{"product_id":"retro-2007-pokemon-diamond-pearl-gamestop-window-cling-store-promo","title":"Retro Pokémon TCG Diamond \u0026 Pearl Window Cling 🎴 2007 \"On Sale Here!\" Retailer Sign, Dialga \u0026 Palkia","description":"\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VXKypYlNPRk\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize: 8 x 8 inches\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003e🎴 The Sign That Told a Store Diamond \u0026amp; Pearl Had Landed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI love finding a piece like this because it was never supposed to survive. This is an original 2007 Pokémon Trading Card Game window cling — square vinyl, eight inches on a side, made to hang on the inside of a game store's front window and announce to everyone walking by that the new set had come in. It was never a product on a shelf; it was the store's own sign, and once the launch was over it was supposed to come down. This one didn't. I have three of them, all unused, and that's exactly what makes them worth pulling out and putting up now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🐉 Dialga and Palkia\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two dragons squared off across the design are Dialga on the left, in blue, and Palkia on the right, in white and pink, with a band of rainbow sheen running down the middle between them. They aren't decoration — they're the cover legendaries of the Nintendo DS games Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, one to a game, and putting them together on one sign is the whole point of it: both versions had just arrived at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🃏 What Landed in Spring 2007\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Pokémon Trading Card Game's Diamond \u0026amp; Pearl expansion released in English on May 23, 2007 — 130 cards, the first set of the Diamond \u0026amp; Pearl series, and the set that ushered in Generation IV for the card game. It's also where Pokémon LV.X cards made their debut. The set launched alongside three theme decks built around Torterra, Infernape and Empoleon, and it landed right around the 2007 Spring Collector's Tins. This cling is the retail announcement for all of that — the sign, not the product.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🔁 Why the Words Run Backward\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLook at the photo and the text is mirrored — DIAMOND \u0026amp; PEARL and ON SALE HERE! both read backward. That isn't a printing mistake. It's a window cling, printed mirror-image so that once it's up on the glass it reads the right way round to the people outside on the sidewalk. Laid flat for the photos, it shows you the mirror image, just the way it came. (That also means Dialga and Palkia swap sides once it's in a window.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏬 Where I Think These Went Up\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy best read on where these went is GameStop. It was the place in this country for something like this, and when the Diamond and Pearl games themselves launched on April 22, 2007, GameStop and EB Games ran launch events at more than 3,000 stores nationwide. A card-game window sign for the same launch, a few weeks later, had a lot of doors like that to go up in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏢 A Company That Isn't Here Anymore\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cling is signed, the way these things always are, by the company that made it: Pokémon USA, Inc. Nintendo formed Pokémon USA in 2001 to run the property's U.S. licensing directly, and in June 2003 it took over publishing the trading card game from Wizards of the Coast, who had run it since the game began. Pokémon USA held that job through the Diamond \u0026amp; Pearl launch and beyond, until 2009, when it merged with its UK counterpart into The Pokémon Company International — the outfit that still runs things today. So the name printed on this sign belongs to a business that stopped existing on its own seventeen years ago. That's as good a way as any to date a piece of paperwork.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrinted small along the bottom edge, mirrored right along with everything else on this face, is the cling's actual license line: \u003cstrong\u003ePokémon USA, Inc.\u003c\/strong\u003e in one corner, and \u003cstrong\u003e20-11792-10001 © 2007 Pokémon © 1995–2007 Nintendo\/Creatures Inc.\/GAME FREAK inc. TM and © are trademarks of Nintendo\u003c\/strong\u003e along the other. That's the full rights stack for a licensed Pokémon product of the period, printed right on the piece.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e📋 The Specifics\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8 x 8 inches, square vinyl\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFront: Dialga (left) and Palkia (right) over a mountain-and-cloud scene, the DIAMOND \u0026amp; PEARL wordmark, the Pokémon TRADING CARD GAME logo, and ON SALE HERE!, with a rainbow sheen band down the center\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBack: blank\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLegal line printed along the bottom edge, quoted in full above\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade for retailers only, in 2007\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eQty: 3, all unused\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧾 Condition\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have three of these, and all three are unused store stock — none of them ever went up in a window. The one in the photos is the plainest of the three, and I pictured it on purpose: the other two are as good or better.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼️ Where It Could Hang\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrame it square and it reads instantly as what it is — real 2007 store signage, not a poster of it. It sits well anchoring a shelf of Diamond \u0026amp; Pearl cards, games or figures, or holds a wall on its own in a game room or office, Dialga and Palkia squaring off for anyone who walks in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e❓ Questions\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eIs this an original 2007 piece, or a reprint?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's original. The printed 2007 Pokémon USA copyright line and the launch-specific Dialga and Palkia artwork place it right at the Diamond \u0026amp; Pearl release — and Pokémon USA stopped signing things under that name in 2009.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy does the text read backward?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's a genuine window cling — these print backward on the sticking side on purpose, so the design reads right once it's up against a window and viewed from the street.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWas this ever sold in stores?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo — it was distributed to game retailers as launch signage for the Diamond \u0026amp; Pearl set, not sold to shoppers. A store could hang it; nobody could buy it off a shelf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHow many do you have?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree, and each is sold individually.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/retro-2006-world-of-warcraft-tcg-authorized-retailer-window-cling\"\u003eRetro 2006 World of Warcraft TCG Store Window Cling 🎮 GameStop Retailer Display, Blizzard Upper Deck\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1941-hein-brothers-plumbing-washer-card-manitowoc-wisconsin\"\u003e1941 Hein Brothers Plumbing Advertising Washer Card 🔧 Manitowoc Wisconsin\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/vintage-1950s-ringling-bros-barnum-bailey-circus-decal-the-greatest\"\u003eEnco Ringling Bros Barnum \u0026amp; Bailey Circus Waterslide Decal 🎪 Greatest Show on Earth, NOS 1950s Windshield-Luggage Transfer\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43779699310824,"sku":"VAG-7953973772520","price":127.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.6845442194_jmyf.jpg?v=1785358537","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/retro-2007-pokemon-diamond-pearl-gamestop-window-cling-store-promo","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}