Pokemon Center Report – Awakening Psychic King + Card Sleeves

The newest Pokemon XY Break expansion set, Awakening Psychic King, was released today in Japan, along with a couple auxiliary TCG goods, including two new battle decks and 4 Pokemon Center exclusive card sleeves.

IMG_4329

I guess the Center knew that the sleeves would be popular because even with a weekday release, they decided to put the sleeves behind the counter instead of on display in the store. This means no nice display picture, but I’d give up the in-store display for drama-free sleeve buying. The past couple of Friday sleeve releases resulted in me showing up to the Center very early and there being no line, but that was not the case today; the line pre-opening was longer than the line on Wednesday for the Kyoto Center promotion!

Everyone loves Eevee(lutions).

IMG_4375

Along with a non-exclusive Zygarde Perfect Forme design (not pictured) there was the very popular Eeveelution design

IMG_4376

Occult Maniac with Banette buddy

IMG_4377

Ho-oh and Smeargle

IMG_4378

and Octillary, whose name sounds nothing like Octillary in Japanese (random observation).

IMG_4340

These deck boxes, featuring the main Awakening Psychic King artwork, also went on sale today

IMG_4337

Along with two Perfect Battle Decks: Zygarde EX

IMG_4339

and Audino EX.

IMG_4347

The Audino and Mega Audino EX cards are especially adorable, and although I went in to the store today not planning on buying one of these sets, after seeing the card list (each battle deck comes with different sets of 60 cards) I’m tempted to pick one up…

IMG_4341

I did end up buying 5 packs of booster cards in the hopes that I would pull one of the new Minccino cards.

IMG_4374

Out of 5 packs, I pulled 2 Cinccinos. So close yet so far! Also another reason to buy the Audino Battle Deck because it comes with 2 Minccino~ (my babu)

IMG_4343

The second half of this clearfile campaign also started today. Customers can pick 1 clearfile from these 3 designs for every purchase at the Pokemon Center, while supplies last.

Not ready for the week of releases to be over? Stay tuned for tomorrow when a new batch of kuttari plush, the very first monthly pair pikachu, and this year’s Pokemon Easter promotion are released!

Friday Pokemon Announcements – Monthly Pair Pikachu + Card Sleeves + Easter 2016

The weekly Pokemon merch announcements actually came out on Thursday (it happens sometimes!) which was kind of a surprise as I was out at the time catching Eevees from the newest Kororin Friends release. None of the major announcements are really “new” but they did come with nice photos, so they’re worth mentioning!

MonthlyPairPikachu

The very first installment of the brand new Monthly Pair Pikachu series!

Just like Freshman Pikachu started off the Monthly Pikachu series, this time we get two school kid Pikachus, ready for the start of the semester as well as cherry blossom season.

These plush retail for 2,600 yen + tax and will go on sale March 19th at all Pokemon Centers and Stores in Japan, as well as the on-line store.

CardSleeves1

CardSleeves2

Card sleeves! These four designs are Pokemon Center exclusives and will only be available for sale at Pokemon Centers and stores, as well as the Pokemon Center on-line store. Each pack contains 32 sleeves and sells for 362 yen + tax.

Release date is March 18th (Friday). I strongly suggest pre-ordering these designs if you really want them, especially the Eeveelution design, as I have a feeling they will go fast, even with the 10 per design per person limits in place.

Easter1

Last but not least, Easter 2016! If you like Pokemon shaped as eggs, this promotion was designed for you. Release date is March 19th and will be available at all Pokemon Centers and stores, as well as the Pokemon Center on-line store.

(more…)