LEGO Pokémon Set Review: Bulbasaur, Bidoof and Jigglypuff
Pokémon has been one of the longest requested LEGO themes, but initial reaction to the theme was a bit mixed with the first reveals being quite expensive display pieces and the follow ups being “Smart Play” sets, of smaller models, very few minifigure scale sets. That being said, although not interested in the Smart Play functionality at all, the larger wave of buildable pokemon seemed ideal to me, affordable while still capturing the likenesses pretty well. Truthfully, I haven’t been much of a Pokémon fan for quite a few years, but I remember the school lunchtimes spent playing with friends on our Nintendo DS fondly and will always have a love for the lil guys, especially Generation 4. Unsurprisingly, the first wave is pretty Gen 1 focused, but there’s a good variety from some later generations too. Enough on the overall theme, let’s take a look at two of the cheaper sets in the line: “Berry Bash with Bidoof and Bulbasaur” and “Jigglypuff Concert”.
First up, Jigglypuff Concert which is made up of Jigglypuff, 2 speakers, and a microphone. There’s really not a lot to say about the side builds, they’re cute padding that works with the Pokemon well, who is obviously the main focus. While Jigglypuff looks great, comparing it to the other sets does highlight one of my main issues with the line, which is a real lack of consistent scale. While these are more play sets than display, they’re a weird mix of the two so it’d be nice to be able to properly display them together with some consistency. While Jigglypuff is far from the worst offender, it’s just a little too big. The actual build is pretty good, for a circular Pokémon it captures the likeness really well with some of the new rounded brick pieces I believe are new for this theme and it’s nice and sturdy. The “Smart Brick” isn’t very well hidden when you swap out the face plate, which is also quite hard to remove, and really the only play feature in the set since the only articulation is being able to move the arms up and down a very limited amount. I’m not really sure how they could have done better while staying accurate to design on this scale. With only 88 pieces and costing £12.99/$14.99, the set is far too expensive and while the main build is great, it still feels a little small.
Next, “Berry Bash with Bidoof and Bulbasaur”, made up of the two titular Pokémon, a berry tree and some sort of juicemaker. The berry tree and juicemaker are pretty simple side stuff, I don’t really remember them from the games so I think they might be a LEGO-own idea. There’s some basic gear turning on the juice maker but it’s really just a bit of extra padding that’s getting tossed to the side. The real highlight is the two Pokémon, which are both fantastic likenesses and great builds. Breaking the 3 Generation 1 starter Pokémon into 3 different sets all with extra stuff is a bit annoying, but thankfully I like Bidoof so this is a great pairing for me. The two don’t have any articulation, but unlike JIgglypuff the Smart Brick gets hidden pretty well if you have one (neither sets include one, that’s stuck behind the Pikachu or Charizard obviously). The two are really fun builds for the scale, even with the printed face prints they capture the likeness while still capturing the LEGO feel. It’d be cool to see an alternate brick-built face plate instead but it’s still good as is. With 240 pieces for £17.99/$19.99, this set is a better value although looking at the actual volume of “stuff” it still feels a little shaky especially with the pointless side builds.
Overall, if this is the standard set for the theme it’s going to be pretty tempting to grab a few more. While the scale issue is a little annoying, it’s close enough that it’s not the biggest issue and they look really great together on a shelf and all 3 were really fun builds. The side builds feel a little pointless when even to kids the main draw is going to be the Pokemon themselves, but they’re small enough that it doesn’t distract from the set as a whole although with the prices being a mixed, it’d feel better to not waste pieces on them.
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