Normally, a new line of plushies from the already merchandised-to-death Pokémon industrial complex wouldn’t be that noteworthy. However, the Pokémon Center in Japan is selling a new line of plush toys called “My Pikachu” that do have one pretty remarkable characteristic. Unlike the vast majority of plush toys, these Pikachus are all individually unique. That’s right. Your squishy mouse friend will be distinctly different from all the other hundreds of squishy mouse friends. They’re even made out of recycled plastic in honor of Earth Day.
According to on person who glimpsed them firsthand and shared her photos on Twitter, some of them make slightly different facial expressions or arm poses. Some have different ear and tail lengths. Others have bigger feet or electric pouches. Even the stuffing is different, so you get plush toys of varying squishability. God, I love Pikachu.
She also wrote that indecisive buyers can get a Pokémon Center employee to pick out a random Pikachu for them by calling out “Pikachu.” An employee would then place the selected plush inside a tree-themed cabinet, and the customer could open the door to reveal their unique Pikachu—a tactic that was especially popular with children. But there’s no shame if you want to do it as an adult. If I wasn’t such an exacting toy collector, I’d think about doing it too. Unfortunately, these toys are currently Japan-only, and you have to buy them onsite.
But even Japan-based buyers have had little luck acquiring their own unique electric mouse. One Pikachu fan was late by a few hours for the time-limited offering, causing her to lose out on the highly coveted toy. Apparently, many customers aren’t fans at all. They’re resellers who relist these toys online at double their price. Whether it’s sneakers or PlayStation 5s, it seems that nobody can escape scalpers in their hobby market.
Some Pikachus are more popular than others. The photographer noted that the shiny-eyed Pikachus were more popular than the normal variants. But honestly, all Pikachus are good children, no matter what my boss thinks. I’m hoping that all of them are appreciated for their individual qualities. It’s what Pikachu deserves.