Has this Pokémon been using some super-effective protein powder?

There are more than a thousand different Pokémon species, but none of them can match Eevee in terms of evolution variety. While most Pokémon have just a single more powerful form they can evolve into, Eevee has a whopping eight different Eeveelutions, as fans have taken to calling them.

Each evolution changes Eevee’s appearance and powers, and Pokémon Trainers can set which it’ll evolve into with the use of special items. But what if instead of using a Fire Stone to trigger the evolution to Fire-type Flareon or a Moon Shard for Dark-type Umbreon, you just fed Eevee a whole bunch of creatine? Then you’d probably end up with something similar to what some fans are seeing in this promotional photo from Japan’s Pokémon Center specialty store, which at first glance looks like an Eevee with freakishly muscular arms.

The top-left image in the tweet’s photo cluster is definitely one of Eevee, but appears to have given the ordinarily dainty Pokémon a pair of bonkers-buffed-out arms with rippling…biceps? Actually it seems like Eevee has been hitting the gym so hard that it’s developed extra muscles that we humans don’t have in our arms, going by the number of bulges, while also absolutely skipping leg day. Oh, and it also looks like Eevee has shaved all the hair off its arms, leaving them smooth and groomed as if it’s about to flex for the judges at a bodybuilding competition.

The photo has prompted Japanese Twitter reactions such as:

“Eevee is ripped.”
“Is this what happens if you evolve Eevee into a Fighting-type?”
“At first, no one realized that this merch was foreshadowing for the next Eevee evolution.”

But while kimo-kawaii, mixing ugly and cute things together, is a subset of visual design in Japan, it’s generally not something the Pokémon franchise dabbles in. So what’s really going on here?

A weird camera angle, and a uniquely constructed plushie.

New and on sale at the Pokémon Center is the Button Eeevee Backpack-style Pouch, a combination stuffed animal/decorative strap/functional zippered pouch that also has backpack-style straps that you can use as an alternative to the chain.

Look closely, and you can see that Eevee does in fact still have its normal forearms. However, the straps, which are stylized extensions to the tuft of fur at the base of Eevee’s neck, are so fluffy that they almost entirely cover the forearms, and if you pull the straps out to the sides a bit, like in the tweet’s photo, it looks like the straps are instead a new pair of arms for the Pokémon. The strap, which is 26 centimeters (10,2 inches) long and priced at 2,200 yen (US$14.75), went on sale April 10 through the Pokémon Center online store here, and will be available at physical locations from April 12.

So while we’ve seen Eevee be both a mailbox and a dessert, it hasn’t become a bodybuilder, so if you’re looking for muscles in the Pokémon World, you’ll have to look elsewhere (like here).

Source: Twitter/@pokemon_pdc via IT Media, Pokémon Center
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Insert images: Pokémon Center
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