The first LEGO Pokémon reveals include five Pokémon across three LEGO sets, so how well do the brick-built versions capture the original creatures?
LEGO Pokémon is officially, finally here, with three initial sets revealed alongside a GWP and an Insiders Reward. Between those builds, there are five brick-built Pokémon of various sizes and levels of detail.
Read on to see our comparisons of Eevee, Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur with their TV show counterparts. We've picked the animated versions over the pixelated handheld game counterparts for obvious reasons.
Eevee
Eevee is the smallest of the three LEGO Pokémon sets, leaning into printed elements to recreate a near picture-perfect face on the Pokémon. A combination of angled tiles and moulded elements have been used to mimic the tufts of lighter fur around Eevee's neck and tail, while the vast majority of the body uses smooth, rounded elements.
That reflects the polished look of the animated Pokémon perfectly, culminating in what might be the most accurate LEGO Pokémon of the lot. If we're nitpicking, there could have been more angled tiled on top of the head to better reflect the amount of fur you see in the TV show, but all in all, 72151 Eevee sets the bar very high.
Pikachu
72152 Pikachu and Poké Ball doesn't nail the likeness to quite the same extent, although it's a fun overall look all the same. The face shape is more like a rounder square, rather than the nearly perfectly round face that Pikachu has in the TV show. Like Eevee, the mouth and nose are represented with printed elements, but the eyes and red cheeks are made from physical elements (although with printed white details on the eyes).
The layering of elements on the ears mean the black tips don't appear to be completely straight, at least from what we can tell from these early pictures. The brown stripes on Pikachu's back also don't taper in quite the same way, while the brown section of the tail isn't as long as the animated version.
Those might seem like small details, but the overall effect leaves 72152 Pikachu and Poké Ball feeling more blocky than he originally was. That said, the paws and general shape of the Pokémon are well-designed, and it's not like you can't tell exactly who this set is fashioned after at first glance.
Charizard
Charizard's proportions in 72153 Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise are pretty spot on, leaning into his chunky lower half and more sleek torso and arms. All three of the Pokémon in this set are built as if mid-battle, so Charizard has fire coming out of its mouth, as well as streaming from its tail.
The tail flame is slightly smaller than you might expect. Most of the moments when Charizard is seen in the show, his tail is flaming almost to half the size of his body, rather than the size of just one of his feet.
Otherwise, his belly is filled out well with layered plates, and it looks like there are printed details on the membranes of the wings that help them appear ridged and realistic. The claws and teeth are replicated with tiny pointed elements that work well, while the face is rounded off with what appear to be printed eyes.
Blastoise
The LEGO Blastoise uses similar build techniques as 40787 Mario Kart – Spiny Shell for his armoured shell, complete with the cannons that jut out over either shoulder. There are a lot of parts coming together in a relatively small space, but it manages to capture Blastoise's stature without being too clunky.
The face shape is fairly spot on as well, with curved tiles used to sculpt the cheeks and forehead accurately. Rather than the larger plates used on Charizard's stomach, smaller tiled plates not measuring more than two studs wide are used to reflect the ridges across the original Pokémon's chest and belly.
If there's one area that could be improved, it's the limbs. The animated Blastoise has three pretty equally sized segments on each arm and leg, whereas the LEGO version only features two on the arms and pretty much one for the legs. This is likely down to stability: having three separate parts to the legs might make him too weak to stand on his own two feet. Much like the stomach, smaller tiles are used on the legs to mimic those different segments.
Venusaur
Venusaur is the most colourful of the trio in 72153 Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise. It's built with vines coming down either side of his head, as well as the leaves and the flower on the top of the back. The body is very accurately recreated, using exposed studs to reflect the texture of Venusaur's skin and printed elements for the heavy-lidded eyes.
The flower petals on the back of Venusaur don't have as much light pink detail as the original version, but the overall shape is spot on. The level of detail on the leaves is also impressive both from afar and up close, with smooth tiles used to add extra texture to the Grass Pokémon.
All three LEGO Pokémon sets are available to pre-order now ahead of their general release on February 27. Early adopters of 72153 Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise will also pick up 40892 Kanto Region Badge Collection while stocks last.
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