Official Pokemon Squishmallows are now available for sale! That is, when they finally come back in stock. At the time of writing these chunky pillow pals are sold out but are due back in stock any day. Squishmallows are the latest fad for plush toy collectors, with licensed characters being squished down into cute egg-shaped plush dolls. Now Pokemon is getting its own line of Squishmallows with Pikachu and Gengar to be the first of their kind.
Squishmallows are collectible plush dolls in the same vein as Beanie Babies if you remember those. These dolls might be fun to hug and play with, but for better or worse they’re collectible characters. Squishmallows the company has even released a rarity grading scale to help collectors better understand the intrinsic value of these dolls. The Pikachu and Gengar dolls might not be part of this scheme of artificial scarcity, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t vulnerable to real scarcity! The official Pokemon Squishmallows sold out the same day they were launched on The Pokemon Center online store.
Both Pikachu and Gengar come in a 12 inch egg-shaped doll just like most other Squishmallows. The lack of a grading scale on these dolls might actually be a good thing since they are plush toys after all. Many a Beanie Baby suffered a similar fate, tarnished at the hands of innocent children who know not the market value of the vintage Jolly the Walrus they just tossed across the room. There’s an argument to be made that toys should be played with, and with the vague collectors value of these Squishmallows we’ll have to wait and see just how rare and valuable they become.
For consumers that don’t want to worry as much about things like a plush doll’s collectible value, The Pokemon Center offers a selection of microbead filled plush pillows that are similar in shape to Squishmallows. The microbead dolls also feature a greater variety than just Pikachu or Gengar, my personal favorite is Slowpoke.
Pokemon is enjoying a surge in popularity with Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet releasing earlier this month and despite a rocky launch it’s all fans have been talking about. The hype for the franchise is always at its highest when a new game comes out so it’s the perfect time to release cute merchandise like the latest Squishmallows. We just have to hope The Pokemon Center restocks soon.
