Welcome to Vol. 3, issue 36 of Johto Times! This week, we are sharing an interview with PrimalLugia, the webmaster of a Pokémon TCG fansite called PokeGuardian, which began in June 2019, providing the latest Pokémon TCG news and content. We also have a recap of the latest Pokémon news.

The Johto Times Favourite Pokémon Poll (2025) has reached its Grand Final stage! Which Pokémon will be voted as the fan favourite? Click here for more information.

On August 1st, Johto Times launched a new website! Check it out and please bookmark us here: Johto Times

A special Pokémon Mega Evolution event is coming to Paris from September 13th, 2025

GENERAL

• The collaboration between Pokémon and Hatsune Miku marks its second anniversary with a special video showcasing songs, music videos, and illustrations from the project. A live concert is also scheduled for March 2026.

Source: Pokémon

The Pokémon Mega Evolution Paris event takes place on September 13th & 14th, 2025, as a free physical and digital immersive experience. Taking place at the Forum Des Halles at Westfield Châtelet, fans will be able to learn about the power of Mega Evolution, test their skills in the Pokémon GO Battle Zone, go hands-on with a playable demo of Pokémon Legends: Z-A Switch 2 Edition, and collect Pokémon themed goodies. Fans can also meet Pikachu and Eevee throughout the day, between 11:00 and 18:00. Full details of the event are available on the official Pokémon website.

Source: Pokémon

POKÉMON LEGENDS: Z-A

• Pokémon and the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre are teaming up for a special live event in Mexico City. It will be held at Arena México on September 25th, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. local time and promises to be an event that brings the world of Pokémon from the screen to the ring.

Source: Pokémon LATAM

• Trainers have surpassed 1 million victories against Shiny Ting-Lu in the special Tera Raid Battles. As a result, Shiny Ting-Lu will be distributed as a Mystery Gift from September 5th to October 1st, 2025.

Source: Pokémon

SCARLET & VIOLET

• Shiny Chi-Yu is now appearing in 5-Star Tera Raids until Sunday, September 14th, 2025. If the total number of player victories meets or exceeds one million by this date, it will be available for players to obtain via Mystery Gift starting Friday, September 19th, 2025.

Source: Pokémon

POKÉMON TCG

• Mega Evolution—Phantasmal Flames has been announced as the next English expansion, releasing on November 14th, 2025 in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. At the time of publication, there has been no mention of release plans for Europe. The set will contain over 120 cards, including more Mega Evolution cards such as Mega Charizard X, and Mega Gengar ex.

Source: Pokémon

• Players can get early access to the Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution expansion ahead of its September 26th, 2025 release. Starting September 13th, selected retailers will offer the Mega Evolution Build & Battle Box, giving us the chance to join Prerelease battles.

Source: Pokémon

• Trainers can log in to TCG Live to claim school-themed bundles, in-game gifts, and deck accessories, as well as take on the Twin Battle Trainer Trials. This two-part event runs from August 28th to September 25th, 2025.

Source: Pokémon

POKÉMON TCG POCKET

A Zoroark Drop Event is currently taking place until September 13th, 2025. Five promo cards, including Zoroark and Milotic, can be obtained by playing solo battles.

Source: In-game news

POKÉMON MASTERS EX

• Enter the Get a Master Sync Pair Sweepstakes from August 27th to September 7th, 2025. Follow @PokemonMasters on X, share a screenshot with #GetAMasterSyncPair, and players could win a set of four collectible pins. The more entries received, the more winners will be selected.

Source: Pokémon Masters EX

POKÉMON UNITE

• A major update is coming today, featuring Groudon. From this date, Ranked Matches will take place on the new Theia Sky Ruins (Groudon) map. The previous Theia Sky Ruins (Rayquaza) map will remain available for Standard and Custom Matches.

Source: Pokémon Unite

POKÉMON GO

• The next Pokémon GO Wild Area has been announced, featuring Dark and Fairy-type Pokémon, including Grimmsnarl. The in-person event will take place in Nagasaki, Japan, from November 7th to 9th, 2025, while Pokémon GO Wild Area: Global will be available worldwide on November 15th and 16th, 2025.

Source: Pokémon Go

• Every Sunday from September 7th to November 30th, 2025, Trainers can enjoy trade bonuses during Tales of Transformation. Event bonuses include: one additional Special Trade per day; increased chance of Lucky Trade for any trade; 10% reduced Stardust cost for trades; and earning two Candy XL from trades.

Source: Pokémon GO

Feature: Interview with PokeGuardian

PokeGuardian is a website that began in June 2019, covering the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It features the latest TCG news, interviews, reviews, and other articles written by its webmaster (PrimalLugia), as well as other members of the team. PrimalLugia joins us for an interview to discuss the website, their history, and thoughts on the Pokémon TCG.

