Bear Den TCG

Bear's Pokémon TCG Site!

recent posts

  • pokemon holiday calendar 2025: day 1

    First off, let’s take a look at this wonderful full artwork featured in this year’s Holiday Calendar! These calendars typically feature a lot of Ice-type Pokémon, along with popular mascots like Pikachu and Eevee, so I was happy to see Tinkaton included this year!

    As for our day 1 gift..

    Our first gift was this promo version of Articuno from Journey Together, with a sparkly holo effect and the usual snowflake stamp marking it as a Holiday Calendar exclusive! The artwork by Takumi Wada is striking, with rough brushstrokes to give the illusion of swirling snow. What a great start!

  • a small update!

    I’ve been busy, but I’ve sorted through about half of my childhood vintage cards. So far I’ve not found anything spectacular – but maybe that’s a good thing, considering the condition some of these cards are in! I found three Dratini with identical wear along one edge (???) and a Growlithe that was definitely folded into 8 at some point. I’ll make a bigger post about them when I’ve finished sorting and organising.

    Going forward, there’s two things I know will definitely be happening. First, despite the delay, I have some Phantasmal Flames to open up! I haven’t seen any cards from this set (avoiding spoilers) so I hope to be pleasantly surprised by them! And secondly, I got this year’s Pokémon TCG Holiday Calendar, so I’ll be opening that daily throughout December!

    At some point either during or after that, I’ll circle back to the vintage cards, and also back to my Pokédex binder hopefully!

  • more mega evolutions!

    more mega evolutions!

    My last couple of weeks has been taken up by Legends Z-A, which has been just as fun as I hoped it would be, but I did find some time to open a few more Mega Evolutions packs!

    My best pull this round was the Acerola’s Mischief illustration rare! This gorgeous artwork by sui uses some great lighting effects to create a soft and atmospheric colour palette, and though you can’t see it here, the texturing on the card’s surface adds to the effect, bringing Acerola’s sewing projects to life. Lovely!

    Next is this Air Balloon full art. I wanted to mention this because these Trainer card full arts are typically nothing to write home about, falling into that “perfectly serviceable” category while being pretty boring to look at. However, the lighting on the balloon itself here caught my eye. The reflections are really nicely rendered and lend to the 3D shape of the surface, more so than I’ve noticed on other tool cards.

    I’ll also bring to attention these two regular artworks that I really liked. On the left is Chikorita by kamonabe; I’m a big fan of the soft, muted colours paired with the delicate shapes of the shadows falling over Chikorita’s face. The detailing of the decking and monstera leaves creates an idea of a Chikorita thriving among her trainer’s houseplants. On the right is Tangela, illustrated by Yuriko Akase. The urban setting is really fun, with the bounce lighting from the nearby lights creating green highlights along Tangela’s vines, the reflective paving and the sense of depth created by the cone and barrel. With Z-A on the brain, I love the thought of running across this Tangela in a back alley!

    I’ll continue with my Pokédex binder series soon, but next up will likely be some vintage cards, since I found my childhood collection and am currently sorting through it!

  • mega evolutions booster bundle

    mega evolutions booster bundle

    Yesterday was release day in the UK for the new TCG set, Mega Evolution! I managed to get my hands on a booster bundle box with 6 booster packs, and I’d like to show some of the cards I pulled that I enjoyed the artwork of!

    My most impressive pull was this Mega Lucario ex SIR with artwork by Atsushi Furusawa. This incredible dynamic battle scene has tons of hidden details featuring multiple Mega evolved Pokémon, including Abomasnow, Manectric, Kangaskhan and Mawile, all battling over an impressively detailed cityscape. Scenery like this makes me excited for Legends Z-A!

    My only other Mega pull was this Mawile ex illustrated by aky CG Works. I’ve mentioned before that I find most ex artworks to be perfectly serviceable but perhaps not that interesting artistically, and that opinion… isn’t exactly challenged here, but I’m a big fan of the pink and teal effects; that’s just a great colour combo.

    And my only illustration rare today, this delightful Shroodle by Shimaris Yukichi. The chunky lineart and bright colours make this very fun to look at and makes me appreciate a Pokémon that I find tends to go overlooked. Keep doodling, little guy!

