Vol. 1, Issue 24 - My Pokémon Collection - Part 4
Sharing some of my favourite items from the many items in my Pokémon collection, plus the latest Pokémon news and more from our mailbag
Welcome to issue 24 of the Johto Times! For this issue, we take a deep dive into more relics from my personal Pokémon collection, which marks the fourth part in a series of articles. How many of them do you recognise? As usual, we also have the latest Pokémon news, and more from our mailbag.
News
Pokémon Sleep began its rollout across the world this week for iOS and Android devices, launching in Australia, Canada, Latin America and New Zealand, with further countries following suit as the days went on. The Pokémon GO Plus + has also been released at retail, a device that can be paired with Pokémon Sleep to help you track each siesta. When paired with Pokémon GO, it will automatically throw different kinds of Poké Balls to catch Pokémon. More information on Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon GO Plus + can be found in the source links below.
Have you tried out Pokémon Sleep yet? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Pokémon
Speaking of Pokémon GO, the July 2023 Community Day event has been announced, with Poliwag as the star of the show! On Sunday July 30th, 2023 between 14:00 and 17:00 local time, an increase in this adorable tadpole Pokémon will be found within the game, with a greater chance of being shiny! Evolving Poliwhirl during the event or up to five hours afterward, will get you a Poliwrath that knows Counter, or a Politoed with Ice Beam. A Special Research story, Event Bonuses, Bonus Raid Battles, Stickers and more will be available during the day. Be sure to check the source link below for more information.
Back in issue 18 of the Johto Times, we interviewed Slix from Poliwager, a great fan website that has Poliwag as its mascot, which you should all check out. I hope that he and his community are looking forward to this upcoming event!
Source: Niantic
Feature: My Pokémon Collection - Part 4
I take another deep dive into my vast Pokémon collection to share some cool items from my childhood. For this feature, I am sharing seven of them for your enjoyment. Do you happen to own some of these?
Electronic Pokédex
Back in 2004, I was the 1,000,000th visitor to a Pokémon fan website called Pokémonaholic (a now defunct Pokémon fan website) and won this electronic Pokédex. I didn’t get the chance to appreciate it as much as I would have as a child, as I was already reaching adulthood by this point, but it was a neat little toy to have on my desk. I recall that it took months for it to arrive by mail, but when it finally came, I was super excited to open it. The webmistress of Pokémonaholic, who sent me it, was known as "Raven". I hope she's doing well these days.
Pokémon Tazo's
Here are my two completed Pokémon Tazo collections. The first set was released in the year 2000, in packets of Walkers Crisps. Tazos were likely a response to the Pogs craze, came in different shapes and materials, and had a huge amount of success outside the UK in many countries around the world. For many years I was missing only one Tazo, which featured Dratini.
Walkers released a second set of 25 Tazos featuring 2nd generation Pokémon in 2001, with a further 10 added later. The Tazos from this set were ‘holographic’ and would display a different image if you tilted them side to side. The second collection of Tazos was smaller than what other countries got, and while I wish they had continued to release them here in the UK, I'm thankful to finally have these two fully completed after purchasing the remaining ones on eBay in October 2019, almost twenty years after I started.
Pokémon Monster Guide
Here's a copy of the Pokémon Monsters Guide that I read prior to buying Pokémon Crystal. I have fond memories of buying and reading through this magazine, taking in the information on each page in eager anticipation, before I could buy the game for myself. This is likely the first place I heard of Misdreavus, and that it could be found right at the end of the game in Mt. Silver. I remember being disappointed by this news, as it was a Pokémon I wanted to have on my team at the time. Apparently, this was a series of eight magazines, but this was the only copy I ever saw, unfortunately.
Pokémon Official Magazine (UK)
Here are two copies of the Pokémon Official Magazine that were released quarterly between Autumn/Winter 2004 in the United Kingdom. Sadly, only these two issues were ever made, which is a huge shame, but also quite understandable as the series was starting to die out around the third generation in the UK. One of the free gifts was some Pokémon fridge magnets!
Pokémon Adventures Manga (Volume 1 - 7)
In 2021, I finally made my way through the Pokémon Adventures manga that had been on my bookcase for years. I was always keen to read it because the story differed from the original Red, Blue and Yellow games. It came with a small poster of the artwork found on the box. I really enjoyed these issues while sat outside in my garden, and they proved to be a great distraction from the Covid-19 pandemic that was still a huge issue in the UK at the time. The manga has had several reprints throughout the years, so if you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend it!
Pokémon Adventures Gold & Silver (Volume 8 - 14)
I also own the follow-up to the Pokémon Adventures manga, Gold & Silver, since this generation meant a lot to me. I spent years waiting for the box set to drop to a good price and finally obtained it in October 2020 with the intention of reading it through lockdowns, but didn’t get around to it until the summer of 2022. While I did enjoy it for the most part, I felt the ending to this fourteen-volume series was underwhelming. I would still recommend this arc of the manga though, especially if you’re a fan of the Johto era of Pokémon and its characters.
Dark Venusaur (Best of Game) Holo Fire Energy (Pokémon League Promo)
Time once again to highlight some Pokémon cards from my collection! These ones in particular are rather special to me, because on November 22nd 2003, I was one of twenty-five people who won an online contest to win two cards from a Pokémon trading card website called Pokéschool, for joining their new forums and making at least five posts. The cards are Dark Venusaur (Best of Game) and Holo Fire Energy (Pokémon League Promo), but there were a selection of cards that could have been won. I was super surprised and happy to receive them and have treasured them ever since.
Mailbag
Want to be a part of our newsletter? You’re welcome to submit content including (but not limited to) questions, fanart, short stories, your cherished memories, photographs of your collection, and anything else you think you want us to see. This week, Rosie has got back in touch again to ask us a question on the topic of normal type Pokémon!
I feel [that] normal type [Pokémon] can be overlooked, and I've wanted to build myself an ultimate normal roster, so I want to know what normal-types you'd include in a team?
Rosie Kenworthy, United Kingdom
It’s great to hear from you once again, Rosie! I don’t think I could justify an entire team of normal type Pokémon, but Snorlax immediately comes to mind, and I hear that Ursaluna is incredibly powerful, so that would definitely be a contender! I would likely utilise some dual-types and items that boost the effectiveness of normal type moves where possible.
So happy to see more about the manga. It was a integral part of my childhood, especially since it was a tool that used to learn English
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