Evoli, Pikachu and Co.: Lego unveils first Pokemon sets

Announced in March of last year, Lego has now unveiled the first three Pokémon building sets. They are aimed at an adult and affluent audience and focus on five of the most well-known monsters. Fans of the Japanese pocket monsters can pre-order Pikachu, Evoli, Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise starting now – Lego will ship the building sets from the end of February.

The smallest of the three sets brings an Evoli with almost 600 pieces home and costs just under 60 Euros. The brown pocket monster can wiggle its ears and tail, turn its head, and is also posable in other ways. Minifigures are not included in Set 72151, nor in the other Pokémon sets.

Only one building set for under 100 Euros

With the next largest building set, the Pikachu and Poké Ball (Set Number 72152), the price is already clearly in the three-digit range at 199.99 Euros, but it features 2050 pieces in addition to a base plate and the aforementioned Poké Ball. The trio Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise completes the first wave of Lego Pokémons, but will put a large dent in the trainer's wallet at 649.99 Euros. For this, however, the trainer receives 6838 pieces plus water, land, and volcano dioramas, but should make some space in their display cabinet. When assembled, the set measures 50 cm in every dimension.

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Lego-Pokémons: Die ersten drei Sets sind da (4 Bilder)

Lego-Evoli

In overview:

• Evoli, Set Number 72151, 587 pieces, € 59.99,
• Pikachu and Poké Ball, Set Number 72152, 2050 pieces, € 199.99 and
• Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise with diorama plate, Set Number 72153, € 649.99

Box with Badges as a Bonus

Those who pre-order the largest of the three sets have earned a distinction. The "Kanto Region Badge Collection" includes eight badges built from bricks – apparently with plenty of stickers for the details – and a blue storage box. The total of 312-piece box with the Set Number 40892 is, as is customary with Lego's extras (in jargon "GWP - Gift with Purchase"), not available separately.

Pre-orderers can also only order each building set once – presumably to make the work of overzealous resellers and speculators a bit more difficult. Delivery will then take place from February 27th – Pokémon fans will have to be patient until then.

To sell the popular interlocking bricks in Pokémon form, Lego entered into a multi-year partnership with The Pokémon Company last year. Previously, Mattel had held the license for its Mega Construxx interlocking brick brand since 2017 and offered building sets for play and as display models. Dioramas such as a Pokémon arena were also available from Mattel – young fans also got their money's worth here. The Danish manufacturer apparently sets different priorities, at least in the first step: because the affluent adult target group brings the company record sales and profits.

(cku)