A planned Shiny Toxtricity promotion for Pokemon sword and shield has been leaked online. A new Reddit post has leaked an upcoming GameStop promotion, which will provide players in the United States and Canada with a shiny Toxtricity. Players will receive a QR code that they can scan in it Pokemon Pass app to unlock the Shiny Toxtricity in their games. While some fans are concerned that the promotion will require players to visit a GameStop store to obtain the QR code required to obtain the Shiny Pokemon, Pokemon Home distributions used a generic QR code posted in a public place, potentially meaning someone could scan the code of a photo posted online. No information about the moveset was available at this time, but it will likely be provided when the distribution officially goes live.
The promotion starts on February 19, which seems to suggest that this promotion ties in with the highly anticipated Shining Fates extension for the Pokemon trading card game. The upcoming expansion will feature more than 120 Shiny Pokemon cards, and many stores are already out of pre-orders due to high demand. One reason for the high demand is that, unlike normal extensions, Shining Fates does not have individual booster packs for sale. Instead, fans will have to purchase special box sets and cans to get the tickets. The crown jewel of the expansion is the Shiny Charizard VMAX card, which will likely sell for hundreds of dollars in the secondary market.
The Shining Fates card expansion is just one way the Pokemon franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The celebration includes new merchandise, new games and other surprising collaborations with popular brands and celebrities. The Pokemon Company has already announced a musical collaboration with pop star Katy Perry called P25 Music, as well as a new McDonald’s promotion and a Levi’s clothing line. The franchise also has several new games coming out – New Pokemon Snap will debut in April, and Pokemon UNITE will be released later this year. More announcements are also expected, including a new pair of Pokemon games that are widely expected to be remakes Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.