Pokémon 151 is set to be one of the biggest sets the Pokémon Trading Card Game has ever seen. Releasing on September 22, it’s a celebration of the original 151 Gen I Kanto pocket monsters, uniting the gang in full for the first time ever. Things are likely going to get loud, with pre-orders already selling out across multiple stores, including the official Pokémon Center. So let’s find out what the fuss is about.
A lot of the fuss comes because of the return of Kadabra, after 20 years in Uri Geller’s mind-prison. But the majority is that nostalgia factor for the Kanto origins of the franchise, which whips things into a frenzy every time the TCG returns to it.
This is not yet another re-release of Base Set, and in fact features all the Gen I Pokémon that were left out of that 1999 collection.
An unprecedented number of cards have been officially revealed ahead of release, and we’ve compiled them all here. We’ll keep this post up to date as new cards are revealed ahead of the set’s launch, but don’t forget, the Japanese equivalent set released a while back, giving us a glimpse of the cards yet to be officially revealed in English. We’ll drop in the Japanese cards here where TPCi are being coy about the English versions, which right now is the last third of the main set, and almost every ultra rare. We start with a familiar trio…
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Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur ex
So obviously things begin with the starters from Gen I. Each will evolve into an ex version of its final form, and as you’d expect, there are then a bunch of versions of each of those ex cards later in the set.
Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard ex
As ever, when it comes to values, Charizard is where all the attention will focus. But this is about loving those old-school pocket monsters, and surely Charmander is the least cute of the three? (Like I’m not playing with Charmander in my current playthrough of FireRed.)
Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise ex
Squirtle is the cutest. That’s just science. But then Blastoise is the least interesting of the three. It’s such a dilemma!
Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree
Then, the set continues not grouped by types, but for the first time by their numerical order in the Gen I Pokédex. For this reason, it’ll be jumping about the types pretty often. I’ve grouped the cards into their evolutionary sets, given this article is already stupid-long.
Weedle, Kakuna, Beedrill
Poor old Caterpie and Weedle, the least loved of all Gen I, but at least they get ridiculously gorgeous art.
Pidgey, Pidgeot, Pidgeotto
Then comes the inexplicably loved Pidgey and its evos.
Rattata, Raticate
One of the best things about Pokémon is that there’s going to be someone for whom ever monster is a favorite. Which means that somewhere out there, there’s a person whose favorite is Raticate.
Spearow, Fearow
The Spearow card makes an excellent pair with Obsidian Flames’ Pidgeotto, both depicted in the mottled light of foliage. Despite the striking similarity, they’re by different artists.
Ekans, Arbok ex
Ekans is “Snake” backward. Arbok is “Cobra” backward, but spelt wrong.
Pikachu, Raichu
It’s a small, yellow mouse of little consequence.
Sandshrew, Sandslash
The latter is named after going for a pee in the desert.
Nidoran ♀, Nidorina, Nidoqueen
Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out how to type ♀? It was, like, minutes. Anyway, the answer is Alt-12. ♂ is Alt-11. You’re welcome.
Nidoran ♂, Nidorino, Nidoking
The Nidoran twins, fighting against gender norms for 25 years.
Clefairy, Clefable
Science fact: it’s impossible to say the name “Clefairy” in a normal voice. It can only be sung. “Cle-FAI-ry.” Try it.
Vulpix, Ninetales ex
I feel like the format for the new ex cards, beholden to the design of Black & White EXes from back in the day, really limit the artists in their designs. It’s sad to see Ninetails confined to a small box, but that’ll improve later.
Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff ex
Case in point, look how lovely and detailed the Jigglypuff is, but how bland (if amusing) the Wigglytuff appears.
Zubat, Golbat
I am so behind this complete embracing of the vampiric horror of Zubat and Golbat.
Oddish, Gloom, Vileplume
I’m really digging the washed-out watercolor look of these three, by artist Sekio. It’s a style they’ve been bringing to the TCG since Sun & Moon’s Guardians Rising.
Paras, Parasect
OK, I said before under Ratatta that every Pokémon was someone’s favorite, but surely that can’t be true of Paras and Parasect? It’s like a crab, but also a woodlouse, but also it has fungus growing on it? No.
Venonat, Venomoth
These two aren’t exactly much better than Paras, but I can see someone being into the fluffy purple of Venonat. There were a surprising number of entirely un-cute Pokémon in Gen I.
Diglett, Dugtrio
See, now this…this…brown mole-thing is cute! Although saying that, we have no idea what’s below. It could be all tentacles.
