Hello Pokemon fans, and welcome to The Stadium's first ever Pokemon of the month article! Today's featured Pokemon is the beloved Typhlosion, so before we jump into Typhlosion's TCG scene let's take a quick look at what makes this Pokemon so great. Typhlosion was introduced all the way back in 1999, in Pokemon Silver and Gold, the second generation of Pokemon games. In addition to that it was the final evolution for the fire type starter, Cyndaquil, which has caused it to burn a passion in the hearts of trainers even more so than other Pokemon have been able to over the years. Let's take a quick look at some of Typhlosion's cards and products now, and see why it's as loved as it is by collectors!
Pictured above are the two first ever Typhlosion cards to hit the scene, both of which debuted in the set Neo Genesis, which came out in December of 2000. These cards are about 22 years old then, which just shows how long of a history Typhlosion has had in the franchise. Back when it first debuted in Pokemon Gold and Silver, it had two different sprites as well, so maybe having two different cards in distinctly different poses was an allusion to that?
Typhlosion went under the radar for a while after the Johto era was through, as the new Hoenn Pokemon took the scene and stole the show back in 2003. While all of the second generation sets were some type of 'Neo', all of the third generation sets were some type of 'ex' and this is because of the brand new 'ex' cards which had debuted. These new ex cards were really interesting to see at the time, and still are! Rookie collectors nowadays obviously know about the EX cards which were featured between the Black/White and X/Y series, but may not know about these older cards. At the time, these ex cards were powerhouses, and may have been the start of the TCG power creep which is very much prevalent today. Pictured below are the two Typhlosion ex cards which were apart of this era.
Now, before we may move on, there is one more item in the Hoenn series that we cannot simply gloss over: Delta Species cards. These were an interesting series of cards, which have yet to make any sort of modern reappearance, to the dismay of many. These cards featured Pokemon with a typing far off from what they're normally portrayed as, with little reason given as to why they have their new attributes. Now, I bring up this randomness to try and tell you dear reader, that the typing may not have been as random as once imagined. In the present, about fifteen years later, we may have a reason why Typhlosion was given the typing it had. Typhlosion's delta typing was Ghost, and what typing is Hisuian Typhlosion? This all may be a farfetched theory of mine, but if it were true it may be one of the greatest plots of foreshadowing in modern history!
Moving onto generation 4, this was the era which Typhlosion fanatics really had a feast. Within the SInnoh era, The Pokemon Company really went ham with creativity, with three all new types of cards, those being: Lv.X cards, Prime cards, and Legend cards. The reason why there was such a boom in the Pokemon scene at this time, is all thanks to what was going on in the gaming portion of the company. Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver initially released on September 12th of 2009, and with these remakes of the second generation, came much love from both the company as well as the fans. These games were held at such great heights, that most any Pokemon fan would rank them in their top three of the series. Now that you, dear reader, are aware of the video game scene, let's shift back onto the TCG side of things. For whatever reason, HG/SS have been the only remakes of Pokemon games that have received their own series of cards, totaling five different sets, along with Call of Legends if you choose to include that. Typhlosion received not one, but two different Prime cards in this time period, one of which (left) was a secret rare from the series' base set while the other (right) was from a tin.
Prime cards were just never something that were just never loved while they were in circulation. It really is one of the strangest things to be observed in Pokemon history. While they never received much love at the time, us collectors in the future (with our amazing intellect which far surpasses that which was around back then) seem to love these cards. For the sake of time and convenience we're going to skip forward, to what is going on today in Generation 8 with Typhlosion, and avoid what about 10 years of Pokemon content. Through generations 5, 6, and 7 Typhlosion just didn't receive much love sadly. Sure it was occasionally featured in games and the like, and it had it's time to shine in Pokemon Go, but all in all over the majority of the 2010's this Pokemon seemingly vanished; however, soon it would come out of the shadows!
In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Typhlosion made its triumphant return, with a brand new Hisuian form. Now Typhlosion boasts the ghost type, and looks so great in doing so. We're going to focus on the card side of things though, and stick to that, simply because I don't want to fangirl too much!
Typhlosion Right Now: The TCG Scene
Battle Regions, and the soon to release Astral Radiance have Hisuian Typhlosion as a poster Pokemon for their products, and with how cool it looks can you blame them? Because of the newest addition to the Pokemon TCG roster of cards being Pokemon VSTAR, of course Typhlosion gets Two major cards to collect. Note that there is also a Hisuian Typhlosion V, but really I don't think it stands well enough to compare to these two cards.
Finally, let's talk black star promotional cards! (Hisuian) Typhlosion will be getting not just one, but two different exclusive promotional cards soon, and both of them are well worth the hunt! The first Promotional card will be a different art of Hisuian Typhlosion V, which will come in the summer tins of 2022, which will be the first item to be pictured below. Next, GameStop is reintroducing their own promo cards into the mix, and Typhlosion is going to be the Pokemon to be seen! We Haven't seen anything like this in a while, and frankly this is major cause to be excited! Make sure that y'all pick up your card as soon as they release with Astral Radiance this month!
Congratulations if you've made it this far! Pokemon of the month was frankly an idea that I had whilst sitting in my math class, and I decided to run with it. I hope that this series is able to highlight Pokemon that you all, dear readers, all like and would like to hear more about! I chose Typhlosion for this article not just because of all the hype surrounding it right now, but more so because of how it is one of my favorite Pokemon to date. Please, don't hesitate to leave any thoughts or feedback down below!
