Some of these cards look like a meme. Some of them turned into memes. And a few are pure coincidence, where a Pokémon just happens to be doing the exact thing someone did in a viral photo years ago.
We’ve gathered our favorite Pokémon card memes here, side by side with the images they remind us of. There are a couple you won’t be able to unsee.
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Mega Starmie & Patrick Star
Long legs, hands on hips, and it’s a starfish. It’s uncanny.
Mega Starmie ex · Perfect Order #102 on eBay
Well Akshually Simisear
The “well, actually” meme is the internet’s shorthand for the person who jumps in to correct something nobody asked about. Simisear has the raised finger and the smug little face to match, and now we can’t see it any other way.
Simisear VSTAR · Crown Zenith #GG37 on eBay
Combusken & Scrafty Doing the Dab & Nae Nae
Pure coincidence, and our favorite kind. Combusken was dabbing in 2007, years before anyone else was, and Scrafty showed up a decade late doing the Nae Nae.
Our Picks:
The 6-7 Clobbopus
If you’ve been around anyone under 15 lately, you already know the 6-7 meme. Collectors took one look at this Clobbopus, arms going up and down like the hand motion, and that was that. It’s been the 6-7 Clobbopus ever since.
Clobbopus · Surging Sparks #207 on eBay
Blissey & Homer Simpson Bush
You’ve definitely seen the GIF of Homer slowly backing into a hedge when he’d rather not be anywhere. This Blissey is doing the same thing, just pinker.
Blissey · Aquapolis #H6 on eBay
Grimer & SpongeBob and Patrick
Another SpongeBob entry. Grimer looks like it just got caught doing something it shouldn’t have, mouth wide open, which is exactly the face SpongeBob and Patrick make mid-scream.
Grimer · Aquapolis #79 on eBay
Gold Charizard & the Disappointed Cricket Fan
This one turns Charizard into a gold silhouette on a gold card. If you pulled it hoping to actually see the Charizard, this is probably your face. He’s Muhammad Sarim Akhtar, better known as the Disappointed Cricket Fan, and his reaction at a Pakistan vs Australia match has been the internet’s go-to disappointed face ever since.
Mega Charizard Y ex · Ascended Heroes #294 on eBay
Derpy Cards
These two feel like they came out of a fever dream. You’ve seen these Pokémon a hundred times, just never drawn quite like this. We have a whole roundup of funny Pokémon cards if you want more in this vein.
Our Picks:
Hole Bonsly
This one is a full internet saga. Bonsly is based on a potted bonsai tree, and like a real bonsai pot, it has a drainage hole on the bottom. On this card it’s knocked over and crying, which puts that hole front and center, and the internet decided it looked like something else entirely. Collectors have called it Hole Bonsly ever since.
It stayed an inside joke for years, partly because it was the only English Bonsly card for 16 years. Then creator Emily Hopkins, known for her harp and guitar pedal videos, revealed she’d quietly collected over 300 copies and filled a binder with them, and the whole thing went viral.
Bonsly · Diamond & Pearl #71 on eBay
Cramorant & Swallowed Up Pikachu
Cramorant’s whole deal is swallowing whatever’s in front of it, and sometimes that’s Pikachu. The Japanese promo is literally called Swallowed Up Pikachu, so this one was in on the joke from the start. The Cramorant is from Pokémon TCG Pocket, so it’s digital only, but the two belong together.
Our Picks:
N’s PP Up
We’ll let you read the name again on your own. In the game, PP Up just gives a move more uses, but out of context a lot of collectors went straight to the gutter. And the irony isn’t lost on us that it’s a pill bottle.
N’s PP Up · Ascended Heroes #262 on eBay
Spot the Pokémon
Less meme, more I Spy. Half the joke with these is how long it takes to find the Pokémon at all, and Sudowoodo hiding as one of the trees is about as on-brand as it gets.