Meowth, Persian
Sometimes I forget the reason that one Meowth can talk, and then I remember it again, and the world feels even darker.
Psyduck, Golduck
Psyduck aside-uck: Never evolve a shiny Psyduck you find in Pokémon Go. The shiny of Psyduck is blue, and looks great. The shiny of Golduck is…also blue, and looks near-identical.
Mankey, Primeape
Proper Lion King vibes here.
Growlithe, Arcanine
I feel like these look like every other Growlithe and Arcanine card, which is a shame. Cute, but familiar.
Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Poliwrath
True story: The spiral lines on the Poliwag’s stomach are its intestines.
Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam ex
Here it is! The first new Kadabra card, and thus Kadabra art, in 20 years of the TCG. Illustrator Mitsuhiro Arita was an amazing choice for the return, an artist who has been working on the cards since the original Base Set in 1999, with an incredible 688 cards total. He was the hand behind the very first-ever Pikachu card, and indeed the most sought-after regular card of all time, the Base Set holo Charizard. He also drew the first ever Abra card, making it the perfect circle, even though—amazingly—this is his first-ever Kadabra.
Machop, Machoke, Machamp
Punchy Jr., Mr. Punchy, and Grampa Punch.
Bellsprout, Weepinbell, Victreebel
The Bellsprout trio are all by Banana Jerky, who was behind the adored Pidgey Illustration Rares in Obsidian Flames.
Quick round of Mandela Effect Bingo? “When did the time-police steal the ‘g’out of ‘Weepinbell’?!”
Also, “Hey, evil space aliens! Put the ‘l’ back on the end of ‘Victreebel’!”
P.S. There’s no such thing as the Mandela Effect and you’ve just got a bad memory.
Tentacool, Tentacruel
Um…is Tentacruel by any chance related to Cthulhu? Come to think of it, have you ever seen them both in the room at the same time?
Geodude, Graveler, Golem ex
This is a much better ex card, making good use of the requirements, with excellent muted colors.
Ponyta, Rapidash
My Little Pony, but on fire.
Slowpoke, Slowking
It’s hard to know why TPCi has decided to hold back both the Slowpoke and Slowking from the currently revealed English cards. It’s made the rest of the first 100 available, but these two gorgeous arts by Okacheke are as-yet unrevealed. Perhaps Slowpoke has been caught up in some sort of terrible scandal and is about to get canceled?
But if you try to ignore the furious shell biting the poor Slowking’s bottom, these are such cheerful cards!
Magnemite, Magneton
Yuka Morii’s cards for 151 are the Magnemite and Magneton, and both are as immaculate as ever. The models themselves can fit in the palm of your hand.
And as if Yuka Morii couldn’t get any better, it turns out she’s a big Lower Decks fan, describing it as a show “which I love so much that I’m glad I’m alive.”
Farfetch’d
Never mind how damned weird it is that this bird carries a leek—what about the missing ‘e’ from its name? What on Earth is that about?
Doduo, Dodrio
I always have so many questions when any creature has two heads. But in Doduo’s case, my questions are all about the metamorphosis into Dodrio.
Does it gain a whole new personality? What if the new head doesn’t get on with the previous two? Or worse, what if one of the first two likes the third one better? I need answers.
Seel, Dewgong
People (rightly) condemn The Pokémon Company for the lameness of some recent designs, like the woefully uninspired Flamigo. But it’s fair to point out, it was ever thus. They literally changed a letter and put a small spike on its head.
And admit it—you forgot Dewgong existed. It’s so similar to Seel, which is already so forgettable, that it just sort of blurs out of existence. In fact, click “Next” and you won’t remember you were just looking at it.
Grimer, Muk
Pokémon feels so old these days that it’s hard to remember a time before it existed. And yet, it turns out, that time was only moments before the new millennium. Ghostbusters, meanwhile, came out in 1984. I’m just saying.
Meanwhile, “Oh good, I got a Muk,” said no one, ever, in all of time and space.
Shellder, Cloyster
*taco emoji*
Gastly, Haunter, Gengar
Another Pokémon TCG stalwart, artist Tomokazu Komiya, has recently been knocking it out of the park, really leaning in to his distinctive style with ever more joy. So it’s fantastic that he was given the privilege of drawing Gastly’s tryptic. It’s brutal that this isn’t a full-art.
These are stunning! There’s so much detail in here, all delivered with that wonderfully playful crayon-like style.
Not picking Gengar for an ex in this set is odd, but Komiya shows off what can be achieved with just the little window. I want this a a poster, please!
