LEGO Pokémon SMART Play sets revealed!

Is the GWP available now? Checking the website (USA), I can pre-order them but no mention of the GWP.

I'm not a fan of this theme, and usually I hate when power play items are not included in the train sets, but on this occasion I think they should have made the smart bricks separate purchases.

I dread these coming to modulars, botanicals, art or the complex builds I like to get.

Better theme for SP, though nobody should expect better quality.

horrendous stuff going on, the ones with the smart bricks are horribly overpriced and because of the smart bricks the other mostly normal sets are being region-locked. awful, awful stuff.

There's an odd quality mix here - some of them look excellent, some... don't. At all. Mewtwo looks fantastic at least, eyeing that one heavily now!

I think there's a limit to how well something specific and well recognized can be depicted using standard non specialized lego pieces and almost all Pokemon sets especially these smaller ones are proving it, most of these simply look bad.

I think Lego should find the sweet spot between the era in the 2000s where they went ahead and made specialized molds for just about anything versus now where they refuse to do it at the detriment of the design. a lot of these can be made much better if they made molds for the most characteristic parts (mostly the head) rather than brick build it all.

The Pokemon builds are very subpar. LEGO can get much more sculptural than this. They're coming in too hard with volume over substance. What a shame.

Leaked pictures of the €100 Arcanine looked good...

End-all-be-all, I hope the kids like them

@huw Any idea on details with the GWP? Do preorders count?

I never got into Pokemon, so these really aren't for me anyways, but wow the pricing on some of these seem atrocious. 88 pieces for $50 for a very blocky Jigglypuff is just a ridiculous ask.

The only one that even looks ok is 72165 and my guess it's probably smaller than it appears. So far as I can tell only two sets come with the Smart Brick which is a problem in of itself. I'm not sure if all the smart bricks are the same or if they are pretty tied into each set, but it seems they would have been better off separating the Smart Brick stuff entirely to try to get a more reasonable price.

I like them. The fact so many don't come with the Smart Brick does keep the price down at least. Be interesting to see how the sound effects work out though, it should be more than capable of making the proper cries in a similar manner to Pokopia.

As a concept I didn't think I would be interested in LEGO Pokémon at all, the Mega Bloks ones always left cold, but the stylised brick built direction really works for me and I think the Smart Play integration should work a lot better here (thought it won't solve its main issue, limited battery life).

Would definitely buy some if I could. Still no clue as to when they'll extend Smart Play's availability? It's really frustrating.

Obviously they were already in the works, but if the Star Wars Smart Play was anything to go by, these are going to bomb despite being Pokemon.

@DekoPuma said:
" @huw Any idea on details with the GWP? Do preorders count?"

The Pokemon Center sent an email saying it's with $130 pre-order purchase. And I tested it and it shows up in the cart. Does not show up in the cart on Lego's website (this is in the USA).

Cute, chonky, cursed.

What are those pieces used for arms on that Charmander character? Never seen them before.

More reasons for more children to be disappointed and upset when the sets they get don't come with smart bricks :(

Sorry but even kids dont want these.

Most of kids i asked today were really excited for Lego Pokemon.

They are all dissapointed.

Wow these look... bad. And that's coming from someone who loved the Mario lineup. I felt like the brickbuilt Mario characters worked because while Mario and crew thesmelves had this real blocky look, that was because of the electronics inside. All the other characters were pretty accurate recreations of the in game models. here though they tried applying that Mario aesthetic to ALL the characters for no real reason and it just winds up awkward looking.

There's also a few too many random side builds for my tastes. You'd expect the main focus of a Pokemon line to be Pokemon! I was really hoping for something Mixels like, as that was such an underrated theme, and Mario replicated that for a while with the blind bags, but that's not really what we're getting.

72158 is kind of close to that style, and if the line was just a bunch of sets like this for each generation's starters I might have bought the whole line. I'm also a fan of 72155 as Bulbasaur and Bidoof are some of the better looking ones in this style. On the note of Bidoof I also love that isn't just Gen 1, getting Garchomp is awesome, but its still Gen 1 heavy.

The Smart Bricks make way more sense here than they did in the Star Wars line. I still think they jack up the prices a bit too much for the sets they are included in, but kinda like Mario the videogame origins justify a more techy angle. Even more so as Pokeballs involve this whole turning animals into/back from code thing.

I might grab some of the smaller and cheaper ones of these, but the more expensive ones have too clunky designs for the Pokemon and too much going on in the side models to catch my interest.

Also why the scale is all over the place?
Pokemon are scaled badly. Pokeballs have2 different sizes?

@AcademyofDrX Show me one kid who will buy any of these sets from his own money and then we can talk more. I also wonder if the same adults who victim blame the poor kids here in the comments just buy them whatever they scream for to make them shut up for a few hours.
P.S. Whoever likes to collect Funko Pop will love these because they are just overpriced BrickHeadz with some side builds.

There will be a GWP, but Lego traditionally don't do GWP on pre-orders.

What’s interesting is that LEGO has now done the Smart Brick sets with two themes. One theme that we know and are familiar with and have expectations for that LEGO themself have set in Star Wars and we got the worst looking version of an X-Wing, Millennium Falcon, etc. that we’ve ever seen.

Now they’re expanding the Smart Brick sets to another theme that a competitor with significantly lessor quality and technology previously had the licensing rights to and again the LEGO version is worse.

I feel like the Smart Brick is similar to buying a smart phone with AI that you can’t turn off. The difference being that many of us simply won’t buy these sets but we will continue to buy smart phones.

At least they aren't as reliant on the Smart Bricks as the Star Wars stuff was. A few don't even look that bad, but just aren't my thing.

The SB placement on a few of these (e.g Charizard) is, um, interesting.

What's the Smart Brick sound for getting paraflinched by Jirachi six times in a row?

I think i will buy nightmare fuel Jigglypuff!

This is a great use for Smartbricks

Made some kid-ified sets

Most of these don't look great, but we know they'll be doing larger, more detailed versions of most of these characters in the future

IGN: Too much C U B E

@ericthegr8 said:
"What’s interesting is that LEGO has now done the Smart Brick sets with two themes. One theme that we know and are familiar with and have expectations for that LEGO themself have set in Star Wars and we got the worst looking version of an X-Wing, Millennium Falcon, etc. that we’ve ever seen.

Now they’re expanding the Smart Brick sets to another theme that a competitor with significantly lessor quality and technology previously had the licensing rights to and again the LEGO version is worse.

