This entry into the TrickBusters is one that hasn’t surfaced in a while, but is one of the more interesting stories in the history of the TCG. It actually has more to do with the Dragon Ball GT TCG, but has some roots in the Z game as well.
The Trick: Was there ever a card numbered J2 called Gohan’s Super Kamehameha in Dragon Ball GT TCG?
The Judge promos in the Dragon Ball Z TCG are some of the rarest cards in the game, so it’s no wonder there’s a little bit of mystery about some of the entries into this subset. The DBZ Judge cards are fairly well documented, but the issue arises in Dragon Ball GT where there’s a well-known J1, the previously pictured Broly’s Legendary Ki Explosion, and a somewhat lesser known but documented J3, Judging the Landscape (pictured below). So what happened to J2? Where is it? What is it?
The matter really didn’t get much attention except from a few collectors, with most just assuming it was either an unreleased card or merely an error in numbering. There was no comment from Score or really any speculation on what the card could be at all. And then all of a sudden, rumors started picking up that the missing J2 was a card called Gohan’s Super Kamehameha and that there were actually copies leaked out of Score. But where did these rumors start? Would you believe all the way in Germany?
A well known German collector named Mirko Jaros was contacted by someone in the United States claiming to be Score Game Designer Aik Tongtharadol. FAik, as we’ll now call him, told Mirko that Score wanted to recognize him as the World Champion of Collecting, since he had collected all the World Champion cards permanently released so far, though FAik specifically called out OP35 The Almighty Light Cage, the 2004 Expanded Worlds Champion card. FAik informed Mirko that he would receive a hefty backstock of cards and a copy of the previously confiscated OP 31 Super Dragon Fist and the mysterious J2. All Mirko had to do was send FAik high resolution photos of the rarer OP cards in his collection.
Here is where J2 is first named as Gohan’s Super Kamehameha. FAik goes on to explain that it was mistakenly not printed in the Shadow Dragon Saga expansion so Score went back and reprinted it in the Shadow Dragon style of foiling with the intention of distributing it to the “most passionate collectors of the game” worldwide. The card is described as a “flashback” card featuring Gohan destroying Cell way back in the Cell Games. It was also supposed to be the “strongest energy attack in the DBGT TCG.” A representative from Score was supposed to fly to Germany to deliver the cards personally to Mirko, but no one ever showed. Finally, the real Aik was contacted, who confirmed that none of the communications came from him or Score.
Meanwhile someone on Top Tier Gaming started claiming to have the mysterious J2, and even started calling it Gohan’s Super Kamehameha. Since, up to this point, Mirko had not told anyone about the FAik and his J2, suspicions started to arise as to whether this person and FAik might be one in the same. This time though, the community was involved and the TopTierFAik refused to answer any questions about the card and would not post a picture claiming others would “make counterfeits” (this being before fan made fakes reached the level of near perfection they have now). TopTierFAik eventually got so bold as to propose a trade of his J2 for Mirko’s SZ9 Ultimate Champion, yet still refused to give proof of the Gohan’s Super Kamehameha.
At this point the jig (if there ever was any) was up and the community was now in on it. TopTierFAik went away in a tantrum saying he “did not want to waste his time any longer with childish stuff” (despite this actually involving several thousands of dollars worth of cards). Email FAik sent one last email, apologizing for his actions but never really stating why he did any of it. He was never heard from again. The community mockingly made a fan card of Gohan’s Super Kamehameha to commemorate the whole bizarre incident.
The fallout from this incident was that there was now a name to the mysterious J2. The card still had never been seen, and every once in a while you would see collectors and players asking for Gohan’s Super Kamehameha. The saga eventually came to an end and died down on the final day of Score Entertainment. An unknown Score Employee took the DBGT TCG Master List and released it to the fan community. The list contained gems like the unfinished and unreleased Dragon Ball GT Anthologies Saga, but it also listed all the promo cards for the game as well. Here it listed J2 as… BROLY’S LEGENDARY KI EXPLOSION! There was no listing for J1.
Bottom Line: The missing J2 was most likely the result of a numbering error, since Broly’s Legendary Ki Explosion was released as J1 but appears in the master list as J2. There is no evidence that a card called Gohan’s Super Kamehameha ever existed, and every Score Employee with knowledge of that has confirmed it.
Trick: Busted
Later Broz!
Follow me on Twitter @ArguablyTrue
Mirko Jaros contributed to this article. He is currently looking for Inuyasha TCG Rumiko Takahashi signed cards, please contact him if you have one or know someone who does.
I love this. It was so funny to see it all go down. TopTierFAik is DBZFAN. I think Maupin made that wonderful proxy.
I think they would have been the same person. There wasn’t any discussion about a Gohan’s Super Kamehameha on the forums before DBZFAN mentioned it and Aik got those messages before DBZFAN posted saying he had it.
The request for high quality pictures is what also lead us to assume DBZFAN was responsible for leaking fake world champions cards. Although by that point he had already left the forums and we couldn’t confirm anything.
I had the names, I just didn’t want to call anybody out.
Maybe Gohans super kamehameha will become a retro card?
Good article! Love the new nickname, FAik. Friggin’ genius.
I believe this article to be spot on, but mainly cause I don’t remember. Was about to say “Hey, we DO have a J2! It’s Blue Back Breaker!” and then realized that was Z, not GT.=p
Chippy
Myth Busted
Yes, I was the person who did the wonderful MS paint 5 minute art job, then maybe 2 minute bad text to go along with it. I made that card look so terrible because I felt the need to completely mock the person who claimed that this card was very high quality, but would never show the card or the power.
I would love to see an updated Gohan’s Super Kamehameha. Though the one thing that I request is if Gohan’s Super Kamehameha were to ever be made could I update the terrible stick figure drawing with one equally as bad.
I think the quality of the card suits the lie that was told about it. It looks perfect to me.
Instant of “remove after use”, it should be “destroy after seeing it”
I had thought about making it something like Blacker Lotus ( MTG Unglued set that required you to rip the card when using it ) when I made the card, but the joke was well played with “remove from game after use”.
With that being said lets make it a real retro card with a better power, but the same picture. Kind of like a Players Choice promo set like what was produced from Inuyasha where the best of the best players got a card dedicated to them and they signed a sticker which was (atleast I think the signing of the card was a thing….I could be off in left field with that one).
Kind of like how we take 10 of the original Top Tier Gaming players ( when we were doing the online tourneys ) and 10 of the new Retro Z players and ask them what they feel should get an alternate art of the card and create it as a promo set. Though this could create some confusion because we have the old with the new and it could get very hard to pick out the 20 players.
I remember all this. Good times. I’m more interested on the fate of the real Super Dragon Fist. I’ve heard a lot of things ranging from Score confiscating it, Brady keeping it/selling it/giving it to DBM, etc. It’s an interesting story if it could all be pieced together.
The whole “collusion” fiasco was amusing enough given that match colluding had gone on for years. (albeit never so stupidly explicitly.) But factor in the stories about whatshisface thinking winning would get him a job at score and rob rietze sill getting the money after publicly apologizing at GKI and it turns into a hilarious piece of DBZ history.