First off, for me at least, the important news is the arrival in noticeable quantities of the Jakks mini plush/beanies! I'm guessing the release was timed to coincide with the May 23 TCG D&P expansion release. I did actually find D&P TC's already at a few department stores. Anyhow, after waiting thru a week long Target 10% off sale in the Pokemon aisle, and being frustrated by all the beanie sightings on e-Bay (how *do* these people get this stuff if it's not even yet on the store racks?!), one of my local Toys 'R' Us foisted at least 2 display boxes of the critters onto their shelves and two out of five Targets I visited yesterday had at least one box apiece on the shelves. HOWEVER... These sold like Pokemon hotcakes ($5.99 ea.)... Out of the eight (Chimchar, Turtwig, Piplup, Pikachu, Manaphy, Chatot, Mantyke, Buizel) plush, I was unable to get to the racks in time to spot any Piplups, which disappointed me as that is the character I picked as my Diamond starter. I shouldn't moan too much as I did get the action Pokeball with the tiny Piplup plush the other weekend, so... Target team member Jess said they were having a hard time keeping the beanies on the shelf; but, I imagine there will have to be a restock and soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

More Bandai candy-toy imports are showing up at the Japanese grocery. Bandai series 2 Pokemon Medal Collection arrived including coins of Dialga and Palkia. Bandai series 6 figures showed up, too, with a really cute Pika-Ditto and a few winking Pokemon including super-CUTE Pichu:

Unfortunately, I can't find any scans of the larger Bandai candy-toy boxes that contained INFLATABLE new Pokemon! Bandai inflatable candy-toys included the 3 D&P starters, Pika and *drum roll* Dialga and Palkia! The Dialga and Palkia are well-suited to this medium and are surprisingly detailed for the size (um, perhaps about 12" long inflated?). The rest of the set was cute, but, I think I prefer the other characters in plush. If you can find these toys, the Dialga or Palkia are the true standouts. I'll keep looking for a scan on the Bandai site which sometimes isn't updated right away...

Don't forget, Prima and Nintendo Pokedexes are slated for around May 27 release and will have a run-down of just about all the new Pokemon (I say that because you know there's always something even newer in Japan, check Corocoro for the newest of the new!):

Prima's Pokedex seems to have about 100 more pages than the Nintendo version; I suggest you hit your local gaming store and peruse them before deciding which to get.

Pika!

Loretta