I feel like the Smart Brick is similar to buying a smart phone with AI that you can’t turn off. The difference being that many of us simply won’t buy these sets but we will continue to buy smart phones."
I do wonder if the minimum size was driven by the ability to add the Smart Brick to the figure, which seems plausible, and could have driven other choices like how they're not to scale. But I think part of it was probably that they saw what Mega did with their playsets and individual miniature Pokemon and didn't want to simply recreate that. In my opinion, they're not worse, but they are definitely different.

Mew and Mewtwo look decent, as do Lapras, Bulbasaur and Squirtle. Charmander's not quite doing it for me though I wouldn't say it's terrible. Jolteon and Gengar WAY too blocky to the point of ugliness, Pikachu a little too blocky but not horrible, and Umbreon is OKAY........ Definitely a mixed bag with this wave.

Holy moly, that's a LOT of sets!

Some of these look better than others, but man. The Smart brick system is really holding these back.

@Robot99 said:
" @piecheese10 said:
"Is Nintendo allergic to minifigures or something?"
Minifigures sound terrible for this kind of theme lol"

We are rumoured to be getting minifigures for this theme, both Zelda sets have minifigures and Mario is getting minifigures next year

The smart-adjacent sets without the brick are actually reasonably priced in terms of PpP, which is great and a bit surprising...however as many have said, way too blocky due to the smart brick integration. Also, can we please get a non-smart Pikachu set for less than $200??

I also wonder if the sounds will be better than the super generic-sounding Star Wars smart bricks.

So this is why it feels to me like there's been a dearth of sets this year. They put all the schedule into this line.

Yikes.

Happy I got a few from a "certain competitor" some years ago.
Lego totally missed the point. Ugly and oversized with the usual unwanted pointless sidebuilds. Even with the playset type sets MB was much better.

The few Pokemon that look ok-ish in this wave are basically so large they're almost the same as what we got earlier this year. Why is TLG so obsessed with large-scale figures lately?

Also someone really should explain to Lego what the definition of "Ball" is.

My 7yo is in her Pokemon phase and she's super hyped by these sets.
But those prices o_O ! Event without the smart bricks some of these are super expensive

Horrible.. Just horrible. looks like morphed Duplo!!

Lego really needs to start selling the Smart Brick and charger separately. These look fun enough but I really don’t want to spend $60-$110 extra when one of my favorites is already stuck in an $80 two-pack.

Just in case anyone was wondering about the "unlimited play-value" or "iconic sounds":
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZFgHTWtymv/

Not interested in Smart Play but these are fun. Going to get some to go with my Happy Plants

@B_Space_Man said:
" @speshy said:
"The Pokemon builds are very subpar. LEGO can get much more sculptural than this. They're coming in too hard with volume over substance. What a shame. "

If you look at the age ranges on the boxes, I think the designs make sense.
"

Maybe so. But there are plenty of older Pokemon fans out there wishing for more.

Some of the small sets are kinda cute, but the ones that actually include a Smart Brick? Especially that Pikachu set is nightmare fuel....how did these even get approved?

And do they start selling Smart Bricks separately now? Imagine being a kid who gets some of the other sets, but not having a single Smart Brick to fully experience the disappointment....

I did a quick count, if you would get all sets it seems like you'll need (at least) 20 Smart Bricks to make it all work like intended, yet you only get three.....so good luck....

@leetshoe said:
"Is the GWP available now? Checking the website (USA), I can pre-order them but no mention of the GWP."

LEGO Pokemon Ditto as Squirtle: Movie Night (40887) Only Available on Pokemon Center
They are offering it for free with LEGO Pokemon pre-order purchases of $130, while supplies last. The promotional period says it’ll run from now until December 31, 2026.

not sure if mentioned or not

@Kre_O said:
"There will be a GWP, but Lego traditionally don't do GWP on pre-orders."

LEGO Pokemon Ditto as Squirtle: Movie Night (40887) Only Available on Pokemon Center
They are offering it for free with LEGO Pokemon pre-order purchases of $130, while supplies last. The promotional period says it’ll run from now until December 31, 2026.

not sure if mentioned or not

LEGO has been blessed by Bidoof...

Sorry. Ahem. The "Smart Play" seems much better implemented here, though I'm still not a fan.

The LEGO-ified Pokemon look just fine to me. This style and scale seems like a better choice than a bunch of specialized moulds - many of which would need to be tiny to be reasonable next to minifigs, or trying for accuracy with larger, higher piece count designs that would cost more and still potentially fall short.

Kids get to straight-up play with Pokemon through these sets, and thankfully it doesn't look like the smart bricks play a truly pivotal role.

@speshy
I'm an older fan of Pokemon. Here's a suggestion: Try looking at them as a LEGO fan too. There doesn't necessarily need to be a "more" that these fall short of in some manner.

Always two there are, a master and an apprentice.

We killed the master, LEGO Star Wars shart its last brick.

But as for the apprentice, gotta catch them all ...

alright Lego you had your shot, now let's give the license back to Mega alright?

This theme seems like it would have been perfect with a companion Pokédex app.

Not a Pokemon fan, so I don't feel qualified to comment on the models' appearance, but I'm glad to see Lego is capable of coming up with reasonable prices for their sets with smart tags (but no bricks), and I'm excited about a certain recolor in Charizard (1x2 rounded plate in Bright Orange).

Blacktron Rabbit!

Way to cook the golden goose.
I've got a pokemaniac in my house, and they're not overly happy with most of these builds. The bidoof and Bulbasaur and paldean starters are the only ones they think are okay (other than the gwp, which is a must have thanks to pokopia).
I will give one positive, at least there are Pokemon from later generations, not just gen 1. And although some of the designs are very poor, you can still tell who they are meant to be.

Why haven't the Lego group utilised the gashapon machine spheres to make Pokeballs? Seems like a missed opportunity.

Some interesting new parts I’m looking forward to getting hold of, but you’d think some of the new moulds could have been used to make the Pokeballs rounder.

So far the designs are growing on me. Lapras looks great. I really like Gengar as well. But that build looks stupid and no fun at all. It drives up the price too.
Also I just don’t understand that weird drone ball with Mew. They could have given us another pokemon instead of that ugly drone build.

Curious to see what’s in the cupboard with Squitto’s movie night. Those doors open, right?

Avoiding the dome sections for the pokeballs lets them make the alternative options, like the Great Balls and the Master Ball that have the extra bits sticking it.

