Pokémon with guns (aka Palworld) is a massive hit and a lot of kids and teenagers are enjoying the open-world survival crafting game. It’s likely to be a popular source of inspiration for this year’s Halloween costumes and so, as expected, some companies are already producing unofficial merch that might end up on someone knocking on your door for candy later this fall.
Palworld has millions of players and is one of the most-played games in the world right now. As I write this paragraph on a random Tuesday afternoon, it sits at over 300,000 concurrent players on Steam. The game, which features cute, Pokémon-like critters called Pals, is a blockbuster success and when something gets this big this fast, that often leads to a weird period of time when official merchandise is nowhere to be found. So naturally, other companies have started producing and selling knock-off Palworld merch, including some genuinely strange-looking full-body costumes.
As spotted by VG24/7, Palworld—like so many other hit video games—has knock-off costumes for sale on a few different websites. On Reddit, someone spotted these full-body getups which are currently for sale on AliExpress for $20. These look like costumes from the 80s you pick up at a drug store because you forgot tomorrow was Halloween and your kids wear it, begrudgingly, because, well they still want candy. Also, kind of creepy. Imagine one of these knocking on your door late in the night after you’ve watched a bunch of horror movies.
VG24/7 found similar or possibly the exact same costumes on Ebay, though here they are priced at $22. Another site seems to be selling at least one of these costumes, specifically the yellow Grizzbolt variant. It’s priced at around $38 USD. The last one says it’s being sold by: Dongguan Shiri Huanbao Dianzishangwu Youxian Gongsi. Googling around didn’t reveal much, but it appears to be a Chinese company. (This is a good time to mention that you should Google “Dropshipping.” You know. Just for fun.)
For those curious, it doesn’t seem like PocketPair, the studio behind Palworld, has released any official costumes based on the game. So these are all likely just rushed knockoffs. I’m not even convinced these outfits will look the same as the images advertising them. Be warned before buying.
And for kids who do end up dressing up as a Pal from Palworld for Halloween this year, I’m sorry, but this is going to be how trick-or-treating goes for you all night:
Old lady: Oh look. What a cute Pokemon.
Kid: I’m a Pal…
Old lady: Oh that’s nice sweetie, have a caramel.
