There’s been some adorable new merchandise announced this week for fans in different parts of the world, from giant plushies to pastel tea cups. Already available as an online exclusive, Build-A-Bear has debuted the latest addition to their Pokémon lineup. The new Charizard plush is the first ever Pokémon available from Build-A-Bear as their Giant-Sized plush, coming in at 22 inches tall compared to the standard 13 to 15 inch-tall Pikachu. Charizard is only available online as a bundle with his scarf and trapper hat set for $115 USD, and there is a limit of 5 per customer. My Nintendo has added some items to their rewards store in celebration of Pokémon Day 2024, including the return of some popular items.

The multinational e-commerce platform eBay announced today that they are partnering with major Pokémon card and merch sellers on their platform for the “Catch 151” auction, which is scheduled for Pokémon Day 2024. The auctions of 151 items, including expensive merchandise from collaborations and rare Trading Card Game products, will be live beginning 12:01 am EST on February 27th and will end at 12:01am EST on February 28th. In honor of the number of Generation I Pokémon, every item included in the auction will have its price begin at $1.51 USD. The secondhand Pokémon market on eBay is immense; eBay reports that in 2023, users searched for Pokemon items more than 400 times a minute globally, on average.

A new video on the Pokémon Trading Card Game's official Japanese YouTube channel has revealed new cards for the Paradox Pokémon Walking Wake and Iron Crown, which will be released in Japan late next month on March 22nd as part of the Crimson Haze subset for the Scarlet & Violet series of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Cards from Crimson Haze will be released internationally later this year as part of an as-yet unannounced expansion.

Following on from the recent launch of the new Mechanized—Love and Solitude Story Event, featuring on Gladion, Lillie and Lusamine, for the run up to Pokémon Masters EX's 4.5 year anniversary, the Family Ties story event which originally ran back in September 2020 alongside original debuts of these three trainers as sync pairs, is making a return to the game until March 6th.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are celebrating Pokémon Day giving players opportunities to catch a selection of Poké Ball-like Pokémon in Mass Outbreaks, starting Friday February 23rd at midnight (UTC), and running through until Pokémon Day itself, Tuesday February 27th, at 11:59pm (UTC).

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky and the Japanese WiiWare exclusive Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Let's Go! Stormy Adventure Squad are set to be featured in the fifth annual Mystery Dungeon RTA FES event, which is being held this week starting today, February 22nd, and running through to February 25th. The event will be hosted on the RTA In Japan Twitch channel.

5★ Lillie (Anniversary 2021) & Lunala, who first debuted back in late August 2021 for Pokémon Masters EX's 2nd anniversary, are making their return to the game today in a set of new Master Fair Scouts running through to March 22nd, at 10:59pm (PDT). This is only the second time this pair has been offered since its original debut.

Continuing what has now become something of a tradition for the franchise, The Pokémon Company has confirmed that a Pokémon Presents video will premiere on the official Pokémon YouTube channel on Pokémon Day, February 27th, at 6:00am (PST) / 2:00pm GMT / 11:00pm JST.

A cluster of near-simultaneous posts to the official accounts of Netflix, The Pokémon Company, and The Pokémon Company International on X (formerly known as Twitter) have confirmed that new episodes of Pokémon Concierge are currently in production. No details have been given yet as to when we can expect these episodes to be released, though given the time involved in stop-motion animation, it may be a while before these episodes actually grace our screens.

As announced a couple of days ago, a range of events, scouts, and bonuses are launching today in Pokémon Masters EX to celebrate the run-up to the game's 4.5 year anniversary. In addition to the previously announced new Mechanized—Love and Solitude Story Event, Gladion Master Scout, and 10 Pair Scout, players can also challenge a new Extreme Battle Event starring Hau.

Following on from the announcement of the Crimson Haze subset during yesterday's Pokémon Champion's League stream, today's stream has given fans their first look at cards that will be released in this set in Japan on March 22nd. The set includes cards based Bloodmoon Ursaluna and other Pokémon and characters originally introduced in The Teal Mask expansion for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

This week's episode of Pokémon Horizons reveals the origins of Liko's Sprigatito! It’s interesting how Sprigatito knew where she came from, and even came back to visit. It’s also nice to learn how these starters come to be, and how they get sent off to schools and labs for beginning trainers. In Sprigatito’s case, it seems she came from a breeder who specializes in breeding feline Pokémon.

Australian Pokémon fans will soon be getting their first official taste of Pokémon Horizons, with confirmation today that the series will be making its premiere in Australia with a four hour long marathon on Pokémon Day, Tuesday February 27th.

Six separate speedruns of Pokémon games are set to feature in the 2024 European Speedrunner Assembly (ESA) Winter event, which is taking place from February 17th to February 24th across two streams from Malmö, Sweden. This year's event will be raising money for Alzheimerfonden, the Swedish Alzheimer’s Foundation. The event can watched from ESA's official website, or via its main and secondary Twitch channels.

The next Pokémon Trading Card Game subset for Japan was revealed during today's Pokémon Champion's League stream. The Crimson Haze subset, featuring the Bloodmoon Ursaluna and other Pokémon originally introduced in The Teal Mask expansion for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, will be release in Japan on Friday March 22nd.

A brief trailer has been released to the Pokémon Masters EX official YouTube account, highlighting new events and Master Fair Scouts starting in game this Sunday at 10:00pm (PST), and running over the coming month in advance of the game's 4.5 anniversary celebrations. More information on other upcoming anniversary events are expected to be released in the regular letter from the game's producers at the end of this month, as well as in the Pokémon Presents presentation expected to drop on Pokémon Day on February 27th.

Next week, the Pokémon Trading Card Game Live will be receiving an update to Version 1.11.0 to resolve a small number of issues impacting on both gameplay, and general app stability both in and out of matches. This update will be preceded by an 8 hour long maintenance window, which is scheduled to start at 8:00am (PST) / 4:00pm (UTC) on February 20th.

Project VOLTAGE, the special art and music collaboration project between Pokémon and the popular Volcaloid character Hatsune Miku, is set to release the final song from the current block of artists. The music video for Mugen no Ticket (むげんのチケット), named for the Eon Ticket event Key Item in the Hoenn games, will premiere on the official YouTube channel of marasy (まらしぃ) today, Saturday February 17th, at 6:30pm (JST) / 9:30am (UTC) / 1:30am (PST). The song features vocals from both Hatsune Miku and KAITO Vocaloids.

A new Normal-Type Gear Event has just landed in Pokémon Masters EX. This co-op battles event, which allows players to obtain 3★ Normal-Type Gear, will be available until February 29th at 9:59pm (PST). Also debuting today is the game's latest Ultimate Battle challenge, Ultimate Battle: Argenta's Glistening Crystals.

Registration for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet's 2024 Global Challenge II Online Competition will open next week on February 22nd at Midnight (UTC). Registration will remain open until the end of the month, with the competition itself scheduled to run from March 1st, at Midnight (UTC) through to March 3rd, at 11:59pm (UTC).