ONE of the most popular parts of the Pokémon franchise is the Trading Card Game, which caters to both collectors and players.
Recently, there was an Illustration contest with prizes of up to $5k, and the top three designs will be made into real Pokémon TCG cards.
This is a dream come true for many Pokémon fans, who would love to see their work as part of their favourite franchise.
However, the judges of the competition came under fire after it appeared that several finalists had broken the rules.
Thousands of people submitted their pictures to the contest, but only 300 images made it to the finals.
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There are several rules that entrants must follow, or risk being disqualified from the competition.
As soon as the finalists were announced a number of images came under scrutiny as fans believed the rules had been violated.
The Pokémon Company has now admitted that a violation of the rules has occurred and that the offending pictures will be disqualified.
An official statement reads: “We are aware that select entrants from the top 300 finalists of the Pokémon TCG Illustration Contest 2024 have violated the official contest rules.
“As a result, entrants in violation of the rules have been disqualified from the contest.
“Furthermore, additional artists participating in the contest will soon be selected to be among the top 300 finalists.
“We’re committed to upholding the integrity of the Pokémon TCG Illustration Contest and appreciate fans’ continued support as we celebrate the artistic abilities of the talented Pokémon community.”
Pokémon has not named the images that violated the rules, and currently, the original 300 images are still on the website.
One of the rules states that there is a “Limit of three unique Submissions per person” and that those submitting more than this could be disqualified.
Fans noticed that there are a number of entries among the finalists that are attributed to artists with very similar names, suggesting that people have submitted over the limit.
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Another rule states: “Each Entrant warrants that their Submission is original… and has been created by them alone.”
There is speculation that some images have been created using AI due to issues with perspective, unnatural line work, and blending of distinct objects.
While fans were disappointed that violating images were able to make it to the finals, they are glad that these designs will be replaced with entries from other artists.
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