This past Saturday marked the start of August and what will probably be the slowest month, merchandise wise, of the summer.
The main release for August 1st were the Pikachu Carnival mascot plush.
Although all the mascot plush were roughly the same size, the two carnival Pikachus were slightly more expensive than the rest of the batch (maybe due to the clothes?)
The set also included Mudkip
Goomy
Dittochu (with his cute little ice cream)
And not forgetting Slowpoke, who arrived a little early for Slowpoke Day on August 10th!
The Carnival plush also arrived just in time to celebrate the start of the Pikachu Outbreak! event going on in Yokohama all throughout the month of August. If you are around the Yokohama area and love Pikachu, I highly recommend stopping by as the event is mainly lots of costumed Pikachus walking around, dancing, posing for photos, and just being adorable in general.
The brand new regional pins also came out on Saturday, but unlike every other regional item to date, for some reason the pins are gacha (grumble grumble). They’re still cute, but would have been nice if you could just get the one you want. Why must everything be gacha or kuji, Pokemon Center?!
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, the heat and humidity continues…
Today’s announcements didn’t bring us much actual news, unfortunately, just new photos.
One piece of news that was actually new: Village Vanguard is once again exclusively selling a series of Pokemon items, this time featuring Goomy (in space!). All of the items pictured will go on sale in select Village Vanguard stores from July 25th, except for the pouches, which go on sale starting July 31st.
As part of the news that isn’t new, we got the official announcement for Lazy Plush Round 2. These plush will come out August 15th, except for the Slowpoke plush, which will come out August 10th along with a couple other Slowpoke items in honor of Slowpoke Day (August 10th).
Also not new, the Pikachu Carnival mascot plush! Although part of the Pikachu Carnival promotion which came out July 18th, these plush will appear in Pokemon Centers on August 1st.
While we’re talking about news that isn’t new, we can’t forget the ever popular Monthly Pikachu! Gordon Ramsay Chu will be released at all Pokemon Centers in Japan on August 8th. We also learned that October Monthly Chu will come out September 19th but otherwise no other information for now.
In celebration of Tanabata, the Tohoku Pokemon Center will be giving out these special Tanabata themed shoppers to all customers who buy something from the Tohoku Pokemon Center. Also, for every 5,000 yen spent at the Tohoku Center, customers will receive a pair of these very cute Tanabata Pikachu charms.
On a parting note, for anyone who has been keeping up with all the merch releases for July 18th, I neglected to mention these two Pikachu MonColle figures! Both the Ash Pikachu and Battle Pose Pikachu came out on the 18th.
The Daisuki Club updated with new photos of the merchandise from the 7/18 Pikachu Carnival promotion!
In keeping with the carnival theme, items from this promotion feature Pikachus in festival costumes and other Pokemon dressed up as Pikachu.
The illustrations on this mini hand towel are especially adorable!
This mini memopad is not only cute…
…but useful, too! Each page can be torn out and folded…
…so each page can stand up on their own!
The most exciting news was the introduction of these mascot plush, which Pokemon did not tell us about with the initial announcement of the Pikachu Carnival promotion! Unlike the rest of the Carnival merchandise, the mascot plush will be released August 1st. The mascot plush line-up includes Carnival Pikachu (female/male), Dittochu, Goomy, Mudkip, and Slowpoke.