The PokeGuardian logo

Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Zakariya! Please introduce yourself and your website to us!

Zakariya:

Hi, I am Zakariya, also known as PrimalLugia on social media. I am from the Netherlands and I run the website pokeguardian.com, [where] I publish the articles myself. Outside of PokeGuardian, I am a Pokémon card collector and I [have] run a Pokémon League since 2017.

PokeGuardian was launched on June 1st, 2019, but you have been involved in covering Pokémon TCG news prior to this. Where did the idea for PokeGuardian come from?

Zakariya:

Yes! Before the site existed, I used to share Pokémon TCG news on Twitter because I was deeply engaged with my hobby and eager to stay updated on the latest products and cards. During this time in 2017, I met Matthew Verive (Immewnity), who runs Pidgiwiki. I uploaded Pokémon TCG artwork to Pidgiwiki, from which I had photoshopped out the [set] logo by merging it with the same image in lower resolutions. My edits were so seamless that Matthew didn't notice and curiously asked about the source of the images. After a brief discussion about the uploading rules (haha), I began labeling the files with "(altered)" in the title, and we became friends. Matthew was crucial for the creation of PokeGuardian, as I learned a lot from his experience and the contacts he introduced to me. By the summer of 2019, I felt limited by Twitter for news coverage and was ready to write full articles the way I wanted them to [be seen], so I launched PokeGuardian.com.

Previously, Twitter accounts like autobottesla and collector viper were known for covering Japanese Pokémon TCG news. Collector viper eventually stepped down and passed the responsibility to autobottesla, who later handed it over to me after I started my website. Fun fact: autobottesla also illustrated the artworks for PokeGuardian.

Your website is dedicated to the Pokémon Trading Card Game: serving up-to-date news, articles, interviews and other content relating to the product. What processes do you and the staff at PokeGuardian undertake to ensure the information you share is accurate and helpful to readers?

Zakariya:

Considering I wrote articles before as an editor for a big FIFA fan-site years ago, I already had some experience in writing articles (although looking back, I have grown a lot writing them). Also, I work full-time in IT where I need to be sharp, [on] standby in case anything happens, think critically and write accurately, so honestly it keeps me in form; these two things go hand-in-hand pretty well. Hence why I rarely make mistakes. It’s something not everyone can do consistently. Also, building up sources and networking takes patience. I also developed a feeling after all these years to essentially ‘feel’ if something is off or not. Like you are in the ‘zone’ if you know what I mean. There are honestly no shortcuts in life. Everything you see here is years of dedication and effort.

PokeGuardian’s website in September 2019

On September 4th, 2020, episode one of the PokeGuardian Podcast was released. At the time of interview, you have released 52 episodes. What have been some of your favourites so far?

Zakariya:

The first one naturally came to mind. I was pitching this idea to TCGTaj (previously known as PokeTaj) to make a Podcast but I was not confident enough to speak English on a consistent fluent level without using too many filler words that get annoying quickly like "Um," "Like," and "You Know". I still do that often, so Taj said sure let me be the host and you the co-host until you are confident enough behind the microphone! What made it fun was, we just both got our crappy mics and just hit the record button without any knowledge of audio / podcasting! The first episode was terrible in quality but really fun! From there on out we both have developed podcasting experience and audio production.

Another favourite was the PokeGuardian Podcast #21 - VMAX Climax Special. We had assembled our all-star team with Taj, okJLUV, Brayshgaming and me to talk about the much anticipated VMAX Climax set, truly a highlight set among the Sword & Shield era. We managed to talk about EVERY CHR/CSR card in that set. What is funny is that this was completely unscripted; we did not expect to talk about all of them, but we did somehow, haha.

In Episode 27 we had Ross Gilbert from PTCGRadio joining us as a guest. [We had made a promise] that I would interview him again when he reached 100K subscribers on his channel, and would you know it, he did it. So we sat down and had a nice talk.

I enjoyed reading some of the columns featured on the website, such as how you should package Pokémon cards for sale and an opinion piece on promoting Japanese illustrators at overseas events. What are some of your favourites?

Zakariya:

Thank you for enjoying some of these columns. I should write them more often, because it gives a different perspective and my view on topics that are often overlooked. A nice example is indeed the one on how you should package Pokémon cards for sale. You would assume [that] for many, packaging cards includes a toploader, etc. But you would be surprised how many people unknowingly do not have experience shipping their (first) card and just think a sleeve is enough in a mailer. I really liked that one.

