game while also continuing current elements of the TCG including VSTARs, Radiant Pokémon, Alternate Arts, and more. Follow me through a journey through this set as we appreciate the artwork, discuss the card’s place in the set, and talk about what certain elements of the expansion may imply for the future of the Pokémon TCG. Today, we check out the Radiant Blastoise, featuring the Pokémon in its Shiny form.
This Pokémon GO expansion has three Shiny Pokémon as Radiant cards: Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard. While the Charizard falls short and the Venusaur was one of my favorites, the Blastoise sits right between. Artist Masakazu Fukuda delivers a badass posed Blastoise with a background that looks like a photograph of raindrops on golden glass that was manipulated to become a swirling background. While the digital image looks strange above, it’s certainly serviceable on the physical card.
Stay tuned for the continuing journey through Pokémon TCG: Pokémon GO. Next time, the spotlight continues with more cards from the main section of this themed expansion.
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