Why Lego isn't making Pokémon minifigs (yet)

Pokémon nostalgia stretches across three decades of raising and growing monsters, but Lego’s sets have so far focused on the creatures rather than the human faces of the franchise. Pikachu, Mewtwo and Gengar appear as Lego builds, while iconic trainers such as Ash, Misty and Brock are absent from the new lineup.

Lego design director Siddharth Muthyala says the company’s main aim with the Smart Play Pokémon toys was to capture the essence of the monsters themselves. "Every time we speak with children and fans, what they want to be are Pokémon Trainers," Muthyala says. "And then when you dive a little deeper into that, what does it mean to be a Trainer?

It's finding Pokémon, catching them, nurturing them, training them, and of course, you go into a battle with them." The sets use Smart Tags to support that idea of play: player movement is tracked to level up monsters, and higher levels make a partner more fearsome in fights.

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