Welcome to Vol. 4, issue 9 of Johto Times! In this issue, we are publishing our interview with The Tohjo Falls, a Pokémon fansite which opened in mid 2001. For this interview, we speak with Gary (Raichu), who was the co-writer for the website. We also have our usual recap of Pokémon news!

Splash down in the Pokémon Pokopia DLC "Bubbly Basin" when it releases in August 2026

GENERAL

• The next wave of LEGO Pokémon products will be released on August 1st, 2026, including a 1,083-piece Rayquaza set, a 1,190-piece Arcanine set, and a 757-piece Munchlax set. Additionally, LEGO's first Pokémon-themed minifigures have been revealed, including a standalone 930-piece Red Minifigure set, and a 2,368-piece "Iconic Trainer Moments Poké Ball" set that comes with minifigures of Pikachu, Eevee, Red, Professor Oak, and a Picnicker.

Source: Pokémon

• The final of the three "Pokémon Jet Blue" collaboration jet designs with the Japanese airline ANA has been revealed, featuring all ten Water-type Starter Pokémon. The jet will begin service in December 2026.

Source: Twitter

• Pokémon UNITE celebrated its fifth anniversary this month with special Login Mission rewards and an event adding Yveltal, Palkia, Reshiram and Solgaleo to the game. A two minute live-action "Special Movie" also released on Pokémon UNITE's Youtube page on July 24th, 2026.

Source: 5th Anniversary Event, Special Movie

• Pokémon Sleep celebrated its third birthday with an event beginning on July 20th, 2026, adding the Sinnoh Starters and a new feature called Munchlax's Nap Island to the game as well as gifting several Festive Flower and Candy bonuses to players. A new expert area, Cyan Beach, will be added on August 10th, 2026.

Source: Pokémon, Cyan Beach

POKÉMON TCG

• The latest English expansion, Pitch Black, released on July 17th, 2026, with Mega Darkrai ex as the headlining Pokémon, and also featuring cards such as Mega Zeraora ex, Mega Chandelure ex, Morpeko ex, Gwynn, and Gladion's Final Battle.

Source: Pitch Black

• The latest Japanese expansion, Storm Emeralda, will be released on July 31st, 2026, with Mega Rayquaza ex as the headlining Pokémon and releasing in conjunction with the Mega Rayquaza ex-themed Ruler of the Skies expansion in TCG Pocket two days prior. Storm Emeralda features cards such as Mega Golisopod ex, Mega Golurk ex, Mega Malamar ex, Raikou ex, Heat Rotom ex, Wishiwashi ex, and Zinnia's Trust, as well as three new Stadium cards that require two copies at once to play. Storm Emeralda will become the main component of November 2026's English Delta Reign set.

Source: JP Storm Emeralda Set Page

• The next set worldwide, the 30th Celebration anniversary expansion, releases on September 16th, and products such as the Elite Trainer Box, have been available for pre-order on the Pokémon Center website for multiple days in July.

Source: 30th Celebration

POKÉMON POKOPIA

• A playable demo of the Pokémon Pokopia Bubbly Basin DLC will be available at PokémonXP and the Pokémon World Championships in August 2026. Bubbly Basin is also available through the Pokopia Expansion Pass DLC that is available for purchase on the Nintendo eShop this August.

Source: Expansion Pass DLC

Feature: Interview with The Tohjo Falls

The Tohjo Falls was a fansite which launched in late July or early August 2001. It was created by Matt and was supported by a user called Raichu, who was a co-writer for the website. Raichu (also known as Gary) kindly agreed to an interview with Johto Times to discuss the original website, his memories of his time working on it, and being part of the Pokémon community back then.

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It’s fantastic to be speaking with you, Gary! Please introduce yourself to our readers

Raichu:

Hi, I'm Gary (or Raichu). I'm 34, and I was one of the people who helped on [The] Tohjo Falls, a Pokémon fansite owned by Matt. I mostly provided Matt with information, and I started writing a bit for it in 2003 to around 2005.

The Tohjo Falls in February 2002

You joined The Tohjo Falls in 2003 as a “co-writer” for the website. What encouraged you to get involved?

Raichu:

I was on the site [from a little earlier] than 2003. I believe I came in [as a visitor] around maybe late 2001, though I was a small kid back then, around nine years old. When I was ten, I foolishly thought, "I'm old enough now!" when help was asked, because I had hit the double-digit age of 10 the year prior in 2002 and I was close to becoming an 11-year-old. I'm fairly sure Matt was 12 or 13 and much more well-versed than me comparatively, so it wouldn't have done any harm if I could write on it too. I was obviously wrong. I believe we used something like, I think it was NewsPHP or NewsPro? I'm really not that sure anymore, but we used that to make those posts. Matt had set up an account for me and everything, and I still wonder how that didn't mess up.

The website covered various arms of the Pokémon franchise, such as the video games, TV show, movies, trading card game, and fan-created content such as art and stories. What were some of your favourite pieces of content from the website?

Raichu:

My favorite parts were mostly the TCG and the video games. I honestly think the games pages were my favorite; they had a bunch of info that I loved to use. I remember that the Ruby and Sapphire page had some information on it that was wrong now that I think about it. I think we had Kyogre listed as a starter Pokémon somewhere. We were fairly amateurish about it. My favorite page to take [a look] at was the one for Gold and Silver; it was full of information that I for some reason just found interesting to see.

