Most anniversary merchandise celebrates the Pokémon themselves, and this collection celebrates the ground they walked on. Pokémon Center Online in Japan puts 27 pieces on sale on November 12 at 10 AM Japan time, which is 8 PM Eastern on November 11, and every piece is a place. A route becomes a music box, a landmark becomes a papercraft model you build yourself, and a whole region becomes a framed map with raised terrain. For collectors whose shelves already hold the cards and the figures, this is the rare anniversary drop built around the world those collectibles came from, and the window opens in a few hours.
Nine music boxes carry the lineup
The centerpiece is a set of nine diorama music boxes, one for each mainline generation, and each one recreates a route in miniature and plays a melody from its own game in a mechanical music box arrangement. The route list runs the full history of the series. Route 1 from Red and Green opens it in monochrome pixel style, and then come Route 29 from Gold and Silver, Route 110 from Ruby and Sapphire, Route 209 from Diamond and Pearl, Route 10 from Black and White, Route 18 from X and Y, Route 10 on Ula'ula Island from Sun and Moon, Route 3 from Sword and Shield, and South Province Area One from Scarlet and Violet. Each scene sits on a dark box shaped base and carries the three starters of its generation together with Pikachu, and the craft changes with the era, because the early games are rendered with flat acrylic style pieces while the later three dimensional games get full three dimensional scenes. Every music box is priced at ¥12,100, about $76, and melody samples are available on the official collection page before you commit.
Papercraft landmarks and framed maps complete the set
The nine papercraft kits rebuild the landmarks players remember best, and each one is a paper construction kit you assemble into a display. The S.S. Anne from Red and Green, the Bell Tower from Gold and Silver, the Lavaridge Town hot springs from Ruby and Sapphire, and the Old Chateau from Diamond and Pearl are each priced at ¥2,750, about $17. Skyarrow Bridge from Black and White, Prism Tower from X and Y, Seafolk Village from Sun and Moon, Hammerlocke Stadium from Sword and Shield, and the academy at Mesagoza from Scarlet and Violet are each priced at ¥3,850, about $24. Some kits open and close or lift a roof for a look inside, which turns a flat souvenir into a small piece of shelf theatre. The nine framed maps close the collection at ¥16,500 each, about $104, with raised terrain standing in for the geography of each region and a decorative frame carrying Pikachu and Berry artwork, and each map can hang on a wall or stand on a surface.
The collector math and the Japan problem
Our take starts with the arithmetic, because this collection is priced like a set and collectors will price it like one. All nine music boxes together cost ¥108,900. All nine framed maps together cost ¥148,500. All nine papercraft kits together cost ¥30,250. A complete run of all 27 pieces costs ¥287,650 before any shipping or proxy fees, and that total is our own addition from the official prices listed above. The harder problem is access. The launch is confined to Pokémon Center Online in Japan, the pieces will not be in physical Pokémon Center stores in Japan at launch, and no overseas release and no Pokémon Center US release has been announced. Collectors outside Japan are therefore choosing between waiting for a later channel that may never come and paying a reseller or a buying service on top of prices that are already premium. The official store is also preparing for a crowd, because its homepage carries a November 10 notice about site use restrictions and a virtual waiting room for November 12, and stores do not build a waiting room for a quiet morning.
What to watch next
Watch the first hours of the sale, because a Japan exclusive anniversary collection with a waiting room is exactly the profile that sells through its most nostalgic pieces first, and Route 1 in monochrome is the obvious early casualty. Watch for any later sales channels inside Japan, because the announcement left that door open without naming a date or a store. And watch for any word of an overseas release, because until one exists, every set that leaves Japan in a reseller parcel is a small preview of what this collection will cost the rest of the world. If you are in Japan, the decision is simple and it is tonight. Pick your generation first and buy that piece before you talk yourself into all 27.