Pokemon Plushes Fill Stadium in Korea as Pro Baseball Returns

Pokemon is one of those franchises you find just about anywhere, and that includes sports stadiums in South Korea. The country has never shied away from its love of Pokemon or otaku culture. Now, that love is coming alive in a new way because of the pandemic, and it has brought Pokemon plushes to professional athletes as they return to work.

Recently, South Korea began to reopen professional sports leagues following the worst of its COVID-19 outbreak. Sports like soccer and baseball have adopted a new schedule. But with fans unable to attend games, the teams are filling their own stands with toys.

They’re playing professional baseball in Korea in front of stuffed animals. This should be a permanent change. pic.twitter.com/zWaE9fj3Uo

— Eric Hynes, in the view of some experts (@eshynes) June 7, 2020

Specifically, seats are being filled with plushes, and Pokemon is coming in clutch during the movement. As you can see below, netizens are still geeking out over the ordeal, and it is easy to see why. It is not every day you find Pikachu and Pichu at sporting events, but South Korea is taking steps to normalize such sights.

As you can see above, a slew of plushes were placed in seats to make up for the absence of fans. You can see regular teddy bears as well as some dolls and dogs. Of course, there are plenty of licensed plushes ranging from SpongeBob SquarePants to Winnie the Pooh Bear and Sonic the Hedgehog. Even Lilo & Stitch can be found hiding amongst the seats, so fans are plenty pleased.

Of course, this Pokemon outing is far better than one South Korea went viral for earlier this month. When one of its professional soccer teams went back to work, they filled their home stands with clothed sex dolls. Now, the team is being fined for the inappropriate decor, so you can see why baseball execs felt it was safer to work with plushes for their games.

Which other Pokemon would you want to invite to a baseball game? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!