Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Reshiram and Zekrom to join Pikachu at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade

Set two extra places at the table, Pokefans - two very special guests are coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, folks, Reshiram and Zekrom, Pokemon Black and White's mascots, will join Pikachu in his holiday romp around Manhattan. The legendary Dragon-type Pokemon will stand larger than life (fourteen feet tall!) on their own float. In addition, the Pikachu balloon holders will be dressed in black and white instead of the traditional yellow.

The parade will be televised on NBC at 9 am in all time zones. Don't miss it!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

English names of Pokemon Black and White's starters revealed!




Well, the wait is finally over! On Monday, the English names of Pokemon Black & White's starter Pokemon have finally been revealed:
Tsutarja (the grass snake, left) is called Snivy.
Pokabu (the pig, center) is called Tepig.
Last but not least, Mijumaru (the sea otter, right) is called Oshawott. (Osha-what?)
The Isshu region will be called Unova (I like it!), marking the first time a Pokemon region's name has been changed significantly from the Japanese version.
We will definitely post more English-language info as soon as it becomes available!

Friday, November 19, 2010

2010-2011 City Championships are coming soon!

The holiday season is well upon us, and for Pokemon fans, that can mean only one thing: the City Championships are coming soon. Throughout the last week of November, all of December, and the first week of January, Pokemon trainers throughout North America will be duking it out to see who's the greatest in their city.

All participants will get a special foil version of Poliwag from Unleashed, and the winner will get a medal and 18 booster packs. 2nd-4th place finishers will receive booster packs as well.

In addition to all those packs and promos, many cool door prizes are to be had: baseball caps with the Play! Pokemon logo, a very cool playmat featuring Ho-oh and Lugia, and inflatable Pokeballs (yes!), as well as pencils and stickers for the kids. Pictures of all this cool schwag may be found at Pokebeach.

As usual, check Pokemon.com for times and locations.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Why the folks at PETA annoy me.

Before I get into this, I have to speak my mind about a few things. I'm all for animal welfare. I am also opposed to real animal abuse (dogfighting, poaching, pet neglect, etc.) and support efforts to expose and eliminate such abuses. However, I am against the use of extreme measures to achieve such ends. Case in point: PETA.

Now I could go on and on about PETA's connections to eco-terrorist groups like the ALF and ELF, the fact that they put down most of the animals they take in (97% in 2009!), and their desire to eliminate all human usage of animals, from meat to seeing-eye dogs, but I'll let their stunts speak for themselves. Some of these are so over the top, they have to be seen to be believed:

7 Controversial PETA stunts (warning: nudity is mentioned, but not shown).
5 More Crazy PETA Stunts.
Even More Crazy PETA Stunts.


These articles didn't even mention PETA's claim that beer was better for kids than milk, or (the argument that really turned me off animal-rights groups) the "Holocaust on your Plate" campaign, which equated poultry raising to Hitler's slaughter of Jews. And when you invoke
Godwin's Law in such a patently ridiculous way, you deserve to be vilified or, at the least, ignored.

And it turns out that PETA's animal-rights agenda might not be so green after all. For example, a Finnish study has shown that if everyone in the world were to become a vegan overnight, it would only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7%. A full 7%! I'd stick to supporting nuclear power and the Toyota Prius myself.

And what to do with all those "liberated" animals? We can't just send them into the wild; those that weren't eaten by predators would multiply and wreak havoc with the local ecosystem. We'd either have to euthanize them all (which would be expensive), or have one last big barbecue before going vegan (which the folks at PETA would object to).

Speaking of ecosystems, PETA's not much into hunting, either. This is unfortunate, since carefully controlled hunting helps keep the populations of deer, rabbits, geese, and the like down - animals that would overpopulate and devastate wild areas were they not hunted. Since we've greatly reduced the numbers of many large predators, we must carry the torch for them.

If you really want to help animals, I suggest you donate some time or money to your local animal shelter, SPCA, or Humane Society. (Note: Do NOT support the Humane Society of the United States; they are an animal rights group misusing the Humane Society's good name. Less than one-half of 1% of their funds actually go to help actual animal shelters.) Who knows, you just might end up adopting a cute little bundle of fluffy happiness yourself!

Friday, November 12, 2010

A few notes on recent and upcoming Pokemon TCG products

There's been a lot going around in the Pokemon TCG world. Several products of note to collectors and players have come out recently:
  • Two "Pokemon Evolution Packs" have come out recently, with a third coming out in December. The first features a complete Metagross SV line and an Arceus or Rising Rivals pack; the second has a complete Charizard AR line and a Supreme Victors pack. Each Stage 2 card has an attractive "stained-glass" foil pattern. Each Evolution Pack goes for roughly $5. The Charizard is quite a viable card, so expect him to sell like, well, hotcakes.
  • A "HeartGold and SoulSilver Series Collection Box" is now available in Target and Wal-Mart for about $20. This box is packed with good stuff: 5 booster packs (2 Triumphant and 1 each of Undaunted, Unleashed, and HeartGold/SoulSilver), 3 cards with the same foil treatment as the Evolution Packs' Stage 2's (Feraligatr, Meganium, and Typhlosion from HGSS), and a nicely detailed Entei figure. Not to be missed!

Two more interesting items will be released in the near-future:

  • Two "Clash of Legends" boxes will be released later this month, one featuring Dialga and Palkia and the other Darkrai and Cresselia. Each box has 4 booster packs, 2 Pokemon Lvl.X (wow!), and a jumbo Legend card. The Dialga/Palkia box is sure to be a hot seller, since it includes Dialga G Lvl. X and Palkia G Lvl. X, both highly playable cards. The boxes will go for $15 each.
  • The HS: Triumphant 3-pack will feature not one, but two promos per pack: Porygon and Porygon2. Otherwise, they have the same features as previous 3-packs.

Perfect additions to any Pokemon trainer's holiday shopping list!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

"Call of Legends" to be the Pokemon TCG's February set

We at The Warp Point have recieved word from several reputable sources that the next Pokemon TCG set is to be named "Call of Legends". This is likely to be a filler/core set in the Power Keepers mold. As such, it will include the 20 or so cards from the Japanese Lost Link mini-set that were left out of HS: Triumphant (including Lost World), as well as many Japanese promos previously unreleased in America. It is also possible that the set will include new cards (including new Pokemon Prime and Legends!) and/or reprints of classic cards.

The set comes out on February 2, 2011, with Prereleases on the last two weeks of January. More information will be posted on this blog as soon as it becomes available.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Excellent introduction to the Pokemon TCG on SixPrizes.com

Michael Weldon of SixPrizes.com has published an excellent article on the Pokemon TCG aimed at beginners. Not ony does he talk at length about the history of the game, he offers valuable advice on deckbuilding that even experienced players can use. He goes into great detail into both the cards that are popular in today's (and yesterday's) decks and why they are popular (deployment aids, "surprise" cards, late-game recovery). If you want to improve your game, I suggest you check out the article.