Review: 72152 Pikachu and Poké Ball
Posted by SetToBuild,
For the past 30 years, Pikachu has been the face of the Pokémon franchise and one of the most popular characters to come out of Japan since Hello Kitty. Faithfully recreating this incredibly familiar pocket monster in the brick is a tall order, as fans have had since 1996 to get to know this little fella.
Unfortunately, since images of this model were first revealed, the reception among fans has been mixed. Does the uncanny valley phenomenon apply to beloved childhood characters even when they’re non-human, or are AFOLs just impossible to please?
Summary
72152 Pikachu and Poké Ball, 2,050 pieces.
£179.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 | 8.8p, 9.8c, 9.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A delightful build experience is masked by an uncanny feature
- Shockingly fun build experience
- Fancy display piece
- Poké Ball design
- Funky face
- Arms fall off easily
- Small stand doesn’t lock in place
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
My approach to reviewing Pokémon sets is focused purely on the new LEGO versions. We’re aware that other companies have had the Pokémon license in the past, but as a LEGO fan site and personally as a purist collector, I’ve opted to view these all with fresh eyes.
Box and Contents
The large tray-style 18+ branded box contains 16 bags, instructions and no sticker sheet. Despite being accustomed to the increasing licensed partnerships of recent years, it still gave me chills to see such an iconic combination. The box front image shows the whole model, stand and electric effects in all their glory, but the photographed angle is much more flattering to Pikachu’s face in the rear photo.
Build Experience
The first 9 bags go straight into the main event, building the Pikachu model. Like all builds of this size, it’s snotty by nature. The process is complex with multi-layered plates, SNOT bricks and technic connections, made easier by this super colourful interior structure, which allows you to keep track of the build process. I was especially pleased to see one of my favourite bricks appear in my favourite LEGO colour, dark azure—a recolour that first appeared in the still baffling 43008 Nike Dunk.
This ain’t a 2x2 Brickheadz brain. Pikachu has room for at least four moves!
Pikachu’s head snaps in place with a pair of ball-and-socket joints, creating a robust and secure connection. The triangular side shapes lock its head into a looking-up position. We’ll discuss more about how this looks on the finished model later.
After a short interlude to assemble the Poké Ball, bags 10-16 go into the heavy stand, so it’s quite parts-intensive for structure and counterbalance. It’s constructed with a combination of plates and Technic bricks, making it also extremely sturdy.
Completed Model
The extensive stand allows for a very impressive suspended jumping pose, with some large energy effect pieces depicting the sparks that fly upon release of a Pokémon. I’m glad that these and the Poké Ball were included, and I hope that fans don’t see these as wasted extra parts—the display is significantly upgraded by the action pose that wouldn’t be possible without a reasonable investment in the stand.
Similar to Charizard's situation in 72153 Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise, Pikachu’s stand appears to be a bit uncomfortable for the poor creature.
Having the Poké Ball appear dark inside was prioritised over avoiding the edges of the black SNOT bricks visibly sticking through the corners of the sphere. It bothered me when assembling, but once it’s all together, it looks brilliant. Thankfully, the button is printed. Plus, it feels great to hold in your hand—but no, I won’t try throwing it!
The Poké Ball’s interior isn’t very spacious—no wonder Pikachu has no interest in being inside! The 4x4 macaroni tiles that smooth each half of the ball are only attached by one stud, so it’s very easy for them to get shifted slightly, which is mildly infuriating.
A subtle but very welcome feature was included to allow reassembly in an open or closed position. Depending on which Technic element is used, the two halves of the Poké Ball are at different angles. You are encouraged to store the unused piece inside.
If it didn’t before, the open Poké Ball position makes more sense when paired with the rest of the model, where it suggests that Pikachu has just jumped out from the ball to join the battle.
The stand is lightning-bolt shaped, which if nothing else, is a testament to the variety of wedge plates and tiles now available! My only real complaint is that horizontal black LEGO surfaces pick up dust to an astounding degree—it feels like an unintended action feature for Pikachu to produce static electricity to attract all the cat hair in my house to this model! It will seriously benefit from being in an enclosed display space.
