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https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRtTpdKa/

A person going by the name Tash (lpevhybrid) just emailed me some new pictures from a visit they had at the Pokémon Center NY store in June 2003! Really amazing stuff! I’m totally in love with the photos of the plush “Giants” and the animatronics!

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #pokémon #pokemon #pokemon merch #pokemon collectibles #pokemon blog #pokemon giants #Suicune #Raikou #Entei #Pikachu #lost media #pokemon collector

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I had uploaded the Spanish-language version of this video to the Pokémon Center NY Historical Website a while ago, but, last night, I found it in English! For some context: this clip is part of a UK promotional video for the release of Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire. The video footage in this clip was taken at the official Pokémon Center NY launch party of Ruby and Sapphire in 2003. ❤️💙

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #pokémon #pokemon #pokemon merch #pokemon collectibles #gotta catch em all #pokémon center #pokemon ruby and sapphire #pokemon games

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This is pretty huge. Junichi Masuda just posted some photos on Twitter of vintage Pokémon merchandise at his parents’ home. The clock on the bottom left is from Pokémon Center NY.

If I’m correct, I believe that this is the first time that the Pokémon Center NY store has been referenced by anyone from The Pokémon Company since, like, 2005. Wow.

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #pokémon #pokemon #pokemon merch #pokemon collectibles

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Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! Here is a picture taken of Rockefeller Center from when the Pokémon Center NY was still there. Numerous children woke up on Christmas morning 2001-2005 to Pokémon goodies from PCNY. Let’s keep that spirit alive this year and for all those to come. Hope you have a wonderful holiday with those you love! 🎄🎁

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #Rockefeller center #christmas #merry christmas

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Happy Holidays!

If you’re a fan of vintage Pokémon stuff, like I am, I have these really cool scans of Christmas cards that were sold at the Pokémon Center NY store for you to share with your friends and family. They also make really great phone wallpapers~ 🥰 🎄❄️

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #vintage pokémon #gotta catch em all #holiday cards #vintage 90s #Celebi #suicune #pikachu #Christmas #happy holidays

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Pokémon Center NY GameBoy Advance

You may have heard that there once was a Pokémon Center NY exclusive Game Boy Advance system— and you would be right in believing so! Well, sort of…

 When the Pokémon Center first opened in New York City, back in November 2001, the store released a special-edition Gameboy Advance System. The “Game Boy Advance Pokémon Center Exclusive Version” was an off-gold color with gray buttons and a Pokémon-themed, black screen border, that read, “Pokémon Center NEW YORK”, with Pichu and Pikachu silhouettes book-ending a “GAME BOY ADVANCE” logo. Initially, this special Game Boy Advance system cost $79.95 USD (approx. $116.38 USD in 2020-dollars, adjusting for inflation). However, it seems that the system didn’t sell as well as The Pokémon Company expected, since, by June of 2002, the online store had lowered the GBA’s price to $69.95 USD and offered a free copy of Pokémon Crystal as an extra incentive (ouch). One possible explanation for this unfortunate turn of events is that The Pokémon Company actually made too many of these “limited edition” systems. Internet archives show that, despite The Pokémon Company’s marketing blatantly stating that these systems were “exclusive” to the Pokémon Center NY store, they actually weren’t— like, at all. In actuality, this exact golden GBA was sold in many other places, such as Japanese Pokémon Centers and several North American retailers, such as Toys’R’Us as just one example.

In fact, the PCNY GBA was so common post-launch that many Nintendo enthusiasts took them apart in the early-2000s to swap the exclusive faceplate with alternative GBA shells. It is pretty easy to find bootlegged versions of this GBA, since most of them no longer possess the original system’s golden shell, and instead have it swapped for some other color. It’s not too much of a stretch to argue that most of these PCNY GBAs have been lost, either to normal usage or due to the fact that many modders over the years have actively destroyed their system’s original appearance. It appears that no one in the community really expected the golden GBA to go up in value because, at the time, they were so easily-available and also because, at around the same time, the superior Game Boy Advance SP (with a bright backlight) was released. Currently, these special edition PCNY Game Boy Advance systems can easily be found on various second-hand online shopping marketplaces, such as eBay or Mercari. A good-quality Pokémon Center NY Game Boy Advance system can now run collectors hundreds of dollars— and don’t even get us started with in-boxed systems. Rather unintentionally, Pokémon fans have made these GBA systems rare and, consequently, very expensive!

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #Pokémon gba #gameboy #gameboy advance #Nintendo #Pokémon #pokemon

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Do you know?

• At launch, in November 2001, the Pokémon Center NY store had a giant interactive PokéDex for visitors to play with.

• This giant PokéDex was surrounded by TOMY figurines for sale on either side.

• Later, during 2003-2004, this PokéDex was remodeled into a giant GameBoy Advance SP with Gen 3 Pokémon data added.

• This idea of an interactive PokéDex for store visitors to play with was actually one thing from the Pokémon Center NY store that was never scrapped! Even today, in Japan, Pokémon Center stores still have an interactive PokéDex— although, the modern ones are much sleeker.

#pcny #pokémon center ny #pokemon #pokémon #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon event #gotta catch em all #pokemon center ny #pokemon collectibles #PokéDex

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NEW POKÉMON CENTER NY FOOTAGE WAS JUST FOUND!!

