Lego Pokémon is something I have wanted for as long as I’ve been aware of both brands. It’s perhaps the biggest cross-section of my interests, which means when the original sets were first rumoured last year, I couldn’t believe my luck. I’m far from the only person in this boat.
By most metrics, Pokémon is the largest media franchise in the world. Combining that with Lego is a dream for fans, but when the line launched earlier this year, not everyone was on board with how Lego and Pokémon’s partnership has begun.
At the Pokémon World Championships 2026 & Pokémon XP in San Francisco, California, I sat down with Siddharth Muthyala, design director at Lego, and Mike Kirk Andersen, senior interaction designer, to chat about Lego Pokémon, the fanbase-dividing Smart Brick, and the future of adult-focused sets.
So, with more than 1000 Pokémon to pick, I wanted to know how the team at Lego went about picking the debutants for this new area of Pokémon merchandise, after the names Pikachu and Charizard were placed firmly at the top of the list.
“Tough question right off the bat,” Muthyala laughed. “As you mentioned, there’s a lot of Pokémon to choose from. I think for us, it all came down to an assortment and a range of Pokémon that children find exciting, can identify with, can recognize, and have a connection to.
“So it wasn’t chosen out of the blue. We did have multiple Pokémon that we’ve been playing with and did a lot of playtests and I think we’ve done playtests with several hundred children. We always ask them, right, what’s your favorite, which one? And then through that, favorite surface, and then we also work with The Pokémon Company to work through our list of Pokémon as well.
“But it all comes down to play. So what’s the most fun Pokémon you can build that fits in a child’s hand, that can fly, that can swim, that can walk, and all of that, and make a list from that.”
Lego Pokémon comes at a time of major transition for Lego. The recently introduced Smart Brick, which debuted in the Lego Star Wars line last year, has divided fans. For younger members of the audience, it is a new, forward-looking way to interact with Lego, turning the building brick into more of a digital toy.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/lego-pokemon-bosses-talk-the-divisive-smart-brick-sets-for-adult-fans-and-whats-next/
