Shaymin · Platinum (PL) #14

3 comments

1. 

   Ambassador

   (2 years ago)

   This is the last Pokémon with a DPBP# printed on the card, the only one in Platinum with a DPBP#, and the only Pokémon printed with a DPBP# number at all since Legends Awakened (after the convention went entirely unused in Stormfront).

   This is more than just idle TCG trivia – the numbering system appears to have been killed off since none of the new formes that Platinum was introducing (Rotom formes, Shaymin forme, and Giratina forme) could be included without shifting around DPBP#s of cards that had already been printed, which suggests that these new formes were not already planned out for a future video game by the time the first DP set was printed in Japan.

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2. 

   Ambassador

   (2 years ago)

   Shaymin is, I personally suspect, the most Russian Pokémon to ever Russian. There’s been a number of incidental Russian representation throughout the franchise’s history, including the mention of the Silph Co. Tiksi Branch in RGBY, Jirachi’s name likely being a derivation of the Russian желать (zhelati – “wish (for)”), and the RU-only Icy Snow Vivillon card, are mostly conventionally accepted as deliberate, but the question of Shaymin as “Russian representation” has rarely, if ever, come up³.

   Shaymin’s original in-game location is in Gen 4’s Flower Paradise, whose real world-counterpart is most likely Atlasova Island (Остров Атласова), also known as Araido [阿頼度島], the northern-most of the disputed Kuril Islands (also known as Chishima Rettou [千島列島]). (That the way to get to Flower Paradise is a giant land bridge is a cartoonish oversimplification of the archipelago as an island chain.) So, geographically, Shaymin is Russian¹. Aesthetically, there is what I can only think to describe as being a “very babushka-like energy” to Land Forme Shaymin’s. What about thematically?

   It feels a bit too obvious, but Shaymin as a hedgehog might be a reference to the 1975 Soviet stop-motion animation, Hedgehog in the Fog (Ёжик в тумане), which historically enjoyed a fair degree of popularity even outside of the USSR. Actually, around the same time Generation 4 came out, there was a bit of a nostalgic revival for Soviet stop-motion animation in Japan. The animation group Gekidan Inu Curry (劇団イヌカレー), which both wore its Russian aesthetic influence on its sleeeves and also stated it outright², was at the time around the heights of its popularity, and left a mark on the industry with the work they did – I actually attended one of the premieres for one of the Rebuild of Evangelion films at an animation festival, and in the theater’s schedule it was book-ended on either side by Soviet stop-motion film which had been lovingly preserved and restored by people as interested in Japanese animation as they were Soviet. I feel like this cultural appreciation, however transient, certainly would’ve caught the attention of someone at GAME FREAK, and that a desire to work a Russian influence into the franchise on top of what already existed seems readily obvious to me³.

   Why hasn’t more been made of the Russian connection with Shaymin? Today’s geopolitical situation can be put entirely aside, because immediately more relevant is the aforementioned matter of the Kuril Islands being disputed territory between Japan and Russia. It’s a long-standing unresolved dispute stemming from the Pacific theatre’s messy ending of WWII, but to grossly oversimplify – they’re de facto Russian territory, but Japan still claims of them. Atlasova Island, however, is indisputably Russian, as it’s not part of the territory Japan claims. I think that point of understanding gets a bit lost for Pokémon fans outside of Japan, and then once you *do* factor in the geopolitical climate, those who notice it the connection might hesitate to discuss it a bit.

   To circle this all back to the TCG, the closest we’ve gotten to a perfect synergy between Shaymin’s Russian inspirations would be the fact that XY Roaring Skies is among the sets which got a Russian TCG print, and so this Shaymin-EX has a Russian print – you can briefly see it at 12:39 in this video https://youtu.be/t0aMSK32ymQ?t=759 (n.b. as noted in footnote 3, I’m less sure about whether Sky Forme Shaymin “retains” its Russian character, hence why I say “closest to perfect synergy”.)

   For those more interested in the Russian branch of the TCG, I’d encourage watching that video, it gives you 99% of the story. There’s also a small blurb about the Russian edition of the game in the Pokémon Card Game Illustration Collection. You might also enjoy Anyone interested in *collecting* the Russian cards, I’d ask you to manage your expectations – a few years I listed a few duplicates I had on eBay and basically got *harassed* by people for quoting the prices I did. Bear in mind the Russian TCG had limited print runs, sold poorly, and those looking to export from Russia were usually being overcharged by the shops still selling them, and then would have to pay import tariffs on top of that – this was the scenario I went through myself, the 5 or 6 XY booster packs I bought ended up costing a lot more than I thought they would. With the current situation, it’s now more exponentially difficult to purchase anything from the country, and so you can probably expect those holding a unique piece of Pokémon TCG history that, unfortunately, feels increasingly unlikely to be added onto to hold firm on their price points.

   ¹ For a bit of irony on my nominating any Pokémon as having a nationality, see my recent comments on N3 Slugma.
   ² http://www.productionig.com/contents/works_sp/54_/s08_/000673.html
   ³ Shaymin Sky Forme, I don’t know. I’m tempted to link it to the white horse that serves a prominent role in the aforementioned Hedgehog animation, but I think most people would agree that it is a bit of a reach. I wonder if the “Shaymin Sky Forme reverts to Land Forme if frozen” is but a simple ‘haha russia is cold’ thing?

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   • 

     AmbassadorAmbassador

     (2 years ago)

     Oh, heck. I meant to comment this on Shaymin-EX, it would’ve been more relevant there. Easter egg comment, I guess?

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