The stand has a lovely, subtle Easter egg, where plates and tiles are combined to write ‘25’ in studs on the front of the stand. This refers to Pikachu’s position in the Pokédex, as Pokémon number #0025.
Similar to Mario in 72037 Mario Kart - Mario & Standard Kart, the posture of the character reflects a particular way in which the designers want you to display this model. Since the main intent for this set is the leaping pose, Pikachu’s head is locked into an upward position. This does limit the versatility for display somewhat, making it hard to position the model without its stand on a high shelf, for example. However, the partnership between the structure of the stand and the tight sculpting of the neck makes the primary pose extremely believable and dynamic.
If this were built in another way that allowed Pikachu’s neck to be more articulated, I worry it might create a snowman-like effect with an awkward neck gap, or an articulated joint that sags over time under the substantial weight. Other sets seemingly have overcome those ‘neck’ limitations just fine, but those are often only meant to sit or stand. Another possibility would require additional parts for a complete reassembly in two different poses, similar to 43269 101 Dalmatians Puppy.
The crease along the back of Pikachu’s neck is unavoidable. With how colourful the internal pieces are, I was pleasantly surprised that those bright pieces didn’t glaringly show through the gaps more.
A new colour of Technic ball joint and ball socket enters the ring and makes the transition from head to ear seamless. I always marvel at the recolours that Nintendo sets pull off, while other themes are so limited in what they can introduce, so the LEGO Pokémon theme is clearly capitalising on that association.
With this ear articulation, Pikachu can express itself in several adorable ways.
As the proverb goes, “the eyes are the windows to the soul”. This part of a model is critical as a visual focal point, so it is quite surprising that compromises on shaping were made here. This isn’t the first time that LEGO have been accused of flubbing in this manner, though (see 40920 Bugs Bunny or 75255 Yoda).
The two curved slopes on either side of the eyes seem to be the main culprits, with shadows here drawing the eye to form a hard horizontal line, creating a lot of visual tension above and below the eyes. While it does look a lot better in person than some photos suggest, I can’t unsee Geordi La Forge’s VISOR. Perhaps Pikachu is just doing an impression? He's been known to be very good at them!
If the complex inner structure to support the eyes printed on shields is the driver for this stiff alignment, would it really have been worse to print the eyes on a larger curved piece? If a technique more akin to 72151 Eevee or 43249 Stitch was used, this might have allowed the structure of the face to be broken up more naturally.
When I’m building digitally, I find it easy to miss how prominent a shadow might be in normal lighting or the visibility of cutouts on the edge of curves. I believe LEGO’s design process has safeguards against this, but I can’t see any obvious structural or parts-based reason for this misjudgement.
Organic forms will always be one of the hardest things to represent in LEGO, no matter how many new moulds are made. However, compared to other models, such as the smooth forehead on the 72151 Eevee, the clever textured shaping of 11384 Golden Retriever Puppy’s eyebrows, or 43249 Stitch’s large printed curved slopes, we know there are better solutions out there. The good news is that various builders have already proposed fixes online, if it really bothers you.
Cute little arms connect on axles in the chest, again using almost all yellow Technic pieces. Sideways movement breaks off the arms from the brown click hinge easily, however. This is one of the few non-recoloured parts; it looks like the designers ran out of parts budget and hid this compromise in a shadow.
Throughout the build process, there are moments that I thought would be simple, but actually were more substantial in structure and technique. Pikachu’s foot and leg architecture is the perfect example of this, down to the 1x2 cut slopes being the perfect elements to depict the toes. A subtle splay of the haunches makes the sitting form more believable. The 1x2 cheese slopes work surprisingly well to hide the gap between the stomach and thighs.
Side note: There was a strange imperfection in the 2x6 tile, almost like a grain of sand got stuck in the plastic. Thankfully, you can only really see it if you’re looking for it.
The back panel is simple, yet varied enough in shapes to be pleasing to assemble and blends in well with the rest of the model.
