Up until Monday, you’d be hard-pressed to find many people whose favorite Pokémon was Breloom. It’s a dual Grass/Fighting-type ‘mon that looks like a mushroom, and that’s all most regular people need to know. It was introduced in the third generation games, and has historically been a semi-popular choice for competitive battlers, but it’s nowhere near as beloved as, say, Charizard or Mewtwo.
This niche Pokémon can now boast the distinct honor of being the only one linked to the assassination of a health insurance CEO. Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old heartthrob suspected of shooting and killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, included the Pokémon in the banner of his Twitter/X profile. The banner features a triptych of the mushroom creature, a back X-ray, and a shirtless photo of himself that has been the subject of many a thirst tweet and the leading image for seemingly every tabloid that has written about him.
Shortly after his Twitter account became public, online toy sellers began experiencing a surge in purchases for the only Breloom plushie officially released by Pokémon. It is now sold out in multiple small online and eBay stores. (It’s currently also sold out on the official Pokémon shop, but at least one gamer news site reported that it sold out prior to Mangione’s arrest.)
Karen Tu, a New York-based plushies vendor, told Gazetteer SF that her store experienced a huge uptick in sales for the Breloom plush — enough that it sold out at her store earlier Tuesday. She didn’t know why until I asked for comment via email.
the person of interest in the shooting of the United CEO has been ID’d as Luigi Mangione, an Ivy League grad and fan of Breloom, the mushroom Pokémon. pic.twitter.com/jBuBYNOLFA
— Peter Twinklage (@PeterTwinklage) December 9, 2024
“Is this related to the United Health shooter? I just realized the connection,” Tu told Gazetteer by email. “I didn’t have many in stock to begin with and it had been selling slowly so I didn’t restock from Japan” until she sold out early this morning, she wrote in a follow-up.
The reason for Breloom’s inclusion on his Twitter profile is unclear. Despite speculation about its number in the Pokédex alluding to a Bible verse and claims about his affinity for psychedelics, the most plausible explanation is that he was a Pokémon fan, at least according to the New York Times, which reported that he was a regular poster on the Pokémon Go subreddit.
Breloom has historically been a “middle-of-the-road kind of Pokémon in terms of its popularity,” Tu said, noting that she’s usually carried 10 at a time; she’s since put in a new order for 20 more of the sold-out plushies, which she expects to arrive within two to three weeks.
Tu is not the only one who sold out this week. One Bay Area-based eBay shop, listed as being located in San Mateo, experienced a significant uptick in sales Monday and Tuesday, selling the last one in their inventory at 3:22 a.m. Tuesday. According to its sales data, 10 Breloom toys were sold within the past 24 hours. Before Monday, only two Breloom plushies were recently purchased — one in September, another in October. The seller did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another seller in Japan had a similar sales spurt: Two sales, one apiece in September and October, and then eight sales within the past two days, the last being late Tuesday morning. That particular seller still has more than 10 in stock, for anyone who wants to join in.