Onix
Aw, poor old Onix. Look at the amazing detail in the background, and then the weird ‘90s CG shading on his body. He deserved better in 151.
Drowzee, Hypno
Just quietly musing about eating a child’s dreams.
That Hypno is exactly why we have Neighborhood Watch schemes.
Krabby, Kingler
“What if we design one like a crab?”
“And what’s the unique twist on it to make it a Pokémon?”
“Ooh, donuts!”
…
“Man, we really whiffed on Krabby. We need to make sure we ace Kingler, OK?”
“Orrrrrr, what if we just drew Krabby again and then went to the park to go on the swings?”
Voltorb, Electrode
It’s an angry ball.
Exeggcute, Exeggutor
That was more like it. After a really bad run of ideas, things switched to a group of broken eggs with trees inside, that are named after killing a person.
Cubone, Marowak
I know you know, but it’s the other person reading right now—they don’t know. They don’t know that a Cubone is wearing the skull of its dead mother.
Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan
Like Machamp, but brown? Like Kabuto, but bendy? Why does Hitmonlee/chan even exist?
Lickitung
It’s hard to know if they were feeling hungry or horny when they came up with Lickitung.
Koffing, Wheezing
This marks the point where TPCi has stopped revealing the English-language cards, but for #151, the Mew. Why? Who knows. It’s not like Koffing is a secret.
However, what stunning pointillism art from Shibuzoh.
Rhyhorn, Rhydon
Who else remembered that Rhyperior doesn’t show up until Gen IV?
Chansey
Oh my, Taiga Kayama, could you have made this any cuter?
Also, who else remembered that Blissey doesn’t show up until Gen II?
Tangela
Who else remembered that Tangrowth didn’t show up until Gen IV? OK, I’ll stop now.
Kangaskhan ex
Yes. YES! Kangaskhan & Son absolutely deserves an ex card! If nothing else so we can restart the discussion over what is actually going on with that baby.
Because…Pokémon don’t have babies! I mean, there are baby Pokémon, like Mime Jr. or Cleffa, but they evolve into the “adult” forms. Kangaskhan’s baby isn’t one of those, and seems to age like Pokémon don’t. The first episode of Journeys had Ash’s Pikachu as a Pichu being raised alongside a Kangaskhan baby that we were told was getting older.
But they’re also not part of the adult Kangaskhan, in the same way that a group of Exeggecute are one entity. So do they grow up into an adult Kangaskhan? And if so, when they hatch from eggs, why are they already adult Kangaskhan with babies in their pouches?
Never mind the horrors if you start to consider Chansey and their eggs, which they freely give away to others to eat.
Horsea, Seadra
I think it’s too easy to take a great name for granted. But “Horsea” is a masterpiece. It works in every single direction, from inverting “Seahorse” to punning on “horsey,” and there must have been so many high-fives when someone said it out loud the first time.
And yup, you’re right, Kingdra wasn’t around until Gen II. Although Seadra has always looked the coolest of the three.
Goldeen, Seaking
Begone, creepily sultry Goldeen. No one wants to smooch a fish.
Staryu, Starmie
Kiriko Arai is brand new to the Pokémon TCG, but what an entrance! This card is just stunning, as its the accompanying Starmie. Arai’s amazing style can be seen at their official website, and it’s so worth checking out.
Mr. Mime
You know, it turns out it would have been fine if they’d not reunited all of the Kanto Pokémon.
Scyther
Fun fact: For reasons neither of us can explain, my son and I have a tradition that when we pull (or even see someone else pull) a Scyther, we have to pretend to punch each other in the face. You might want to have this tradition too.
Jynx ex
Mr. Mime’s wife. Prove me wrong.
Electabuzz
I don’t feel like Electabuzz should have human-like fingers. That’s just my opinion, and I’m entitled to hold it.
Magmar
Magby—the baby form of Magmar—didn’t appear until Gen II, and then Magmorter didn’t arrive until Gen IV.
Pinsir
Meanwhile, Pinsir here has never evolved from anything, nor into anything! (We don’t count Mega evolutions.) Surely it’s about time this utterly nightmarish sideways-mouthed creature received its chance to become even more horrific.
Tauros
It’s a bull, but it’s got three tails. Yeah.
Magikarp, Gyarados
Not even managing 10 damage in 151, Magikarp does offer a chance to draw cards from your deck.
Kouki Saitou is another lifer artist on the PTCG, with almost 700 cards going back as far as WotC’s Aquapolis. Recently he provided art for a swathe of Paldea Evolved cards, including the stunning Sprigatito tryptic.