Need video to see how the Smart Bricks actually work with this line but these builds certainly look better than the Star Wars version earlier this year. It has already been noted in these comments that a bunch of basically normal sets are being region-locked because they just come with the smart tags... hopefully there's a plan to deal with that and to sell individual smart bricks and chargers. Some may recall that in the era of optional motorization, Power Functions components were sold separately

Well, I suppose this is a contrary opinion (I'm fairly new to this IP, I started with Pokemom Z-A) but I like a few of those. I'll have none of that smart brick crazyness (to me the smartbrick was Mindstorm) but I'll definitely get Mewtwo's Lab Break 72163 , and a few more if I can find them with a reasonable discount (72162 , 72165 ). I would also be interested in 72167 but since it comes with two nonsense bricks, it is $50 too much - either a huge discount or as an incomplete set on Bricklink. On top of that there are quite a bit of recolour here - none interesting for me at the moment but I like recolour, eventually some will be useful. The ball look nothing like a real ball that would have been time for a few new molds.

I think this will prove to be a winner for Lego.

@AcademyofDrX said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Some of the small sets are kinda cute, but the ones that actually include a Smart Brick? Especially that Pikachu set is nightmare fuel....how did these even get approved?

And do they start selling Smart Bricks separately now? Imagine being a kid who gets some of the other sets, but not having a single Smart Brick to fully experience the disappointment....

I did a quick count, if you would get all sets it seems like you'll need (at least) 20 Smart Bricks to make it all work like intended, yet you only get three.....so good luck...."

Please explain to me how you are going to play with all twenty Pokemon at the same time to make it "work like intended." All of Lego's demo videos across both lines have the builders swapping out the Smart Bricks during play. It is entirely reasonable--and popular!--to hate on Smart Bricks. But there's no reason to make up silly reasons to be mad at it. Just be mad at it for the same normal reasons everyone else references."

Okay, this was obviously a bit extreme. But with also the poor battery life in mind , how much fun will kids have if they have a whole bunch of Pokemon, and just one or maybe two Smart Bricks?

To be fair, at least they have one set that includes two. Unlike some of the Star Wars sets that kinda needed two for the play features as advertised, but only included one.

In itself I do still think Smart Bricks can be a neat gimmick, but the way it is being introduced couldn't have been done much worse. I truly wonder if it will ever get a worldwide release in the current form.

My nephew just dropped by to see if I had seen the new Pokemon Lego sets. I then explained to him that most of these sets do NOT come with a smart Brick and he was totally appalled. He said: " I want ALL of my pokemons to have a smart brick in them (the idea of switching the brick from character to character was not palatable at all to him - I don't think it even registered with him as a remote possibility). I told him, the smart bricks are only available in two sets (or Star Wars) and not as a standalone pack. His enthusiasm dropped a few notches.

They went all in on the SMART Play thing

@Euroseb11 said:
"You know it's a bit worrying when the pokeball is the best-looking thing in the photo...."

And the pokeballs aren't even balls, they're just cubes with rounded edges.

That Jigglypuff is cursed.

@Xaran_Alamas said:
"I actually find a lot of these quite appealing. "
I actually find a lot of these quite appalling.

There, fixed that for you.
You're welcome.
;-)

@Andrusi said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @Lyichir said:
"These are super cute! I love the stylization, the range of different sizes (from smaller Pokémon like Geodude to bigger ones like Lapras), and the accessories/scenes chosen for them. The simple builds feel very inspiring for MOCs, which is good because there's very little chance that all 1000+ Pokémon will end up being released in this format.

The smart brick integration seems, well, smart—sort of like the Lego Mario digi-figs which I loved, but with fully brick-built Pokémon and the ability to switch out the smart brick so that a much wider variety of characters can be used with it. Since Pokémon battles are usually just a one-on-one or two-on-two affair, only having a couple of smart bricks to switch between the sets ought to work fine. I haven't seen any videos showing off the smart brick sound effects but I suspect it might be a better application than Star Wars was—since a lot of iconic Pokémon sound effects like their cries, attack sounds, and the sound of items like Potions and Poké Balls date all the way back to the Game Boy, the smart brick's similarly simple synthesizer ought to be able to produce much more authentic recreations of them."

Still trying to get that Lego job?"

@AustinPowers said:
" @Xaran_Alamas said:
"I actually find a lot of these quite appealing. "
I actually find a lot of these quite appalling.

There, fixed that for you.
You're welcome.
;-) "

Brickset needs a "dislike" button."
Oh come on, where's your sense of humour?
:-p

@Andrusi said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @Lyichir said:
"These are super cute! I love the stylization, the range of different sizes (from smaller Pokémon like Geodude to bigger ones like Lapras), and the accessories/scenes chosen for them. The simple builds feel very inspiring for MOCs, which is good because there's very little chance that all 1000+ Pokémon will end up being released in this format.

The smart brick integration seems, well, smart—sort of like the Lego Mario digi-figs which I loved, but with fully brick-built Pokémon and the ability to switch out the smart brick so that a much wider variety of characters can be used with it. Since Pokémon battles are usually just a one-on-one or two-on-two affair, only having a couple of smart bricks to switch between the sets ought to work fine. I haven't seen any videos showing off the smart brick sound effects but I suspect it might be a better application than Star Wars was—since a lot of iconic Pokémon sound effects like their cries, attack sounds, and the sound of items like Potions and Poké Balls date all the way back to the Game Boy, the smart brick's similarly simple synthesizer ought to be able to produce much more authentic recreations of them."

Still trying to get that Lego job?"

@AustinPowers said:
" @Xaran_Alamas said:
"I actually find a lot of these quite appealing. "
I actually find a lot of these quite appalling.

There, fixed that for you.
You're welcome.
;-) "

Brickset needs a "dislike" button."

You can hide posts from users which is a much more useful function.

Grond.

@BLProductions said:"Minifigs are a scourge on the LEGO brand; they have completely rewired people's brains to focus on stupid little figurines rather than the actual building toy LEGO initially was."

Then, they said:"I don't hate the minifigure..."

Sp "scourge" and "stupid little figurines" are terms of endearment?

Glad I got all the MEGA sets on deep discount from Target back then..

just imagine... if these -aren't- a April... June 2nd fool's joke, then what will the garbled-mumbled pikachu or charmander sound like (based on the SW voices...). They'll be less intelligible than the real pokemon

@BlackFalconBirdman said:
"just imagine... if these -aren't- a April... June 2nd fool's joke, then what will the garbled-mumbled pikachu or charmander sound like (based on the SW voices...). They'll be less intelligible than the real pokemon"

There are video clips online and even linked out from the comments here, you can go hear for yourself.

I just noticed that 72156 has a stud shooter. Be fun to load that with a shell from the Mario Kart sets.