LESS THAN 24 HRS BEFORE THE RELEASE OF THE GEN 9 GAMES , I JUST GOT NEW POKÉMON CENTER NY STORE FOOTAGE‼️🤯

• TikTok reaction: here

• Info & link to source: here

Special thanks to hazel for sending this to me!🙌

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #pokemon #Pokémon #lost media #pokemon collectibles #pokemon toys #pokemon merch

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Did you know?

• The Pokémon Center NY store used to hold Pokémon TCG Tournaments from 2001-2005!

• Trading Card matches were available on the second floor of the store.

• Eventually, there was an official Pokémon TCG League “club” at the store, which ranked returning players with specific rules.

• These matches were actually held UNDERGROUND! Yes, you read that correctly. There was a location in Rockefeller Center’s basement floor shopping center that these larger league battles were sometimes held.

• In order to sign up for this PCNY TCG League, you had to apply at the Pokémon Center NY store.

• There we’re exclusive PCNY cards given out to players on various special occasions, in-store.

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #Pokémon #pokemon #pokemon cards #pokemon tcg #pokémon tcg

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Did you know?

• The Pokémon Center NY store had a glass elevator from the ground floor level to the second level.

• When riding the elevator, passengers could see out the glass sides. This same design choice was also chosen for the elevator at the now-defunct Toys R Us Times Square store.

• This elevator had a PokéBall on top in reference to the design of the in-game & in-anime “Pokémon Center” building design.

• The elevator is still located next to the staircase, even now! Even after the PCNY store converted to Nintendo World and, later, Nintendo NY, the elevator was kept due to New York City’s building accessibility code.

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #pokemon #Pokémon

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Did you know?

• On the second floor of the Pokémon Center NY store was an area behind the cash register that was regularly updated with children’s fan art!

• Behind the register were statues of the Gen 1 & Gen 2 starter Pokémon.

• This area also displayed exclusive items, fliers, cards, and posters with information about the franchise, store news, movie/game announcements, etc.

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #Pokémon #pokemon

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Scans from Nintendo Power magazine, issue 151

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #Pokémon #pokemon #nintendo #nintendo power

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Meowth PokéDoll

I posted this video to Tiktok this evening and thought I’d post it here too. This Meowth PokéDoll on eBay is a pretty big deal.

• Original video here:

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon center #pokedoll #Pokémon plush #Pokémon toy #pokemon plush #Meowth #Meowth pokedoll

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Pokémon Center NY Plushie “Giants”

In November 2001, the Pokémon Center NY opened with a wide variety of products from bandanas to plushies. One collection of plushies that has become exceedingly sought-after in the 20+ years since, is what collectors sometimes refer to as the plush “Giants”. This term can apply to any of the large, 1:1 size, fuzzy TOMY plushies, including Lugia, Celebi, Suicune, Raikou, Entei, Tyranitar, Lapras, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Chikorita, Togepi, Marill, Pichu, Pikachu, and Meowth.

• The ones that are the most sought after are Suicune, Raikou, Entei, Tyranitar, Lapras, and Lugia

• Lugia had a small Pikachu plush riding on its back, in reference to the second Pokémon film. These days, it’s very difficult to find a Lugia “Giant” with that Pikachu plush still attached.

• The Pokémon Center NY version of the Tyranitar “Giant” has a funny manufacturing error— it’s eyes are sewn in upside down!

• Today, some of these plushies can go for thousands of US dollars online.

• My friend, @mewisme700 from Tiktok, once found a post online from someone who found a Raikou “Giant” in the trash. Unfortunately, this user didn’t realize what they had found and left it in the trash… This still haunts both of us to this day.

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #pokemon #Pokémon #pokemon merch #pokemon plush #pokemon collectibles #Pokémon collector #pokemon collection #gotta catch em all

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Did you know?

• The Pokémon Center NY store had a massive wall of miniature TOMY figures for the known Pokémon throughout the store’s existence (2001-2005).

• This wall of figures was ordered in PokéDex order.

• The figure wall was located on the first floor of the store, right next to a giant interactive PokéDex.

• Each generation of Pokémon had a different TOMY figure box color & design (eg. Gen 2 had black boxes with red text & Gen 3 had a red and white box as shown in the image above)

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #Pokémon #pokemon #pokemon merch #pokemon toys #pokemon collectibles #pokemon collector

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Throwback to November 2002 (20 whole years ago this month 🤯) when the Pokémon Center NY released this 1-year-anniversary celebration calendar with tons of free gifts and activities in-store. What event would you have gone to? Or, alternatively, if you did go to one of these as a kid, which one was it?

#pcny #pokémon archivist #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #Pokémon #pokemon #gotta catch em all #throwback

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Did you know?

• One of the relics left of the Pokémon Center NY is the Pikachu Statue; there were 250 of these made and were given to World of Nintendo dealers. They pop up on eBay from time to time. It should also be mentioned that, as of Nintendo NY’s Grand Opening in February of 2016, this statue was removed and replaced with another statue, this time with Pikachu sitting on a Pokéball.

• Another relic of the original PCNY store are the brass door handles below (both join together to form a Pokéball). These door handles have withstood all of the location’s various remodelings and are still present at Nintendo NY today, even through the COVID-19 pandemic. They are one of the only original features from the PCNY store to still exist at the modern-day location, without having been altered in any way.

• The only other item from the original PCNY store to still be at Nintendo NY is the famous “Gulf War GameBoy.”

#Pokémon #pokemon #pokemon Center Ny #pokémon archivist #pcny #pokémon historian #pokémon center ny #pokémon event #Pokémon merch #Pokémon collection