DIGIMON FRIENDS

[dreamshelf]

"Friends" is a series of plush made by Bandai, specifically their Candy Toy division. A Friends plush is a small baseball-sized plush doll sold in a box along with some candy. They were popular in the late 1990s to early 2000s, and aside from Digimon, Pokemon and other various Japanese cartoon and game characters and random cute animals were also made. The very first Friends set appears to have been Pokemon, and was sold in 1997. One plush usually retailed for 300 yen.

Four sets of Friends plush were made for the Digimon series. A few years ago I started and eventually finished a quest to get them all in my possession. I will now do a presentation of them all!



DIGIMON ADVENTURE - DIGIMON FRIENDS - 1999

Bandai page: The super popular "Digimon Adventure" Digimon appear as plush dolls! Agumon who is together with the main character Taichi, Piyomon who is together with Sora, Patamon who is together with Takeru, and so on. The popular Digimon are all together!

Merchandise list:
1. Agumon
2. Piyomon
3. Gabumon
4. Gomamon
5. Patamon

Let's look at a box first:


I use these boxes as pencil holders. They're really quite convenient.


Agumon: a good generic plush for a good generic Digimon. Mine has a slight green stain on his snout, but Agumon is my least favorite Adventure Digimon anyway so I don't really care.


Piyomon, my favorite Digimon. This plush shows some wear on her felt parts; I've had her in my possession for well over ten years. I believe this was my first Piyomon toy so she means a lot to me. She's overall a nice solid little plush.


Gabumon is a neat Digimon but sweet mercy this plush is a hot mess. He has over a dozen small stripes that the designers thought was a good idea to make into individual glued on fabric strips. They're barely staying on, but should be easy enough to glue back on, I guess.


Gomamon got a furry fabric for his 'do, unlike Piyomon who just got felt for her neck fuzz. This plush is cute, and his glued-on markings hold up much better than Gabumon's.


Patamon! Both Patamon Friends plushies are very cute, but I think this is my favorite of the two. I like his cute hamster-like proportions. His ears are made from a different, less soft and furry fabric.


First set.



DIGIMON ADVENTURE - DIGIMON FRIENDS (PART 2) - 1999

Bandai page: The super popular plush series introduced from "Digimon Adventure" has increased with some new friends! The new lineup is Garurumon, Greymon, Tailmon, Palmon and Tokomon.

Merchandise list:
1. Garurumon
2. Greymon
3. Tailmon
4. Palmon
5. Tokomon

...yes, that's what the site said. If this set was originally meant to have only five Digimon, one of them being Garurumon, and no Tentomon and extra Patamon, who can say? As a huge fan of Tentomon, I'm glad it turned out the way it did, though.

First, a look at a box:


Thanks Tentomon!


First extra for the Adventure sets: Greymon! He has problematic Gabumon-type stripes, but they're holding up slightly better.


Palmon is probably my third favorite Adventure Digimon, and this plush is super cute. She may not have the little details on her arms, but her back spikes are there and her flower is very pretty. It's a little distracting that the stitching of her mouth very clearly doesn't match the stitching of her face.


Extra number two, Tokomon. He's a cute, compact little plush with the stubbiest legs! The material of his ears matches that of Patamon's.


Tailmon! Probably falls after Palmon on my favorite list. What can I say, I like my monsters to be girls.
This Tailmon looks a little strained standing up like that, and the stripes on her gloves look dangerously close to falling off, but I think this plush is super cute.


Patamon again! He IS arguably the plushiest Adventure Digimon. The part 2 Patamon is very cute and blobby. His ears are done differently from the first set version - here, one can see the stitching around the ears.


Tentomon is my second favorite Adventure Digimon. His design might look complicated, but as this plush shows, he is fully possible to turn into a cute plush. His lower set of arms are adorable!


Set two.


Adventure cast!


Both Adventure sets together.



DIGIMON ADVENTURE 02 - DIGIMON FRIENDS (PART 3) - 2000

Bandai page: Including the main character's Digimon from the new TV show "Digimon Adventure 02", new character plush dolls are introduced.

Merchandise list:
1. Chibimon
2. V-mon
3. Hawkmon
4. Armadimon
5. Wormmon
6. Tailmon

I don't have any boxes for this set, so let's look at the plush.


The odd one out but still listed as number one in the 02 lineup is Chibimon here. Very cute he is!


V-mon has a super appealing character design, but unfortunately, none of the 02 Digimon's personalities really do much for me. This is a cute plush in an awkward squatting kind of pose.


Hawkmon started the trend of girl characters with boy Digimon which wouldn't offend me nearly as much if we could have some boy characters with girl Digimon to make up for it. This plush has weird eyes, but I dig his wing fuzz details.


Armadimon's details translated to plush form perfectly! I love this plush! His tiny little plastic nose is absolutely precious.


Wormmon is probably my favorite of the new 02 Digimon, if I had to pick one, despite caring very little for Ken. His Friends plush is certainly a cutie.


Tailmon 0.2! This pose did not translate very well into a tiny plush, but I think she's lovely overall. Her tail ring is especially nice and I love that they kept it in the first place. Her whiskers are considerably shorter than in Adventure.


02 set.


And 02 cast!



DIGIMON TAMERS - NEW DIGIMON FRIENDS - 2001

Bandai page: Digimon plush dolls also appear in "Digimon Tamers"!! Using new materials and texture, they've become more real! and more cute! than before!

Merchandise list:
1. Guilmon
2. Terriermon
3. Renamon
4. Culumon
5. Impmon

I don't have any boxes for this set either! Oh well.


Guilmon is made of a super soft non-furry velvety material! I don't think Guilmon's design translated very well to a Friends plush, but he's very cute nonetheless.


Renamon looks considerably taller and skinnier than her fellow Friends plushies, but I think she looks great.


Terriermon, my favorite Tamers Digimon! He has stubby little arms and legs and is an absolute dear. The green parts are made of a different, less soft material.


Culumon is in a cute sitting position with his ears spread out, very cute!


Impmon's gloves and bandana are made of the same velvety material as Guilmon, but his main body feels a little rougher. His eyes are decals rather than plastic buttons for some reason unknown.


Tamers set.


Tamers main cast... down to three? Why!!


Aaaalllll the Digimon Friends!


And that's that! Collecting them was a fun but sometimes frustrating journey. Since my Digimon collecting has been in a bit of a lull lately, I'd like to pursue another series of plush. I'm considering the series of DX Adult level Adventure Digimon by Bandai, where I already own Birdramon and Kabuterimon, but it could get expensive in the long run. But if I'm patient enough I could probably stumble across some good deals! We'll see, I guess.