The Alpacasso Alpaca Plush Craze
What happened to these kawaii alpaca stuffed animals?
I first heard about this cute alpaca plush over a decade ago. At the time, I was just getting over my phase of being a huge K-POP fangirl (I still like K-POP, but only listen to a few songs here and there, but that's for another post). How does this relate to this article? I think I recall being on a forum where I saw an image of a cute alpaca plush. On the forum post, there was an image of an idol holding an alpaca plush that was given to them by a fan. The original poster was asking if anyone knew anything about the plush because they thought it was cute and wanted to buy one. That was back around 2012 or 2013, if I remember correctly. The origin of this cute Alpacasso Alpaca plush is actually from Japan. These plush were made by the company, Amuse and were toys you could win from these claw machines called UFO catchers.
Before the rise in popularity
When I first discovered Alpacasso alpaca, it wasn't popular overseas, YET. I remember wanting one of these plushes very badly soon after finding them. At the time, they were not widely available in-store in the United States, you had to purchase them online if you wanted one. They also were hard to find on sites like eBay or Amazon, you had to buy them from someone overseas on other sites. I stumbled upon a seller that went by the name of Rosy's Garden which is where I will end up making my first purchase. Despite being a broke college student, I still managed to piece together enough money to purchase one. There were several series I remember being released back then. In particular, I wanted the alpaca with the red headscarf from the strawberry collection, but that one was sold out. I ended up purchasing a different alpaca from the same collection. It was only 5.5 inches and cost me about 28 dollars. I had to wait several weeks to receive it. I have the alpaca still stored somewhere at my parent's house if I can find it, I'll make a separate post on it later.
The peak of Alpacasso Alpaca popularity was around 2015
In my opinion, the Alpacasso Alpaca reached its peak popularity around 2015. I began to see them everywhere in California. They have become more easily accessible and can now be obtained on online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. You could also find them in stores like Tokyo Lifestyle or other Asian stationery and gift shop stores. They've also been seen at Hot Topic. The prices were also more affordable now that they can be more easily distributed. I got the pink Alpacasso Alpaca below at the mall for 30 dollars. It is at least 5x the size of the one I had previously purchased online.
Knock-offs and Alpacasso Alpaca today
As Alpacasso Alpaca became more popular, other companies began to make knock-offs. There was a post a long time ago that helped people distinguish fake ones from real ones. Sometimes the counterfeits would look really good, almost like the real thing. Other times, you can tell that something was off about the plush, indicating that it was a fake. Today, the company Amuse has released many other plush, but it seems like none are as popular as Alpacasso Alpaca once was. Although you can still purchase Alpacasso Alpaca in some stores and online, it isn't as popular as before. The marketplace has a wider range of kawaii plush for sale than ever before. Regardless, the Alpacasso Alpaca has definitely left its mark and I'm sure, one of you or someone you know owns one of these alpacas (and if you don't, you probably have seen them at some point in stores or online.)
Comments
Post a Comment