Hello everyone!
First, a quick announcement. I recently opened a store for my original designs over on Teepublic. As part of this grand opening, I am currently running a very quick giveaway for 1 Alolan Raichu Pancake shirt, designed by me!
To enter the giveaway, simply follow my Twitter account (@zombiemiki) and retweet this tweet. Deadline for entering is July 26th (Thursday) 10 pm EST.
Even if you don’t win, all designs in my Teepublic store are 30% off for a little over a day from this posting, so please check it out. You might find a design you like!
It’s almost the end of July and that means the prizes from Banpresto for the month of August have been announced!
What is Banpresto?
Banpresto is a company that manufactures plush, figures, towels, glasses, and other items to be used as prizes for claw machines in game centers as well as kuji prizes. None of these items are designed to be sold directly through stores and cannot be found in Pokemon Centers. Note that the exception to this are Pokemon kujis, however even in this case, you have to win the prizes; you can’t buy the prize you want directly. Typically, you can find these prize items in game centers or sold second hand through auction sites, amazon, or other similar stores.
Most Pokemon releases from Banpresto drop on Tuesday or Thursday, with occasional releases on Friday. Ichiban Kuji generally goes on sale on Saturdays.
Some of the bigger name game centers in Japan include: Adores, Sega, Round 1, Namco, and Taito Station. Not all game center locations stock all prizes. If you’re having trouble finding stock of the item you’re looking for, feel free to send me a message!
From the general Pokemon Sun & Moon series:
Cute Pikachu shoulder towels with hoods! The longest part of the towels measure about 100 cm from one side to the other. This set comes with 2 Pikachu designs in total and will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 3rd (Friday).
From the Ultra Guardians set, two large sized plush (Popplio and Rowlet), both measuring about 19 cm from top to bottom, will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 7th (Tuesday).
A set of cute Pikachu lamps (2 designs in total) will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 9th (Thursday).
From the Pikachu Mania series:
A large Pikachu plush, measuring about 24 cm from top to bottom, will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 3rd (Friday).
A set of smaller Pikachu mascot plush (each measuring about 12 cm), will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 9th (Thursday).
In Japan, August is the best time to start bringing out Halloween merchandise!
An extra large Halloween themed Pikachu plush (measuring about 31 cm) will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 21st (Tuesday).
A set of 3 Halloween themed Pikachu plush (each measuring about 13 cm), will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 23rd (Thursday).
Halloween brings us some cute ghost Pokemon plush as well!
An extra large Gengar plush (measuring about 31 cm) will start appearing in game centers around Japan from August 3rd (Friday).
From the Korotto Manmaru series, a set of 3 large sized plush (Litwick, Haunter, and and Mimikyu – each measuring about 23 cm) will start appearing in game centers from August 23rd (Thursday).
That wraps up the prizes scheduled for release through Banpresto for the month of August.
Until next time!
