Pokemon Day 2018 Festivities Announced

The Pokemon franchise has some big plans to celebrate their 22nd anniversary.

February 27th marks the third annual "Pokemon Day," a now-annual celebration of the Pokemon franchise's birthday. This year, the Pokemon Company has announced several new products and features for its annual holiday, including the U.S. release of the "Pikachu Talk" app for Amazon's Alexa devices and Google Home devices.

"Pikachu Talk" allows Pokemon fans to talk and interact with Pikachu via Alexa and Google Home devices. Fans can ask Pikachu questions and Pikachu will respond with classic lines like "pika?", "pika pika!", and "pikaaaaa." The app has already been released in Japan, but is now available in most countries for Alexa devices and in the U.S. for Google Home devices.

The Pokemon Company is also teaming up with Snapchat to release three new Snapchat lenses featuring the classic Pokemon Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Bulbasaur will be released first, followed by Charizard and Squirtle. Each lens features a Pokemon sitting in the bottom corner of the post, along with a halo-like effect around a Snapchatter's head. Bulbasaur is already available on Snapchat now.

As part of the celebrations, the Pokemon Company is also releasing the anime movie Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You for free on its Pokemon TV app. Fans can watch the movie, which was first released last summer, for a week on iOS and Android devices via the free to download app.

Pokemon Go is also getting on the festivities with the return of "Party Hat Pikachu," which first made an appearance during Pokemon Day 2017. This special Pikachu can be found in the wild wearing a party hat. This time, Party Hat Pikachu knows the move Present and will give trainers triple Stardust when caught. Party Hat Pikachu will only be available through February 28th at 1 PM PT.

Finally, the Pokemon Center online store has some exciting new items to buy to celebrate Pokemon Day. Last year, the Pokemon Center launched its popular Pokemon Gallery Figures line, high-quality figurines that show Pokemon in the middle of one of their signature moves. This year, the Pokemon Center is releasing its first ever Gallery Figure DX, a larger-scale version of the collectibles. Charizard is the first Pokemon to get a Gallery Figure DX, unleashing its Blast Burn move in an awesome and iconic pose.

The Pokemon Company was kind enough to send us a Charizard Gallery Figure DX, and honestly, it's one of the coolest Pokemon collectibles we've ever seen. The figurine is super-high quality and looks absolutely stunning. It's one of the coolest statues/figures you'll ever see and would look great in any Pokemon fan's collection.

The Pokemon Center is also releasing special Dialga and Palkia pins to celebrate the Pokemon franchise's yearlong Legendary celebration. These will be followed by a new pair of pins every month.

To celebrate Pokemon Day, the Pokemon Company is encouraging fans to use #PokemonDay when talking about their festivities online.

Here's to another great year of Pokemon fun!