Lapras
Here’s another debut card from a new artist, Linne. The pseudonymous name makes it hard to know much more about them, but wow can they draw.
Ditto
Yay Ditto!
Eevee
You may have noticed the trend of giving the biggest-name Pokémon to the longest-running artists. But this astonishing Eevee comes from Narumi Sato, who has only been around since Shining Fates, with just 35 cards to her name.
A winner of one of the Illustration Grand Prix events that The Pokémon Company holds, Sato entered a stunning Eevee illustration, but this is the first time her beautiful watercolor work has been used for the cute beastie on a card.
Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon
These three holos will just become bulk, and that makes me sad. I love the full-picture cards, don’t get me wrong. But if you found a holo of any of these three Eeveelutions from 1999, you’d be rich! Now, you’ll be tossing these aside with nary a glance. Stop! Glance!
Porygon
Porygon was such a Pokémon of its time! Those awful 3D non-gaming graphics of the late ‘90s have made its classic cards look so antiquated. So this by 5ban is a brilliant idea, the 3D studio creating something that looks like our memories of the time, rather than the reality.
Omanyte, Omastar
OK, so this is kind of awesome. Each card on its own might seem a little uninteresting, but thumb them like a flickbook in your mind and you’ve got a great gag.
Kabuto, Kabutops
See, right, if you took one of these, and bred it with a Machop, you’d get stupid old Hitmonlee, right? I mean, maybe that’s what happened. What Pokémon do in their private time is none of my business.
Aerodactyl
Shinji Kanda’s astonishingly detailed art has been appearing since Brilliant Stars, and has produced some of the most popular cards since. There’s Lost Origin’s all-conquering Giratina, and Paldea Evolve’s adored Magikarp. Clearly if this Aerodactyl had been a Full Art card, it would become huge too. But hey, notice that everyone’s a chump, and pick this up for 30 cents.
Snorlax
#143, baby! The mighty Snorlax appears in dappled gorgeousness, and a 13o attack on a Basic card. (Albeit doing 30 damage itself, but not sending itself to sleep!)
Articuno
It’s bonkers to think that Articuno wasn’t in Base Set. Nor was Moltres. It was just Zapdos in the first release of Pokémon cards. All three were of course in the original Game Boy games, however.
That original Base Set Zapdos will now fetch you almost $6,000 in a PSA 10. It seems somewhat unlikely this version will achieve the same, even in 25 years’ time. Although the Special Art Rare from the Japanese 151 is currently getting over 200 bucks in a 10.
Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite
It’s nice to see Dragonite looking so happy!
Mewtwo
The stunning work of artist Akira Egawa got the honor of delivering the Mewtwo, a follow-up to her mind-blowing Charizard ex Special Illustration Rare from Obsidian Flames.
Mew
And there it is, the 151st card. While Mewtwo was in the original Base Set release, Mew didn’t appear in English in cardboard form until 2000, as a Black Star Promo for Fossil.
So what does the set do now? Well, it starts over again!
Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur ex Illustration Rare
Yoriyuki Ikegami is one of the most exciting new artists working on PTCG. With her debut Crown Zenith card, Gardenia’s Vigor blowing minds, she’s since provided us a couple of regulars from Paldea Evolved, and then now this astonishing trio of Bulbasaur evolutions. Oh my gosh they’re so beautiful.
Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard ex Illustration Rare
I love how this Charmander set by Miki Kudo feels like it could be a part of the Mewtwo/Charizard series. Kudo also designed the amazing Tentacool and Tentacruel cards a few million pages back, and most importantly has drawn Mantyke—the baby form of the best Pokémon of all—for the latest Japanese set, Raging Surf.
Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise ex Illustration Rare
Oh god, how much money is this set going to cost me? How can a person live a proper life without collecting all three of these starter Art Rare trilogies? Mitsuhiro Arita’s work is almost offensively good here. How dare he?
Caterpie Illustration Rare
When last did Caterpie receive a Full Art card? I can answer that: never. The poor little beastie has only had 17 cards before this one, despite being part of Gen I, and has never been celebrated properly. Until now!
Pikachu Illustration Rare
Perhaps a slightly different situation for codename #025, who has had, by my count, 64,298 different cards. But still, look at this one! Artist Hiroyuki Yamamoto has worked on various Pokémon projects for many years, but this is only his fifth card. DO MORE!
Nidoking Illustration Rare
Misaki Hashimoto has designed just three PTCG cards, beginning with Cosmic Eclipse’s Full Art Wishiwashi. However, you’ve encountered her work in the mainline video games since 2018’s Let’s Go Pikachu.
