Following reports earlier this week that the new Ho-Oh EX card in Pokémon TCG Pocket featured traced-over fan art, The Pokémon Company has asked players and fans to stop harassing the artist involved for the card as it takes full responsibility for the mishap.
For anyone not up to speed, Chinese artist @lanjiujiu made a post on Twitter claiming that artwork they had previously drawn back in 2021 had been lifted for a new Ho-Oh card in Pokémon TCG Pocket. While the card didn’t 100% match the old drawing, it was close enough to be more than a mere coincidence. As it turns out, TPC had actually provided artist Sie Nanahara with what it assumed was official artwork for them to use as reference, which led to fan art making its way into the game. The art was quickly removed and TPC issued an apology to fans and players.
Now, it seems as if some players have either not gotten the memo or are just terrible people because Sie Nanahara has been receiving harassment over “plagiarizing” the fan art. In a statement on Twitter, the Japanese TCG Pocket account reiterates that, “The issue with the illustrations was caused by the card production team at The Pokémon Company and Creatures, Inc providing incorrect materials to the illustrators as official references.” It asks that fans respect the original artist as it wasn’t their decision or intention to lift fan art.
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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.
