Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Charmander, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, Team Up

The Cards Of Pokémon TCG: Team Up Part 4: Charmander Line

The Charmander line featured prominently in the Kanto-themed Sun & Moon-era set, Team Up. Let's look back at recent Pokémon TCG history!

Four years ago, Pokémon TCG released the ninth main series set of the Sun & Moon era. The expansion, Sun & Moon – Team Up, came out on September 9th, 2022. Sun & Moon – Team Up added quite a lot to the hobby, including a special card type that would later become the most sought-after style of chase card in the Sword & Shield era. I'm talking, of course, about Alternate Arts. Sun & Moon – Team Up also introduced TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX, which featured two Pokémon on a single card. These species shared at least one of their typings. TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX were available as standard TEAM TEAM GX cards, Full Arts, Alternate Arts, and Rainbow Rares. Sun & Moon – Team Up was also the last set to include Prism Stars. This English-language expansion was based on the Japanese set Tag Bolt and took inspiration from the Kanto-themed games Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! Let's look back on this influential set and appreciate the artwork that would lay the groundwork for the current Alternate Art-themed era of Sword & Shield and beyond. Today, we begin with the Grass-types of Sun & Moon – Team Up.

Charizard and its family are, of course, a staple of Pokémon TCG sets ever since the first Mitsuhiro Arita Charizard became the hobby's ultimate chase card in Base Set. Sun & Moon – Team Up begins the line with not one by two Charmander by artists Naoyo Kimura and Atsuko Nishida respectively. Kimura takes a more painterly and illustrative approach with a Charmander so classically drawn that I can almost imagine seeing the pulp of the paper. Nishida takes a more modern animation style that leans into the cuteness. Both work beautifully. Charmeleon is much more 3D in execution than either of these, looking quite a lot like the art we'd see on a GX card of this era. That is Ayaka Yoshida at work. The line culminates in a Charizard illustrated by Masakazu Fukuda, which was in the set as a non-holographic rare. Charizard's face is ferocious here, bordering on demonic, as it lets out a burst of flames.

Stay tuned for the journey through this teamwork-themed set as we continue to spotlight the cards and artwork of Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon – Team Up. Next time, the spotlight continues with the main section of this set.

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