The Legend of Zelda: Tears of Losing Lawson's Campaign

From May 9th, the Lawson convenience stores in Japan started their promotion for the upcoming, anticipated sequel to 2017's Breath of the Wild, "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom".

The campaign included various Zelda themed food items, as well as snacks. Arguably though, the most attractive feature of the campaign is(was?) the lottery.

I tried nearly all of it, so I'll write about it here.

First up, the food items. 

The biggest charm about the Lawson Zelda collaboration food is that they are named as if they had been crafted in the game. I was most excited to try the "spicy pepper" version of the popular "Karaagekun" series.

It has a nice level of spiciness; more so than any other versions of Karaagekun that I have tried.

"Beast meat curry bread".

Tasted basically like standard Japanese curry pan, but a very good one! I popped it in the toaster for a couple minutes and it was delicious.

"Goron Spice dry-curry onigiri".

You typically don't see this type of onigiri at convenience stores. I was surprised at the nice little level of spiciness. I'm gonna eat a few more of these before the campaign ends. I'm a fan!

"Hearty Truffle Mushroom Focaccia".

I was a bit skeptical about this one, but ended up enjoying it. It has a nice flavor of mushrooms and garlic. I toasted this one as well.

"Mighty Banana au lait".

Nice and refreshing au lait. There are multiple cup designs.

"Suntory Natural Spring Water Fiber 8000."

This one isn't actually a Zelda themed item, but each bottle comes with a small "multi cloth" attached to the cap. There are three designs in total. It's peach flavored and pretty good. I didn't mind drinking a few to collect all three cloths.

"Sword-pick & Gummies".

This cute candy includes five Chuchu shaped gummies and a sword to pierce them with. It's a little pricey for the amount of candy you get, but the main allure is the Sword Pick. There are five designs in total and if you're lucky, you might come across a golden sword variant.

There are "card candies" as well. They are collectible cards that come with hard heart-shaped candies. I can't find them anywhere.

Now, let's talk about the special lottery campaign...
For the price of 750 yen (tax included), you can purchase a ticket for a chance to drew from the lottery. There are various prizes grouped by letter tiers, with "A" being the highest.
"A" is the light-up Master Sword, which was limited to two per store (I think). Some other prizes were, "B" a canvas block, "C" a blanket, "D" mugs in various designs, etc.
There is also a "last one" prize to encourage customers to keep entering the lottery until all items have been claimed. The "last one" prize is a design clock which, as the name suggests, is limited to one per store.

The lower tier prizes include stationary, plates, and charms/keychains. Every draw will get you an item, so you can't actually "lose". Even the lowest tier "rubber Korok charms" are cute.

This was my first haul. I pulled the canvas "B" and a mug "C", plus some charms, plates, and a notepad. By the way, you get to choose from the various designs yourself. So, collecting all the plates, mugs, and stationary isn't a random "gacha" chance. The only unknown in the campaign are the metal charms, that don't tell which design is included in the box.

I went to a couple Lawson stores in the morning on the first day of the campaign and they were all stocked very well. I thought I'd take a nice night walk and check how much the campaign had been picked over, and to my surprise, the shelves were completely wiped clean. Everything gone. Lottery over! I wanted to try a few more entries and try to get a Master Sword, so I was a bit dishearten that the lottery had ended so quickly.

The next morning, I check the local Lawson stores to confirm that they wouldn't be restocking and starting the lottery again. My nearest Lawson had put up a handwritten "the lottery has finished!" sign and replaced the shelf with digital Tears of the Kingdom game cards. However, I decided to head to a third Lawson that is a bit further from my house. To my surprise, they still had a few lottery prizes left.

I pulled a few times, only getting some lower tier prizes like Korok and metal charms. But then I decided to enquire a bit. This Lawson had a less appealing display with all the items laid out on a small table. Not everything could fit, so I asked, "are the items on the table all that is left? No more Master Swords?". The clerk told me that the swords and most other high tier prizes were gone in the first day, and that people were lining up to pull from the lottery. She showed me that only twelve more tickets were available. After getting confirmation when I asked, "so... if I buy all of them, I get the clock too, right?", I bought all the rest. Here's my haul:

Here's the "last one" prize clock. Maybe the most coveted prize in the lottery? I'm not sure. I guess it's the rarest, at least. I haven't opened the box yet.

Here are some of the metal charms out of their boxes. They're pretty gorgeous. I am only missing the sheathed Master Sword.

Additional, when you buy three select snacks, you are eligible to choose between six different clear-files (those plastic sleeves that you can put paper inside). The irony is that this campaign is so popular the select snacks sell out before the files, leaving no way to get them unless you can bribe a clerk (your mileage may very, haven't tried this). On one occasion, I bought three sticks of grape Mentos because it was the only eligible snack still in stock.

A heart-shaped light is also being sold. I thought it looked really cool when I saw the pictures on Lawson's site, but in-person it looks pretty rinky-dink and is almost weightless. It seems like these are usually still available in most stores. Maybe other people have the same thoughts on it as I do.

Oh, and I guess I can't really say that I "lost" this campaign. It just made for a good blog title. ふふふ

UPDATE! A new Lawson opened outside my local station yesterday. They are running the campaign and still have every item available. I'm tempted to try a few more times, but... I've spend enough money on this already.