I caught the rare Pokemon Mew Oreo. Now, what do I do with it?
And Piplup, where are you?
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
The Mew Pokemon Oreo is the rarest of the batch, and I lucked out.
I recently wrote about the new limited-edition Pokemon Oreos, and I was intrigued. They're regular Oreos, with different Pokemon characters embossed onto them. And just like opening a pack of Pokemon cards, you don't know which characters you'll end up with, or whether you'll score a rare offering, until you crack open the bag.
The Pokemon Oreos are now in stores, or you can order online. But you may want to wait: Some consumers are boycotting Nabisco products, which include Oreos, because the company's workers are striking at six US locations. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that contract talks are taking place Monday and Tuesday, so perhaps the strike will come to an end soon.
I didn't go out and buy any Oreos, but full disclosure: Oreo sent me a promo box of them. My collector curiosity got the better of me, and I had to go through the entire pack and see exactly which ones were in there.
The cookies have the regular Oreo logo on one side, and the Pokemon characters on the flip side. There are 16 different characters, with the mythical Pokemon Mew supposedly the rarest. I started looking through the Oreos, and believe it or not, the third one that I picked up from a box of 32 cookies was .... a Mew.
I was so surprised to see this rare cookie I wrote to Oreo, asking if they had specially stocked the boxes they sent out to reporters with Mews, or if I was just lucky. (A company representative wrote back and said it was random, so I guess I just lucked out.) Then, of course, I had to go through the entire box and see which Pokemon Oreos I did and did not receive.
There are 16 different Pokémon Oreo designs.
The most recognizable Pokemon, even among people who never played the game, is probably the adorable Pikachu. My box had a whopping four Pikachu cookies. The only other character that showed up four times was another fan favorite, Charmander.
Pokemon Oreos feature different characters on the cookies, including the popular Pikachu.
My box also contained one Sandshrew, two Sableye, two Bulbasaur, one Lapras, two Cyndaquil, two Dratini, two Grookey, one Jigglypuff (this might be the cutest Oreo), two Squirtle, two Pancham, one Snivy and three Rowlet. And, of course, the adorable, mythical Mew.
Then there was what I'm calling the Mystery Oreo. One of my cookies didn't make the trip through the mail very well -- the cookie with the character on it broke off in transit, leaving only about a third of it still clinging to the cream filling. From the little bit that's left, I can't tell what Pokemon it once was. RIP, little guy.
There was only one Pokemon Oreo that didn't show up in my box -- the Piplup, an adorable little penguin Pokemon. I suppose it's possible the unrecognizable Mystery Oreo was a Piplup, but so little was left of the design I can never know. (And I even tried to jigsaw-puzzle it back together with broken bits.)
I was honestly surprised by just how many different Pokemon showed up in my Oreo box, especially since the company said I just received a random package. But I'm still perplexed by the idea of a food item having a rare offering.
Am I supposed to save the Mew from being eaten because it's rare? Vacuum-seal it like it's a wedding gown? Store it in a vault? Try and sell it on eBay? For now I just shoved it back in the box with its friends. I imagine that once the Nabisco strike is over, there'll be more interest in the Pokemon Oreos, but for now, I won't be out trying to catch 'em all.