By Emily
Resisting the allure of the Pokemon Center-exclusive Pokedoll plush is difficult, and a wide variety of them have been made. Even though the current generation of Pokemon is less than a year old, a good number of characters already have a Pokedoll. Some have even gotten the large DX Pokedolls or the plush pens featuring a miniaturized version of the Pokedoll plush. But since so many have been available since summer last year, keeping up with new and old releases may be a bit difficult, and quite pricey.
The first two Pokedolls of the current generation were Zorua and Zoroark, available around the time of the fourteenth Pokemon movie. The two Pokedolls tied in with the movie closely as both characters were major characters, plus they were the first two fifth generation Pokemon revealed.
A short while after the Pokemon Black and White games were released, Pokemon Center plush were produced instead of Pokedolls, but they returned en masse in November 2010. November saw the release of three new Pokedolls featuring the starter Pokemon Snivy, Tepig, and Oshawott. They were the first Pokedolls in quite a while, and even more were announced for December – Munna, Axew, and Minccino were available a couple weeks before the Christmas holiday.
To kick off the end of the year a raffle was held for the two newest large Pokedolls Reshiram and Zekrom. Unlike the previous fifth generation Pokedolls, these were comparatively huge. Large Pokedolls are not new, as they were also made during previous generations, but these were the first for this era of Pokemon. They were available starting in late January, and were followed by the final evolutions of the starters. These three were released a couple of weeks after the legendaries, and all were a little under two and a half times the price of a regular Pokedoll.
The next set of small Pokedolls were released in early March and featured Cubchoo, Whimsicott, and Blitzle. The prices returned to normal, but the large earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan forced the Yokohama and Tokyo Pokemon Centers to close for a lengthy amount of time, so the plush were only available at the few other Pokemon Centers in Japan. In mid-late April Audino, Foongus, and Minccino had their Pokedoll plush revealed, and at the time of this article are available at all the Pokemon Centers in Japan.
Due to the two Victini movies coming to theatres soon, new Pokedolls will soon be available of Pokemon that have important roles in the movie, like Victini and the two legendary dragons. Any Pokedolls relating to the movies will be available closer to the start of the movies, possibly in June like the Zorua and the Zoroark Pokedoll.
One of the recent Pokedoll-based merchandise is the plush pens that have only been available in Japan Pokemon Centers. A small version of the Pokedoll plush sits on top of a ballpoint pen, and the tag features the plush’s original Pokedoll tag. They were first available in February and the options included all the starters as well as Minccino and Munna. Sticker sets have also been made of the Pokedoll artwork. A good variety of the sticker sets have been made, and each sheet focuses on the Pokedoll of one Pokemon.
Since the release of Black and White in the United States the Pokemon Center kiosks have been selling the Zorua and Zoroark Pokedolls. While they may not be tagged as Pokedolls, they are the first of the fifth generation ones to be sold in America. The starters were also available for a short while during the Black and White tour, though they sold out before the tour was over. They will very likely be available soon in the kiosks, along with other Pokedolls from this generation.
Pokedolls have been popular for a very long time, and the popularity seems to only be increasing with the newest generation of Pokemon. All of the Pokedolls are evidence to that, and now with the Pokemon Centers setting up shops in America people have more opportunity to buy them. So many different Pokemon guarantees that every Pokemon fan can get their favorite Pokemon as a cute pocket-sized plush.
Tags: Plush toys