Gender has always been present in the games, just not always visibly. However, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl introduced female Pikachu with visually different heart-shaped tails. In this set, extra pieces are provided to make this distinction.
Depending on whether Pikachu is on display or standing on its own, this curved 1x5 plate can be removed and moved along to either lock the tail in place for standing or let it rest for being on the full display. An interesting way to transition between the two stances!
When displaying Pikachu off the larger stand, it unfortunately requires this smaller stand to stabilise the model due to its large tail. It sits loose without any positive attachment, so it is very awkward to remember to hold it in place when lifting the model.
The things I do for journalism…
The larger stand has a spot to store the mini-stand when not in use. Factoring in the storage of extra features/pieces is always a plus for me.
Scale-wise, Pikachu looks huge next to Eevee. Unfortunately, when they’re displayed next to each other in this manner, Pikachu is caught in a staring contest with the sun. If you display your Eevee above Pikachu’s eye level, then at least it has something to look at!
Extra rings are the only things of real significance among the spare parts—surprisingly few for the size of this model, which shows the proportion of larger parts used.
Conclusion
Whether you grew up with Pokémon or you’ve seen it once, most of us have a mental picture of what Pikachu looks like. However, that isn’t necessarily accurate as our memories and subconscious expectations vary, and the character itself has changed over the years from its first appearance and across cards, video games, movies, and anime. All of this is not to necessarily make excuses for the facial fumble, but we’d all hope this won’t be LEGO’s last attempt at the character.
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Overall, the build experience was fantastic. There are many interesting techniques used to build out Pikachu’s limbs and body, and while the face looks a bit funky, it's not a dealbreaker. I still had a great time seeing how everything fit together. It was all built in one evening because I just couldn’t put it down!
As a sculpture, complete with a robust stand and Poké Ball popping action, the set is an impressive display of energy frozen in time. It will no doubt look amazing, seemingly leaping from a shelf. The sets may not fly off the store shelves, though—there's a huge jump in price from Eevee to Pikachu.
I’m very much looking forward to what they do with the theme other than massive display pieces. To me, LEGO usually sets the bar for quality, ideas and execution, so now that the license is with them, the possibilities are endless.
If you still think the outlook is bad, well then, you should probably hop off the internet and seek out some grass-type Pokémon.
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46 comments on this article
Oof.
After seeing the extra pieces I went back and looked through all the photos. Where do the rings appear in the model?
Looks like you need to cut your grass...
@Huw said:
"Looks like you need to cut your grass..."
hahaha! It's just lush! :)
“Like all builds of this size, it’s snotty by nature“.
Someone get the poor devil a tissue!
@Daniel___Walsh said:
"Oof. "
Bidoof*
I guess the expectations were already incredibly high when you hear that Lego and Pokemon are partnering. Curious to see what else comes out of this (and hoping for my favorites yet!).
How far will they go in depicting them all… gotta build ‘em all?
@King_J said:
"After seeing the extra pieces I went back and looked through all the photos. Where do the rings appear in the model?"
They're on the assembly that the ears attach to, utilised as spacers for positioning. The usual 1/2 Technic bushings are a bit too thick for the space.
@SetToBuild said:
" @Huw said:
"Looks like you need to cut your grass..."
hahaha! It's just lush! :)"
Waiting for pikachu to use Iron Tail?
It’s really unfortunate when the focal point of such a large set looks off
As a fellow gaming fan, your gaming-related reviews are always fun to read through!
@Huw said:
"Looks like you need to cut your grass..."
Clearly he's trying to lure wild Pokémon in!
piiika!!
The grass is back by popular demand
An effort was made.
@Robot99 said:
"As a fellow gaming fan, your gaming-related reviews are always fun to read through!
@Huw said:
"Looks like you need to cut your grass..."
Clearly he's trying to lure wild Pokémon in!"
Thanks for reading! *tips fedora*
Also, exactly! :D
I don't get the hate for the face.
Looks fine to me. Could it be better? Sure, but that's true of pretty much everything.