@BLProductions said:
" @Andrusi said:

@Atuin (also German) said:
"Lego totally missed the point. Ugly and oversized with the usual unwanted pointless sidebuilds. Even with the playset type sets MB was much better.

The few Pokemon that look ok-ish in this wave are basically so large they're almost the same as what we got earlier this year. Why is TLG so obsessed with large-scale figures lately?"
So, LEGO "missed the point" by creating playsets, yet you question why they're so focused on making giant, carefully-sculpted display figures? What, then, is the point, if both playsets and display sets aren't? What was LEGO *supposed* to do with a Pokemon license, according to your superior German wisdom? I suppose you want the usual: a fist-size, perfect 1:1 replica of the real thing. That's not really something LEGO can do without creating tons of unique molds; that is more the department of Mattel, Hasbro or Playmobil.

LEGO knows this, and that's why they went for this clearly stylized route. The point of these sets is to be "LEGO toys featuring representations of Pokemon" (like a Hot Wheels Pikachu car would be), not "LEGO scale-model Pokemon figures." Many people are probably OK with the former, seeing as all manner of ridiculous (overpriced) Pokemon products sell quite well. But, because people like you whine every time LEGO makes something that isn't a perfect scale model, we will continue to get the large-scale figure sets as well, because that's the only way LEGO can approach perfect modeling. LEGO simply took your feedback to heart. So thanks for that.
"

As I (and several other users) mentioned - Look at what Mega Bloks/Construx (or whatever they call themselves now) did with the licence the past 5 years or so and you might possibly get an idea of what I mean.

EDIT:
Also whats up with your rage, bro?

I certainly would dislike TLG failing hard on this, but yeah - TLG knows they basically can't do this theme at all (because they don't want over-specialized molds, colored Mixel joints yada-yada...), they still take over the licence from someone who did it not perfect, but at least somewhat decent. Nice move, really...

TLG currently has a PR problem, which this line of products surely didn't help getting rid of.

And for your glorious words: The TMNT Mouser (https://brickset.com/minifigs/tnt013/mouser) was far from a "perfect" representation of the character, but it was perfect in terms of good parts usage (WITHOUT any new molds), just to give you an example of how Lego should be.

If Pokemon can't be achieved this way (and I have seen MOCs that proove different), then simply don't touch it.

hahaha whaaat? my expectations were very low and these sets are even worse! Good job lego! better leave those terrible licenses alone! Please concentrate on city, space, pirates, castle and whatever comes to mind without relying on licenses. That would work way better even including the smart brick.

This is a total blast to me! I actualy cant believe how bad these sets are. Doomed to fail! yey!

If these sets sell well i am realy concerned about humanity.. well i should be already but thats a different story..

@TheOtherMike said:
"Sp "scourge" and "stupid little figurines" are terms of endearment?"
They are not. Minifigs are a distraction for LEGO because people hyper-fixate on them, which oftentimes ruins the fun of new sets (see, for example, the ridiculous amounts of rage that accompanies the reveal of any new Star Wars minifig). But I also don't particularly care about minifigs; they are the least important part of a set to me. So, I think they are detrimental, objectively, but personally I don't care one way or the other about them. If that makes any sense. (I had a better response typed, but Brickset thought it'd be funny to delete it....)

@Atuin said:
"As I (and several other users) mentioned - Look at what Mega Bloks/Construx (or whatever they call themselves now) did with the licence the past 5 years or so and you might possibly get an idea of what I mean."
I have seen Mega Construx Pokemon sets in stores for years, and they were always chock-full of special molds that (at the time) LEGO didn't or wouldn't produce. That said, LEGO appears to have been shifting their stance on special molds, annoyingly, so I expect if they wanted to go the same route Mega went with their sets (and possibly get sued for copying...), they could.

"Also whats up with your rage, bro?

I certainly would dislike TLG failing hard on this, but yeah - TLG knows they basically can't do this theme at all (because they don't want over-specialized molds, colored Mixel joints yada-yada...), they still take over the licence from someone who did it not perfect, but at least somewhat decent. Nice move, really...

TLG currently has a PR problem, which this line of products surely didn't help getting rid of."
Eh... apologies. Work has been frustrating this week, and it rubbed off a bit. Also, I despise special molds, so any discussion that suggests LEGO make more bothers me. But, as I mentioned above, I suspect LEGO could produce accurate models with special molds if they wanted; they were clearly willing to create a family of special molds for the line as it is, just like they did for the Super Mario sets. So either LEGO or the Pokemon Company decided that going a different route than Mega would be a good idea, again, like they did for Mario - which evidently did well enough to last five years. I'm not opposed to such an approach, even if the sets don't interest me as a result. So I'm not going to crap on LEGO for trying something different. I'll leave that to the broader consumer base to decide.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure what the "PR problem" is that LEGO appears to have. The negativity surrounding them is perceived only by the serious AFOL community; the general consumer likely neither knows nor cares. This is the same argument I've been having with the Star Wars fandom over the past year: the hardcore fans comprise a minority of the overall consumer base, and until our complaints become widespread, they won't be prioritized. It sucks, but that's the way it needs to be.

"And for your glorious words: The TMNT Mouser (https://brickset.com/minifigs/tnt013/mouser) was far from a "perfect" representation of the character, but it was perfect in terms of good parts usage (WITHOUT any new molds), just to give you an example of how Lego should be.

If Pokemon can't be achieved this way (and I have seen MOCs that proove different), then simply don't touch it."
On this, we agree. Though, as I said, LEGO/Pokemon chose to go for different, not "correct" according to what we wanted/expected. And LEGO can almost never match the level of MOCs, simply because as mass-produced saleable items, their sets have to meet strict stability, construction, and part-availability criteria that MOCers get to ignore.

@BLProductions said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"Sp "scourge" and "stupid little figurines" are terms of endearment?"
They are not. Minifigs are a distraction for LEGO because people hyper-fixate on them, which oftentimes ruins the fun of new sets (see, for example, the ridiculous amounts of rage that accompanies the reveal of any new Star Wars minifig). But I also don't particularly care about minifigs; they are the least important part of a set to me. So, I think they are detrimental, objectively, but personally I don't care one way or the other about them. If that makes any sense. (I had a better response typed, but Brickset thought it'd be funny to delete it....)

@Atuin said:
"As I (and several other users) mentioned - Look at what Mega Bloks/Construx (or whatever they call themselves now) did with the licence the past 5 years or so and you might possibly get an idea of what I mean."
I have seen Mega Construx Pokemon sets in stores for years, and they were always chock-full of special molds that (at the time) LEGO didn't or wouldn't produce. That said, LEGO appears to have been shifting their stance on special molds, annoyingly, so I expect if they wanted to go the same route Mega went with their sets (and possibly get sued for copying...), they could.

