A Guide To: The 1999 Tropical Mega Battle Bilingual Exeggutor
By: Raichuforyou
Introduction
A bit of an enigma in the Pokemon card collecting scene, the bilingual Exeggutor given out at the 1999 Tropical Mega Battle (TMB) is one of the most elusive cards ever released by Media Factory. I recently came into possession of one and because this card is so overlooked, I wanted to detail a few things about it for the community. I had a hard time finding information about it and most of the info I did find was from a long time ago.
Oftentimes the threads and sources I found were based merely on speculation or hearsay. Therefore, in this guide I want to discuss the circumstances of this card’s release, how to identify the TMB version, and provide a side by side comparison of the TMB version and the Trainer’s Magazine Volume 3 version. Most of this is not new or groundbreaking but it is a compilation of the facts about this extremely rare promo from the heyday of Pokemon.
The Road To Hawaii: Distribution
So what was the Tropical Mega Battle and how did players earn the original bilingual Exeggutor? The Tropical Mega Battle was a series of 9 regional events in Japan during the summer of 1999. These events were intended for younger players (ages 11-14) to battle it out for a chance to play in the finals. The finals were to be held in Hawaii (August 24-27) at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Players from the all over the world would come together for one exclusive tournament. In the USA, the top 12 ranking players in the DCI point system (the American ranking system) got an invite to Hawaii. Japanese players earned an invite by qualifying at one of the regional events.
Speculation Time: Attendence
Because each of the 9 Japanese regional tournaments yielded 3 trophy cards, it would make sense that 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place players at each event received an invite to the TMB finals. That would mean 27 Japanese players got an invite to Hawaii. Based on reported attendance, not all of the Japanese players were able to attend.
The most reliable estimations place attendance of the 1999 Tropical Mega Battle finals between 36 and 50 players. We do know that a year later in the 2000 finals there were 42 players. The number 42 was officially disclosed by Wizards of The Coast in an online Q&A chat session. So it’s probably safe to assume the 1999 finals had a similar number of
The bilingual Exeggutor was given to each participant of the Hawaii finals at the award ceremony on the last day of the event. Because so few were legitimately distributed it is important to collectors to know exactly how many are out there. Pinpointing an exact number would be exciting, however, it may not be possible due to translation issues, lack of internet and overall bad documentation at the time, and loss of records when the game transferred from WOTC to the Pokemon Company. At best we can say less than 50 copies of this card were distributed.
Speculation Time: Copies
Another number that came up in my research was 36. Due to the scarcity of this card I would not be surprised if distribution was this low. Because the TMB in 2000 had about 42 participants I would assume the first event in 1999 had slightly fewer.
Image from 2000 Tropical Mega Battle
In summary the distribution of this card was extremely limited. Only the best players in their division could earn the invite and even fewer could make the journey to Hawaii that August. Given the amount of time that has past since the event took place it is likely that a few have been lost. Some of those young players may not have realized that this would become such a sought after collectible. Today even finding images of the card is difficult and those that exist are few.
Multiple Personalities
If you are familiar with early Japanese promos you know that many of them received reprints for alternate forms of distribution. I believe this is because they knew how difficult it was to obtain some of them in the first place. So, in true Media Factory fashion, the bilingual Exeggutor was reprinted and released as an insert in Trainer’s Magazine Volume 3 later that year in October. This version featured a glossy finish which seems to be the biggest difference between the two releases. The TMB version was printed without this glossy finish. This is most visible in the middle image below.
HD Images provided by @linkdu83 . Trainer Mag Version on the left; TMB Version on the right
The other major difference between the TMB version and the Trainer’s Magazine Vol.3 version is the level of saturation in the colors. While the Vol.3 version features deeply saturated colors, the TMB version looks washed out and faded. Where the Vol.3 version may have dark grey in certain places the TMB version will have a lighter grey (almost white sometimes). The same is true of the brown, tan, and green colors in the card. The color difference is also evident in the Energy symbols and set symbol. Overall the TMB version looks a bit lighter than your average Japanese card from that era. The top and bottom images above illustrate the difference in colors and
One other key difference to note is the text. The text on the TMB version appears more faint and looks almost as if it were written with pencil. The Trainer Mag version has a more saturated black text. This is most apparent in the text at the very bottom border of the card.
Exeggutor Used Confusion!
Older forum posts on E4 (at the time UPCCC) show that the TMB version remained a total mystery in collecting circles until over a dozen years after its initial release. Speculation had been tossed around about how the two versions differed and what if anything made the TMB version unique. Many people had come to believe that the TMB version had different text on the bottom border. An image from one of the Japanese CDs was cited as evidence of this:
It made sense that the TMB version would not contain the phrase “Trainer’s Magazine Vol. 3”. Some speculated that it should contain a phrase referencing the TMB or Hawaii.
Eventually that was proven to be false as a competitor from the 1999 TMB chimed in on the conversation. Username djcantu2 was able to clarify once and for all:
Thanks for reading! Any comments or suggested edits are welcome. I’ll make edits as necessary.
After getting a Tropical Mega Battle Bilingual Exeggutor last year I had trouble verifying that it was indeed the TMB version. I did conclusively verify that it was later on. This guide is intended to help identify the TMB version from its Trainer Mag counterpart and provide background information on the card. Enjoy!
Great guide! I always love reading about the TMB and other first-generation tournaments.
As the owner of one of the TMB trophy cards, I’m curious as to whether anyone on the E4 has compiled a list (partial or complete) of with who and/or where all of the original-era trophy cards (PIkas, TMBs and SSBs) have ended up. Are all of the cards accounted for? Have some been lost to history or the trash heap?
I think a long time ago we started a thread on here trying to put a list together with current owners but for some reason it stopped…
I know for a fact that many copies are still in the hands of the winners
I think it was @pokemontrader who started the thread tracking the trophies. He must not have had time to keep it going. Either way interesting to know that some remain with their rightful winners!
@japanime thanks for checking it out! I’ve found myself pretty interested in the early events lately. It’s amazing that some of this stuff happened over 20 years ago already!
A lot of the trophy cards are with private collectors. Back in the day it was easier to catalog everything, but they are so spread out today and more private.
Hey guys! Just added some images provided to me by @linkdu83
He scanned both versions of the card in HD quality. This shows us the two cards side by side in greater detail.
He was also nice enough to scan the article in Trainer’s Magazine Vol. 3 for me to add.
Thanks for that Henri!