Psyduck Illustration Rare
Unquestionably one of the best cards in the whole set, this is by another new, pseudonymous artist, Whisker.
Poliwhirl Illustration Rare
What is the Poliwhirl contemplating here? I’ll tell you what: It’s thinking about how those lines on its tummy are its guts, and how it’s not OK with that.
Machoke Illustration Rare
This is just spectacular, right? Another debut art, this time from Tetsu Kayama, whose pointillism is also in Obsidian Flames. This is surely one of the most coherently detailed Pokémon cards of all time.
Tangela Illustration Rare
Meanwhile, here’s Tangela swinging from a tree.
Mr. Mime
If anything, it only makes it worse that Okacheke put so much effort into depicting this Satanic gathering of monsters.
Omastar Illustration Rare
Just the second card from Yano Keiji, following on from that distinctive and widely played Comfey in Lost Origin. It’s just so lovely, that I hope it’s not the last.
Snorlax Illustration Rare
Well, here’s my chase card. It’s just perfect, with that Pidgey and Diglett adding lovely extra detail. It’s by the bellowed Gossan, who previously designed the most important card in my deck, the Galarian Perrserker V for Lost Origin.
Dragonair Illustration Rare
Well this is just stupidly pretty. (A sentence I worry about, were it crudely translated to Japanese by Google, and the artist read it and thought I was calling them stupid.) Said artist is Rika—who is not, to the best of my knowledge, the Rika in the Elite Four of Paldea—but rather yet another brand new artist to the PTCG. Goodness me, just imagine how gorgeous future sets are going to be with the quality of artists arriving right now.
Mewtwo Illustration Rare
I’ve been effusively complimentary about the art in this set, because damn, it’s incredible. But I do have a slight hesitation when it comes to this Mewtwo. The Japanese official site always adds these rainbow patterns to the images of holo cards, and it suggests a much brighter card than you get. I happen to have one of the Japanese versions next to me on the desk, and it’s incredibly hard to make anything out of the murk in person. Which is such a shame, because with a little more brightness, this could have been a stunner.
Venusaur ex, Charizard ex, Blastoise ex Full Art
We don’t yet know which rarity category the English-language versions of these cards will be assigned, but my guess would be Ultra Rare. Which is to say, the ones that won’t fetch the stupid prices, unlike the Special Illustration Rares I grouped with Illustration Rares of their evolution lines earlier.
Arbox ex, Ninetails ex, Wigglytuff ex Full Art
And these will be $3 in your local card shop within a week of release, lovely though they may look.
Golem ex, Kangaskhan ex, Jynx ex Full Art
$2 for this lot, I reckon.
Zapdos ex, Mew ex
However, these two should do a fair bit better, given they’re Pokémon of note.
Alakazam ex Special Illustration Rare
I think it’s a strange shame that Alakazam got the works for this adorable card, and not Kadabra. Given 151 has highlighted Caterpie, it seems reasonable that it could have given special treatment to the card they’ve not been able to print for 20 years. Still though, wow, this is amazing.
Incredible work from Shinya Komatsu, who you’ll not be surprised to learn also drew Astral Radiance’s amazing Machamp V.
Zapdos ex Special Illustration Rare
I suspect this one could be huge. Any card featuring all three of the Kanto birds always causes a fuss, but this art by Shiburingaru makes it even more collectible. If only it had some more details on the land, and it could be a whole other Lost Origin Aerodactyl situation.
Mew ex Special Illustration Rare
151 truly is the set that will launch a thousand artist-ships. Here’s yet another newb to the franchise, the extraordinary Natsumi Yoshida, who has since also provided the adorable Togepi bulk card for Obsidian Flames, and a Toxel promo. But this Mew, wow, this one is going to be hard to beat. The Japanese version is selling for $170 raw.
Erika’s Invitation, Giovanni’s Charisma Special Illustration Rares
And finally, for now, come the two most collectible trainer cards in the set. There’s Giovanni, looking full-on Mafioso with his enormous Persian cuddling up on the couch, and then the set’s biggest card in Japan, Erika’s Invitation. That’s already changing hands for $250 pack fresh, although I don’t imagine it will hit such ridiculous peaks in English.
There you go. I’ve left out the majority of the Item and Trainer cards, and there’s yet to be any legit images of the inevitable Gold cards that’ll disappoint in the international release. We’ll keep updating as new official English-language versions are revealed over the three weeks until the set’s released.
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