The Tohjo Falls in June 2002

What were some of your contributions to The Tohjo Falls?

Raichu:

I mostly posted on the News feed and gave Matt information to use when writing on his pages. My own writings back then were childish, because... well, I was a child to begin with. I loved my exclamation marks and using the word "u" instead of "you". I was also just very, very bad at spelling. Looking back at it, I do still have fairly fond memories of writing those news messages.

What was it like to work with Matt, the creator of The Tohjo Falls?

Raichu:

Matt was a nice person. He was, from what I knew, fairly enthusiastic. He liked a lot of cute stuff, which of course also meant he liked the more cutesy Pokémon. He liked drawing, from what I knew, and I'm fairly sure he tried to have an anime-inspired style. In retrospect, he and I were probably both stamped nerds as kids, since I came in quite late when Pokémania was starting to peter out. We unfortunately haven't talked since about 2006, and I practically have lost all ways to contact him, as his email seems to return an unfound mailbox last time I tried to send one.

The Tohjo Falls in April 2003

Like many websites back then, The Tohjo Falls also had its own web forum. Thinking back, how would you describe your community?

Raichu:

The forum... oh god. I don't remember much of it. It was a forum on, I believe it was called AlxNet? Or Bravenet. I'm not sure what happened with it, but it is probably shut down, too. I believe it was a fairly calm community, from what I remember.

You were active online in the Pokémon fan community during those earliest years. What were some of your fond memories of visiting websites and communities back then?

Raichu:

It was mostly tightly knit, for lack of a better word? If you went from one web site to another, you'd find another web site, and another, of people just making their own little community, as I view it. It's why affiliates were so important. If you had an affiliate, they linked to you, and you'd link back. There'd be a chance for someone who was visiting an affiliate site to visit yours. You could find MIDI files to download, too – I'm fairly sure I might still actually have some of those, somewhere. There were a bunch of fan sites with their own links, but also those on Tripod, GeoCities and AngelFire. It's sad GeoCities is gone; I recall I had a website of my own on there, but for the life of me can't remember its link. There were some toxic people, like on any online community, but I don't recall seeing them around often back then compared to now. It's also entirely possible I'm viewing all this through nostalgia glasses.

The Tohjo Falls was revived in 2025 by a user called Duke, with the blessing of the original team, retaining the original look and feel of the original website. This screenshot shows the website as of July 2026

Archival data for The Tohjo Falls is lacking, but based on our research the last update made to the website was on September 28th, 2003. A couple of years later the website seems to disappear. However, in September 2025, it was resurrected and came back under the leadership of a new webmaster! What can you tell us about that?

Raichu:

The Tohjo Falls went on beyond 2003. I'm fairly sure we wrote pages beyond that time- I remember writing some stuff to Matt about Diamond and Pearl very late into 2004, when it was just barely announced! To get back on topic, the re-launch was a bit of a surprise for me. About a year ago, I got an email from the webmaster in the form of an email directed to anyone with my (very, very old) email address name. They asked me if they could have the blessing to re-launch it, since someone had told them to seek permission first. I was honestly shocked that the site was remembered by someone in the first place, let [alone] that they wanted to bring it back! I allowed it; I didn't really see the harm of it that much. I recently took a look at it, and I think they're doing a good job at it.

At the time of this interview, Pokémon has recently reached its 30th anniversary. Looking back, what are your thoughts on the franchise, and how it has impacted your life?

Raichu:

30 years of Pokémon... man. Well, Pokémon did make my childhood far less boring, that's for sure. I did catch (pun intended) that there's apparently over 1000 of them now, when there were "only" 251 when I started with the series. That's almost 800 extra Pokémon! In the middle of the 2010s, I slowly began losing my connection with it, especially going into adulthood, but it hung around for a while before that. Recently, I've been picking it back up with my son (6) with Pokémon Shield, and his favorite is Pikachu. Like father, like son. I have grown to like some of the newer Pokémon, like Emolga. I actually made a pyrography of that one, once! I believe I forced myself to like that one while playing Black and White, because Pikachu and Raichu weren't in Black and White when I played it.

Raichu's pyrography of Emolga

Gary, thank you very much for taking the time to reach out and talk to me about your time working on The Tohjo Falls, and for everything you, Matt, and the rest of the team contributed to the Pokémon fan community. Before we end this interview, do you have any closing comments you would like to make?

Raichu:

No problem, and I'm flattered you wanted to interview me! As a final comment... I'd say, keep being you. You only live once, so be the best "you" you want to be, instead of what others want you to be. You're never too old to learn new things! And thank you so much; I appreciate you for having me despite my shortcomings.

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We are extremely grateful to Gary (Raichu) for taking the time to answer our questions and allow us to add a new chapter to the story of the Pokémon fan community. We extend our thanks to the original creator Matt, for creating the website, and we wish Duke, the new owner of The Tohjo Falls, the very best of luck with the site’s future!

Interview conducted on: April 24th, 2026
Interview published on: July 30th, 2026