Our Picks:
Slakoth & Wooper
No meme to match here, because these cards are the meme. Both look like they clocked out days ago with no plans to clock back in. Slakoth’s attack is called Take It Easy, which reads more like a confession.
Our Picks:
Houndoom & Side Eye Dog
This one’s right on the nose. You’ve probably seen the dachshund giving the most suspicious side eye of all time, and Houndoom is doing pretty much the same look.
Houndoom · Undaunted #82 on eBay
Slowbro & Yellow Jacket Man
Slowbro isn’t the joke here. It’s the Bellsprout peeking out from behind the tree, which is the yellow jacket man meme exactly, the one you send when you’re watching drama unfold or waiting for your food delivery to pull up. We have a whole roundup of cameo Pokémon cards like this one.
Slowbro · Japanese Trainers Magazine Promo on eBay
Japanese Vending Series
More fever dreams than cards. These two are from the Japanese vending series, and they land somewhere between charming and completely unhinged.
Our Picks:
Imakuni? Cards
Imakuni? is a real Japanese entertainer who ended up with his own cards, and they’re exactly as strange as that sounds. His Doduo tells you to throw the card as hard as you can when it retreats, and its attack only lands once you’ve finished singing a song. It’s also banned from official tournaments, which tracks. There are more oddities like these in our roundup of unique Pokémon cards.
Our Picks:
Delta Species Dittos
Every one of these is a Ditto doing an impression of another Pokémon, and the Ditto face gives it away every time. Yuka Morii made them as photographed clay figures, which somehow makes the derpiness land even harder.
Our Picks:
- Ditto · EX Delta Species #62 on eBay
- Ditto · EX Delta Species #39 on eBay
- Ditto · EX Delta Species #37 on eBay
- Ditto · EX Delta Species #40 on eBay
- Ditto · EX Delta Species #35 on eBay
- Ditto · EX Delta Species #36 on eBay
Dugtrio & Diglett
Diglett has been a meme since the 90s for one reason: nobody knows what’s underneath. These three don’t answer the question, but Alolan Dugtrio did show up with a full blowout, which raises a few new ones.
Our Picks:
- Alolan Dugtrio · Surging Sparks #208 on eBay
- Dugtrio · Sword & Shield #093 on eBay
- Diglett · EX Crystal Guardians #50 on eBay
Poochyena & Possum
There’s no single possum meme this matches, it’s more the energy. Possum memes are for when you’re chaotic, exhausted, and a little feral on the inside, and Poochyena is all three.
Poochyena · EX Holon Phantoms #80 on eBay
Gumshoos
Gumshoos has drawn a lot of comparisons to Donald Trump since it was first revealed, mostly over the hair. Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.
Gumshoos · Mega Evolution #153 on eBay
Close Up Cards
You know the photos where a cat’s face takes up the whole frame because it walked right up to the camera? These are those. Slightly too close, and very proud of it.
Our Picks:
- Slugma · EX Deoxys #74 on eBay
- Bewear · Shrouded Fable #079 on eBay
- Typhlosion · Expedition #64 on eBay
- Shuppet · EX Dragon #43 on eBay
Abra & Relief Dog
This is the dog closing its eyes in the sun, the meme for pure relief or for being completely cooked. Fitting, since Abra spends most of its life asleep anyway.
Abra · Twilight Masquerade #080 on eBay
Wigglytuff & Kevin James
This is a Pokémon TCG Pocket card, so you can’t buy it, but it was too good to leave off. That sheepish little smile is the Kevin James meme, the old King of Queens promo photo the internet adopted as the face of mild embarrassment.
Charmander
Last but not least, the one where the card came first. This furious Charmander stuck behind a window became the meme for when you’re happy for someone, but also, deep down, not at all.
Charmander · Scarlet & Violet Promos #SVP044 on eBay
That’s our roundup of Pokémon card memes! Which one did we miss? Let us know in the comments below!
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