"Also whats up with your rage, bro?

I certainly would dislike TLG failing hard on this, but yeah - TLG knows they basically can't do this theme at all (because they don't want over-specialized molds, colored Mixel joints yada-yada...), they still take over the licence from someone who did it not perfect, but at least somewhat decent. Nice move, really...

TLG currently has a PR problem, which this line of products surely didn't help getting rid of."
Eh... apologies. Work has been frustrating this week, and it rubbed off a bit. Also, I despise special molds, so any discussion that suggests LEGO make more bothers me. But, as I mentioned above, I suspect LEGO could produce accurate models with special molds if they wanted; they were clearly willing to create a family of special molds for the line as it is, just like they did for the Super Mario sets. So either LEGO or the Pokemon Company decided that going a different route than Mega would be a good idea, again, like they did for Mario - which evidently did well enough to last five years. I'm not opposed to such an approach, even if the sets don't interest me as a result. So I'm not going to crap on LEGO for trying something different. I'll leave that to the broader consumer base to decide.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure what the "PR problem" is that LEGO appears to have. The negativity surrounding them is perceived only by the serious AFOL community; the general consumer likely neither knows nor cares. This is the same argument I've been having with the Star Wars fandom over the past year: the hardcore fans comprise a minority of the overall consumer base, and until our complaints become widespread, they won't be prioritized. It sucks, but that's the way it needs to be.

"And for your glorious words: The TMNT Mouser (https://brickset.com/minifigs/tnt013/mouser) was far from a "perfect" representation of the character, but it was perfect in terms of good parts usage (WITHOUT any new molds), just to give you an example of how Lego should be.

If Pokemon can't be achieved this way (and I have seen MOCs that proove different), then simply don't touch it."
On this, we agree. Though, as I said, LEGO/Pokemon chose to go for different, not "correct" according to what we wanted/expected. And LEGO can almost never match the level of MOCs, simply because as mass-produced saleable items, their sets have to meet strict stability, construction, and part-availability criteria that MOCers get to ignore. "

I think you havent seen backlash of parents speaking how shitty the SW sets are. People expected WAY more from expensive smart play, not a 20y old tech

For me it is a mixed bag, some look nice (Mewtwo for example), others meh, but I showed these to my kids and they were very enthusiastic so I expect we will at least buy some of these sets, once they are available in our country that is... Hopefully they will not wait too long with bringing these sets to The Netherlands!

The only parts of the sets I like are certain prints, stickers and molds. Honestly awful wave

They really didn't give a lot of thought to some of the visuals of these release pictures :-/

@jturner_91 said:
"We need to go back in time and prevent Lego Super Mario from ever being created…"

Well here's the thing. Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced than the Smart Brick, and buying Lego Mario before you buy the expansions made sense. Here, they're begging the use of the Smart Brick which you have to pay at least $70 to get the "full" experience. Why Lego hasn't launched the Smart Brick separately, I won't understand as that's something they should've done at launch.

In addition to the new LEGO Pokemon sets that have recently been revealed, there are also some new recruitment bags that will be coming out as well. The first one is the Premier Ball (30729) which has 46 pieces. The other one is the 56 piece Trainer Supplies (30730) that has a number of items

@BLProductions said:
" @Andrusi said:
"Brickset needs a "dislike" button."
We had a vote about that many years ago; the consensus was such a feature was counterproductive to healthy discussion, or something. Instead, we got the "Block User" feature, because apparently just shutting out people who disagree with you is so much better.

But hey, Germans gonna Germ.... (There's a bacteria joke in there somewhere, probably.)"
See, I could also overreact now and ask for a dislike button, but I get the joke, just like my comment was meant in jest.
Similar plays on words along with the "there, fixed that for you" addition have been posted many times on Brickset over the years as a joke and no one took offense.

The irony is that I don’t even think these sets are appalling, I just couldn't let this joke slip. It was a no-brainer, particularly when so many of the reactions towards these sets have been negative so far. And funnily enough far more negative than I would have thought, because for one, most of the sets are far better value at RRP than the truly abysmal Star Wars Smart Play sets. And secondly, at least to me, many of them don't even look half bad.

@Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @jturner_91 said:
"We need to go back in time and prevent Lego Super Mario from ever being created…"

Well here's the thing. Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced than the Smart Brick, and buying Lego Mario before you buy the expansions made sense. Here, they're begging the use of the Smart Brick which you have to pay at least $70 to get the "full" experience. Why Lego hasn't launched the Smart Brick separately, I won't understand as that's something they should've done at launch."

I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated.

@AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds.

The integration of the Smart Bricks is much better than the Star Wars sets, but I'm not vibing at all with the design of these. The square circle and flat printed faces just looks so un-LEGO.

Making the same mistake Lego Mario did... will these warm the shelves too?

@lordofdragonss said:
"I think you havent seen backlash of parents speaking how shitty the SW sets are. People expected WAY more from expensive smart play, not a 20y old tech"
I have not seen specific examples, no. While I don't always keep my ear to the ground, I would expect to hear about it if the backlash was strong enough to reach mainstream outlets (i.e., beyond LEGO fan sites). LEGO receiving negative press from the general public is what I would consider a "PR problem." Negative reviews about just one or two of LEGO's newer products (out of hundreds) doesn't rise to that level.

That said, I too would be disappointed if I bought such a set and the tech was this bad, so I understand the complaints. I suspect that more people are either not intrigued by the Smart Brick enough to buy or simply put off by the sets' prices, so there aren't as many people out there giving negative feedback as there could be.

@AustinPowers said:
"See, I could also overreact now and ask for a dislike button, but I get the joke, just like my comment was meant in jest.
Similar plays on words along with the "there, fixed that for you" addition have been posted many times on Brickset over the years as a joke and no one took offense.

The irony is that I don’t even think these sets are appalling, I just couldn't let this joke slip. It was a no-brainer, particularly when so many of the reactions towards these sets have been negative so far. And funnily enough far more negative than I would have thought, because for one, most of the sets are far better value at RRP than the truly abysmal Star Wars Smart Play sets. And secondly, at least to me, many of them don't even look half bad."
The "there, fixed it for you" joke is often meant in a condescending or provoking manner in other places on the Internet, in my experience, so I'm not surprised people tend to read it that way.

But I do agree with you that these sets don't look that bad. LEGO chose a clear design language that forces us to ask how *recognizable* the models are as the Pokemon they represent, instead of the usual "how accurately do these models replicate the real things," where we end up fussing over things like the weird Pikachu face in 72152. I think this approach works for most of these sets (Garchomp is rather rough looking, though).

@GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."
I don't know that it's _hard_, but it is clearly an additional technological burden and it is not play-friendly. One of the frequent criticisms of the LEGO Mario theme is that it was very much an app-mediated experience. To use it as designed, you could not just open up the box and play. You often needed to connect Mario or the other digital characters to the app. It also required ongoing software support and maintenance. It's just tech friction. It's not hard, but it's not playing with Lego bricks.

By contrast, the new device has much less friction. Yes, it needs to be charged just like Mario, and there's also the need to swap bricks--but swapping bricks is part of play. Again, I'm not saying one experience is right or wrong, but it's not correct to say it's not advanced, and it's not fair to say it's strictly worse or harder. The audio output is categorically different as a trade-off for a more frictionless and more playful experience.

And to be clear, I don't think it's better! I prefer the audio effects of, say, Lego Soundwave, which has very limited programming but which is much better for my purposes. That's a fundamentally different product and experience, though, and everyone is so busy complaining about what they wanted that they didn't get that they're not at all engaging with the capabilities of what they did, and I think that's unfortunate.

Will these sounds like Pokemon? Or will they be like the Star Wars sets and sound...weird and bad?

@GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."

Not to mention that the Smart Play sets might need bluetooth for updating them when more sets come.

@Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."

Not to mention that the Smart Play sets might need bluetooth for updating them when more sets come."

Why would they? They’re reading and processing tiny programs from the chips in other bricks. The kits themselves are the “updates” of a sort.

just make little brick play certain sound like push buttons

@Hiratha said:
"Generally speaking what I’ve been seeing from parents re: the Star Wars Smart Brick kits shakes out at “my kids had a lot of fun but I, the person who pays for the toys, am not convinced it was enough fun to justify the price jump”. Which isn’t the same as calling them shitty.

“Fixed that for you” jokes that change the meaning of the original text to its opposite are basically always rude, even if the writer didn’t intend it. It’s perfectly possibly to use the format without it effectively feeling like trying to wipe out someone’s opinion.

Speaking of which wouldn’t it be lovely if everyone got to grips with the idea that opinions are subjective and sometimes people will like/dislike things more/less than you.

I wish I liked these sets more — but on the plus side they’re an excellent demonstration of how strong the Pokemon design language can be. These are all entirely recognisable without being replications.

I might get Mewtwo. Maybe the Lapras/Eevee kit because Lapras is the BEST."

I was so tempted to edit your comment to say "Eevee is the best" and do the "fixed that for you" thing, because Eevee has long been my favorite Pokémon. But as you said, opinions are subjective. Opinions are like anuses: everyone has one, and most of them stink.

@Hiratha said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."

Not to mention that the Smart Play sets might need bluetooth for updating them when more sets come."

Why would they? They’re reading and processing tiny programs from the chips in other bricks. The kits themselves are the “updates” of a sort."

Think about it. More Smart Play Sets come out. When more smart play sets come out, new smart play tags are going to be introduced. When new tags get introduced, the smart brick won't recognize them. One thing that I think everyone's forgetting with these smart bricks is that there's an app for the bricks that has yet to release, similar to the Lego Super Mario App. Part of this app will include firmware updates for the smart bricks for when they buy a smart brick set early on, and pick another smart play set let's say a year from now. This is why I said early on that Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced. Better sound effects, longer battery life, etc.

@Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."

Not to mention that the Smart Play sets might need bluetooth for updating them when more sets come."

Why would they? They’re reading and processing tiny programs from the chips in other bricks. The kits themselves are the “updates” of a sort."

Think about it. More Smart Play Sets come out. When more smart play sets come out, new smart play tags are going to be introduced. When new tags get introduced, the smart brick won't recognize them. One thing that I think everyone's forgetting with these smart bricks is that there's an app for the bricks that has yet to release, similar to the Lego Super Mario App. Part of this app will include firmware updates for the smart bricks for when they buy a smart brick set early on, and pick another smart play set let's say a year from now. This is why I said early on that Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced. Better sound effects, longer battery life, etc."
This is false. This is not how they work. You don't know what you're talking about.

@AcademyofDrX said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."

Not to mention that the Smart Play sets might need bluetooth for updating them when more sets come."

Why would they? They’re reading and processing tiny programs from the chips in other bricks. The kits themselves are the “updates” of a sort."

Think about it. More Smart Play Sets come out. When more smart play sets come out, new smart play tags are going to be introduced. When new tags get introduced, the smart brick won't recognize them. One thing that I think everyone's forgetting with these smart bricks is that there's an app for the bricks that has yet to release, similar to the Lego Super Mario App. Part of this app will include firmware updates for the smart bricks for when they buy a smart brick set early on, and pick another smart play set let's say a year from now. This is why I said early on that Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced. Better sound effects, longer battery life, etc."
This is false. This is not how they work. You don't know what you're talking about."

I'm just saying, Google is free:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lego-smart-assist/id6756261090

@Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."

Not to mention that the Smart Play sets might need bluetooth for updating them when more sets come."

Why would they? They’re reading and processing tiny programs from the chips in other bricks. The kits themselves are the “updates” of a sort."

Think about it. More Smart Play Sets come out. When more smart play sets come out, new smart play tags are going to be introduced. When new tags get introduced, the smart brick won't recognize them. One thing that I think everyone's forgetting with these smart bricks is that there's an app for the bricks that has yet to release, similar to the Lego Super Mario App. Part of this app will include firmware updates for the smart bricks for when they buy a smart brick set early on, and pick another smart play set let's say a year from now. This is why I said early on that Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced. Better sound effects, longer battery life, etc."
This is false. This is not how they work. You don't know what you're talking about."

I'm just saying, Google is free:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lego-smart-assist/id6756261090 "

Yes there is an app, yes you can update firmware, no it is not required for use with new sets. Reading is free, understanding is priceless.
https://www.lego.com/en-us/smart-play/getting-started

IDK, I think these are ok. I have a couple of gripes but mostly I don't understand why the Mew set is mostly a giant drone. I also don't understand why they decided to go with smart bricks with these. Not including that tech would have made them cheaper and I don't really like the weird squares on their bellies. They aren't terrible though.

@Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @Hiratha said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
" @GrizBe said:
" @AcademyofDrX said:
"I understand why people don't like what the Smart Brick does, but seeing multiple people say the tech isn't advanced just tells me people don't understand them at all. The devices aren't playing stored or downloaded audio cues, it is synthesizing and outputting sound effects based on data communicated by near-field communication. Mario needs to download an update over Bluetooth whenever new sets are released. Smart Bricks have new outputs of sound and light whenever a new Smart Tag interacts with it. That's a huge technical advancement, even if the synthesized sound effects themselves are simpler and dated."

