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Giant life-size Alolan Exeggutor Pokémon appears at Pokémon World Championships in Japan【Photos】

Casey Baseel Aug 15, 2023
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Tropical variant, first seen in Pokémon Sun and Moon, stands tall in Yokohama.

The festivities for this year’s Pokémon World Championships were spread out among a variety of venues in the city of Yokohama’s Minato Mirai district. Among the buildings with fun waiting for fans was Mark Is, a shopping/dining/entertainment complex just down the street from the Pacifico Yokohama convention center, where the championship tournaments themselves were taking place.

During the event, there was a special shop selling limited-edition merch on the first floor of Mark Is, plus a photo spot where visitors could take pictures with some memorable Pocket Monster species. Lined up in a row were Grass-type Rowlet, Fire-type Litten, and Water-type Popplio.

But while the starter trio from Pokémon Sun and Moon are instantly recognizable, at first glance you might not remember the guy behind them.

Like Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio, this Pokémon was also first seen in Sun and Moon’s Hawaii-inspired Alola region.

Still stumped? Well then maybe you need to look to the top of the trunk…

…so that you can see the expansive fronds…

…and multiple faces…

…of Exeggutor!

Specifically, this is the Alolan Exeggutor. In Japanese-language versions of the Pokémon game and anime, the species is known as Nasshi, a play on words with yashi no ki the Japanese way to say “palm tree.” The original Exeggutor, part of the initial Gen-I Pokémon set, was shorter and stubbier, resembling a thick sago palm, but when Pokémon Trainers arrived in tropical Alola, they found the king palm-like Alolan variant of the Exeggutor line.

According to its official Pokédex entry, the Alolan Exeggutor stands 10.9 meters (35.09 feet) tall. Though there wasn’t a giant ruler next to the Pokémon to confirm its height, it definitely looks to be a 1:1-scale recreation, seeing as how the Alolan Exeggutor’s three heads (who all get along nicely with each other, according to Pokémon scholars) were up above the second floor of the building.

However, while this Alolan Exeggutor appears to be its canonical height, it’s probably a safe bet that it’s a good deal lighter than its Pokédex-listed weight of 120 kilograms (264.6 pounds). That’s because it’s a jumbo-sized inflatable art piece, like the cool Freedom Gundam that was on display in the Mark Is atrium in the spring of last year as part of the Gunda, Port Yokohama event.

The Pokémon World Championships wrapped up on Monday, and at the time I visited Mark Is it was unclear whether or not the Alolan Exeggutor will be sticking around after the tournament’s conclusion. On the plus side, though, the huge Pokémon card art display, collectively called Pokémon Card Art Walk, is still going on in and around Mark Is, and will be continuing until the end of September.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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