    And finally, I’ll mention these three cards with artwork that I love! On the left is Clauncher by Tomokazu Komiya, a favourite artist of mine. The action, linework and colour choices here are all stellar and I love the pencil-line texturing on Clauncher’s carapace. On the right is Shinji Kanda’s Sandshrew artwork. This artist is very popular for good reason; his use of delicate detailing and bold, contrasting colours makes for a very satisfying landscape to show off Sandshrew within. And in the center, I’d be remiss not to mention my favourite Pokémon in this fun scene by HYOGONOSUKE, as Bewear strides carefree through the back alleys!

    Overall, this set has some incredible artists at work and I’d love to talk about some more cards in the future, especially since many of these will definitely be going in my binder!

  • pokédex binder: 1-9

    pokédex binder: 1-9

    So, let’s begin!

    First things first, you need a binder, of course. The one I use has 9 slots to a page and came with 60 pages totaling 1080 slots – plenty of room for the current 1025 Pokémon, though there may be trouble when the next gen arrives. I think this is a great size to use for a Pokédex binder.

    I also sleeve my cards, just for added protection, and for that I just use penny sleeves, which are the cheapest option.

    And lastly, as you may be able to see in the above image, I made a set of index cards, each listing which 9 Pokémon should appear on each page. This helped immensely in the earlier days of collecting, when I couldn’t fill many slots and had to count meticulously to make sure nothing was being misplaced, and now it feels like a mini accomplishment when I get to remove one when I’ve filled that page. As far as I know the only option for these is to make your own, which is a bit of a time investment but definitely worth it.

    So let’s take a look at the cards on this page!

    First up is this delightful Bulbasaur from 151, in reverse holo. The artist for this card is Yuu Nishida, and I love the rays of sunlight beaming down and creating soft yellow highlights on Bulbasaur’s face. The low angle and minimal background leaves more room for the sky above, and the yellow and pink highlights on the clouds set the tone of the sun breaking through.

    Next up, a Venusaur ex from Stellar Crown. Personally, I think ex artworks fall in a tough spot, typically having to pull close on a Pokémon’s dynamic pose and leaving little room for backgrounds or wide shots. With that in mind, I think Saki Hayashiro did a great job on this one, especially with the textures of Venusaur’s skin and petals, and its determined expression.

    This Charmander from Obsidian Flames, illustrated by DOM, is extremely vibrant and dynamic with its swirl of luminous flames, but I’d like to point out the use of line weight here. In more shadowed areas, like the hand and foot, the linework is thicker and darker, while in the lighter areas like the face and back, it’s almost lineless. It’s a subtle detail that helps sell the weight of the movement and brightness of the lighting.

    And finally for this page, Charmeleon from 151, illustrated by GIDORA. Despite being by a different artist and in a different set, I think it goes well together with the Charmander above! They share a dynamic swirl of fire and harsh lighting to highlight its brightness. This card has a more rendered style that helps show Charmeleon’s body shape in three dimensions, and the grey bounce lighting on its head and arm is a very nice touch that helps those shadowed areas stand out.

  • pokédex binder

    pokédex binder

    So, first things first, what’s a Pokédex binder? When I mentioned mine to my friends they didn’t know what I meant, but when I explained it they thought it was neat (I learned about it from YouTube but I don’t think its common parlance yet).

    The simple answer is: A card binder that contains one of every Pokémon.

    You can set your own rules or goals for this binder, so everyone can have their own fun with it. For me, there’s two stages; first, one of every Pokémon; second, the BEST card I can find for each Pokémon. I also set a personal rule to go as far as I can with stage one by pulling from packs alone, so I haven’t bought any singles for this binder yet. I also have a personal restriction that if I get a new card of a higher rarity, I HAVE to replace the current card with the rarer one. Alternately, if I get a different card of the same rarity, I can pick the one I like the most, which has given me a great chance to admire the artwork and learn which artists’ work I like the best!

    I’d like to make a series of posts on this blog exploring my Pokédex binder, discussing my favourite cards and artists, and making updates as I obtain new cards. I think this is a great way to collect Pokémon cards!

  • the beginning

    the beginning

    Hello! Bear Den TCG is my journey through collecting Pokémon TCG cards. I’d like to share what I enjoy about the hobby, some of my favourite cards and artists, and interesting things I learn along the way.