Friday, June 30, 2023

An Introduction to Eevees

I have always loved to collect. As a child, I collected figures and plush from my favorite shows. Disney Afternoon, Ninja Turtles, and other friends were everywhere in my room. I also collected My Little Ponies and was heartbroken when distribution stopped in the United States. Oh, if only I had known back then that there were still ways to get them!

Another favorite collectible item was coloring books. But it made me sad that once a page was colored, nothing more could be done with it. I developed a method of scanning pages I wanted to color and printing them out. Hence, I kept the books themselves in pristine condition and had the fun of coloring too. Some pictures I colored three or more times. I decorated my room with the results.

I still have all of these collections, and more besides. My love of collecting has not ceased or slowed down one bit. If anything, it burns even stronger. The discovery of Buy Now, Pay Later companies such as Zip, Klarna, and PayPal Pay in 4 have even made it possible for me to buy things I once never could have. Of course, such companies must be used responsibly. But they certainly open up amazing doors for collectors.

Today I want to introduce one of my very special collections.

Eevees have always been a special Pokemon to me. From the time I became fully aware of them over twenty years ago, I found them very cute and I loved all the different Eeveelutions. Umbreon was one of my first favorite Pokemon. When Build-a-Bear released Eevee as one of their first Pokemon plush, I was thrilled and I made sure I got her very soon after her debut. From then until last year's May, she was my only Eevee.

This is my Eevee collection now:

I have Eevees released in America and released in Japan. A few are in print and many are out of print and rare. I love them all.

Also in the picture are two human plush, each holding an Eevee. These are Kalin Kessler and Radley/Ramon, both from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. It may look completely random for them to be there, but it is not.

I can’t discuss Eevees without also discussing Radley. He is a beloved character for me and a favorite to role-play. When I wanted to play in a Pokemon RPG online where characters from other franchises are thrust into the Pokemon world, I needed to pick a Starter Pokemon for my chosen character, Radley. There were many available options, unlike in the video games themselves. It wasn’t hard to choose Eevee. In the video game Over the Nexus, Radley uses a Crystal Beast deck. One of the characters, Ruby Carbuncle, looks very much like a cross between Espeon and Eevee. Other Pokemon could have worked as Starters based on that deck too, but I loved Eevee and jumped at the chance to have it be her.

It didn’t take long of playing Radley with his Eevee before I loved Eevees even more. So did Radley, and he gathered up more and more of the little darlings and bred them. I had already created a fanfiction verse where Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon exist in the same world and I decided to expand on that and start a series of stories about Radley and Eevees where he’s able to have them at home instead of ending up in another dimension.

I also like to make plush of human characters I love, and I have the plush Radley shown. I wanted an Eevee in scale with him and also one for Kalin Kessler, who also has an Eevee in the fanfiction verse. I kept checking Walmart for Eevees and finally found one with a yellow-orange ribbon on a particular weekly grocery trip. She cost more than I really wanted to pay for such a little one, but I was in love after walking all over the store with her and I did not want to leave her behind.

The following day I received a package from a friend that included yet another darling little Eevee. This one was without a ribbon. I was overjoyed. Now I had one for both Radley and Kalin. I also realized from my elation that perhaps I would like to collect Eevees. Normally I don’t want more than one plush of a particular character. But since Eevee is a species, each one could be a different character.

I began to look up Eevee plush and see what all was out there. I discovered a treasure trove of cuteness. One of my favorites is the laying down Eevee from the I Love Eievui Banpresto plush line in Japan. She completely stole my heart and I'm so glad I found one to add to my Eevee family. I have found several amazing deals on rare plush such as she, and I'm always blown away when someone else doesn't snap them up first.

Through this blog and my accompanying videos on YouTube, I plan to discuss in detail my various collections, including my Eevees, and some of the incredible deals I've found. I look forward to sharing my discoveries and my love of everything I collect with all of you.

2 comments:

  1. I don't think I've ever seen a picture of your whole Eevee collection and I love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (Why didn't I get email notification of these comments? Dratted cyberspace!)

      Thank you for helping it grow a little bigger! :)

      Delete

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