Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket launched its Time Space Showdown expansion on January 30, leaving players stunned and emotional over a card's artwork depicting a harsh Pokémon encounter.
The card sparking debate is Weavile ex, available in three variants, but it’s the 2 Star full art version causing a stir. The artwork shows a pack of Weavile lurking in treetops, claws poised, ready to ambush an unsuspecting Swinub.
"No Swinub, look up! Look up!" pleads a Reddit post showcasing the artwork, which has garnered nearly 10,000 upvotes. "Every set seems to have one card showing Pokémon brutally attacking each other," one user commented. "Leave the little guy alone," another added.
NO ! SWINUB LOOK UP !! LOOK UP !!
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"Pokémon’s ecosystem is wild to think about," a fan remarked. "They’re animals, some more intelligent, but with powers like shooting laser beams."
Some fans find solace in the Mamoswine full art card, Swinub’s final evolution, which portrays the mammoth Pokémon shielding a group of Swinub while looking upward.
"Mamoswine’s got his baby’s back. Don’t worry, he spotted those Weaviles," one hopeful fan said. "The Mamoswine alt card is looking up. He knows they’re there," another echoed.
Gone, but not forgotten.
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Time Space Showdown, themed around Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, features Weavile, Mamoswine, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and others, with 207 cards total—fewer than Genetic Apex’s 286. However, 52 are alternate art, Star, or Crown rarity cards, a higher proportion of rare collectibles compared to Genetic Apex’s 60.
Creatures Inc. has not addressed the controversial trading update released a day earlier, with its social media and game focusing solely on Time Space Showdown. The company also did not respond to IGN’s request for comment.
A "Trade Feature Celebration Gift" offered 500 Trade Tokens and 120 Trade Hourglasses—enough to trade one ex Pokémon—but the developer has remained silent on fan concerns.
