by ZombieMiki | Apr 20, 2017 | I Love Eevee, Pokemon, Pokemon Merch News, UFO Catchers
Hello everyone~
Today’s blog post is all about claw machine prizes, so if you love Banpresto and plush, you’re in luck!
A couple new Pokemon Sun & Moon series plush are coming out in May.
Alola Marowak, Alola Sandshrew, and Alola Ninetails plush will be released May 25th (Thursday). Each of these plush measures in at about 14 cm (5.5 in).
Ash’s Pikachu is the hot item this summer because of the summer Pokemon movie, and so consider this plush the first of many. Ash’s Pikachu, measuring in at about 25 cm (10 in) will be released May 11th (Thursday).
Finally, a large Snorlax plush (measuring in at about 35 cm or roughly 13 in) will be released in game centers May 23rd (Tuesday).
More Kororin Plush will be coming out in May.
A large Pikachu Kororin plush, measuring in at about 26 cm or 10 in will start appearing in game centers May 18th (Thursday).
A smaller set of Pikachu evolution line plush (Pichu, Pikachu, and Raichu with each measuring roughly 12 cm or 5 in) will start appearing in game centers from May 16th (Tuesday).
The most recent I Love Eevee release will conclude with Leafeon and Glaceon (releasing May 11th – Thursday) and Umbreon and Espeon (releasing May 25th – Thursday). All the Eeveelution plush are soft and minky and measure in at about 25 cm or 10 in.
Moving on~
Since I’ve arrived in Japan, I’ve already visited a bunch of game centers (because what else do I do with my time?) and here are some photos of the Pokemon Banpresto prizes that are currently out!
Mew and Mewtwo Kororin Friends plush were released April 13th (Thursday) and are still very much in stock all over. They’re adorable legendary beans that need snuggling!
Komala (from the general Pokemon Sun & Moon series) and Sylveon and Jolteon (the first from the most recent I Love Eevee series) all came out April 6th (Thursday). Sylveon stock depends on the location of the game center and how difficult their machines are. The machines I visited today in Tokyo only had a few Jolteons left, but obviously this game center in Chiba still had a bunch.
Today brought us the next set of I Love Eevee plush – Vaporeon and Flareon! They’re both super soft, and Flareon is especially adorable with his huge poofy tail and his cute little fire face.
We’ll have a short break from Banpresto prize releases until the 25th (Tuesday) when Vulpix and Alola Vulpix plush come out, and before that, we have Friday Pokemon News to look forward to. So stay tuned!
Until tomorrow~
by ZombieMiki | Mar 18, 2017 | Pokemon, Pokemon Center Report, TCG
Hello everyone!
As regular readers can tell, the site is different. I’m currently in the process of fixing up the site with a new theme, so I appreciate everyone’s patience as I stumble my way through here.
But in the meantime, we have exciting new releases ahead of us, so let’s dive right in~
Along with the release of the newest set of booster packs (“Awaiting Islands” and “Alola Moonlight”) a bunch of brand new TCG related items also came out, including the ever popular card sleeves. There were five designs with this release:
Alola Vulpix & Ninetails
Mimikyu
Ditto-chu
Wild Ride, featuring Tauros and Tapu Koko
And the Lycanroc duo!
This same illustration was also featured on a single deck box.
There were two double deck sized boxes available as well, featuring a slightly different Lycanroc illustration
And a super cute Mallow’s Cooking illustration, with Rockruff, Pikipek, and Bounsweet.
There was also three new Special Sets, each featuring a unique promo card that can only be obtained through these sets. One set featured Jangmo-o
One with Komala
and one with Pikachu!
On a side note, the three special sets plus Mallow’s Cooking deck box were the only items to sell out (as of this posting) from the TCG release, which is interesting considering the Alola Vulpix and Mimikyu card sleeves. I guess to be fair, none of the items that sold out were limited, so I can see card people buying as many as possible, but it was still surprising to me. Of the three special sets, Pikachu sold out first (but also to be fair, that illustration is really cute!)
