Sitting and standing poses across the 2016 TOMY Pokémon plush collection

The 2016 TOMY 20th Anniversary collection marked a year-long celebration of Pokémon, with a new plush released roughly every month. Each figure was designed to capture a specific Pokémon in a pose meant to reflect its character, role, and place in the wider mythos. Across the twelve-month run, TOMY alternated between two core postures: seated and standing.

Pose choice matters more than casual fans might initially realise. A sitting plush hugs the shelf, feels softer in the hand, and suits smaller or rounder creatures that rarely stand tall in the games. A standing plush reads as alert, often showcasing the Pokémon's full silhouette, any markings, and accessory details. The decision was rarely arbitrary, and collectors quickly learned to read the design cues.

TOMY's design team leaned into these differences deliberately. They used standing poses for Pokémon associated with movement, flight, or combat, while seated postures suited shy, mythical, or resting creatures. The result was a varied lineup that rewarded anyone aiming to display the full year end-to-end. Personality, scale, and brand recognition all played their part in shaping each release.

For Australian fans, the release rhythm also shaped buying habits. With Big W, EB Games, and a handful of independent comic shops stocking different waves, collectors in Sydney and Brisbane often swapped tips online to track which pose was arriving next. Local Facebook groups and Reddit threads lit up each time a retailer page went live, and postal delays between states sometimes meant a Brisbane buyer grabbed a sitting plush a week before a Perth one.

Sitting mythical plush and their quiet charm

The seated members of the collection were dominated by the mythical Pokémon. Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Manaphy, and Shaymin all arrived in relaxed poses. These figures generally sat back on their haunches, tails curled, paws forward, with expressions that read as gentle and watchful. Their low centre of gravity made them popular for collectors who wanted a plush that could sit on a desk without a stand.

TOMY treated each seated mythical as a small personality study. How TOMY ensured each mythical plush captured the Pokemon's personality goes into the sculpting choices behind that approach, from eye shape to the tilt of the head. Collectors in Melbourne often pointed to Jirachi as the strongest example, with its wish-making pose feeling genuinely serene rather than stiff.

Feature Sitting pose plush Standing pose plush
Typical height 14–18 cm 16–22 cm
Base stability Wide, low centre of gravity Narrower, often weighted base
Display footprint Compact, shelf-friendly Taller, needs more vertical space
Hand feel Soft, huggable, slightly slumped Firm, structured, alert
Common characters Mythical, small, round Legendary birds, fighters, bipedal
Accessory display Limited, often tucked Prominent, easy to read

The seated approach suited how mythical Pokémon usually appear in the games, since they tend to feel small, ethereal, and rarely in motion. It also let TOMY fit more expressive facial embroidery into a tighter space, as the body wasn't stretched into an action silhouette.

Standing designs and the action-ready lineup

Standing poses made up roughly half of the monthly releases and skewed toward Pokémon with strong visual silhouettes. Ho-Oh, Lugia, Rayquaza, Lucario, and Greninja all stood upright or mid-stride. These figures prioritised a clean read of the Pokémon's full proportions, particularly wings, tails, and limbs.

The standing line absorbed more of the collector-grade detailing. Rayquaza's elongated body needed the extra height to show its serpentine form, while Lucario's stance highlighted the chest spike and paw positioning. TOMY often added a small clear stand or weighted pellet inside the feet to keep taller plush from toppling, something Australian buyers at EB Games frequently asked about in store.

Standing plush also tended to be the more photographed releases. Their silhouettes popped in unboxing clips and convention photos, and Brisbane's Supanova pop-culture events regularly featured fans lining them up on display boards.

Pikachu across the year and the detective hat release

Pikachu appeared in multiple poses throughout 2016, sitting on its haunches for the standard anniversary plush and standing tall for the limited Detective hat variant. The seated Pikachu echoed the calm pose used in the original 1996 character art, while the standing version leaned into the cap-and-magnifying-glass costume worn in the Pokémon anime. The Detective edition was one of the most sought-after pieces in the entire year and remains a common chase item on Australian second-hand marketplaces.

The Detective Pikachu stood roughly 20 cm tall and included a removable felt hat that slotted over the ears. The 20th anniversary Pikachu plush with a detachable hat the detective version covers the release details and how the hat attachment was engineered. Local collectors in Adelaide reported that the hat was the first piece to loosen after heavy handling, a small but known weak point.

How pose changes shelf presentation

Pose has a direct effect on how a collection reads on display. A row of seated plush tends to feel cosy and uniform, with the eye drawn to faces and colours rather than height differences. A row of standing plush looks more dynamic, almost like a team photo, but it demands more vertical clearance and stable shelving.

Many Australian collectors ended up mixing both. A common arrangement placed standing legendaries along the top shelf, with seated mythical plush arranged below as a softer visual anchor. The contrast between alert and rest made the display feel alive rather than static.

Pose also affects photography. Standing plush photograph well against plain walls, while seated plush often need a cushion or prop to avoid looking half-hidden. Both work in flat-lay shots, but the seated designs were easier to pack for meet-ups at Melbourne's animaga-style conventions.

Australian retailer releases and the local schedule

The 2016 lineup dropped in waves across Australia through Big W, EB Games, Target Australia, and a handful of independent comic shops in capital cities. Big W carried most of the standard seated plush, while EB Games often received the standing or limited variants first. Some regional stores, particularly in Perth and Hobart, saw stock arrive a week or more after Sydney.

Australian Consumer Law protected buyers throughout the run, giving shoppers the right to a refund if a plush arrived with a manufacturing fault. That guarantee mattered for standing plush, where top-heavy designs occasionally tipped over in transit and stressed the neck seams. Several buyers at Sydney's Chatswood Chase store reported exchanging damaged standing plush on the spot.

Quality across both pose types and seam alignment

Pose type had a small but real effect on common defects. Sitting plush tended to show seam stress along the haunches and the curve where the tail met the back, while standing plush often showed strain at the neck-to-body join and along any weighted foot pad. TOMY's factory tolerance was generally tight, but the seated mythical line, particularly the smaller releases, drew the most feedback on stitching.

The 20th anniversary plush's seam alignment and common defects breaks down the recurring issues collectors reported, from crooked eyes to loose under-stitching. Australian buyers posting to OzToyForum and the local Pokemon subreddits tended to flag the same handful of releases, with seated Shaymin and standing Rayquaza mentioned most often.

Why Australian collectors chase certain poses

Local buying patterns revealed a clear preference. Standing legendary plush held their value longer on the second-hand market, partly because their display appeal made them harder to part with. Seated mythical plush were more often bought in duplicate, with collectors keeping one sealed and one out of the box. The Pikachu detective plush sat in a category of its own and traded well above retail whenever it surfaced on Australian buy-and-sell groups.

Collectors in Brisbane and Perth were particularly active in trading seated plush across state lines to complete regional sets, often meeting at local hobby shops rather than posting fragile figures. Sitting designs travelled better, which gave them a quiet edge in the swap economy.

Seated plush released across the year

Standing plush released across the year