Another big favourite of mine is the “Should we get rid of the yellow border on Pokémon Cards?” column. When the Dream League CHR cards got a yellow border in the international version [of] Cosmic Eclipse, that really ruined some cards for some collectors, so I tried to objectively write something about it: why the yellow colour does not work (or does work!) with every modern-day card, and here we are; it’s actually matching with Japan now!

PokeGuardian is a fairly young website compared to many of the fansites that we typically feature. What have been some of its highlights over the past six years?

Zakariya:

Definitely visiting the Pokémon Center London Pop-Up Store. The Pokémon Company International invited us to the preview opening one day before its official opening. It was a great experience also talking to other people behind websites and/or [content] creators. Also some Pokémon [TCG art] illustrators are sometimes using the PokeGuardian X account to Retweet or quote tweets of the PokeGuardian X account when The PokeGuardian X account posted information about that specific illustrator.

The Pokeguardian podcast has 52 episodes as of August 2025

PokeGuardian has a presence across social media, your most notable being over 30,000 followers on Twitter. How would you describe your community?

Zakariya:

Very diverse! Many accounts that also cover Pokémon TCG news, big or small accounts, follow the account because we are sometimes the first in breaking news for sets or products. People from all over the world (really globally!) follow PokeGuardian. So it’s always fun to see people [speaking] different languages. The community I have built is small but very understanding and helpful to me and to each other.

While the Pokémon TCG should be a fun and enjoyable hobby, there has been a lot of discussion around the topic of scalping in recent years. It’s a practice that has led to shortages and products being resold at higher prices. As someone who is enthusiastic about the game, what are your thoughts on this?

Zakariya:

Oh, boy, here we go… Personally, I [prefer to talk] about how cool the Pokémon cards are and I can talk [passionately for] hours about them. And my answer will likely be controversial, but "scalping" is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean? Scalpers have always existed, but nowadays, when people struggle to find Pokémon TCG products the easy way, they immediately blame scalping and get very defensive/[aggressive]. But is it really just scalpers, or is it also FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) driving this demand? Or is there more going on?

The reality is that Pokémon has become so popular that even stores with no prior connection to the game, such as new small webshops using home addresses and businesses [that have] distributor access but never ordered Pokémon, are all ordering stock because it’s an easy sell.

This leaves, for example, smaller hobby and local game stores who did always order Pokémon with way less product than they originally ordered.

The truth is there is enough printed for everyone. But when every store suddenly starts ordering, both stores and customers see fewer products on shelves. This creates the illusion of a low print run when (because I've seen people throw that around too!), in reality, it’s just a case of every retailer/store/entrepreneur wanting a piece of the pie, leading to smaller allocations per store. As a result, people rush to big chain retailers (often too late), only to find them sold out as well. What you end up with is a huge group of people all competing for packs at the same time that look like scalpers.

And yet, [the] Pokémon TCG is selling more cards than ever before. Since its 25th anniversary, Pokémon has been printing and selling more cards each year to meet increasing demand. That is really something a lot of companies could [only] dream of.

The Pokémon Company in 2024 reported their worldwide sales data for fiscal year 2023/2024 (as of March 31, 2024), revealing that they sold 11.9 billion Pokémon cards, bringing the lifetime total to over 64.8 billion cards. This marks the game’s most successful year in the last 8 years.

To put that into perspective, last year’s record-breaking sales were 9.7 billion cards, meaning sales have increased by 2.2 billion cards, a 22.68% rise. The total number of cards sold in 2023/2024 alone accounts for 18.36% of Pokémon’s lifetime sales. This isn’t a case of underprinting in my opinion; the supply is there, but the demand is growing even faster.

So, is this really a scalping issue, or is it just the nature of hype culture and FOMO? Scalping is, from what I understand, when people buy products in bulk with the sole intent of reselling them at much higher prices. But when everyone is chasing the same product, shortages happen naturally. If someone buys a pack at an inflated price because of FOMO, realises they don’t actually need it, and later tries to resell it at “secondary market price”, does that automatically make them a scalper?

I’m not justifying scalping or FOMO-driven behavior, but people’s frustration often needs a target – usually, the person or store with the most stock.

Smaller stores hesitate to sell at MSRP because they know scalpers will wipe out their inventory immediately (they usually will limit product per customer) if they could, making it even harder for regular players/collectors to get product. Are those stores a scalper too if they raise the prices in order to keep their existing customer base happy with some product? The worst thing that can happen to a store like that is to have no product on the shelf. You can't keep everyone happy unfortunately. The only issue I am concerned with is the introduction of (sneaker) bots 4–5 years ago. Before 2020, popular sneakers were frequently botted and these tactics later spread to other in-demand products that did not use a lottery system, particularly in 2020 and 2021. Famously, Eevee Heroes products, when dropped at Pokémon Center Online Japan, were annihilated by people from outside of Japan with those bots. With the resurgence of hype around the Pokémon TCG, these same bots are being used again and likely have evolved. These are the real scalpers who can harm this hobby for many people.

