Pokemon Psyduck toy all the rage across country

A dancing Pokemon Psyduck toy included in KFC China's Children's Day kids meals has gone viral online with its cute features and funny moves. It is available in certain parts of the country.

A netizen inquiring about the toy's availability in Shanghai was told by KFC that it isn't available yet locally.

On Tuesday, KFC told Shanghai Daily the Children's Day meals are released in different regions at different times.

The restaurant chain advises people interested in the Pokemon toy to check with KFC outlets in their respective cities via KFC app.

On May 21, KFC China introduced three new Pokemon toys to celebrate Children's Day on June 1. The toys are randomly distributed in Children's Day meals, the price of which ranges from 69 yuan (US$10.34) to 115 yuan.

Each of the three toys has its own features. The male Pikachu toy can serve as a water bottle, the female Pikachu toy is like a music box and the Pikachu doll rotates and dances.

The Psyduck seems to have captured the most hearts. It turns into a "Plaza Dance King" with "brainwashing" background music when moved up and down.

Short videos and memes about the duck are sweeping Chinese social media platforms. The hashtag "why the Psyduck toy has gotten so popular" has been trending on the microblogging platform Weibo, chocking up more than 27 million views by Tuesday at noon.

In these videos, netizens use the duck to call on people to take nucleic acid tests, urge students to hand in their homework, ask husbands to go home and tell bosses there's no way to make them work overtime.

A man surnamed Du living in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, said he visited nearly every KFC store near his home the morning KFC launched its Children's Day meals but failed to get one of the coveted toys.

"I went to KFC outlets on both May 21 and 22 and found the Psyduck toy was sold out, but the other two Pikachus were available," he said.

A woman surnamed Chen visited a KFC store in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, on May 23 and had the same experience.

"The staff told me they started selling the meals at 9:30am, and there are only 10 sets every day," she said.

Shanghai resident Qian Weishun told Shanghai Daily that due to the city's lockdown, he asked a friend in Chongqing to get one for him. However, there, too, the Psyduck was sold out, so his friend got him a Pikachu.

"I'm a big Pokemon fan. Since we have to stay at home, we have no way to go to KFC. I asked my friend to help get me one, but the Psyduck is so popular he got me a Pikachu instead, which is also good," Qian said.

Some local residents even tried to get the toys through group-buying.

Shanghai Daily checked second-hand e-commerce platform Xianyu on Tuesday afternoon and found the Psyduck toy on sale for prices ranging from 50 yuan to 2,000 yuan.