The Pokémon Center store offers a wide variety of Pokémon TCG accessories. Like many Pokémon TCG products, they tend to sell out quite quickly, so every once in a while, the storefront restocks with a selection of accessories from the past. They've recently relisted one of the most tragic card playing surfaces in the TCG, the Substitute Playmat.
At first glance, the Substitue Playmat seems quite benign, cute even.
In Pokémon, the move Substitute creates a fluffy green doll that swaps into battle to take hits on behalf of the Pokémon that created it. The art of the playmat depicts several Pokémon playing around and having fun with substitute dolls. A ditto has transformed into the doll, a Pikachu has dressed up like one, and a Squirtle has kitted one out in a pair of sunglasses. No matter how many Pokémon there are, almost all of them can use Substitute.
Then there's Cubone, in the top left corner, just cradling the doll and crying its eyes out. Cubones are inherently tragic Pokémon. To quote Cubone's pokedex entry from Pokémon X, "It wears the skull of its dead mother on its head. When it becomes lonesome, it is said to cry loudly."
The decoy dolls from Substitute bear a passing resemblance to Cubones. They have similarly structured bodies, with comparably shaped ears, the same ridges on their back, and the same short tails. The Cubone on this playmat is weeping and embracing the doll, evidently using it as a substitute for its deceased parent. An incredibly morbid vignette to cram into the corner of an otherwise playful and innocuous playmat.
The Pokémon series has plenty of surprisingly dark moments, particularly when you start delving deeply into the Pokédex. Has anything in Pokémon ever made you shudder unexpectedly? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord server.
For a bit of positivity, after this gloomy Cubone story, check out our list of the best Pokémon cards.