I love the Mega Tokyo Pokemon Center, but I like experiencing release days at other Pokemon Centers every once in a while, so I was really excited when I realized there would be a special release Saturday while I was visiting Sapporo.
I will go into more detail on the actual Sapporo Center in another post, but in short, the staff are all friendly and while small, the Center had all of the newer items, although not as much older stuff as I was expecting/hoping for.
With the summer movie only a few months away (it usually comes out mid July), the Pokemon Center is wasting no time in building hype via merchandise. Out of the four releases for Saturday, two were movie related.
First up, the two Pokemon Center exclusive plush! Volcanion
and shiny Mega Gardevoir. Gardevoir is basically identical to the previously released Mega Gardevoir, with the main difference being color.
Arriving at the Pokemon Center on Saturday not really being a Volcanion fan, I left feeling the opposite. Maybe it’s just the plush, but his face is really adorable! He looks like a huge cat with a donut on his back. His softness and size make him well worth the price tag.
There was also a series of every day use items with artwork featuring either Magearna, the new pink princess, or Volcanion and his mega evolution minions. There were notebooks, a sticker sheet, clearfiles
Mini towels, handkerchiefs
And t-shirts!
Unfortunately, the t-shirts only came in children’s sizes, which is a shame as I feel like big “kids” might have appreciated shirts with these designs in their sizes as well.
Along with the movie merch, the newest Monthly Pair Pikachu plushies also came out on Saturday!
Similar to the Monthly Pikachu for last year, the May Pikachus for this year also have a Children’s Day theme with the carp flag and hat. Unlike last year’s design, however, this one was apparently stuffed with bricks (I guess so the carp stands up under the weight of two Pikachus?) It’s definitely cute, but there was still plenty of Pikachus when I visited the Mega Tokyo Center today, and I don’t see them selling out any time soon.
Last but not least, a new expansion pack for the card game!
The Champion set, called “Ex M Break” contains previously released cards, but all of them are shiny/holos! 1 pack contains 10 cards and costs 500 yen after tax.
To help promote the new release, this Jirachi card campaign also started on Saturday; to get Jirachi, simply buy 10 packs of cards (or 1 box worth).
This Blastoise Mega Battle Special Pack also came out on Saturday. The set contains 1 Blastoise EX card, 1 pack of Ex M Break cards, and 2 packs of The Awakening Psychic King cards, and retails for 972 yen after tax.
Until next time!
