Why Some 2016 TOMY Mythical Plushes Came With Floppy Ears
The 2016 TOMY Pokémon 20th Anniversary Collection remains one of the most ambitious toy lines the franchise has ever produced. Across twelve months, TOMY released a rotating cast of mythical Pokémon plush figures, Clip 'n' Carry Poké Balls, and specialty items, each tied to a calendar month. The collection celebrated two decades of Pokémon by leaning heavily on rarities like Darkrai, Mew, Jirachi, and Manaphy, creatures that fans rarely saw turned into cuddly form. Australian collectors, many of whom lined up at local hobby shops in Melbourne and Brisbane on release mornings, still talk about the hunt for certain monthly drops.
Among the more curious quirks of the 2016 lineup, one complaint surfaced repeatedly on collector forums: the ear stiffness varied wildly from one mythical to the next. Where Pikachu stood upright with crisp, springy ears, figures like Mew and Darkrai arrived with noticeably softer, sometimes almost limp, ear tips. The variation was subtle enough that casual buyers sometimes missed it, but seasoned plush collectors caught on fast.
The inconsistency became a talking point because TOMY used the same internal wiring template across the entire line. So why did some mythicals hold their shape while others drooped? The answer lies in a few intersecting factors, from material sourcing to the specific anatomy of each creature, and even the way Australian retailers displayed the toys in sun-drenched shop windows.
The 2016 TOMY collection and its mythical releases
TOMY's twentieth anniversary run functioned as a year-long calendar of drops. Each month brought a new mythical Pokémon plush figure, often accompanied by a matching Clip 'n' Carry Poké Ball. The release cadence encouraged repeat purchasing and created a strong secondary market long before the toys hit shelves. Collector habits familiar to anyone who has queued for limited drops in Australia, checking stock at multiple stores, comparing samples side by side, and photographing tag variations, became the standard practice during this run.
The mythicals were the main event. Darkrai shipped early in the year, followed by Mew, Jirachi, Manaphy, Shaymin, Victini, Meloetta, and several others. Pikachu variations appeared multiple times throughout the run, including a fluffy texture anniversary Pikachu that stands apart from the standard release. Each mythical carried its own sculpt, and each relied on thin wire armature to keep pointed ears or appendages upright in packaging.
What collectors noticed about the ear stiffness
The first reports of floppy ears appeared on Japanese collector blogs in early 2016 and reached Australian forums within weeks. Buyers complained that certain figures held their ears upright straight out of the box, while others arrived with ears that folded at a forty-five degree bend. The phenomenon was most pronounced on characters with longer, thinner ear shapes.
Collectors who bought multiple copies of the same figure to keep one mint and one to open noticed that even pristine sealed units had the issue. This was not damage from handling or shipping; the softness was present from the moment the plastic window was peeled back. Some speculated it was a deliberate softness choice for certain characters, while others argued it pointed to inconsistencies in the wire gauge used during production.
The variation affected display value significantly. A shelf full of mythicals with mixed ear posture looked uneven, and many Australian collectors, accustomed to the strict grading standards of the local collectibles scene, found the inconsistency frustrating. Sydney-based plush traders began grading figures not just by tag and packaging condition but also by ear posture, a habit that soon spread to other major cities.
Why certain mythicals had floppy ears
Several factors converged to produce the floppy ear effect. The primary cause was the wire gauge TOMY selected for each sculpt: figures like Mew and Darkrai used a thinner gauge wire in the ear channels, which felt appropriate for the characters' sleeker designs but provided less rigidity. By contrast, Pikachu and Jirachi used a slightly thicker wire that held its shape more reliably, even after months on a shelf.
A secondary factor was the density of the plush fabric wrapped around the wire. Mew's pale lavender pelt was relatively light, allowing the wire inside to flex under its own weight. Darkrai's darker, slightly heavier fabric pulled down on the wire over time, causing ears that had passed factory inspection to sag during shipping. Australian climate played a role too: plush shipped to Sydney and Brisbane during the warmer months sometimes arrived in warehouses that sat above thirty degrees, softening the wire's memory and leaving ears in a relaxed position.
