My friend and I were talking Pokemon cards and he told me of a butterfree card from burning shadows that’s sort of a nod to the butterfree episode from the anime. Are there any others you know of?
Additionally, which cards reference other TV shows, bands, etc?
Great question! Looking forward to the answers.
I guess the various Unown cards from the Neo era reflect their appearance in the Entei movie.
I actually do not know what a “nod” means, but if I am correct then these come to mind.
I Choose You! Movie Promos:
Pokémon Sun & Moon Ash’s Pikachu:
Ash’s Pikachu Lv. X
Edit: Fell asleep last night doing this post. I will add that aside from cards being a “nod” to the show there is also cards with artwork relevant to the Pokémon storyline itself.
For example:
The Red & Green Gift set is practically a walkthrough the first game.
From choosing your starter in Professor Oak’s lab to catching Mewtwo.
I’m sure there’s a lot more that I’m missing but these are the ones that come to mind.
Not a nod to the anime but the same concept. This squirte from fire red leaf green is a nod to Nirvana’s album cover. Pretty great artwork!
Burning shadows charmander 
It may came out first in the game, but vaguely I feel like the anime influenced the surfing pikachu more…
I made an article about the whole Skyridge set and the artworks in that set referring to Pokémon 2000 TheMovie -guess that’s the kinda thing you are searching for 
Hope you enjoy it!
