Life-size plushies are a well-established feature of Pokémon merchandise. This year has seen pre-orders open for a colossal Gardevoir cuddly, alongside a range of Eeveelutions that are bigger than your pet dog. But when it comes to the non-soft toys, the size tends to be far more modest. Until now, that is. Sideshow, a company focused on making merch for various nerdy brands, is launching an 18.5 inch-tall Pikachu figure, with a Charizard soon to follow.
Via TheGamer, the newly announced Pikachu Life-Size Figure is an enormous and enormously cute creation. Measuring 18.5" tall and 17.6" wide (thanks to that tail), the 3D model does not come cheap. Pikachu here will cost you a whopping $525, making it hugely more costly than those even-bigger plushies you can find on the Pokémon Center. Pikachu over there is 27" tall, and will “only” set you back $200. And you can cuddle him.
However, damn, the statue looks really good. It’s a fantastic pose, and unlike the squishy teddies, doesn’t look like a Pikachu that’s gone through a washing machine. As ridiculous as terms like “life-size” and “lifelike” are about a plastic (well, “polystone”) model of a fictional cartoon character, it’s really lifelike! I don’t even care much for Pikachu and I’m wishing I were a rich man who could afford to spend the month’s mortgage on a fun toy.
Pikachu represents the first of a new range of licensed collectibles the company will be making in conjunction with Pokémon. It can be pre-ordered now, although isn’t expected to ship until at least the end of this year, presumably because they’ll be making them to order.
Next up from the range will be Charizard, which tragically won’t be life-size. I checked on Bulbapedia and apparently canonically, the ‘Zard measures over five-and-a-half feet. Imagine having that in your living room. Instead, an early glimpse suggests the figure will measure about the same height as Pikachu, although given its fiery base taking half the height, it’s depicted considerably smaller than ol’ electric cheeks. It’ll still be a very impressive piece of completely needless nonsense to own, but unlikely to scare away unruly children.
Charizard isn’t open for pre-orders yet, so this is looking like a measured roll-out, perhaps even a careful testing of the market. Sideshow makes its money selling premium figures, like this astonishing one-sixth scale Venom for an eye-watering $460 (although it is over 20 inches tall), so this is their stock-in-trade. But might Pokémon skew a little young for its audience? It’ll be interesting to see.
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