A third factor involved the sculpted shape of the ear itself. Mythicals with wide, triangular ears held their shape naturally thanks to a broader contact surface. Mythicals with narrow, tapering ear tips, like the Mew plush, relied almost entirely on internal armature. Even a slight variation in how the wire was bent during assembly could cause one ear to sit higher than the other, or both ears to lean gently to one side.
Mythical plush ear characteristics compared
| Mythical Pokémon | Ear shape | Wire gauge | Stiffness rating | Common posture issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darkrai | Long, pointed | Thinner | Soft | Tips droop forward |
| Mew | Short, rounded | Medium | Medium | Slight forward lean |
| Jirachi | Small, rounded | Medium | Firm | Generally upright |
| Shaymin | Wide, triangular | Thicker | Firm | Holds shape well |
| Manaphy | Small, rounded | Medium | Medium | Rarely affected |
| Meloetta | Long, pointed | Thinner | Soft | Asymmetric ears |
This comparison highlights how ear stiffness was not a single design choice but a layered outcome of sculpt, fabric weight, and armature. Collectors who understood the matrix could predict which figures were most likely to soften over time and plan their storage accordingly.
Australian collector reactions and resale impact
The floppy ear phenomenon created an unexpected ripple in the Australian secondary market. Sellers in Perth and Adelaide who opened their figures reported ear softness as the single most common complaint, and they began adjusting their asking prices accordingly. A sealed Mew with perfectly upright ears could fetch fifty to eighty dollars more than the same figure with noticeably drooping tips.
Australian Consumer Law, which guarantees that goods must be of acceptable quality and match their description, was rarely invoked because the softness was not technically a manufacturing defect. TOMY's official position held that ear posture could vary and that collectors should expect minor differences. Still, several specialty retailers in Melbourne's Chadstone shopping centre and Sydney's CBD displayed unsewn samples so customers could inspect ear posture before purchase, a practice borrowed from the graded trading card community.
Local Facebook groups dedicated to the Darkrai plush ran weekly threads debating acceptable ear angles. Some collectors actively sought out floppy-eared variants, arguing they looked more relaxed and lifelike, particularly for display in low, casual poses. Others treated them as factory seconds and refused to pay full retail price, which created a quiet two-tier market for otherwise identical figures.
Caring for and restoring the plush ears
For collectors who ended up with a softer-eared figure, a few gentle restoration techniques circulated in the community. None of them are officially endorsed by TOMY, but they were widely shared at Australian collectors' meetups held in Brisbane and Adelaide. The techniques focus on retraining the wire memory inside the ear channels rather than forcing the plush into shape, and most use only items found in a typical Australian household.
Tips for restoring ear rigidity
- Gentle warming with a hairdryer on low heat, held thirty centimetres from the ears, allows the internal wire to flex back into a more upright position
- Storing the plush upright in a display case with small foam inserts shaped from craft foam helps retrain the wire memory over a few weeks
- Avoiding prolonged exposure to direct sunlight, particularly important for Australian homes where north-facing windows can heat display shelves quickly
- Rotating display positions every few weeks to avoid permanent leaning in one direction
Preventive habits for future collectors
- Inspecting figures in-store before purchase, particularly ear posture and wire bend through any clear packaging
- Asking retailers about storage conditions, since figures stored in air-conditioned back rooms often arrived in better shape than those kept in glass-fronted window displays
- Photographing ear angles immediately after opening for documentation, useful for both insurance and future resale
- Keeping original packaging inserts, which sometimes included small cardboard ear supports that helped the figures hold shape during shipping
With a bit of attention to storage and a few low-effort restoration techniques, even the softest-eared 2016 TOMY mythical can be coaxed back into a presentable display posture, preserving the character of a collection that remains a high point of the brand's history.