For too long Pokémon games have set us as rivals to other trainers, forced to complete against the likes of N, Leon and Marnie, rather than provide them with what they truly need: support and love. But thankfully that’s all about to end with the arrival of trainer plushies on the Pokémon Center store.
It’s quite something that this hasn’t happened before. But as The Pokémon Company continues its true purpose—creating plushies of everything imaginable—its attention has finally turned to the human component of the games. Five trainers have arrived on the store in snuggly form: Lillie (Sun and Moon), Cynthia (Diamond and Pearl), N (Black and White), Leon, and Marnie (both Sword and Shield). Each is depicted in a chibi style, rather than their more lifelike appearance in the games, between seven and nine inches tall.
There do seem good reasons to have gone for the short, big-headed chibi approach, given the somewhat problematic nature of some fans’ relationships with the human characters in Pokémon games. Characters like Lillie, for instance, are 11, while people like Marnie and Cynthia are ambiguously aged, most likely a teenager and a 20-something respectively. Within the world of the card game, such characters tend to fetch the highest resale prices, with the grim term “waifu tax” usually applied. (N is 20, and Leon is “an adult” for what it’s worth, while Leon’s little brother Hop surprisingly isn’t included in this first set.) Life-size plushies of any of them would be…a whole thing, and even to-scale renditions could get weird. Certainly even more troubling ground than the $449 life-size Gardevoir that’s as sold out as you’d expect.
Anyway, the result is super-cute human plushies for the very first time. Leon seems like a great choice, especially if you buy a Charizard to go with him, but I imagine N and Marnie will be the two most popular, given the former was such a charming rival in Black and White as the leader of Team Plasma, while Marnie’s meanness and Dark-type preferences made her the most entertaining rival in Sword and Shield.
It does rather raise the question of which other game characters should receive the plushie transition. My preference has to be Diamond and Pearl‘s Barry, but purely because “Barry” is such a funny name for a child to have. It is a name only allowed to truck drivers in their 40s. No child should ever be called Barry. Carmine from Scarlet and Violet‘s DLC is another obvious choice, because she was just so damn cool. Oh, and to state the obvious, Misty and Brock! Oh, and please may we not forget Opal. Presumably the only reason there’s no Grusha in this first set is because it’s impossible to capture that beautiful boy in any doll.
Oh it got weird again.
These new trainer plushies are currently available on the Australian, UK and New Zealand stores, and will appear on the U.S. store in the next couple of hours. Click on for pictures of them all.