Okay, I don't know about everyone else, but I'm just about sick with Wizards'
treatment of the pokemon TCG.  They have basically gone on and on  with
making money off of little kids (no, not 9-10 year olds, I'm talking 6-8 year
olds) and has basically thrown those of us who actually play the game by the
wayside. 
    First, they've been INCREDIBLY slow in the release of new sets.  It's
been approximately 4 MONTHS between the release of each new set!  If you
think that's bad enough, one of those sets was a RE-RELEASE of two previous
sets, just a few cards less!!!!! And they quit production of the original
sets, so that they could get you to buy the useless new set!!!  I don't know
what's taking them so long, it probably would only take a week for 3 or 4
people to translate each set, then another 2 weeks to set it up and get it
ready for release.  What the <expletive deleted by author> are they doing
with the other 3 months?  This is NOT the way to keep the customers happy. 
Please.
    Secondly, what have they been thinking, allowing the miscellaneous Rocket
misprints to be played "as is"??  Do they not understand that THEY ARE
SCREWING UP A GOOD GAME BECAUSE THEY ARE AFRAID THAT A FEW LITTLE KIDS WON'T
UNDERSTAND THAT DARK VILEPLUME HAS A FIRE WEAKNESS AS OPPOSED TO A FIGHTING
WEAKNESS?????  Trust me, these little kids can understand plenty.  I've
listened as 7 year olds rattle off the flavor text at the bottom of the cards
BY MEMORY.  Even if they DIDN'T understand the changes, doesn't the warning
say, age 10 and older?  Talk about hypocrisy.
    Third, why the HECK have they chosen to screw around with the expansions
so much?  It's fine that they chose to make the cards holo and non-holo, but
did they need to yank some of the cards in order to make them into promos
(e.g. Fossil Mew), and raise the price of packs?  I mean, you're better off
buying Japanese packs and using them, since 1.  The packs are normally less
expensive, and 2.  There are 2 rares instead of one (I'd rather have a good
rare than two useless commons).  Because you can use Japanese cards of which
the Expansion has already been released in English, it's much wiser to buy
the Japanese packs than the American.  Also, why have they not released as
many promos.  There are a LOT of really cool and REALLY playable promos out
there in Japanese, but haven't been translated (and probably never will). 
Instead, they release occasional new cards, such as Dark Raichu and 3
mythical bird promos that have little or no playability (Who REALLY plays
Dark Raichu?  It appears that it is destined to end up in a binder with Base
Charizard.).  It doesn't take long to design a card, probably an hour or 2
(double if you're totally brain dead), but seriously, we're talking
procrastination here. 
    Next, is there a reason why Wizards won't ban cards?  I'll bet you
Ancient Mew will be tournament legal (holo backing doesn't constitute marking
cards? How surprising!), leaving room for cards like Imakuni?'s Doduo,
Imakuni?, _____'s Chansey, and yes, Imakuni?'s Suggestion (yes, the card that
lets you cheat).  Why won't Wizards do this?  Because they DON'T CARE about
those of us who play the game.  They are too busy focusing on little kids,
that they're forgetting the fact that most of their consumers are older than
8 years old.  I mean, otherwise they would have perhaps limited the use of
some "broken" cards, like SER, Prof. Oak, Electabuzz, Blastoise, and
Wigglytuff (perhaps limiting the number in a deck or totally banning them). 
Doing this, along with releasing new expansions quicker, would really help
slow the oncoming bulldozer of the archetype (no, I don't particularly like
archetypes.  I don't think they should be banned, but I would prefer to play
against some more interesting decks.). 
    Finally, is it just me, or does Wizards treat the game as if it is simply
for little kids?  They don't seem to care that their biggest drawing is from
post-Magic players, or people who didn't really get into Magic (for various
reasons).  Personally, I think that the assumption that because some of the
monsters are cute makes it a little kids' game (even the GB games are meant
for an older audience.  Some of the things some people say are downright
crude.).  Wizards really needs to wake up and start paying attention to its
biggest drawing, or its going to find itself up a certain creek without a
paddle.

    *whew*  okay, that seems to be enough for now.  I guess that was a bit
long, but it takes time to complain like that.  This is the King of Karp,
signing off.

                                            -FossilMagikarp

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