Those are so cool! I’ve never seen or heard of them before!
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Really appreciate you sharing all of these!
If it’s still accessible, can you put up a picture of the section on the Gift Set with the Red and Green Decks from the Christmas 1998 pamphlet?
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Jealous! Southern Islands is to me one of the best sets in the TCG history, it represented the merge of the Kanto and ‘mysterious’ Johto region for us who used the ancient internet back in the 90’s and were just discovering there is more than the 151 Original PKMN.
I was lucky enough to grab a couple of sealed sets and 2 of each folders from the Southern Islands Movie Commemoration Set, I imagine you have boxes full of those somewhere. 
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SO excited to follow along Glenn. Always a treat when you post 
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You’re too kind! Thanks 
Sure! Here it is. Notice that at the time, the Gym 2 booster packs had not yet been released. They wouldn’t arrive until the end of June 1999, six months after this pamphlet was distributed.
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Cheers, @japanime! Looking forward to future posts.
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Today I opened another cardboard box that had been sealed for 16 years.
Usually when opening these old boxes, my nostrils are assaulted by a musty smell not unlike that of an unkempt public library.
And yet this box had a WONDERFUL aroma. Like fresh flowers on a warm and sunny spring day.
Probably because of these critters.
Pokemon car air fresheners, circa 2000. Gotta smell 'em all!
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Imagine yourself burning the midnight oil in the part of Pallet Town that never sleeps.
You crawl from club to club like a cat on the prowl. Never sleepy, never satisfied.
As you wind your way down a neon-lit alley lined with dive bars and juke joints, your ears perk up at the sound of hot licks coming from a spot you’ve never noticed before.
The sign hanging outside the place says all you need to know:
At the door, a hot little number who calls herself Jessie takes you by the arm and leads you across the threshold.
James the bartender pulls you a pint.
You know you’re right at home in this hole in the wall where all the hepcats hang out.
(Cash register display piece for the “Meowth’s Party” CD single and promo card, released October 1999.)
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These are the things I wish for at the end of the day. What I would have given to be in Japan during the early rise of Pokemon just to see stuff like this. Looks like too you got a few Pokemon featured in the audience - Koffing, Krabby, Venusaur, Kangaskhan, and Muk or Grimer?
Appreciate the Club Rocket reference story to go along with the post. Looking forward to more incredible stuff. Thanks, Glenn!
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Very sharp eye, @azulryu!
How about the brown “stain” on Meowth’s guitar? Is that supposed to be one of the land masses in the Pokemon universe? Can anyone identify it?
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I was digging through a box looking for something else today and came across this. I don’t know the origin of it, but it might have been a Fan Club bonus. What I particularly like is that there are decals for both the spring and summer tournaments. (What appear to be wrinkles along the left side and near the top are actually just the reflection of a clear plastic bag in which the decal sheet has been stored. The sheet itself is in wonderful condition.)
It’s hard to believe that those tournaments took place 20 years ago!
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@japanime I won an auction for one of these a few months ago, but the only information the seller had was in the title (translated to: ‘Pokemon Card Battle Neo Summer Road Participation Commemorative Sticker’). Would they have been distributed in the same way as the TMB/SSB stickers? I assumed they were given out at one of those events, but I really have no idea.
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Has anyone definitely established how the TMB/SSB decal sheets were distributed? Because when I posted about my sheet here, I speculated that the decals might have been distributed to retailers for in-store use (which would explain why I only had one sheet, since I only owned one store at the time).
And since I only have one Neo Battle sheet, I’m beginning to think that it might also have been given to me by the vendor.
(Or, perhaps they were distributed both to retail stores as well as tournament participants.)
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The TMB/SSB sheet was given to all participants at the 1999 challenge road venues, and same for the spring/summer battle road stickers in 2000. Not sure if they were given to retailers as well, but it would be interesting if they were.
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Thanks for the info, @august!
I didn’t attend any of the tournaments myself, so they were either given to me by one of my customers who participated in the tourneys, or they were distributing to retailers. Wish I could remember which!