Pokémon Company Pulls Cards After Fan Art Mix-Up Sparks Outrage

Pokémon Company Apologizes for Using Fan Art in Pokémon TCG Pocket

The Pokémon Company recently faced backlash after fan art ended up as official card illustrations in the new Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion for Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. In response, the company has issued an apology and removed the disputed artwork from the release.

The issue involved fan-created art of Ho-Oh mistakenly used in official cards.
Both Ho-Oh EX and Lugia EX cards now feature placeholder art labeled “New Art Coming Soon.”
The Pokémon Company promises to improve quality control to prevent similar mistakes.
The controversy sparked discussions about fan art usage and legal rights.

What Happened?

The problem arose when the production team accidentally provided an illustrator with incorrect reference materials—specifically, fan art of the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh. This led to the official cards for Ho-Oh EX (3-Star) and Lugia EX (3-Star) featuring artwork that closely resembled a fan’s creation from 2021.

After an internal review, The Pokémon Company explained, “After internal review, we discovered that the card production team provided incorrect materials as official documents to the illustrator commissioned to create these cards.” To fix this, both cards have been replaced with temporary placeholders while new artwork is being prepared.

They added that a broader investigation is underway to ensure no similar issues exist elsewhere in the game.

Community Reaction and Artist’s Response

Chinese artist lanjiujiu, who created the original fan art in 2021, posted a side-by-side comparison highlighting the similarities between their work and the official card illustration credited to artist Sie Nanahara. The Pokémon community quickly noticed the resemblance and the lack of credit to lanjiujiu sparked calls for legal action.

Some fans pointed out that The Pokémon Company’s legal disclaimers acknowledge fan-made artwork and reserve the right to reuse or modify such images. However, the company’s quick response before the expansion’s release suggests they might reconsider their approach to fan art usage in the future.

Current Status and Where to See the Cards

The Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion was released on Wednesday, but the Ho-Oh EX and Lugia EX cards currently display only blank art with the message “New Art Coming Soon.” You can see how these cards look right now below.

LMAOO#PokemonTCGPocket pic.twitter.com/LDELzb1HYr
— 💙🐺BeyTheFur🐺🩷 (@Beykick125) July 30, 2025

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is developed by Creatures Inc. and DeNA and is available on both Android and iOS devices.

Official Statement from The Pokémon Company

Here’s the full statement regarding the issue: https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/notice-regarding-new-illustrations

And for the official tweet about the card update, check out:

We'd like to share an update about the upcoming expansion in #PokemonTCGPocket. pic.twitter.com/W2GdG8Wv5n
— Pokémon TCG Pocket (@PokemonTCGP) July 30, 2025