No Pokemon Center updates for today (maybe tomorrow?) so have a Pokemon Center Report instead!

This post will cover the releases that came out December 23rd. Christmas weekend was especially hectic for Pokemon Centers in Japan as the 23rd was a public holiday, meaning most people took advantage of the three day weekend and were on vacation. When this happens, the Pokemon Center likes to stack a bunch of popular releases all on the same day, because they love chaos and disorder I guess, since the Centers are usually unprepared and have a bad habit of not having enough stock or putting all the popular stock in one corner, making it difficult to get to and easy for a couple people to swoop in and take everything.

Of the new plush that were released, Mimikyu ended up being the most popular by far, maybe even more so than the Center was anticipating in my opinion. The limits of 10 per plush per person were back, but it hardly slowed down the rabid purchases of this not-Pikachu plush, with Mimikyu selling out on Amazon within 15 minutes, selling out on the Pokemon Center on-line site within 4 minutes, and selling out at most “brick and mortar” Pokemon Centers within an hour.

Which leads me to an important word of advice from your friendly neighborhood Miki for the up-coming year. We’re coming out of a lull where things were not selling out instantly and I think everyone has grown a little complacent, but times are a changing. If you want a plush or a figure or an anything of a Pokemon that you know is very popular (Mimikyu and Alola Vulpix are prime examples) do not wait until the last minute to order. By pre-ordering, you guarantee that you will get the thing that you want. If you wait for popular items, there is a good chance they will sell out within the first day and there is no guarantee that shops that offer pick-up services will have extras. Again, if you really want a thing, there is no point in waiting. If it’s very popular, you will be able to sell it afterward if you end up changing your mind, but if you wait, you risk losing out or having to pay scalper prices (sometimes triple or more shelf price), and no one wants that.

If you order directly from Amazon or the JP Pokemon Center On-line website, make sure you’re on the site at midnight (for Amazon) or 10 am JP time (for the Center store). If you order through a pick-up shop (like Japanstuffs) make sure you pre-order, and again, if it’s something you really want, make sure you place the order well before the release date. I’m sure things will calm down again over time but I have a feeling with how popular Pokemon has suddenly become again, things might get a little hairy in the up-coming year, so again, if you really really want the thing, don’t wait!

Moving on to the actual Center Report 😉 There were two sets of new Pokemon Center exclusive plush that came out December 23rd. The first batch included a couple new Sun and Moon related Pokemon.

Mimikyu was, as previously mentioned, the most popular plush from the day by far. For a Pokemon who just wants to be loved, he sure is.

It’s a little bit of a surprise to me how popular Bewear is (especially over Stufful) but no one can deny his popularity! And he makes for a cute plush, too.

Alola Raichu was another popular plush, although still not as popular as Mimikyu (nothing is!)

Alola Meowth, looking super sassy

And not forgetting Alola Marowak!

The second batch of new Pokemon plush were all Gold and Silver related.

We got the three starters: Totodile

Chikorita

And Cyndaquil, as well as…

Espeon

Umbreon

and Slowking! (All Slowking fans rejoice)

The very adorable line-up of mainly home goods, called “Alola Friends”, also came out on December 23rd. All the items are things you can use around your house to keep things organized while looking cute and feature a cute and simple semi-retro-esque illustration.

Some items of note: the free boxes! Usually the Center sells these boxes in one size only, but this time they had long and short options.

The free boxes are useful for storing items and come with a tiny clip that you can attach to the side of the box for decoration, or anywhere you like. They usually sell out fairly quickly, but with something so cute and practical, how could it not.

I loved the bowls. Like the free boxes, there were two sizes of bowls

With the designs being slightly different depending on the size. I caved and got the smaller bowl because I really love the illustration style (and Raichu!)

The series also sold these cute “wall story” stickers. They’re designed so they can be stuck to walls around light switches but also easily peeled off without leaving too much (or any?) damage to wallpaper.

You can’t go wrong with Raichu (and surfing Pikachu!)

The super large (relatively speaking) can badges of all 151 original Pokemon also came out on December 23rd!

These badges are roughly 3 x 3 inches and are a great addition to any collection.

My hope is that they’ll continue releasing badges for all the Pokemon up to Gen 7, but I have a feeling this won’t happen. But still! (Minccino badge, please be mine)

Until next time~