These Pikachu knockoffs from China will haunt your dreams

Detective Pikachu is a hit in China, where fans have found some creative knockoff interpretations of the most popular Pokémon

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These Pikachu knockoffs from China will haunt your dreams

Published: 9:08pm, 13 May 2019Updated: 9:04am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Pokémon Detective Pikachu is a hit in China. The live-action movie covering the adventures of the yellow fluffball scored 282 million yuan (about US$41 million) at the Chinese box office over the weekend. But it looks like some companies were a little too eager to cash in on Pikachu’s iconic image.

Internet users in China have been unearthing the worst Pikachu merch they could find and publishing them on microblogging platform Weibo under the hashtag “Which factory made this Pikachu?”

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Frankly, some of these look like they stepped out straight out of a Tim Burton Pokémon movie. (But he already made his version of the “World’s Greatest Detective.”)

The caption says “Chinese version.” Chinese Pikachu looks like a sharp-toothed Star Wars creature in dire need of sleep. (Picture: Weibo)

Tired dinosaur Pikachu isn’t the worst version to come out of China, though. Some manufacturers seem to miss the entire concept of the character. One toy maker decided that the Pokémon is some kind of red-eyed rodent demon ready to take your soul.

“My God, why would you make lovely Pikachu look like this? I can't accept it,” one distressed Weibo user commented.