The Pokémon TCG Pocket has responded to recent allegations of plagiarism by removing Ho-Oh and Lugia cards from the Wisdom of Sea and Sky expansion. The rare Pokémon cards are now blank when players pull them.Pokémon TCG Pocket Replaces Ho-Oh and Lugia With Placeholder CardsScreenshot: Reddit, lanjiujiuOn July 29, popular Pokémon fan artist lanjiujiu made a post on X comparing his 2021 artwork of Ho-Oh to the new Wisdom of Sea and Sky card. Many players then claimed that the new Pokémon TCG Pocket Rare was actually a trace of the fan art. However, The Pokémon Company quickly responded to the allegations on July 30 by outright pulling the new Ho-Oh and Lugia cards from the mobile game.Players opening up the new Wisdom of Sea and Sky packs were surprised when they started pulling “blank” Ho-Oh and Lugia Illustration Rare’s with no artwork on them. The Pokémon Company confirmed that they had been swapped with placeholders in a statement made on the game’s official site. According to the blog post, the Pokémon artist was not responsible for the plagiarism, as they were provided with reference material to create the final product.Screenshot: The Pokemon Company, DeNA“After internal review, we discovered that the card production team provided incorrect reference materials as official documents to the illustrator commissioned to create these cards. As a result, both cards have been replaced with temporary placeholders. The team is actively working to replace them with new artwork as soon as it’s ready. We are also conducting a broader investigation to ensure no similar issues exist elsewhere in the game.”Pokémon Card Artist Didn’t Steal Fan Art After AllScreenshot: The Pokemon Company, DeNAWhen the allegations of plagiarism first appeared online, many were surprised as Pokémon artist SIE NANAHARA is one of the game’s best illustrators. However, based on the official statement, it appears Nanahara was given reference material to make the card. So the issue squarely falls on TCG Pocket’s card production team.Hopefully, this is a one-off situation and doesn’t turn into a Marathon plagiarism crisis. With Bungie, they’ve now faced several allegations of plagiarism dating back years. Interestingly, they also claim it’s due to incorrect reference materials “accidentally” being given to their artists as official material. Still, Pokémon TCG Pocket has moved a lot quicker to resolve it. However, it does put a bit of a damper on the launch of Wisdom of Sea and Sky, particularly because the set’s rarest cards are currently just blank.Screenshot: X @lanjiujiuThe artist whose artwork was stolen also made a post on X about The Pokémon Company pulling the new cards. “I appreciate the prompt resolution and hope the matter rests here. My original post stemmed solely from perplexity.” Lanjiujiu also clarified that the stolen Ho-Oh artwork was a private commission he created for a fan, and as for why the new Lugia card was also pulled, it’s because its animation also featured Ho-Oh. Both Pokémon cards were also immersive artworks, making the matter a bit trickier to resolve.The post Pokémon TCG Pocket Removes Cards Following Plagiarism Allegations appeared first on VICE.