Pokémon Centre in Japan apologises for mistake, makes plushie even more valuable

One person’s defect is another person’s treasure. 

There are a lot of special plushies to be found online and in-store at Pokémon Centres and Pokémon Stores in Japan, but one has just been bumped up to super rare status, after the company issued an apology for an error in its manufacturing.

The mistake appeared on the “Stuffed Pokémon Fit Coil” (“Coil” is the Japanese name for Magnemite), that was on sale from 15 July 2020 to 15 January 2021.

The plushie being recalled was manufactured by Takara Tomy Arts and sold at Pokémon Centres, Pokémon Stores, and the online Pokémon Center and online Amazon Pokémon Store, where it looked like this:

▼ Notice anything odd about Magnemite?

Fans of the franchise will know the magnet on the left of Magnemite’s body (circled in red above) should not be red on top and blue on the bottom. As the Pokémon Centre and Store rightly point out, the magnet on this side should actually be blue on the top and red on the bottom, as shown in the image below.

▼ The correct Magnemite

The faulty Magnemite can be exchanged for the correct version in person at stores or online at the Pokémon Customer Support Center. Not everyone is wanting to give their Magnemite up, however, with people saying:

“No way I’m returning this. It’s rare now!”
“Do they really think people will return it? Faulty official merchandise like this is hard to come by!”
“It might be an ‘error coil’ but that makes me love it even more.”
“I can’t bring myself to part with it so I just bought another one!”
“It’s not defective to me–its imperfection is what makes it so special!”

It’s true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and one person’s imperfection is another person’s treasure. Still, it’s odd for the mistake to go unnoticed for such a long period, so let’s just hope the company double-checks their plushies in future. Especially when it comes to Magneton, because that Pokémon has even more magnets to mess up.

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