For example, recent products like Prismatic Evolutions, Journey Together, and Destined Rivals are being targeted by Discord servers with bot alerts, which notify users when major retailers restock them for (pre-)orders, long before the general public has access. As long as a product has a URL, these (sneaker) bots can often be used, and they have long been applied to all sorts of high-demand items.

This article made me quite concerned 5 years ago and I want to believe what is said here is still true, despite shops (with a nice example being pokemoncenter.com) introducing a queue system when so-called product drops are happening of in-demand products.

That said, I believe passionate collectors and players can still get what they need if they stay engaged. It's just how much of your time do you want to spend in order to get what you want? Personally, I’ve built strong connections with my local game stores and friends globally, and when a product gets announced that I like, I am among the first that shows interest, not the last minute, and they often reach out to me when new stock arrives because I support them as well. Longevity and consistency in the hobby matter. The power of friendship is really strong and you should explore that if you don't. In my opinion, what I see is just a lot of people who just want to be in it for the status on social media rather than honestly enjoying the Pokémon TCG. But that is my opinion.

At the end of the day, I believe this is not just a Pokémon issue; it’s a broader trend in collectibles, gaming, and fashion. We’ve seen it with sneaker raffles, PS5 shortages (which I theorize Sony did not mind taking advantage of), and high-demand graphics cards. The real issue isn’t just scalpers, it’s how hype culture fuels demand beyond supply.

This ties into a broader conversation about modern Pokémon TCG collecting. Are we chasing cards for their design and playability or purely for their rarity? A question connecting to that for the audience and you too, Johto Times: As okJLUV said in our podcast episode 49 about Terastal Festival / Prismatic Evolutions: "They could have put a literal white piece of paper in the box that says Pokémon on it," pointing out that the value is based on scarcity, not the card's actual appeal. Julian feels this trend is shallow, saying, "Objectively that doesn't look good. It's just rare." He misses earlier sets like VMAX Climax and VSTAR Universe, which [he feels] were better, and are critical of how current releases like Terastal Festival / Prismatic Evolutions cater to collectors who value rarity over substance, stating, "Here's something that specifically is going to drive that type of collector crazy, and I don't like that." What [does everyone] think about that?

PokeGuardian’s layout as of August 2025

I am curious to learn how you first got introduced to the Pokémon TCG! What are your earliest memories?

Zakariya:

Back during the Pokémon craze in 1999/2000, everyone at my school and in my area had Pokémon cards, so I picked up a few myself while trading all kinds of things. Then, three years later, my mother found an unused Base Set 2 starter deck at a flea market, which she gave to me. I continued trading cards at school with that deck. In 2004, I remember having enough pocket money to buy an EX Ruby and Sapphire pack. I rushed to the Intertoys store and bought one pack with the Lairon art on it for 3 euros. I still should have some of those cards in my collection, including a Reverse Holo Treecko with Sugimori's art!

One of your most beloved Pokémon is Lugia! What is it about this character that you love so much?

Zakariya:

I think its design is very cool and is depicted as a mighty/powerful Legendary Pokémon, and I personally think it’s a very nice counterpart to Ho-Oh. Generation 2 is well and truly my favourite generation; it’s also the generation I got to love as a kid, and getting Lugia collectables was always cool. Some people like Charizard, I just like Lugia; it’s a big and powerful Pokémon!

What are some of your favourite Pokémon cards and expansions?

Zakariya:

My favourite set is the Japanese Dream League. This set had no 3D illustrated cards, cool cameos of characters and their Pokémon, everything properly illustrated, introduced CHR cards you get three pieces of in a booster box. And on top of that, just beautiful artwork. This set is part [of the] reason why Cosmic Eclipse is still so sought after and popular. I like VMAX Climax for many of these reasons too, I had a blast enjoying this set. The Japanese VMAX Climax [set] laid the foundation [for] why the 2022 TPCi sets like Brilliant Stars, Astral Radiance and etc., which included these CHR and CSR cards from VMAX Climax into the Trainer Gallery subset, [were] really well received among the audience, myself included.

The Pokémon TCG continues to be extremely popular with fans and collectors, and it doesn’t seem like that will end any time soon. What would you like to see from the Pokémon TCG in the years ahead?