See thats kind of the problem right there. We've already got technology that can playback certain sounds and effects when given a particular cue, so we didn't need this ridiculously expensive bit of tech to do the exact same thing, only worse. What so hard about needing to update a chip? They could have done that for far less cost and improved the quality so we're not stuck with the tinny sounds."

Not to mention that the Smart Play sets might need bluetooth for updating them when more sets come."

Why would they? They’re reading and processing tiny programs from the chips in other bricks. The kits themselves are the “updates” of a sort."

Think about it. More Smart Play Sets come out. When more smart play sets come out, new smart play tags are going to be introduced. When new tags get introduced, the smart brick won't recognize them. One thing that I think everyone's forgetting with these smart bricks is that there's an app for the bricks that has yet to release, similar to the Lego Super Mario App. Part of this app will include firmware updates for the smart bricks for when they buy a smart brick set early on, and pick another smart play set let's say a year from now. This is why I said early on that Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced. Better sound effects, longer battery life, etc."

It has already been said, it is different technology to Mario. The smart brick system synthesises sound based on data sent to it rather than playing a stored sound clip.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Oli said:
"hahaha whaaat? my expectations were very low and these sets are even worse! Good job lego! better leave those terrible licenses alone! Please concentrate on city, space, pirates, castle and whatever comes to mind without relying on licenses. That would work way better even including the smart brick."

Why won't people get it through their heads that what appealed to them as a child may not be what appeals to current children?"

@TheOtherMike said:
" @Oli said:
"hahaha whaaat? my expectations were very low and these sets are even worse! Good job lego! better leave those terrible licenses alone! Please concentrate on city, space, pirates, castle and whatever comes to mind without relying on licenses. That would work way better even including the smart brick."

Why won't people get it through their heads that what appealed to them as a child may not be what appeals to current children?"

Who are you to say so!?! What makes you believe that? From the themes i mentioned i only like space and not even the classic space and city which is present to that day but especialy the buildings in the theme are terrible. i can see that there is almost no effort for the city line anymore. The cars are pretty good but city is not only cars!

The LEGO portfolio is full with licensed sets...no creativity what so ever! LEGO is dumbing down our children only fixating on stupid movie scenes and characters starting in the duplo line! Terrible choice in my opinion. LEGO is loosing anything that it stands for if they continue on with that madness.

What about, "A new toy everday" so they said in the past. Today you are supposed to buy licensed crap and build on that by buying more licensed crap! Do the kids today still have any sort of own fantasy when it comes to lego!?! I do not believe it! Thats simply because licensed sets are the cashgrab for lego without much effort! Plus, dumb people dont know different and just go with it and pay the price so that their kid can play the scene from that movie for 10min. Very soon this is going to take space on a shelf never be touched again..

this is not lego anymore, this is build your display piece and let dust gather it..

Having just seen a video from Brick Fanatics, it looks like the Smart Brick feature in these at least is a lot better implemented than in the Star Wars sets. Makes better use of the brick (though still very much a gimmick), and still decent sets without it.

Which just makes me wonder if it was a smart move to brand those sets that don't include a Smart Brick so prominently as Smart Play. Just present it as an optional bonus feature on the corner of the box or so. Though presenting it as a core feature is obviously one way to coerce people into buying the most epensive sets too.

How much to collect them all though?

I might have gotten the Lapras one purely because Lapras is one of my team's mainstays.
But there is no Canada launch date so it doesn't really matter ¯\_(?)_/¯

@BLProductions said:
" @Marc_The_Brick_Person said:
"Think about it. More Smart Play Sets come out. When more smart play sets come out, new smart play tags are going to be introduced. When new tags get introduced, the smart brick won't recognize them. One thing that I think everyone's forgetting with these smart bricks is that there's an app for the bricks that has yet to release, similar to the Lego Super Mario App. Part of this app will include firmware updates for the smart bricks for when they buy a smart brick set early on, and pick another smart play set let's say a year from now. This is why I said early on that Interactive Lego Mario is more advanced. Better sound effects, longer battery life, etc."
But that's not how Smart Bricks work, is it? My understanding was that all the instructions for what to do were stored in the chips on the Smart Tags, and all the Smart Brick does is interpret those instructions to produce the requested output.

To give a concrete analogy:
The Smart Brick is an interpreter & compiler for a specific programming language, like, say, Python 3.7. It is capable of running any scripts written in that language. Each Smart Tag contains such a script. The Tag transfers its script to the Brick, which then runs that script and produces an output accordingly. The firmware updates, in this context, are updating the language from Python 3.7 to Python 3.8, allowing the Brick to interpret new built-in functions and commands. But it can still handle Tags from new sets if the new Tags don't use those newer functions.

Meanwhile, the LEGO Mario figure stored both the compiler *and* the scripts; the barcode stickers were merely an input telling the figure which of its pre-loaded scripts to run. Here, the app updates download new scripts to the figure, so it can handle new inputs; i.e, new stickers from new sets.

These are fundamentally different approaches. The base Smart Brick can handle any Smart Tag from any set (provided it can interpret all the instructions in the script), whereas Mario can only respond to inputs for the specific scripts downloaded to his figure. Mario essentially has hard-coded outputs, which allowed LEGO to fine-tune them to look and sound better, while the Smart Brick is data-driven and must therefore generate outputs during runtime, leading to the terrible, gargled audio we all know and hate.

I agree that LEGO Mario is more advanced in a sense, since it has a screen and more sensors, but it is limited to whatever programs are saved on it (either at launch or after app updates). The Smart Brick is much more flexible, even without the app, which I think was partly LEGO's rationale for pursuing this idea at all.

At least that's my understanding, from everything I've seen/read."

Has anyone actually produced a definitive analysis of what these things really do, rather than just accepting Lego's marketing PR?

If the entire payload is programmable, and has to be delivered via NFC tags, there must be major limitations on storage capacity. You have to guarantee the payload can be transferred while the chip happens to be powered. When the receiver and the chip are in motion, you can't bank on that being very long. I did some cursory searching while writing this comment to see that NFC tags storing around 500 bytes are typical. That's not a lot to work with, but then again, music can be represented very compactly via notation (see: MIDI), and they still didn't produce the Mos Eisley cantina band.

