One of the cutest versions of the Pokémon mascot wants to come to your house to play!

There are a lot of different versions of Pikachu, and they all have their own special cuteness, as seen with Salaryman Pikachu, Geisha Pikachu, and even Cherry Blossom Afro Pikachu. But there’s a special place on our hearts for the breed of Pikachus that annually overrun the city of Yokohama in the Pikachu Outbreak.

Charmingly chubby and eminently fluffy, these adorable Pocket Monsters spend a few days each summer hanging out in Yokohama’s bayside district, but this year you can have them come to you house instead, in the form of the Pikachu Aruku de Chu (“Walking Pikachu”) robot from Japanse toymaker Takara Tomy!

The palm-sized Pocket Monster is what Takara Tomy calls a “communication toy,” meaning that it responds to the sound of your voice. Call out to Pikachu, and you’ll hear the character’s unmistakable energetic squeal as it responds, waves its arms, and walks towards you.

If Pikachu is in a good mood, his cheeks will light up. On the other hand, if he’s feeling grouchy, he might just to bust out his Thunderbolt attack.

▼ Note: Even Pikachu’s angry face (seen at the bottom here) is incredibly cute.

With his short limbs, Pikachu isn’t particularly speedy, but the heart-melting way in which he toddles forward and shakes his little arms is something fans will be happy to patiently watch as he makes leisurely-paced progress towards his destination. Oh, and Takara Tomy says that if you call out to him with enough gusto, he’ll even sing the Pikachu song, as shown here in the video.

▼ If you want to sing along, we’ve got the lyrics here.

The Pikachu Aruku de Chu is priced at 3,500 yen (US$33) and goes on sale August 1, with pre-orders open now on Takara Tomy’s online shop here.

The video even suggests it might be possible to get them to synchronize the steps of a half dozen of them and stage a Pikachu parade through your living room, although this is something we’d have to conduct independent testing for to confirm (by the way, boss, about our expense account…).

Source: Press release
Top image: Press release
Insert images: SoraNews24, YouTube/タカラトミー TAKARATOMY, press release
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