If early reports are accurate, it appears as if the new Ho-Oh card set to debut in Pokémon TCG Pocket may have traced-over artwork from a fan. Making the rounds on Twitter this morning, user lanjiujiu did a side-by-side comparison of the new Ho-Oh ex card illustrated by Sie Nanahara against their artwork from 2021. The artwork was a collage of different legendary flying type Pokémon that prominently featured Ho-Oh in the middle. As it turns out, the pose and general structure of Ho-Oh on the card are nearly identical.
As further proof, user Lewtwo did a video comparison showing the card fading into lanjiujiu’s artwork and it matches up almost entirely. While there are some slight differences, the general pose and posture of Ho-Oh are broadly unchanged. The beak, wings, and neck are all in the same location with the same proportions. The card has some additional flourishes to better match Pokémon TCG Pocket’s art style, but is otherwise the same art horizontally flipped.
The new Pokémon TCG Pocket Immersive Ho-Oh artwork appears to be traced from 2021 fan-art by lanjiujiu.
Entire perspective, wing shape and overall feather size are largely identical. pic.twitter.com/K8aVrERq6r
— Lewtwo (@Lewchube) July 29, 2025
As Kotaku reports, lanjiujiu posted a thread on Twitter outlining a possible scenario. The image, in question, was commissioned by someone years back. At one point, it was used as reference for a bootleg Chinese statue, which may have led to artist Sie Nanahara using that as a reference. It’s also possible that the leaked card is entirely fake and that a fan used the original artwork to mock something up. On Serebii.net, the static image is used in place of what should be an animated card when opened in-game.
Kotaku has reached out to The Pokémon Company and Nanahara to ask about the card. They had not responded at the time of writing, but we will likely find out soon.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
