I recently posted in QotD about my Mudkip GS I’ve had since I was a little kid.
Long story short, I recognised this when I was little as a good thing to acquire due to an article in one of the Pokémon World Magazines, link for info. Now this I believe was a UK only magazine.
I would love to find the issue I’m blabbing on about but have no idea really where to start. I’d like to make a display of the magazine and the card in a frame for the sake of the memory!
I think, possibly, I’ve narrowed it down to Issue 44 or 45. It would have had to be one around the time of release of TRR, so 2004 or possibly a bit before?
But asides from paying £15 for someone’s cut-out issue on ebay, I don’t really know where to go looking - so I am hoping that possibly one of you illustrious collectors of fine things may know something, an online archive, or possibly even possess the magazine to help narrow it down? My internet research skills seem to be lacking, I’ve tried to find as much as I can, but Google seems kind of unhelpful now.
I know this post is fairly old now, but if you are still looking, I’ve been going through my Pokémon World magazines and believe I’ve found the issue you’re looking for.
It could be issue 44, which you narrowed it down too in your post.
It’s a Christmas special, it’s red with Meowth on the cover and the Pokémon World logo styled like a Christmas pudding, the cover also mentions the Team Rocket Returns set as the latest expansion.
Pages 14–15 cover the Team Rocket Returns set, including 3 short strategy blurbs which mention the Jesse and James theme deck, new trainer cards and Dark Pokemon.
However Mudkip isn’t discussed in detail, but it is listed at the bottom of the full set list on page 15, no photo of the card on these pages though.
The magazine could also have come with a small printed booklet that was sometimes given away with a small toy or something like that.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find one that matches that issue in-particular from the magazines I own, and I can’t confirm whether one was included with that specific issue either, but hope that helps a bit.
These magazines were great. The editor Russ ran the local Pokémon organised play tournaments and prereleases back in the day where I grew up Looking back he was a very generous and chill guy especially considering I’d be pestering him for trades being young.
I think there’s an issue around 2005 where there’s a few photos of me and my siblings playing in said Pokémon tournaments, no idea what issue it was, but I think the free gift was a knife filled with fake blood (interesting choice of free gift lol.)
I’m going to have to look online now to find the issue number too! Didn’t mean to hijack the thread but I’d completely forgotten about Pokémon world until seeing your post!
That’s incredible, thank you and I really appreciate you joining and posting this information. I definitely had the issue you describe and the cover is a vivid memory.
Does it say anything like, “Look out for the ultra rare Gold star cards” or similar?
I am pretty sure I remember a picture, or it could have been of Treecko GS. But I’m almost 100% sure it was a picture of the Mudkip card.
At any rate, I really appreciate you posting. If you have other issues that you happen to look through, the ones I remember having distinctly were:
The ones that came with Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire Walkthrough part 1 and 2.
The one that came with FRLG walkthrough.
There was one that had an article about Japanese merch, most notably the LED wand that can be shaken to reveal Pokémon faces.
One that came with a “Professor Yews Q&A” book.
If I figure out any more, I’ll update this post! Thank you again!
That is so cool that you got to meet Russ at the tournaments like that, and It’s amazing that you and your siblings were in one of the issues!
I really hope you manage to figure out which issue it was and track it down again for the nostalgia, I also submitted a question that got published in one of the issues, and it’s actually what lead me to find this forum, as I am hoping to find that issue in particular.
There’s a really interesting interview with Nick Roberts from the magazine here: Interview Link
He talks about how they sourced some of the freebies for the issues, so that could explain the fake blood knife, haha!
Happy to help! I have most issues from around 30 to the mid-50s (missing a few in the 30s).
But unfortunately I don’t have the booklets or freebies to hand at the moment, and I’m not even certain that I still have them, but i guess it’d be possible the Mudkip or Treecko image you remember was from one of the TCG strategy booklets from that time, rather than the main magazine perhaps?
The only thing on the cover of the magazine that mentions the set is “TEAM ROCKET RETURNS, the latest TCG expansion”
I’m actually in the middle of sorting through a lot of old things (which is how I rediscovered my magazine collection), so if I come across anything that could be what you’re after in any of the other issues I own, I’ll be sure to come back and share them!
