Spanish Unseen Forces Theme Decks (Part I): Ho-Oh Livro Ilustrado (Cosmos Holofoil Ho-Oh + Non-Holo Typhlosion)

Hi, everyone!!! It's me ... Omanyte ... and this is the first *"documentation thread"* I make here in Elite Fourum. I'd like to give all credits to **"EskizoVintageCollectibles"** (IG/YT) because without his help and cards, this thread wouldn't be possible. Eskizo, if you're reading this ... Thank you so much for confirming the existence of this product and cards.

I’m aware that Spanish Vintage Pokémon Trading Cards are kinda underrated and I’d like to “preserve” this information, so I considered this as the perfect place since I know that there’re collectors and species collectors that might appreciate it.

Spanish Ho-Oh Theme Deck Box:

In a certain moment of ex era (probably between 2006-2007), a brazilian publishing house called “Devir Livraria” distributed an Unseen Forces Theme Deck which was starring by Ho-Oh. Unlike English Unseen Forces’s Golden Sky Theme Deck, Devir’s Ho-Oh Deck Box was unusual. It was a red box with Sugimori’s watercolor Ho-Oh artwork and the text was in Portuguese. In fact, almost everything else was in Portuguese (Booklets, Battle Guide and even the Poster). The only thing that wasn’t in Portuguese was the Deck. Unlike English Unseen Forces’s Golden Sky Theme Deck, Devir’s Ho-Oh Deck only had 30 cards (instead of 60 cards) that were in Spanish for unknown reasons. The box specifies that cards are actually in Spanish.

This is the box of Ho-Oh’s Theme Deck. As you can see, text is in Portuguese, but there’s a warning message that specifies that cards are in Spanish and memorabilia is in Portuguese


Inside box, you can find the Booklet, Poster and Battle Guide



Spanish Cosmos Holofoil Ho-Oh:

By opening Spanish Unseen Forces you can find that Ho-Oh has 2 variants: Non-Holo and Reverse Holo (Poké Ball Pattern Stamp + Expansion Logo Stamp). However, Ho-Oh from this Theme Deck doesn’t have any of the characteristics: It lacks of Poké Ball Pattern Stamp and also lacks of Expansion Logo Stamp. (In other words, the Holofoil Pattern is totally different, giving as result a card that can only be obtained via this Deck (at least in Spanish))

I asked Eskizo if he can provide me a photo of his Spanish Cosmos Holofoil Ho-Oh and I started working. This is the result. Hope you like it.

Ho-Oh 27/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) [Cosmos Holo]

To make a comparison of the Holofoil, here you have Spanish Cosmos Holofoil Ho-Oh

… and my Spanish Unseen Forces Meganium (Reverse Holo)

I’d have also liked to make the comparison between the different Ho-Oh Spanish variants from Unseen Forces. However, I haven’t found images with decent quality yet. If I find, I’ll update this thread.

This card was illustrated by Kouki Saitou. When I made a short version of this thread on Twitter, I told him that I liked that illustration. He liked the information!!! :slight_smile:
https://twitter.com/Kouglof0513/status/1687286847226142720

Spanish Non-Holo Typhlosion:

By opening Spanish Unseen Forces you can find that Typhlosion has 2 variants: Holo and Reverse Holo (Poké Ball Pattern Stamp + Expansion Logo Stamp). However, the Typhlosion from this Deck lacks of Holofoil effect and Expansion Logo Stamp. (In other words, the non Holofoil version can only be obtained via this Deck (at least in Spanish))

I asked Eskizo if he can provide me a photo of his Spanish Non-Holofoil Typhlosion and I started working. This is the result. Hope you like it.

Typhlosion 17/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) [Non-Holo]


Illustration by Hajime Kusajima

I’d have also liked to make the comparison between the different Typhlosion Spanish variants from Unseen Forces. However, I haven’t found images with decent quality yet. If I find, I’ll update this thread.

Other cards:

This Theme Deck is technically the “Spanish Equivalent” of Golden Sky Theme Deck. However it include less cards. This Theme Deck includes only 30 cards.
It includes cards such as:

  • Quilava 45/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x2
  • Cyndaquil 54/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x2
  • Quagsire 44/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x1
  • Wooper 79/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x2
  • Pupitar 70/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x2
  • Larvitar 61/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x2
  • Mary’s Request 86/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x1
  • Energy Removal 2 82/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x1
  • Energy Search 94/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x2
  • Potion 95/115 :es: (Unseen Forces) → x1
  • Fire Energy → x6
  • Fighting Energy → x6

Energy cards:

Spanish ex era only had 2 expansions: Ruby & Sapphire and Unseen Forces. It’s curious how in any of those 2 Energy cards weren’t translated despite other type of cards were. They kept it in English (“Energy” instead of “Energía”). Reasons are totally unknown.

