In which there’s finally an evolution of Nyaasu that I love — and I really, really love it!
One of the nicest things about writing a blog is that it makes me think a lot more about collecting and fandoms, picking favorites and making comparisons. For example, when I very first started getting back into Pokemon, someone I was chatting with asked what my favorite Pokemon type was, and I didn’t have an answer right away.
I’ve always leaned toward the Water and Ghost types, but that conversation got me curious, and I started making a list of my favorites and their types. From this emerged one I hadn’t thought of: Steel. I’ve got a plush of another longtime Steel type favorite (Kokodora/Aron) coming in the next week or two I’ll have to write about, and of course my beloved Galar Nyaasu/Meowth has only stirred this Steel appreciation up further. And as if Galar Nyaasu wasn’t already great, that means Nyaasu finally has an evolution that I like — Nyaiking/Perrserker!
There are few Pokemon I really disike, but Persian is one of those, and that goes triple for Alola Persian; I hadn’t really expected in a million years to get an evolution for Nyaasu that I liked. Nyaiking was really such a wonderful surprise! And it’s captured wonderfully in this plush. There’s really nothing I’d improve about it (except my lighting in these pictures…). This is ten and a half inches of pure steel Norse-inspired Pokemon amazingness.
I guess if I absolutely had to ask for one thing to be added to this plush, I’d love to see Nyaiking’s claws out. They look like daggers! But I’m a patient person (at least, reasonably patient — most of the time, at least), so they can just put that feature on the many, many more plush I’m hoping they’ll be making in the future. ^-~
And despite being such a consummate badass, this Nyaiking is also really, exceptionally soft — if you’ve touched one of these Pokemon Center Poke Plush before, you know they always deliver on that end. From his top with its well-stuffed little horn-type things to his cute little feet that look ready to dance on an enemy’s grave, Nyaiking is pretty much the ultimate cuddle berserker.
Which name do I like better, English or Japanese, for this Pokemon? There are great merits to both, I think. The Japanese name, Nyaiking, breaks down as ニャ nya (a meow) plus キング kingu (king), plus overall バイキングbaikingu. That means Viking (and also, maybe a little counterintuitively, a buffet). I think it sounds more related to Nyaasu. But I also like the parallelism between Persian and Perrserker. It’s a tie, to be honest.
I bought this from the American Pokemon Center website for a really decent $16 (plus free shipping on orders over $20), but, as is usual with their plush, it sold out really fast and is currently out of stock. If you’re a true diehard Nyaiking supporter, you can, through gritted teeth, pay about twice as much at Pokevault. Is it worth it? …Honestly, for me, it is!
hello somebunny 