Zakariya:

I would definitely like to see a Johto-inspired set similar to 151. Also, while it’s unfortunately unrealistic today due to the game appealing to a wide audience, I would like to see a spiritual successor to the PokeKyun set from Japan. That set had super cute cards and was full of pure glitter! I think it was quite a unique set, but due to its uniqueness, it wouldn’t appeal to everyone today.

Also, we have never had a full Art Rare set of all the Eeveelutions before, which REALLY needs to be done!

If TPCi would make a 30th Anniversary set (please note that this is pure speculation) similar to the Classic Collection in Celebrations, I’d [obviously] like to see cool Pokémon reprinted similarly to the 25th Anniversary set, like Neo Lugia, Neo Ho-Oh, Shining Gyarados, and a localization of Japan-exclusive CoroCoro Shining Mew(!). Imagine that! You can go on and on.

We often ask our guests to share some of their favourite Pokémon related items and merchandise that mean something to them. What are yours?

Zakariya:

Stephen Kent from Playskape Games, a good friend of mine, was staffing [the] Baltimore [Pokémon TCG] regionals 2022. Arita and Saitou were at that event too, signing cards, and Stephen actually thought of me and had this Lugia card from [the] 25th anniversary collection signed with one the BEST Lugia sketches on a card I have ever seen. I couldn’t get out my words; I was just sitting there for like 5 minutes looking at the card! Oh, wow.

Zakariya’s Eevee Heroes VMAX Special Set

Zakariya:

This [Eevee Heroes VMAX Special Set] itself isn't particularly special, despite its name. But it’s how I managed to obtain this item. A friend of my Japanese friend wanted some Pokémon 25th [anniversary] limited edition sneakers. I managed to obtain them for her and wanted nothing in return. Then later, when I couldn’t obtain much of Eevee Heroes (this VMAX special set was absolutely annihilated and out of stock, with many reseals happening since it was held on by a small piece of tape!), she didn’t forget I got her those sneakers and sold me her VMAX special set at cost price, which was worth WAY more on the secondary market. I was speechless because WE never talked or met each other, [we were] complete strangers [who] helped each other for the love of Pokémon. This is what Pokémon is all about! A very memorable moment for me.

Zakariya’s reverse Hitmonchan card from his childhood, which he obtained in 2003

Zakariya:

This [reverse Hitmonchan] card is one of the cards that survived my childhood, not knowing that this card someday would be in my complete Komiya collection. It's crazy!

Zakariya’s Grey Felt Hat Pikachu, obtained from the Pokémon x Van Gogh event in September 2023

Zakariya:

[Seeing] the (real!) paintings in person was something else, and [seeing] the paintings (with my local friend) of my favourite artist Tomokazu Komiya was [a] really cool moment, and this specific [Grey Felt Hat Pikachu] card locked in that memory for me! People see this as a money card; I see this [as] a piece of memory!

This rare jumbo New Years Present trading card that Zakariya owns, was originally released by MediaFactory in 2000 to celebrate the millennium, distributed to members of the Pokémon Fan Club

Zakariya:

This [New Years Present] was a card that is quite a rare jumbo card and nearly impossible to get on a budget [in] decent condition. My very good friend Toinelay remembered this and then magically found one! I will never forget that moment! HUGE collection addition. I still can’t believe it! I will cherish it forever!

My close Japanese friend asked me if I had the unlimited version of Lugia LEGEND; only 5000 were given out by lottery during the Shiny Present Campaign. I told him, no, I don’t have it yet. Then another friend of his I was trading with by chance had this card and gifted [it] to me as a thank you. I made him happy in the past, too, with my gifts to him of the Pokémon he collected!

PokeGuardian is now six years old. What are your future plans for the community?

Zakariya:

I have plenty of ideas and projects in mind, but balancing them with my daily life takes time and effort. I've been refining things over the years, and I plan to introduce new projects for the website. I hope the community will enjoy seeing these come to life in the future!

I appreciate you taking the time to speak to me about your website! Do you have any closing comments you would like to make to our readers and visitors of PokeGuardian?

Zakariya:

Thank you for the opportunity as well.

You have limited time on this planet; don’t waste it.

Make as many good memories as you can, and avoid making or seeking out drama. Drama is an engagement monster and gets favoured on the internet. Make those (online) friends, go and visit your local Pokémon league or convention etc.; absolutely socialize with your hobby. Your Pokémon (card) journey will be so much more fun. Don’t underestimate the power of friendship!

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Thanks to Zakariya for taking the time to answer our questions about his website PokeGuardian! We wish him and his website the best of luck!

Interview conducted on: March 21st, 2025
Interview published on: September 4th, 2025