Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Legendaries Get The Cute Plushie Treatment For The First Time

screenrant.com:

merch is nothing new, but the latest line of Legendary-inspired plushies has Koraidon and Miraidon looking more adorable than ever. The concept of Pokémon plushies has been around almost as long as the series itself has: from the sun-bleached, lopsided Pikachus that line the walls of your local gas station, to the real-deal, official merch like Worlds-exclusive plushies and Snorlax body pillows. Even MIraidon and Koraidon have been subject to the toy treatment, but never quite like this.

The new plushies, available now via the Pokémon Center (and see Koraidon's Pokémon Center listing here), render Miraidon and Koraidon with chunky, chibi-style proportions, making the two Paldea mascot legendaries cuter than they have any right to be. These new designs squash their normally slender, serpentine silhouettes into far stouter, chubbier forms. Their wide-set eyes stare intently at nothing on either side of their gently rounded faces. Each roughly the size of a small Pomeranian, the plushies sit on broad, chicken nugget-shaped haunches, while their paunchy bellies hang low to the ground.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet introduced plenty of new species to audiences, some of which left a lasting impression on new and returning fans.

Lovingly rendered with bright colors and close attention to detail, the Koraidon and Miraidon merch represents an entirely new direction for Pokémon merch, giving them widespread appeal to a larger portion of the fandom. But it's not the first time these two Legendaries have been turned into plushies.

Although it's not the first time Koraidon and Miraidon have been made into plushies, it's definitely the cutest they've ever looked while doing so. Just compare the two versions of each above: the older plushy designs were incredibly realistic, even too accurate, showing the Pokémon almost exactly how they appear in-game (only at a fraction of the height). There's something to be said for the realistic approach: the resulting product is genuinely