Well, plush figurine to be exact, but nonetheless, I technically owned a Vulpix stuffed animal. The year was 1998. The place was
KFC. The promotion, as you might have guessed, was of a Pokémon nature.
With a meal at the familiar fried chicken purveyor, you could earn one of four collectible stuffed animals, er, stuffed Pokémon. As mentioned, I got myself a Vulpix, which, I must say, was pretty fetching. The other creatures represented: Zubat, Dratini, and Seel. Quite an interesting mix, wouldn't you agree? In terms of the actual gameplay of Pokémon, that'd be a fairly well-balanced team to own at the beginning of a particular quest.
I got a fair amount of mileage out of that doll, actually. At the time, I was still getting up ridiculously early to watch the
Pokémon anime (which aired on my local WB affiliate,
WPIX 11) and I would regularly battle my friends on my Game Boy copy of the game during lunch at school. Man, we bought into the "Gotta Catch 'em All!" campaign hard.
Different versions, Link Cables and everything. To anyone reading who raised young kids and teens during the height of the Pokémon craze, you have my condolences. Plus, I still hadn't yet outgrown my fascination with action figures and pro wrestling. Thus, my Vulpix would become a seasoned fighter, regularly trading blows and receiving suplexes from a plastic representation of Commander William Riker. To my parents, if you're reading, you have my emphatic condolences that your son was and is such a loser.
Unfortunately, Vulpix is no longer with me. In the Great Bathroom Renovation of 2007 at my house, half my room got covered in dust from the installation of a shower in the adjoining upstairs bathroom. In Pokémon terms:
Vulpix was covered in dust! It's super effective! Vulpix's defeat at the hands of those loose particles was so complete, in fact, that Dad, on a mission of mercy, put it in a garbage can and sent it to that big, beautiful toy bin in the sky. Still, the memory of my inanimate fiery fox will always live on. My retention of anything useful I learned in school at the time might fade, but I repeat, my memory of Vulpix will live on.
Have you ever owned any video game figurines or dolls? Do you remember this promotion of KFC's?
Lifetime
Comments (54)
I remember those! I had vulpix and zubat, lost them a long time ago. =/
I remember those too! I actually bought a Wobuffet doll from Nintendo World like two or three summers ago, and it's still sitting on top of my desk.
so? whats to admit? I still have my giant pikachu. its awesome and adorable
Aww, how cute. Vulpix is adorable. I had a ton of pokemon stuff back in the day....I was a little obsessed.
My old roommate still has a stuffed "Companion Cube" from that game "Portal."
I think he sleeps with it, too. (He's 26 years old)
I've got a stuffed green Yoshi I bought at Toys R Us and a stuffed Mario that was a Christmas gift.
I had a Pikachu, but gave it up to my niece. =]
i always loved that pokemon ^_^
I've never had a toy/plush, but I do have like the complete first series of the pokemon trading cards, in a cool collectible trading binder (it has a pokemon from the silver edition on it... the one that could fly or something - super rare; i cant remember the name!). It's in a tub under my bed. :D
I had a scyther, scizor (both looked so bad ass), a cloyster, and articuno. ^^
No, I don't remeber them! but I don't eat at KFC... I do remember the gold cards at BK though! I think I have like, 3 of them in a closet somewhere, lol.
Ugh...Pikachu. Snubble. Slowking...I must have had others....I still have my gigantic Charmander pillow.
I actually have all four of those stuffed animals... errr... Pokemon. I just couldn't remember where I had gotten them. XD I was only 10-ish when I got them though, my memory that far back is still a bit sketchy. I don't remember much.
I have a "Beanie baby" Snorlax on my desk here. I had to have one when I found out that, it is very lazy, always eats and sleeps. It only wakes to eat. Hey, I can relate to that!
I still have my pikachu. his cheeks light up and he says "Pika pika!" when you press his hands (:
Omgsh! I remember that KFC promotion! My gradeschool friend had the Vulpix one, and I was always uber jealous! My condolences about your Vulpix though :(
I mostly had the Burger King Pokemon figures, even though it was technically recalled, I really wanted a pokeball that could hook to my belt since I had Ash's hat (my sister got it for me from WB store back in the day). And dear goodness if I had a penny for every pikachu doll I owned, I could probably buy a small island. They ranged from tiny little softball sized pikas to giant pillow sized ones! I also owned a life sized Charmander (who I let don a fedora and guard my bed)
Most of my treasured "toys" and video games (which were painfully ripped from my hands, but I knew it was for the best) have been passed on to my youngest cousin who is currently obsessing with Pokemon. She has been trained well, oh so well >:D
I never knew about that! Wish I did... that Vulpix is adorable. I got a Mew and a Sneasel for my birthday this year though.
haha! i think 10 years ago i won this carnival game and i got a giant blastoise, it was about the size of a 2 year old, sill got it in my room.
I have a giant Pikachu that my ex bought me for christmas last year.
I used to sleep with it.
XD
I still have two Pokemon dolls; one Umbreon Pokedoll I bought before Pokemon Center went down, and a giant Pikachu pillow I got from my grandmother in elementary school. I used to have the electric one that made sounds and stuff but I don't know where that went. ;_;
I also have a beanbag Togepi. Think it came from Burger King...?
I'm not ashamed.
pikachu's in my room right now...
haha I still have Pikachu in my room sitting on top of my wardrobe.
Want one. -grabby hands-
I have a Pikachu. And all the original Poke'mon comics. And all the games. And annuals. And...pretty much anything else you can think of :D
...I guess I just never outgrew Poke'mon. Not showing any signs of outgrowing it either. I too feel sorry for my Mum n_n
@Lord_of_the_Pixie_stix@xanga - WE ARE NOT ASHAMED. :D -raises fist in the air-
I got a stuffed Pikachu for Christmas when I was about ten - that makes the year 99. It was like my favourite thing ever, too, for quite a while.
what's to be ashamed of? i have the pokemon league hat, a pokedex, and a psyduck that responds to noise. i collected all 150 pokemon and owned versions up to fire red and leaf green. after that, pokemon became ridiculous. i am not catching 500+ pokemon. i did have the link cables and even exploited the missingno. bug and the dupplicating pokemon/item bug in gold and silver. i still have my holographic ancient mew from the movie some years back still in it's plastic.
then again... i'm asian..
i notice everyone has the typical pikachu doll, LAME!!
it's all aout PSYDUCK