LEGO Pokémon reactions: ‘Neat,’ ‘baffling’ and ‘wasted space’

With five new LEGO Pokémon sets officially revealed yesterday, the reaction from the wider fan community has thrown up some all-too-familiar reactions.

The LEGO Pokémon theme followed up its recent SMART Play offerings with the announcement of five non-interactive upcoming sets this week. Those new models include more buildable figures and the first-ever LEGO Pokémon minifigures, with the reaction to the news from the wider fan community being typically divisive.

For starters, three LEGO Pokémon sets will drop on August 1 in the shape of 72150 Munchlax, 72160 Arcanine and 72168 Rayquaza, although most of those models seem to have managed to escape the usual wrath of incensed fans of the licensed property and LEGO builders.

“I honestly felt the base was a great addition in this instance,” said Clockwork631 on Reddit, “while I wasn't a fan of it for the Kanto Trio or Pikachu, it works really well for Rayquaza as it's based on an area tied to the Pokémon, while also giving a really nice sense of scale. I mean, what did people actually want instead, this or just a plain black rod that sticks into Rayquaza's body? I know what I prefer.”

“As much as I'm tired of brick-built shelf decoration sets, Munchlax looks the best so far amongst all Pokémon ones” added Blazinter. “I don't hate the Rayquaza set and I actually think the pillar mini diorama looks neat.”

“Munchlax looks great but continues to be a baffling choice when most of the other icons Pokémon have been Gen 1," exclaimed KamenRiderQ, "and it doesn’t seem like one that’s popular enough to break that mould like Rayquaza. Arcanine looks great. Articulation looks a bit more limited than Eevee’s, but otherwise no notes. This one I might be convinced to get at some point.”

That trio of LEGO Pokémon models will then be followed on October 1 with 40868 Up-Scaled Red Minifigure and 72154 Iconic Trainer Moment Poké Ball, with both builds coming in for some heavy online criticism.

“I have every upscaled mini and I'm sincerely considering skipping this one,” said Redditor Gilly_Bones. “It's like they made this one at the same price point as the Darth Vader set to justify the price of the LEGO Star Wars set lol.”

“Look, if you think this is cool then all the power to you,” chimed in MonkeysxMo35. “But did anyone, when thinking up all sorts of sets and ideas for LEGO Pokémon, ever have an up-scaled minifigure of Red as one of their ideas? Did anyone want this as one of the sets to come out of the line?”

“The chosen scenes are actually great but I’m disappointed by the size of them,” commented veeringwhim regarding 72154 Iconic Trainer Moment Poké Ball. “I know you can only realistically fit so much in the ball shape, but seems like a lot of wasted space.”

“Ahhh, a measly $300 for a BIG two "iconic" moments,” chimed in GiN4_7123 on X (formerly Twitter), “featuring picking one of three Poké Balls from Professor Oak and battling some rando with Pikachu or Eevee because they couldn't be bothered to let you CHOOSE which starter to display the set with....”

“The ugliness of LEGO Pokémon sets is unparalleled,” concluded fellow X commentor Piezaroth. “It would be better to make small dioramas that reproduce pixelated scenes from the games... without these piles of hideous pieces that cost a fortune."

LEGO Pokémon 2026 sets

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