Exeggutor · Crown Zenith (CRZ) #058

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1. 

   Ambassador

   (2 years ago)

   So I mangled the follow-up on RG Dewgong, and did get it right on SIT Unown V 177 (i.e. the alt art), it feels important to note it here – though myself and some others originally announced Unown V as the long-overdue return of Toshinao Aoki as an artist for the TCG, it’s actually THIS Exeggutor card which represents Aoki’s return – the mix-up is as a result of the fact the international edition of the TCG does still mish-mash sets a bit; this is a card which originated from Japan’s S11a Incandescent Arcana, and was essentially “held back” for inclusion in the international Crown Zenith, which is for the most part focused on adapting S12a VSTAR Universe¹.

   As we see the TCG take significant strides towards harmonizing the international edition of the TCG with the source Japanese game, hopefully this kind of thing happens less in the future – I would expect the intl to continue to combine sets, but hopefully it’s in more of a straightforward [SV1]+[SV1a], and not [most of SV1 but some cards are arbitrarily left out]+[some of SV1a]+[some of SV2 for some forsaken reason]. The subsets tend to have themes that will get diluted with either approach, but I’d like to see them no longer scattered and completely lost in translation.

   Aside: Aoki’s return is preceded by the Surfing Pikachu V and Flying Pikachu V of 2021’s Celebrations / 25th Anniversary set, which featured new CG artwork that are derivative of Aoki’s artwork for the OG Surfing Pikachu and Flying Pikachu. Whether this is coincidental or not isn’t really known at this time – I like Twylis’ thoughts on the matter (as posted in the comments of Surfing Pikachu V).

   ¹ For those still a bit confused; CRZ Exeggutor is originally from S11a Incadescent Arcana, SIT Unown V is from S12 Paradigm Trigger. Unown V’s inclusion in SIT is basically right, but Exeggutor’s inclusion in CRZ is delayed.

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