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Pikachu shows up at the Rio Olympics in adorable pin form, sends collectors into a frenzy

Casey Baseel Aug 10, 2016
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While athletes go for the gold, what fans want to take home is this exclusive piece of Pokémon Olympic memorabilia.

People often talk about kawaisa, or “cuteness,” being a deeply ingrained part of Japanese culture. Quite often, it’s just a fancy way of saying that the country really likes cute things, but sometimes, Japan really does handle cuteness differently from how other nations would be likely to.

For example, right now, a number of Japanese media outlets are in Rio de Janeiro to cover the Olympics. It’s common for Japanese white-collar workers to wear lapel pins representing their employers, but broadcasters Nippon TV, TV Asahi, and TV Tokyo are comfortable offsetting this formality with a splash of cuteness. Each station’s Rio 2016 pin bears the star of its flagship anime, which means Nippon TV’s features Anpanman and TV Asahi’s has Doraemon.

But while Anpanman is a timeless classic in Japan, and Doraemon has been big in Asia for generations, TV Tokyo boasts worldwide hit Pokémon in its animated lineup, so on its pin you’ll find Pikachu!

This isn’t the Pokémon mascot’s first time to be part of TV Tokyo’s Olympic coverage, either. The cute little guy has been making the trip to each competition since Sydney in 2000.

Even though the pins’ primary purpose is to help identify TV Tokyo staff, the coverage team also brought along a supply of 2,000 pins to give as thank-you presents to their local broadcast partners in Brazil. But with the Pokémon franchise more popular than ever, other parties were quick to notice the adorable design, and TV Tokyo says that every day people come up to the company’s booth in the Olympic international media center and ask if there are any pins left.

Sadly, TV Tokyo has already handed out all the pins it had made. However, given the ravenous hunger certain people have for Pokémon swag, and the equally strong demand for Olympic memorabilia, Pikachu Rio pins have been showing up on eBay. The examples shown here are currently listed at prices between US$99 and $179.99, which is, admittedly, a lot for something that was originally a thank-you freebie. On the other hand, the older pins seen above are listed at equivalents of US$382 and up, so if you’re looking to pick up one of the newest Olympic Pokémon pins before their prices really take off, you might want to act with the speed of a gold-medal sprinter.

Sources: Jin, IT Media
Top image: eBay
Insert images: eBay (1, 2, 3, 4)

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s in serious training on the off chance that “anime merchandise hunting” gets approved as an Olympic event in time for Tokyo 2020.