Games Reviews Holiday Gift Guide – Toys – The Pokémon Company

Pokémon has been something I’ve loved since I was in grade school and it was the hot new item on the block. All the kids had it, including myself, and being able to now – 20 years later – review all these great products has been a great privilege for me! Thanks again to the Pokémon Company for all the support they have shown GamesReviews in 2017, and we hope to review even more next year. Until then, here are a few of the products we looked at this year, that might make a great gift for a friend! You can browse ALL Pokémon products by visiting the Pokémon Centre, or online via your favorite retailer.

Pokémon Premium XY Trainer’s Collection

When you quickly run down the included content, you might wonder where your money is actually going to. Take a closer look, however, and you begin to see the value in the box. Not only are you getting two sets of tournament dice – one set in red, for Pokémon Y, and the other set in blue, for Pokémon X – but you are also getting two sets of Pokémon X and Y card sleeves (65 sleeves per pack), two deck holders that fit nicely into an exclusive Pokémon X and Y deck box, a metal – yes I said metal! – Pikachu coin full of detail, and of two packs of Pokémon X and Y cards…

Pokémon Sun and Moon: Burning Shadows Expansion

The artwork on the outside of the Burning Shadows booster packs is outstanding, and I almost didn’t want to tear into them to see what 10 cards would be inside. Each and every pack includes at least one energy card. While some people hate this – as they probably have been collecting for years and have more than enough energy cards – I think this is incredibly valuable to anyone just starting out. I remember when I first started collecting a number of years ago, and wanted to play competitively, I had to purchase Energy cards form eBay just to get myself going…

You can see a breakdown of a deck-to-deck battle, and whether or not the cards inside are balanced by reading this article!

Pokémon Sun and Moon: Guardians Rising

This release brings along new Alola forms of popular Pokémon. The Alolan Sandshrew for example, is particularly awesome, taking what was generally a pretty bland Pokémon – both in the design and artwork on the cards – and turned it into something awesome. It is definitely a card I’d love to have in my collection…

Pokémon Sun and Moon: Guardians Rising – Island Guardians Tins

Each tin comes complete with 4 packs of cards from various generations of Pokémon. Traditionally, the theme of the tin itself will dictate two of the picks found inside. As these are Pokémon Sun and Moon: Guardians Rising tins, of course we had two Guardians Rising packs in each tin. The other two packs are often randomized based on what has come out previously. In this case, it was XY Evolutions and XY Steam Siege…

 Pokémon Sun and Moon: Crimson Invasion Expansion

Crimson Chaos Across Alola! The mysterious Ultra Beasts have arrived, invading the Alola region as crimson-tinged Pokémon-GX and other allies of Alola defend the islands-or will the Ultra Beasts take control? Find out when you battle for the prize with the Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon — Crimson Invasion expansion!

The new expansion from The Pokémon Company includes over 110 cards, including 8 all new GX cards, 9 new trainer cards, 1 special energy card, and of course 2 Ultra Beasts: Guzzlord-GX and Nihilego-GX! Although we haven’t jumped into the two starter decks that have launched alongside this expansion, we did rip into 18 booster packs. The pulls throughout were OK for us: not great, but not terrible either. We were able to grab these two cards however, which got me really excited as they are beautiful to look at, and both of which are ultra rare!