With the hotly-discussed Pokémon Scarlet and Violet hitting the shelves last year and news of Ash and Pikachu leaving the anime for good, it is sometimes easy to forget that Pokémon cards are one of the most enduring elements of the franchise. While some will have fallen off the collecting bandwagon as the years have gone by, this returning storytelling feature was enough to make us consider getting back to the packs.
Noted on Twitter by YouTuber @Purplecliffe, some of the latest Pokémon cards tell a heartwarming little story when a ‘mon’s evolutions are put side by side. In the example given below, we see little Ralts and its young owner spend their lives together through moving house, childbirth and old age. Check out the following images for yourself, we’ve got a little something in our eye…
It’s true, this might not be the most dramatic three act structure we have ever seen, but we can certainly imagine some Pixar producer out there noting this all down as prime pre-movie emotional damage material.
This is not the first time that evolutionary cards have been used to tell a story either. The Legendary Treasures collection got us similarly misty eyed with its Tepig/Pignite/Emboar trio and the Radiant Collection used Charmander’s evolution in a similarly heartwarming manner. Seeing Ralts join the club is a nice touch, even if we weren’t expecting to be ‘aww‘-ing over some Pokémon cards today.