A happy and spooky welcome to Vol. 3, issue 44 of Johto Times! This week, we are sharing the memories of a Pokémon fan called Jed, and an awesome Poliwhirl costume his very talented mom made him way back in 1999. Jed goes on to tell us about his love for the series, and how much it has continued to mean to him in the years that have followed.

We now have a message board! It has been lovely meeting so many Johto Times readers and friends from across our social media channels in one place, discussing all kinds of topics relating to our newsletter and the Pokémon series. We hope more of you will consider registering and joining us!

Check out the Johto Times Community Forum

Pokémon Legends Z-A sold 5.8 million copies during its first four days on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2

POKÉMON LEGENDS Z-A

• The Pokémon Company have confirmed that 5.8 million units of the game sold in its first four days on sale, almost half of which were on Nintendo Switch 2.

Source: Pokémon

POKÉMON TCG POCKET

• A new video highlighting the success of Pokémon TCG Pocket’s first year, has been released. The video confirms the title has received over 150 million downloads, and over 12 billion battles, 96 million trades, and 490 million showcases since it launched a year ago.

Source: YouTube

• A reminder that a new expansion to the Pokémon TCG Pocket app has now been released titled Mega Rising. The expansion features three booster packs: Mega Gyarados, Mega Blaziken, and Mega Altaria, with lots of great new Mega Evolution ex cards, and beautiful illustrated cards such as a cute Growlithe card. Additionally, beginning October 31st, 2025, accessories featuring Mega Blaziken will be obtainable in-game. Check the in-game news for further information.

Source: Pokémon

• A new update for the game is now available, adding a Share Feature to the game, allowing players to give ♦–♦♦♦♦ rarity cards to friends (one to each friend per day). There is also an expanded range of tradable cards, allowing for trades of ★★ and Shiny 1–Shiny 2 rarity cards, in addition to ♦–♦♦♦♦ and ★ rarity cards.

• An improved Wonder Pick feature will now show cards from the latest expansion more frequently, and the number of cards currently owned by the player will be displayed on each card in Wonder Pick. Finally, there are many in-app events currently taking place. Full details can be found in the link below.

Source: Pokémon

• The official Pokémon TCG Pocket account on Twitter has shared an update on Card Dex Registration, and described how they plan to update cards that are registered in the card dex. In the future, cards which appear in multiple booster packs will be registered in the card dex for all corresponding booster packs. Any cards obtained already will be automatically registered in every applicable card dex retroactively. This update is planned for release after Summer 2026.

Source: Pokémon TCG Pocket

Feature: Jed's Halloween Pokémon Memories

Back in 1999, a young Pokémon fan called Jed celebrated Halloween by dressing up as one of his favourite Pokémon. But this was no ordinary costume! It was one of a kind Poliwhirl costume, created by his awesome mom! Jed has kindly shared his memories of growing up with Pokémon, and what the series still means to him today.

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Jed’s one of a kind Poliwhirl costume, made by his awesome mom for Halloween in 1999

Jed:

My first introduction to Pokémon was when the Red and Blue games came out in the US, when I was 6 or 7 years old. My older brother had gotten the Red version, and after seeing how cool it looked, I got the Blue version shortly after. I must have played through those games dozens of times, choosing all of the starters at one point or another, so I can’t remember who exactly was my first, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Squirtle.

I was as obsessed with everything Pokémon as nearly every other 90’s kid was at the time. The games, the cards, the figures, you name it, I probably had it. I had a really great collection of holo cards that [were] missing very little. But regrettably, I sold them in a garage sale a few years later.

My prize collection, though, has always been my Pokémon figures. I loved having my horde of Pokémon that I could physically interact with, miming out battles with them or more often just playing house with them in my castle playset (that one everyone had in the 90s). Every time I had a sick day from school my mom would take me to Toys”R”Us to get a package of figures I didn’t have yet, which was always so exciting. I ended up having most of the widely released sets, and only recently I dug them out of my closet in my childhood room to sort out the collection and try and finish it [by] buying some from eBay when I’m in the mood to throw away some money.

A photograph of Jed’s impressive Pokémon figure collection, inside a case

Jed:

My mom was always supportive of all of my Pokémon based wishes. More than just taking me shopping for figures, she also pulled out some awesome creativity for me as well. One Halloween, I really wanted to dress as a Pokémon, and it was still early enough in Pokémon’s life where there weren’t many costumes on the market. I remember pulling out my game guide, and flipping through the Pokédex pages, showing her all the ones I liked to see which she could make.

When I pointed to one of my favorites, Poliwhirl, she got some ideas and we went with that. She got a blue M&M costume from Party City, flipped it inside out, and then cut and stitched together the swirl pattern out of felt. Then she got some styrofoam balls, attached more felt to make the pupils, and connected them with a wire hanger that sat around the back of my neck. The M&M costume even came with the white gloves which fit Poliwhirl perfectly. I was so proud of that costume, I had a one-of-a-kind piece of one of my favorite Pokémon, and I felt so lucky to have a mom like mine who could make it.

Another photograph of Jed in his one-of-a-kind Polliwhirl costume in 1999

Jed:

My mom also used her creativity to feed my Pokémon obsession in other ways. Again with my game guide, I would show her pictures of Pokémon and she would draw them large on some printer paper for me to color in. Some came out great, while others [were] more wonky, but I didn’t mind. I loved those drawings, and chose carefully which ones I would ask for her to draw next. Copying the Sugimori color style and highlights with marker[s] proved to be pretty difficult, so some (like Ditto) came out pretty rough looking.

A photograph of Jed’s Ditto drawing

Jed:

Throughout the decades since then my Pokémon fandom has stayed strong, only really wavering during college, around the time of Gen 5. I’ve played every mainline game except Black 2 and White 2, and am eagerly awaiting the release of Z-A. Over the past few years I’ve been on a mission to collect every form of every shiny Pokémon with my OT, and I’ve got over 1100 unique shiny forms at this point (including all 64 Alcremie, all 28 Unown, and gender differences). I think my younger self would be proud I’ve still just as obsessed with Pokémon!

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Additional photographs

A photograph of Jed’s Ivysaur drawing

A photograph of Jed’s Squirtle drawing

A photograph of Jed’s Poliwhirl drawing

A photograph of Jed’s brothers, one in a Charmeleon costume

A photograph of Jed and his brothers on Halloween in 1999

Another great photograph of Jed posing in his Poliwhirl costume

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We are extremely thankful to Jed for sharing all of these awesome photographs, and the wonderful memories of Pokémon he had with his mom. It’s great to hear how special the series was to him growing up, and we are thankful it still holds such positive meaning to him today. Happy Halloween Jed, and we hope you enjoyed Pokémon Legends Z-A now that it has been released!