It's good news everyone, because Pokemon has announced that the chonky 1996 pixel Pikachu plushie we all went mad for is making its way west.
If you're just catching up, the original plushie everyone had a meltdown over (which is fair enough, it was to die for) got announced in Japan at a Pokemon 30th Anniversary media reveal... but it seemed to be Japan-exclusive. Queue much wailing and despair until now, where the US/UK Pokemon Twitter account revealed that the original 1996, gloriously pixellated Pikachu toy would be making its way to our Pokemon Center. That's a win for fans of the best Pokemon merch everywhere.
We don't have pricing for this beast of a plushie yet, but considering how wildly popular it's been in Japan (I'm already seeing absurdly overpriced listings from resellers at eBay), I think speed will be of the essence here. Especially because most plushies on the likes of Amazon boast the newer, slimmer design instead.
So, when will Chonky-chu be making his way to the Pokemon Center in our neck of the woods? It's unclear - the tweet simply says that "We've heard you might be excited about a certain plush... Pikachu 1996 Style Plush and Keychain are coming to Pokémon Center. Stay tuned!" That means it could drop at any time between now and a few weeks, so I'd check in on the Pokemon Center store occasionally to make sure you don't miss out.
Following the franchise's 30th Anniversary, Poke-fever has well and truly set in again. Alongside the reveal of the latest games in the series (Pokemon Winds and Waves) and hugely positive Pokemon Pokopia reviews, including our own, a ton of exclusive merch dropped and was promptly scooped up by opportunistic resellers. That means everyone's scrambling for stock. For example, the best price I can find for the Pokemon Day 2026 Collection is $31.99 at Miniature Market; the pack is quite a bit more expensive at most other stores because retailers are upping the cost to make the most of demand.
With that in mind, I'll be keeping a very close eye on this plush and will yell from the rooftops as soon as I hear any more.
- Save up to $12 on Pokemon plushies at Amazon
If you'd like more Nintendo-shaped goodies, be sure to check out the best Legend of Zelda merch, or the best Lego sets.
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