The Pokémon Company has issued an official statement following allegations of tracing in the Ho-Oh artwork for its upcoming Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. The controversy began when Chinese artist Ianjiujiu posted a side-by-side comparison of their 2021 Ho-Oh fan art with the Ho-Oh EX (3-Star) card, showing near-identical composition and details.
In its public statement, The Pokémon Company confirmed there was a production issue involving both the Ho-Oh EX (3-Star) and Lugia EX (3-Star) illustrations. An internal review determined that the card production team had provided incorrect reference materials to the commissioned illustrator, leading to the disputed artwork. The company has since replaced the cards with temporary placeholders while new illustrations are being created. The expansion releases on July 30.
“We take this matter very seriously and are committed to strengthening our quality control processes to prevent this from happening again,” the statement read. A broader investigation is also underway to ensure no similar problems exist elsewhere in the game. You can read the full statement below.
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In response to the company’s announcement, lanjiujiu also made a follow-up post appreciating the quick resolution and to clarify their role. The artist explained that their original post was made out of confusion upon seeing the images online and confirmed they had no involvement in the production, sales, or distribution of the card artwork. Using machine translation, the statement in English reads:
“I solely delivered commissioned 2D artwork, with no involvement in subsequent model production, sales, or profit-sharing,” lanjiujiu wrote, also thanking both the Pokémon team for acting quickly and the community for its responses.
Source: Pokémon TCG Pocket Official X, Ianjiujiu Official X
©2025 The Pokémon Company.
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