I preordered the Nomwhal and Disapproval Meowchi from Tasty Peach Studios back in April, and they finally arrived in the mail yesterday!

Before I talk about the latest items I purchased from this company, I feel like I should give a bit of background. Tasty Peach Studios is a small company based in Indiana that sells items featuring cute Japanese-inspired characters. They offer a variety of plush toys, t-shirts, jewelry, and more. They sell their merchandise on their website and at various anime conventions. I’ve only purchased their plush toys, so I can’t comment on the rest of their adorable items, though I’m sure they’re just as awesome as the plush.

Most of their plush toys seem to be based on food. Their main line of plush, Meowchis, are mochi kitty cats. They also have plush dolls of several other food inspired characters, as well as Zombie Alpacas. The first plush I purchased from Tasty Peach Studios was the Kyandi llama plush, and I’ve been in love with their plush characters ever since. Eventually I caved and bought the Strawberry Meowchi too. It’s a super cute pink cat! What’s not to like?

Nomwhal

I was super excited for the Nomwhal plush when it was announced. Nomwhal is an ice cream cone narwhal. It is the perfect companion for Kyandi, the cotton candy alpaca. It looks like vanilla ice cream covered in strawberry syrup and sprinkles. Its horn is an ice cream cone, of course.

He is made of super soft minky fabric. The main part of his body is pure white and he has pink on his back and head with embroidered sprinkles. The pink color is a darker, more hot pink shade of pink than the pictures on their website and Facebook page.

He is kind of awkwardly shaped, and it is difficult to get a good picture of him that shows his face and body details. I guess that kind of goes with the territory of being a narwhal though! His awkwardness is part of his charm! (I keep calling him “he.” Truth be told, I don’t know what gender Narwhal is supposed to be. It is pink, but I think of it as a “he” for some reason.)

Nomwhal is quite a bit bigger than the rest of the plushies from Tasty Peach Studios. It measures 15 inches long. At $35, it is also the most expensive plush they currently offer. If you are a fan of large plushies, it is well worth the price.

Disapproval Meowchi

Disapproval Meowchi started off as an April Fool’s day joke. Due to high demand, Tasty Peach Studios opened up preorders for it so everyone who wanted one could actually get it. It’s grey and its face is the “look of disapproval” emoticon. ಠ__ಠ

He is just a hair bigger than my Strawberry Meowchi. He feels slightly more densely stuffed than the Stawberry Meowchi as well. The fabric on each Meowchi also feels a little bit different. I’m not sure if this was intentional or if they switched manufacturers at some point. I have a Lychee Meowchi ordered as well, and I’ll compare all three of them once it arrives.

Meowchi’s are pretty small. They stand at 5.2 inches tall. As with all of the limited edition Meowchis, Disapproval Meowchi was $25 (the regular “flavors” are $20 each). This seems pretty steep for such a small plushie. They are made of high quality minky fabric, however, and have beans in their bellies to help them to sit upright. Still, for the price I would say that they are more collectors items for adults/teenagers than toys for small children. Disapproval Meowchi’s face alone makes him worth the $25. The only thing I don’t like is the tag placement. It covers his face too much when it is facing down the right way.

A few more things

The gang’s all here! At least until my Lychee Meowchi arrives!

I was a bit disappointed that it took so long to receive my plushies. The shipment for the Nomwhals came in on time in July. I wasn’t aware that it wouldn’t be shipped until my Disapproval Meowchi came in as well since I ordered them together in one order. After inquiring about it, they said they won’t ship items separately if you ordered them together. The shipment containing the Disapproval Meowchis (as well as the Lychee and Mango Meowchis) was delayed by customs, so I had to wait almost two extra months to get my Nomwhal as well.

Considering how much they charge for shipping (not to mention the costs of the products themselves), I would have thought that they would make an exception for preordered items, and just ship them as they came in. If the shipping costs really are that big of an issue, some kind of acknowledgement that they actually appreciate their customers would have been nice (such as a coupon code for my next order or some small trinket or something!).

Instead of appreciation for the people who preordered, I noticed on their Facebook page that they were starting to get a bit rude to customers who asked about their preorders over the last few weeks. I understand that it can be annoying answering the same questions over and over again, but not everyone reads every single Facebook post or knows to scroll to the very bottom of their website and click on a tiny, tiny link to read the FAQs. Normally Tasty Peach Studios seems friendly to their customers on Facebook, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt this time and assume they either let someone new respond to customers on Facebook, or that it’s just a one time thing do to the stress of getting these items out.

That said, I will still likely buy more plushies from Tasty Peach Studios in the future. I will just try to be careful about ordering multiple items at once if they are preorder items. I plan on getting their Pug Wonbon plush when it is released, as well as a Unicorn Meowchi and Rainbow Meowchi if they ever release plush of those characters.