Meanwhile, if the tag really does completely control a synthesizing receiver, there's a trust problem in which anybody could inject data into the system and make it do…unapproved…things. So then it's likely that Lego cryptographically signs the tag data, making the whole platform even less interesting than it already was.

All of this is really idle curiosity, because I think it is in the best interest of both TLG and Lego customers that Smart bricks fail, and do so as early as possible. But I am mildly curious nevertheless.

@iwybs said:
" @Oli said:
@Oli said:
"From the themes i mentioned i only like space and not even the classic space and city which is present to that day but especialy the buildings in the theme are terrible. i can see that there is almost no effort for the city line anymore. The cars are pretty good but city is not only cars!

The LEGO portfolio is full with licensed sets...no creativity what so ever! LEGO is dumbing down our children only fixating on stupid movie scenes and characters starting in the duplo line! Terrible choice in my opinion. LEGO is loosing anything that it stands for if they continue on with that madness.

What about, "A new toy everday" so they said in the past. Today you are supposed to buy licensed crap and build on that by buying more licensed crap! Do the kids today still have any sort of own fantasy when it comes to lego!?! I do not believe it! Thats simply because licensed sets are the cashgrab for lego without much effort! Plus, dumb people dont know different and just go with it and pay the price so that their kid can play the scene from that movie for 10min. Very soon this is going to take space on a shelf never be touched again..

this is not lego anymore, this is build your display piece and let dust gather it.. "

I dare you to go to Rebrickable and see the dizzying array of alt builds that can be made from nearly any modern set. Anyone who says modern Lego can't be rebuilt into other things is either hopelessly ignorant, or hopelessly cynical, or both. Besides, if you'll pay attention without your doom goggles blocking your view, you'll see that not only are City vehicles the best they've ever been but we are still getting locations and scenery in City, and very good ones too. The beach scene with the beach tram. The first airport terminal with a jetbridge in twenty years. A nice big carwash. A construction office. Etc."

You are right about the upcoming city sets, i havent thought about them when i wrote, sorry. But i havent said that modern sets are not rebuildable i just say that licensed sets are not intended to be and kids today usually do not take their star wars sets apart nor would they do with the pokemon or harry potter or disney sets. Of course i know rebrickable and i know what is possible and what people create with LEGO but thats a different story. I bet that most LEGO star wars fans do not buy the sets anymore, instead they buy the figures on bricklink and build their own ships or whatever around it..

@Andrusi said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @Andrusi said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
" @Lyichir said:
"These are super cute! I love the stylization, the range of different sizes (from smaller Pokémon like Geodude to bigger ones like Lapras), and the accessories/scenes chosen for them. The simple builds feel very inspiring for MOCs, which is good because there's very little chance that all 1000+ Pokémon will end up being released in this format.

The smart brick integration seems, well, smart—sort of like the Lego Mario digi-figs which I loved, but with fully brick-built Pokémon and the ability to switch out the smart brick so that a much wider variety of characters can be used with it. Since Pokémon battles are usually just a one-on-one or two-on-two affair, only having a couple of smart bricks to switch between the sets ought to work fine. I haven't seen any videos showing off the smart brick sound effects but I suspect it might be a better application than Star Wars was—since a lot of iconic Pokémon sound effects like their cries, attack sounds, and the sound of items like Potions and Poké Balls date all the way back to the Game Boy, the smart brick's similarly simple synthesizer ought to be able to produce much more authentic recreations of them."

Still trying to get that Lego job?"

@AustinPowers said:
" @Xaran_Alamas said:
"I actually find a lot of these quite appealing. "
I actually find a lot of these quite appalling.

There, fixed that for you.
You're welcome.
;-) "

Brickset needs a "dislike" button."
Oh come on, where's your sense of humour?
:-p"

I used up all my appreciation for "[edits your opinion to make you agree with my opposite opinion] fixed it for you :) :) :)" 20 years ago. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes you."

I can't believe my comment was taken down. The poster had repeatedly expressed a desire to work for Lego and had taken steps in that direction. I was merely requesting an update on the progress as the poster NEVER has even constructive criticism of a set.

@Oli said:
" @iwybs said:
" @Oli said:
@Oli said:
"From the themes i mentioned i only like space and not even the classic space and city which is present to that day but especialy the buildings in the theme are terrible. i can see that there is almost no effort for the city line anymore. The cars are pretty good but city is not only cars!

The LEGO portfolio is full with licensed sets...no creativity what so ever! LEGO is dumbing down our children only fixating on stupid movie scenes and characters starting in the duplo line! Terrible choice in my opinion. LEGO is loosing anything that it stands for if they continue on with that madness.

What about, "A new toy everday" so they said in the past. Today you are supposed to buy licensed crap and build on that by buying more licensed crap! Do the kids today still have any sort of own fantasy when it comes to lego!?! I do not believe it! Thats simply because licensed sets are the cashgrab for lego without much effort! Plus, dumb people dont know different and just go with it and pay the price so that their kid can play the scene from that movie for 10min. Very soon this is going to take space on a shelf never be touched again..

this is not lego anymore, this is build your display piece and let dust gather it.. "

I dare you to go to Rebrickable and see the dizzying array of alt builds that can be made from nearly any modern set. Anyone who says modern Lego can't be rebuilt into other things is either hopelessly ignorant, or hopelessly cynical, or both. Besides, if you'll pay attention without your doom goggles blocking your view, you'll see that not only are City vehicles the best they've ever been but we are still getting locations and scenery in City, and very good ones too. The beach scene with the beach tram. The first airport terminal with a jetbridge in twenty years. A nice big carwash. A construction office. Etc."

You are right about the upcoming city sets, i havent thought about them when i wrote, sorry. But i havent said that modern sets are not rebuildable i just say that licensed sets are not intended to be and kids today usually do not take their star wars sets apart nor would they do with the pokemon or harry potter or disney sets. Of course i know rebrickable and i know what is possible and what people create with LEGO but thats a different story. I bet that most LEGO star wars fans do not buy the sets anymore, instead they buy the figures on bricklink and build their own ships or whatever around it..
"

I think if most Lego Star Wars fans were doing that then the theme wouldn’t sell well enough to continue to exist, and there would be a vast shortage of minifigs on Bricklink.

It’s completely fine to not feel enthusiastic about a hobby anymore but it’s always a mistake to assume that just because you no longer care for something, most people no longer care either. Lego is making terrifyingly huge profits and Lego Star Wars is a big part of that.

That Jigglypuff one is probably my favorite. there was a recurring gag in the anime in the early seasons with Jigglypuff singing it song people falling asleep and then Jigglypuff doodling all over them with a marker out of anger

I just realized something. Japan isn't even a launch market!