Pikachu’s Easter promotion came out today (along with a couple other items) so stay tuned for the next Pokemon Center Report hopefully coming soon!
by ZombieMiki | Mar 12, 2017 | Pokemon, Pokemon Center Report, TCG
This past Saturday was Metal Charm Lollapalooza at the Pokemon Center.
But before we dive into metal charms…
The very popular Lillie and Nebby card sleeves were re-released with a higher quality matte finish the first weekend of March. Unlike the original release, these sleeves did not sell out in milliseconds. The artwork is still adorable.
Metal charms!
The Pokedex metal charm release covered all Gen 7 Pokemon + mythical beasts and all Alolan Forms.
Pokemon were grouped together based on evolutions or formes, so depending on the Pokemon and the evolution chain, some were sold in singles, or doubles, or triples (or more!)
Here are three examples of a three part evolution set.
The Rockruff set included both Midday and Midnight forms.
Mimikyu was all by himself (but I promise he was surrounded by his friends!)
The Alolan Forms were not sold as a single (or double) set. All Alolan Form Pokemon were included in a set with their original forms. In this case, you can see both types of Vulpix and Ninetails here. For Pokemon who have three evolutions plus three Alolan evolutions, all of those Pokemon were included in one set for a total of six. Which is kind of annoying if you already had the previously released charms and only wanted the new ones, but such is life.
One thing of note: maybe it’s just my imagination but I feel like quality has gone down for the metal charms. Agree or disagree?
Moving on!
One of my favorite series, Pokemon With You, had a new release of merchandise on Saturday the 11th as well. Incidentally, the anniversary of the Tohoku Earthquake back in 2011. (For more information on the history of Pokemon With You, check out this past blog entry.)
The theme for this year’s Pokemon With You line-up was a flowering garden, with one of the items on sale being a seed set so you can grow your own flowers, and the main Pikachu being a topiary hedge…which is cute in real life but maybe didn’t translate so well into merchandise. Hashtag they tried.
Some of the items from the release included (the aforementioned) topiary Pikachu mascot plush
Cute stickers and postcards (note: I always recommend the stickers from the Pokemon With You series because they almost always if not always use non stock-art poses)
A handkerchief
And a memopad, including four different paper designs.
We also got some new Pokemon With You metal charms! The three Johto starters (Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Chikorita)
Alola Vulpix, Alola Raichu, Bewear
Snorlax, Lapras, and Dragonite!
And that concludes today’s Pokemon Center Adventures.
A special shout out to Jen from Japan Stuffs for being a hand model in the majority of these photos. So professional, she makes it look easy.
Until next time!
by ZombieMiki | Mar 2, 2017 | Pokemon, Pokemon Merch News, TCG
3.7
[Banpresto] I Love Gengar – Large Plush (Rerelease)
3.8
[Pokemon Candy] Pokemon Pokeball Collection
3.9
[Banpresto] I Love Gengar – Plush (3 Versions)
3.11
[Pokemon Center] Pokemon With You ~Always With You~
[Pokemon Center] Pokemon Gen 7 Pokedex Metal Charms
[Event] Masuda will be at the Mega Tokyo Pokemon Center collecting donations for children affected by the 3.11 Tohoku earthquake from 3-4 pm.
