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![Pokemon TCG Pocket Faces Fanart Tracing Claims, Official Response Issued [UPDATE: Original Artist Responds]](https://cdn.gamerbraves.com/2025/07/Pokemon-TCGP-Fanart-Tracing-Issue_News_FI.jpg)
[UPDATE July 31st, 2025] The original artist lanjiujiu has responded to the controversy on X (formerly Twitter). In their statement, the artist expressed appreciation for the prompt resolution and hoped the matter would rest. They clarified that their original post came from confusion after seeing questionable images online, with no way to verify if they were real game assets.
由于文章过长，我使用了图片。
其中有使用翻译器，因此可能存在传达失误。
感谢您的阅读。 pic.twitter.com/OQnwtL5XLE— 昼时歌 (@lanjiujiu) July 30, 2025
The Pokemon Company has found itself in hot water after players accused the upcoming Pokemon TCG Pocket expansion of using traced fanart without permission. The controversy centers around a Ho-Oh card in the new Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion.
The drama started when it was noticed there are striking similarities between the Ho-Oh immersive art card and a 2021 fanart piece created by artist lanjiujiu. The original artwork was made as a commission for a model making company. When players overlapped the two images, they found that the pose and composition were nearly identical, leading many to believe this couldn’t just be a coincidence.
？。？？？？？？ https://t.co/RpaBHRfW1h pic.twitter.com/e5ggVtnD7Q
— 昼时歌 (@lanjiujiu) July 29, 2025
The Pokemon Company has now responded to these claims with an official statement. According to their notice, they discovered that their card production team gave incorrect reference materials to the artist who was hired to create the Ho-Oh and Lugia EX cards. The company says this was a mistake on their part, not intentional copying.
As a result, both the Ho-Oh EX and Lugia EX cards have been temporarily removed from the game and replaced with placeholder images. The Pokemon Company says they are working on creating completely new artwork to replace these cards as quickly as possible.
The company is also doing a bigger investigation to make sure similar problems don’t exist with other cards. The Pokemon Company apologized to both Pokemon TCG Pocket players who were looking forward to the expansion and to the artists who create Pokemon fanart.