I like this a lot.
It has been
0
Days since the last baffling butt hole on a LEGO sculpture
@GBP_Chris said:
"It has been
0
Days since the last baffling butt hole on a LEGO sculpture"
Hey, at least this one comes with something to plug it!
@Milocubed said:
"piiika!!"
That sound (and his facial expression) suddenly makes a lot more sense considering how he's connected to the base ;-)
Oh my, no links to other reviews allowed?
Okay, I can see why, but that one was just too funny not to share :-)
They could have at least cover that gaping hole with a pink flower like any decent person would do. ;)
Not a Pokémon fan, but I love how dynamic this set is!
"LEGO usually sets the bar for quality, ideas and execution..."
ROFL
Rarely have I laughed so hard in recent times.
The sentence should have read:
LEGO usually sets the bar for quality, ideas and execution...really low, as low as they can without completely losing their customers.
I mean, fair enough wanting to be a purist, but considering how good the Pikachu by the "previous license holder" looked compared to this abomination, a little broadening the horizon cannot hurt sometimes.
At least the LEGO Eevee looked half decent. This thing, not so much.
Overproduced, leftover parts on the inside, extremely overblown pricetag on the outside.
That small set is not even worth 50 bucks.
I say "small" because I would measure this on the character, not the parts sink the base is.
This set is missing a sound chip saying "pika pika", blue flashing lights for the pop-out-of-ball-effect, maybe electric flashes on the cheeks, etc.
Overall a pretty poor execution with such easy gains omitted. The license should have gone to other producers which are able to create something stunning.
Wait, what’s wrong with 40920? I think Bugs looks fantastic!
@AustinPowers said:
""LEGO usually sets the bar for quality, ideas and execution..."
ROFL
Rarely have I laughed so hard in recent times."
Hah, I was wondering who would be the first to comment on that line!
Glad I could humour you! :)
@GotMeBrickedUp said:
"Wait, what’s wrong with 40920? I think Bugs looks fantastic!"
Oh, I just remember the reception not being great, but then again, that was in the comments on the reveal article, and well, see above lol
I don’t get all the hubbub for poor Pikachu. The only eyesore I see is the red cheeks, they should’ve been printed. Being a part on top of the face makes them way too prominent. The head not being able to move is a bit unfortunate. But it just looks like he’s looking up awaiting a treat.
I’m not that knowledgable on Pokémon, so I don’t know how the set scales are relative to eachother. I see Pikachu compared to Eevee, but does anyone know how well Pikachu compares scale wise with Venusaur, Charizard & Blastoise?
You know it's bad when the tiny pokeball is the best part of the 200 euro set
I don't want to be aggressively negative either, but ... honestly, I keep thinking that these just look terrible.
It's always a bit of a coin-flip how successful Lego will be when it tries to tackle really organic shapes. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much. But I'm sitting here and thinking that their attempts at creating Pokemon is the step too far. This is the line of Lego's limitations.
They don't look good. They look like awkward piles of bricks.
I didn't see the VISOR until you pointed it out but now I can't unsee it...
Still looks like it’s farting lightning bolts to me
Honestly, I think it looks great. Yes, the face could perhaps have been done better, but from every angle except the one they inexplicably used for the front of the box it looks fine. The base is an excellent and relevant addition. It’s all wonderful.
Whatever can be said about the high points of the Mega versions, most of them have the same weaknesses and were just plain awful to build. Mega clutch was painful. I’m glad Lego has the license.
I just don’t generally have the spare cash for sets that cost this much, and I’m sulking a bit. :p
@GirlWoman said:
"Step aside, rat! It's Tintin reveal day"
Pikachu’s a mouse. You want Rattata and Raticate for og 150 Pokemon rats.
(Rats are cuddlier and infinitely better pets than mice, anyway.)
they still refuse to recolor the LOTR rings, huh? not even to Warm Gold?
@BrickHeadzsStrongestSoldieress said:
"they still refuse to recolor the LOTR rings, huh? not even to Warm Gold?"
