Intermezzo: Gold & Silver Pre-Sheets, May – August 1999 (4 sheets)
By the Summer of 1999, feverish anticipation gripped the Japanese Poké-fandom, for the new Poké-videogames, Gold & Silver (G&S), were but months away. With innovations like full colour graphics, a day-night cycle and not one, but two full regions crammed into a single Gameboy cart, G&S promised to boldly go where no Pokémon game had gone before. Perhaps most importantly, Johto stood to expand Kanto’s Pokédex by 100 brand-new creatures, and naturally the run-up to November 1999 saw an accelerating stream of new Pokémon teasers and reveals.
Take the cuddly, eggshell-occupying Togepi that appeared in the Pokémon anime as Misty’s companion as early as 1998. Or Pikablu – a.k.a Marill – that showed up to pacify a restless Crystal Onix a year later in March 1999. Or Murkrow: I distinctly remember gawking at a mysterious crowlike bird Pokemon that Summer of 1999, entirely mesmerised by the (I assume) leaked CoroCoro image of the novel Pokémon Yamikarasu. And does anyone recall the skateboard rumours? ‘Twas a glorious time to be a young Pokéfan.
In any case, with Generation Johto knocking on the door, it would’ve been remiss for Shogakukan to forego a juicy piece of this incredible hype cycle. As you might expect, flagship publication CoroCoro Comic partnered extensively with the Pokémon Company to drip-feed the fandom scraps of tantalising Poké-info all throughout 1999. By contrast, the Grade-Specific Learning Magazines (GSLM) defaulted to their forte: Pokéstamps. Capitalising on the prerelease momentum, Shogakukan developed a series of four new mini stamp sheets showcasing some of Gold & Silver’s upcoming additions to the Pokémon pantheon.
The sheets, included in GSLM Years 1-6 between May and August 1999, were as follows:
May: Slowking & Marill
June: Bellossom & Hoothoot
July: Ledyba & Togepi
August: Lugia & Elekid
Gold & Silver teaser “pre-sheets”. Note the question marks where the Pokedex number would be.
Gorgeous, aren’t they? I’m particularly enamored by the illustration of a derpy Slowpoke family hanging out by the seaside and, of course, by the XL Lugia stamp, showing the Guardian of the Seas busy whipping up one of its trademark tempestuous storms. The storytelling vibes are similar to the Complete Campaign’s Story Series, aren’t they? Beyond that, the question marks (???) for yet-unknown Dex numbers were a nice touch, although I’m somewhat perplexed that the Slow-family was irreverently given Slowpoke’s existing number. And isn’t four Elekid stamps a little much? Hmm. I presume that Magby, Smoochum and Igglybuff were still under wraps.
Surprisingly, it appears that there was no accompanying stockbook or stockfile for the pre-sheets, no collection poster, and not even a depiction of an overexcited Kaichou singing the praises of the new generation. You’ll understand that the Gold & Silver hype cycle didn’t exactly conclude in August 1999 nor, quite frankly, with the games’ release that November. If anything, the popularity of these smash hit adventures only grew as the public got stuck in. Yet the pre-sheets opted to not tease more ???-Dex Pokémon1There was, in fact, one more ???-stamp: 1999’s Lugia Movie sheet included a ??? Slowking. See Miscellany sections. – where’s my beloved Murkrow – and bridge the gap to the G&S release. Of course one might consider two months’ worth of missing sheets inconsequential. But what if I told you that the Gold & Silver stamp campaign proper didn’t kick off until April 2000 (!), leaving a lengthy eight-month intermission – the first such break since the Original Campaign blazed the trail way back in April 1997. On the whole, then, the pre-sheets had the trappings of improvised, truncated stampage antithetical to the meticulously methodical campaigns that came before.
We can only speculate as to the pre-sheets’ ad hoc nature and seemingly premature demise, as well as the comparatively late arrival of the subsequent Gold & Silver Campaign. Quite possibly, Stadium’s worse-than-expected performance factored into Shogakukan’s pressing of the Pokéstamp pause-button. As likely did a general stamp fatigue on account of both Pokéfans and publisher after some two-and-a-half years of nigh-uninterrupted campaigning, from Original to Blue, to Complete, Stadium, and now the G&S Pre-Sheets. Whatever the precise reasons, it wasn’t until April 2000 – eight months past the Lugia & Elekid pre-sheet – that the ambitious, much anticipated Gold & Silver Campaign finally arrived, as we shall see shortly.
NAVIGATION:
Stadium Campaign < > Gold & Silver Campaign
Audiovisual
Slowking & Marill pre-sheet, June 1999.
Bellossom & Hoothoot pre-sheet. GSLM June 1999, Year 1. Note the adjacent Pinball sheet.
Ledyba & Togepi pre-sheet, July 1999.
Lugia & Elekid pre-sheet. GSLM Year 2, August 1999.
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