Spanish Ruby & Sapphire Fire Energy
Credits: AtoMan

Spanish Ho-Oh Theme Deck (Unseen Forces) Fire Energy
Credits: Eskizo

Spanish Lugia Theme Deck Box?

According to the booklet that came in the Box, it specifies that there’s also a Lugia Theme Deck. It’s probably that it’s the Spanish Counterpart of the English Unseen Forces’s Silvery Ocean Theme Deck. However, its existence is still unconfirmed (I don’t know if Lugia Deck was actually launched in Spanish).

If it exists and you have proves that it’s actually real, contact me as soon as possible.

Conclusion:

To sum up, this is an interesting part of TCG history. Unseen Forces in Spanish is an expansion that for some reason was launched in Spanish and its cards are rare to find. The existence of this Theme Deck was totally unknown for most people (including myself). Eskizo uploaded a video and he contacted me some days ago. Thanks to his work we can confirm the existence of Cosmos Holo Ho-Oh :es: and Non-Holo Typhlosion :es: .

You can watch Eskizo’s video here:

I hope you’ve liked this thread. It was really interesting to write :slight_smile:
Dr. Omanyte

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Thanks for making this post!! I think these niche items and cards are super cool

Also @Typhlosion_Collector did you already know about this non-holo Typhlosion?

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Thanks for the tag! I did not. Guess the question now is are there other unknown rare theme decks in other languages that would contain the Unseen Forces non-holo variant?
Pretty interesting how little documentation there is about releases over the years.

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Hope you’ve liked it!!! I actually enjoy writing about Pokémon TCG (cards, magazines, decks, etc). There’re a lot of “unregistered” TCG media (Mostly for Non-Japanese/Non-English).
Since this Deck is not mentioned technically anywhere, I decided to “preserve” it via this forum. I know that people here actually appreciate this type of information. :slight_smile:

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Yeah I enjoyed it a lot! Preserving it here is a great idea and keep writing anytime you find something cool!!

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Oh look, niche deck information.

Ive been collecting the portuguese half decks when they pop up at reasonable prices. There are indeed ho-oh and lugia versions, although i havent seen specific rewraps that indicate spanish language instead of portuguese (not sure I would notice the difference easily). My most recent buy post shows the lugia half deck in portuguese and once Im back with my collection later this week I can check the language of the cards. The ho-oh i havent seen up for sale for some time but will keep an eye for in the future.

Thanks for the write up. Very interesting. Love the obscurities that have been overlooked with decks.

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Not only with Unseen Forces. I do not discard the possibility that this can also happen with other expansions (mostly for Non-Japanese/Non-English) … and not only in Spanish. Can also happen with other languages.
About your question, I guess that the Non-Holo variant has been launched for all languages which Unseen Forces was launched (A theory I just have … I need to research that to have a near accurate answer)

Spanish ex era in TCG is really mysterious. Has lots of “unregistered” things. In the case of Unseen Forces :es: , it’s difficult to find images. I’ve been trying to contact people who might have images to work on them in an attempt to preserve them all.

Yes, I totally agree with the part of little documentation you mention.

P.D: If I manage to find or if someone provides me information about Lugia Deck :es: , I’ll create “a sequel” of this thread, but related to that specific deck. Also, if I find cards/products that might be unregistered on Internet and might be unknown for most collectors.

Hope you’ve liked the thread!!! :slight_smile:

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The box actually indicates that cards are in Spanish, but memorabilia are in Portuguese. Spanish version is rarer to find (that’s probably why you haven’t seen rewraps). For me, this product is totally new. I’ve never heard of it before (until some days ago).

The Portuguese version seems to have the same memorabilia as Spanish version. The difference is in the language of the Deck.

Yes, I’ll also keep an eye to these Decks. Lugia Deck is still unconfirmed in Spanish
Thanks for the message!!! Hope you enjoyed this article!!!

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Hello dude, nice thread! It’s not in Spanish, but I do have the Lugia deck if you need scans. I’m planning to buy another one to actually open later, so when I do (which will take a while as I’ll need to import them from Europe) I can give you something more detailed. But I did see some people already unboxing it.
Now, I did some detective work on portuguese-speaking pokémon marketplaces and found that there is a suspicious amount of Spanish versions of cards that I’m 100% sure belong to the lugia deck, which at least makes me believe that they had at the very least a Portuguese booklet with Spanish cards in them, as did the Ho-oh. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything else, I just know friends that say they remember seeing the Ho-oh and Lugia decks in stores and that’s not completely reliable.
Good luck on your research! Hit me up if you need any help.

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Awesome … I might write about the Portuguese version of the Lugia Theme Deck also.
Do you have a Discord account??? If you have, give me your username via DM to send you a friend request. Thanks!!! :slight_smile:

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