One does not simply recolor the One Ring....
(But seriously, it's one of the last Chrome Gold pieces LEGO makes... why would you want them to stop? And keeping it around means we can hopefully see it in more proper LotR sets.)
I have to wonder that maybe the problem with Pikachu's face is that he's too big overall. If they did Pikachu at a similar size to Eevee, the face would use fewer parts and there would be fewer straight lines to draw the eye. Then his eyes and cheeks could have been single printed slope pieces (again like Eevee). But they had to go for the giant oversized display model....
@LegoMike said:
"I’m not that knowledgable on Pokémon, so I don’t know how the set scales are relative to eachother. I see Pikachu compared to Eevee, but does anyone know how well Pikachu compares scale wise with Venusaur, Charizard & Blastoise?"
Pikachu is still way out of scale with them. Those three are all pretty big Pokemon canonically (at least, Charizard should be like 3x Pikachu's size, judging by their relative sizes in the Super Smash Bros games), so, eyeballing the sizes of the models in 72153, a to-scale Pikachu set would probably have to be a bit bigger than a $20 Creator animal set, like 31162.
Very complete and informative review this time again, thank you. I'm no Pikachu nor pokemon specialist, and can understand hard core fans criticism, but this model, the head, eyes and all look quite good to me. I mean, I instantly recognized it and my very first thought has been:" wow what a beautiful Lego Pikachu!".
@ulibu said:
"Overproduced, leftover parts on the inside... "
There was a time when I would have thought so too.
But the sad truth is, they do it on purpose. It's a conscious decision (I remember reading an interview with a designer for I think the Star Wars sets who said they even have some kind of internal "competition" who can slip the most pieces in outrageous colours into sets).
In any case they say that it helps with the build process, and in some cases this might even be true. But in many instances those random colours don't make any sense or help with the build process at all, but just seem to be there for the heck of it.
I personally don't mind those random colour pieces - as long as they are completely hidden in the final build. Unfortunately there are lots of instances where this is not the case. If I encounter such a situation I swap the parts for appropriately coloured ones, but I am in the lucky situation to have a huge spare parts library that spans sets and parts from over four decades. This is not a normal situation though and imho LEGO should put more thought into the designs in those cases where "wrong" colours are visible in the final build.
@Huw said:
"Looks like you need to cut your grass..."
He was a very nice boy, he used to cut my grass (Frank Zappa in Joe's Garage)
Great review as always; I'm not into Pokémon, guess it was a game or a cartoon? but I've found myself reading the whole thing! :)
I like the touch of having the gendered tails. Like you, I appreciate it when a set includes storage for extra pieces, so that's another nice feature.
@HuskyDynamics said:"I didn't see the VISOR until you pointed it out but now I can't unsee it..."
I can't either!
@BLProductions said:
" @BrickHeadzsStrongestSoldieress said:
"they still refuse to recolor the LOTR rings, huh? not even to Warm Gold?"
One does not simply recolor the One Ring....
(But seriously, it's one of the last Chrome Gold pieces LEGO makes... why would you want them to stop? And keeping it around means we can hopefully see it in more proper LotR sets.)"
Yeah, if they wanted to make it in other colors, they'd have to make a new mold for it, due to chromed pieces work.
@ineedabrick said:"Great review as always; I'm not into Pokémon, guess it was a game or a cartoon? but I've found myself reading the whole thing! :)"
You must have missed "...cards, video games, movies, and anime."
I’ve now worked at 2x companies that do Pokémon product and know how stringent the approval process can be… I’m surprised this likeness was Approved. That face… :(
@TheOtherMike
Don’t forget the manga!
Clearly I'm in the minority, but I think it looks great. Seeing it in person definitely made it tempting, but I couldn't pull the trigger at $200.
@TheBrickBulbasaur said:
" @TheOtherMike
Don’t forget the manga!"
Yeah, I was only quoting the review, but I should have added that it didn't stop there.
The stand is literally going up his ass. Pikachu did NOT come to Lego just to get pegged by his stand.