Pokémon TCG Pocket Players Love and Hate Heartbreaking Time Space Showdown Art

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket's Space Time Smackdown expansion, released January 30th, features a Weavile ex card whose artwork has sparked significant online debate. Specifically, the 2-Star full-art version depicts a group of Weavile poised to attack an unsuspecting Swinub. This graphic portrayal of potential predation has elicited strong reactions from players.

Reddit posts highlighting the artwork have garnered thousands of upvotes, with comments expressing concern and dismay for the Swinub's fate. Many players emphasize the inherent brutality of the scene, contrasting it with the typically more lighthearted nature of Pokémon depictions. The juxtaposition of Pokémon's inherent animalistic traits with their fantastical abilities—such as firing laser beams—is also a point of discussion.

However, some fans offer a more optimistic interpretation, pointing to the Mamoswine full-art card. This card shows Mamoswine protectively looking upward, seemingly suggesting it witnessed and thwarted the Weavile's attack, offering a hopeful counterpoint to the Weavile card's potentially tragic scene.

Space Time Smackdown, a Pokémon Diamond and Pearl themed set, includes 207 cards—smaller than Genetic Apex's 286, but with a higher percentage (52 out of 207) of rare alternate art, Star, and Crown rarity cards compared to Genetic Apex's 60 out of 286. The set features popular Pokémon like Weavile, Mamoswine, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina.

Despite the controversy surrounding the Weavile card and a recent controversial trading update, Creatures Inc. has yet to publicly address the concerns. While a "Trade Feature Celebration Gift" including 500 Trade Tokens and 120 Trade Hourglasses was distributed, the developer has remained silent on fan feedback, including a request for comment from IGN.