We all know that Japan can be a little weird at times, what with it's obsession with maids, giant robots and oversized swords - but every so often something comes out that really takes the Pocky. Most recently, it was a little known dating sim, Hatoful Boyfriend, a dating sim which saw you, as a poor lonely female, romancing eligible bachelors. Only this time, there was a bit of a difference - the guys in question were all birds. It was a bit of a wacky premise, but it's cast of colourful, and often hilarious, characters really won us over when we played it earlier in the year. With its festive themed sequel, Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star currently pencilled in for a release at some point before the end of the year, we were expecting some sort of Hatoful Boyfriend related news at least fairly soon - but we weren't expecting this.
Cuddly. Motherfupping. Pigeons. That is all.
Shuu looks much less threatening in his stuffed form...
Okay, there's technically more to it than that - basically, the person behind Hatoful Boyfriend has joined forces with Erik Scarecrow, founder of Esc-Toy Ltd, who specialise in making limited edition merchandise for various companies, to create a range of Hatoful Boyfriend-themed plush pigeons. Currently, only three of the eligible boy birds appear to be up for grabs - there's childhood friend Ryouta, pudding aficionado OkoSan and creepy school doctor, Shuu. $20 will get you 5 inch plushies of all three, whilst paying a fair bit more ($75) will bump you up into the special editions, such as Shuu in his doctor Souma Isa outfit, or (our personal favourite) Maid Ryouta, looking fabulous in his pretty pink maid outfit. All that's missing really is a cuddly pudding to go alongside OkoSan.
Despite having only gone live on Kickstarter this morning, the project has garnered the full $25,000s they needed to put production into place (and then some), and is showing no signs of slowing down. According to the page, there is a stretch goal at $35,000, but they haven't yet said what it is. Still, If you fancy a plush pigeon of your own, you might want to head over to the official Kickstarter page and put some money down, as there's currently no word as to whether or when they'll be available outside of the aforementioned Kickstarter rewards.
