Pokémon Celebrations will be released on 8th October 2021 as a special expansion set to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the release of the first Pokémon games. The set will contain 45 cards plus a subset of 25 cards. All cards will feature the 25th anniversary logo – Pikachu red-cheeks head and ears with the numbers 2 and 5 taking the cheek position.
Information about the cards this special set has will contain has been drip-fed since it was initially announced in June 2021 and it has been clear from the outset that there would be a number of Pikachu cards in Celebrations.
This week new Celebrations product images were released which show details of the promo cards that will be in each product. Also this week, images of Pikachu cards for the Japanese version began to appear online giving an indication of what we can expect in October.
Pikachu Cards in Celebrations
The following Pikachu Cards will definitely appear in Celebrations, however they are Promo Cards rather than cards from the main deck:
Pokémon Celebrations Premium Figure Collection – Pikachu VMAX
The newly released product images for this collection box show two new Pikachu Promo cards either side of the Pikachu figure.
Pikachu V SWSH143 is a half art card.
Pikachu VMAX SWSH062 is a full art card.
Pokemon Celebrations Special Collection – Pikachu V-UNION
The newly released images for this product shows that the artwork for the Pikachu V-Union card will feature a montage of Pikachu characters set against a landscape backdrop.
There is a Jumbo V-Union card and also four regular sized cards which fit together to make the V-Union Card. The card numbers for the four cards are: SWSH139, SWSH140, SWSH141 and SWSH142
Remakes of Old Favourite Pikachu Cards
When the Celebrations set was announced, Pokémon stated that there would be updated versions of some classic old favourite cards. Listed below are the known Pikachu Cards in Celebrations. The original card is shown on the left and the updated version(s) from the Japanese set is on the right. It is assumed that the artwork for the English set will be the same.
Base Set Pikachu
The Pikachu card from the original Pokémon base set was released in 1999 by Wizards of the Coast and bears the number 58/102. It was then updated and released as card number 112/111 in the Platinum Rising Rivals set.
The Celebrations updated version shows the artwork extended to a full art holographic card. It bears the number 001/028 which suggests it might form part of the special 25 card subset of the Celebrations release.
Flying Pikachu
Flying Pikachu first appeared as a Wizards of the Coast Promo Card in 2001 with the number #25. It was then updated and re-released as card number 113/111 for the Platinum Rising Rivals set. It was later revamped and included in the XY Evolutions expansion set as a secret rare card with the number 110/108. It is a very popular card and it is no surprise that the Japanese Celebrations set features a Flying Pikachu V and a Flying Pikachu VMAX.
Surfing Pikachu
Surfing Pikachu is another fan-favourite card that also first appeared as a Wizards of the Coast Promo Card in 2001 #28 and then re-released as card number 114/111 in Platinum Rising Rivals expansion set. It later re-appeared in Evolutions as a secret rare card with the number 111/108. Like Flying Pikachu, the Japanese Celebrations set has both V and VMAX remakes of this card.
Birthday Pikachu
Birthday Pikachu was first released in 2001 as a Wizards of the Coast Promo Card #24. It features space for the owner/user of the card to write his/her name and birthdate and remains a very popular card. It seems logical that it would be an ideal card to remake for the 25th Anniversary set. However, in the Japanese set it is only available in special packs and these can only be purchased from Pokémon Center stores. It will be interesting to see whether it makes it into the Celebrations set.
Chase Cards?
The term chase cards refers to the most sought-after cards in any expansion set. Looking at the artwork for the the Pikachu Cards in Celebrations suggests all of these cards are going to be highly sought after. However, we would imagine that it will be the remake of Base Set Pikachu, Flying Pikachu and Surfing Pikachu that will be chase cards from this set.
