Pokémon Lands at the Natural History Museum: Here's What We Thought

If the Van Gogh Museum taught us anything, its that Pokémon fandom can reach chaotic heights. In late 2023, the museum collaborated with Pokémon to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a special exhibit. The gift shop offered a limited edition card that featured Pikachu in the style of Van Gogh's self-portrait. Fans and scalpers jostled to get their hands on the card. Eventually, the museum had to stop handing the card out.

Credit: Lozium

The Natural History Museum took a different approach with its current Pokémon pop-up (tickets have sold out). It was ticketed and crowds were manageable. When we attended, we were actually let in later than the time on our ticket, so tightly controlled were the numbers. The Pokémon card offered with purchases is oversized, so not necessarily a must-have for collectors of standard-sized cards.

The merchandise designs were a highlight, though we would have liked to see a little more variety. We did acquire one of the plushes, which features Pikachu cuddling the recognisable front of the Natural History Museum. We also picked up a Tropius magnet and an Eevee keyring. For us, the best part was the model at the end of the exhibition (you don't need a ticket to be able to view this, so if you missed out on those, you can still catch a part of the pop-up, though you will not be permitted to enter the shop). The scene represented in the model was impressively detailed, and fun to explore visually.

We would have liked the pop-up to be a little bigger, but in terms of the space used, it was well-laid out, and a fun way to spend an hour or so.