3.14
[Banpresto] Pokemon Sun & Moon Big Plush (Bewear, Mimikyu)
3.16
[Banpresto] Korotto Manmaru (Popplio, Litten, Rowlet)
[Banpresto] Pokemikke Large Mascot Plush (Mew, Eevee, Gengar, Meowth)
[Banpresto] Pokemikke Large Plush (Pikachu, Ditto)
3.17
[TCG] Awaiting Islands / Alola Moonlight Booster Packs
[TCG] Card Sleeves (Mimikyu, Ditto Transform, Lycanroc, Alola Vulpix + Ninetails, Wild Ride)
[TCG] Deck Boxes (Normal: Lycanroc, Double: Lycanroc, Mao’s Cooking)
[TCG] TCG Special Sets (Jangmo-o, Pikachu, Komala)
[TCG] Tapu Bulu EX Starter Set
[Campaign] Buy 5 booster packs to receive 1 special promo pack
[Campaign] Special holo promo card given for every box of booster packs bought
3.18
[Pokemon Center] Pikachu’s Easter
[Pokemon Center] Shiny Tapu Koko Metal Charm + Miscellaneous Stationary
[Pokemon Center] Pokemon Center Exclusive Plush (Tapu Koko, Shiny Tapu Koko, Stufful, Alola Persian, Alola Dugtrio)
[All-Star Cushion] Pikachu, Eevee
3.22
[Banpresto] Pokemon Sun & Moon Acrylic Charms (Rowlet, Litten, Popplio, Lunala, Solgaleo, Tapu Koko)
[Candy Figures] Pokemon Kids (Tapu Koko, Gumshoos, Bounsweet, Alola Raichu, Alola Rattata, Pyukumuku, Mimikyu, Bewear)
3.23
[Banpresto] Pokemon Sun & Moon Large Plush (Bounsweet, Steenee)
[Banpresto] Pokemon Sun & Moon Mega Big Plush (Wobbuffet)
3.25
[Pokemon Center] Ditto Transform! Part 4
[Takara Tomy] Snorlax Plush
[MonColle] Brionne, Dartrix, Komala, Tapu Lele, Torracat
3.28
[Merchandise] Meowth PC Plush
3.31
[Merchandise] Art Jigsaw Puzzles (Pikachu, Eeveelutions, Alola)
by ZombieMiki | Feb 15, 2017 | Pokemon, Pokemon Merch News, TCG
The next set of Pokemon Sun & Moon TCG booster packs (“Awaiting Islands” and “Alola Moonlight”) have been officially announced!
This post will cover everything TCG related coming out on the booster pack release date of March 17th (Friday).
First up, the booster packs themselves. Each pack will contain 5 random cards and cost 162 yen each.
For card sleeve enthusiasts, there will be five new sleeve designs, all sold in full deck packs of 64 sleeves per pack at 777 yen each after tax.
The five designs include: Alola Vulpix + Ninetails, Mimikyu, Ditto Transform, Lycanroc Pair, and Pokemon Ride.
Based on experience and recent trends, there is a good chance the Vulpix and Mimikyu sleeves will sell out very quickly, so if you want them, keep that in mind.
Along with card sleeves, there will also be two types of deck boxes coming out on March 17th.
The Lycanroc design will be available as both a regular and double sized deck box, while the Mao’s Cooking design will only be available as a double sized deck box.
The regular sized box will cost 390 yen after tax and the double deck boxes will cost 1,500 yen after tax.
Three new Pokemon Card Game Special Sets will go on sale starting March 17th, featuring Pikachu, Komala, and Jangmo-o promo cards.
The Komala set will include 1 holo promo card, 1 booster pack of “Awaiting Islands” and 1 booster pack of “Alola Moonlight”. Price after tax is 378 yen.
The Pikachu and Jangmo-o sets will include 1 holo promo card, 2 booster packs of “Awaiting Islands” and 2 booster packs of “Alola Moonlight”. Price after tax per set is 702 yen.
A new starter set will also go on sale, featuring a Tapu Bulu EX promo card!
Each set will contain 2 Tapu Bulu EX cards, 60 random cards, 44 damage counters + 2 markers, 1 GX marker, 1 Pokemon coin, 1 Playmat, and 1 Pokemon TCG player’s guide. The set will cost 1,680 yen after tax.
Finally, we have two different card campaigns starting March 17th!
Buy 5 booster packs from a store that deals with Pokemon cards in Japan (some stores excluded), and you will receive 1 special promo card pack.
The promo pack includes 11 random cards plus 1 secret card. The secret card can be 1 of 11 cards: a shiny Tapu Koko, Salandit, or 1 of 9 possible energy cards.
Also starting March 17th, for every full box of booster cards bought at an officially recognized Pokemon Card Gym (including the Pokemon Center), customers will receive either a holo Golisopod card (“Awaiting Islands” booster box) or a holo Dhelmise card (“Alola Moonlight booster box). These two cards are not included in either booster pack sets, so this is the only way to get them.
Both campaigns will be available while supplies last and cannot be combined with each other.
Until next time!
