You don't steal Pikachu. You just DON'T.

Gee, did they think they were going to get away with that sort of copyright infringement? Ube City has a new eco-mascot, and it looks on heckuva lot like that ever-cuddly, thunderbolt-tailed icon we all (well, not all of us...but if you want to fit in with the younguns, just agree with me here) grew up with. Just take a look at the plushy below.
More pics after the jump.

No, no, on second thought, that's totally different. Not. He even has the same little mouth. Well, Ecoha the Pikachu and Oddish lovechild is really cute. Almost as cute as this.

And definitely cuter than this.

I mean, what is that anyway? A ferret? Pikachu doesn't even HAVE three stripes. He has two. And they're clearly in the tramp stamp region of his back.
Anyway, if it were up to me, I'd just keep the little Ecoha ripoff, saying a Pikachu left it on someone's doorstep in the middle of a rainy night. According to Japan Probe, the costume for this little furball is getting nixed. Well, I suppose there would be no appeasing the nintendo corporate gods.