This past Saturday brought us two new releases: the third month’s Pikachu from the Monthly Pikachu series and the Trainer’s Collection ~ XY Heroine ~ promotion.
I arrived at the Pokemon Center at around 9:30 am, assuming there would be almost no one in line and that the Center would open at the actual opening time of 10 am. I was met with a decent sized line of people, enough so that the staff had already decided to open early, or in other words, almost the exact same time I arrived. It was obvious that everyone was there for Monthly Pikachu, though, because as soon as they let us in, that’s where everyone went.
Not surprising, since June’s Pikachu, wearing a raincoat and carrying a tiny umbrella, is incredibly adorable. Out of three months released so far, he might be my favorite!
The Monthly Pikachus have been disappearing from shelves fairly quickly. The original Business-Chu (aka Tanaka) I think made it to Sunday (or even Monday/Tuesday). May Pikachu lasted about as long. This time, the Center must have wanted to try and prolong the stock as much as they could, because right next to the Pikachu display was a sign saying “10 per customer”. Regardless, the Chus were gone by the end of Saturday. (Here is a thought, Pokemon Center: instead of limiting people, why not just make more?)
While everyone was scrambling for Raincoat Pikas, I mosied over to the pretty much empty section of the store where the Trainer’s Collection was set up.
In general, I am not a huge fan of people merch, but the illustrations for this promotion are so cute. Another plus to the promo, unlike a lot of past promos aimed at girls, there wasn’t any hair scrunchies or nail polish!
The tote bag is a very decent size and perfect for a more pastel outfit.
iPhone 6 cases featuring the main promotional artwork.
One of the most unique pieces – a 3D poster. Maybe not as big as some people were expecting, but still nice! I wish the Center would make more posters like this.
Of course, the item I wanted most from the promotion, the die-cut charms, were blind packaged, as if everything in Japan. There were 10 designs in total – 5 die-cut and 5 picture frame designs. Each box contains 1 random charm out of the 10, and you won’t know which one until you buy it and open it. To get a full set, you can always buy a box, but if you are like me and just want 1, then buying an entire box can sometimes not make much sense.
Thankfully for me, out of the 5 I chose, 1 contained the exact one I wanted! And by the time we left the Pokemon Center, it had stopped raining (I love Rainy pika but I dislike rainy days!)
