So, um, there's more Pokemon LEGO news and...
it's not good.
Now note I'm actually quite late, there has been leaked information for months of not only set names but also release dates, plans, and prices. But now the latest from two weeks ago is about LEGO shoving in a new gimmick of there's which only makes these sets (or at least the later ones) even more expensive!
The rundown:
1. The plan is, at least for this year, to release at least 20 sets split into three waves: One coming this March (infact it's mentioned the first set will be released on February 27, aka Pokemon Day; likely there's going to be a Pokemon Direct which, among other announcements, will certainly announce this) and the other two waves later this Summer (so I guess early June and late September?). Alright, pretty ambitious, but so far sounds promising.
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2. We know of three sets part of the first wave. Also the first wave is said to be more for "adult and collectors". The first two are cheaper sets and implied to be display pieces, we don't know what they are but we have set #, # of LEGO pieces, and a price:
* Set #72151 / 587 pieces / $59.99
* Set #72152 / 2,052 pieces / $199.99
For those who may not have paid much attention to LEGO prices over the years, they've gone up. These prices right here are on par with current prices for licensed LEGO sets (Star Wars, DC (Batman), Marvel, Disney, Nintendo (Mario, Zelda), One Piece, etc.) and therefore aren't that bad, relatively.
BUT now onto what you can say is the flagship set, the one that will be released on February 27th. Set #72153 will be a HUGE set, 6,838 pieces(!), where you'll build the Kanto Starters (though they'll probably call the set something like "Kanto First Partners"): Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle!... and, if you couldn't guess from the number of pieces, it's $650.
... Now, the # pieces and price ratio checks out (actually it's technically a better "price per piece" compared to the previous mentioned sets), so my question here isn't why so expensive, but why all one set? If we're to assume all those pieces are just going to go into building the Kanto Starters, that's roughly 2,270 pieces for each Starter. So, being we have a set with 2k pieces selling for $200 already, why not split up the Kanto Starters and release three more $200? The only reason I can think is the number of pieces needed between each Starter is more drastic than the average amount I suggested above: I can see Bulbasaur requiring the most, followed by Squirtle, with Charmander the least being the most slender. And it might be such as notable difference that if they sold them all for $200 than they'd probably lose money on selling just Bulbasaur (and possibly Squirtle) while if Charmander is under 2k pieces will be a bit of a rip off to those who want it. But, if that's the concern, honestly I say just sell them for their expected "price per piece" amount. At worst people will just joke about Bulbasaur being a chunky toad and Charmander a noodly lizard, but at the very least if you only want one of them you're just paying about around $200-$250. I'd be even willing to bet you'd sell more of them. Who knows, maybe set #72154 through #72156 are them individually, this is just a combo set for those who want all three while providing a bit of a saving.
Anyway, with now "knowing" a Pokemon in these sets take about 2k pieces (at least for first wave's display sets?), I'm going to make a guess that the other $200 set is none other than Pikachu while the $60 set is a Poke Ball.
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3. Now this is where things get worrisome. Names and some details for 10 sets from the first Summer Wave have been revealed. It's noted that some of these Summer sets are designed for kids to play with, and some of their names do seem to suggest that:
* #72156 - Squirtle's Training Buggy Adventure
* #72157 - Charmander's Wild Encounter With Geodude
* #72164 - Pikachu's Training House
* #72166 - Cubone vs Gengar's Ghost Challenge
* #72167 - Jolteon vs Charizard
* #721xx - Eevee Evolution
* #721xx - Dojo House and Riolu
* #721xx - Mewtwo Lab
* #721xx - Scorbunny Evolution
* #721xx - Stadium Bus (features Larvitar & Croagunk)
I also wouldn't be surprised if some/most of these are placeholder names: "Jolteon vs Charizard" seem pretty straightforward compared to "Cubone vs Gengar's Ghost Challenge. And "Eevee Evolution" wouldn't seem to out-of-place if it wasn't for "Scorbunny Evolution". Finally feels odd "Stadium Bus" doesn't include any of the names of the Pokemon it features. Heck, compared with Squirtle's and Charmander's set (no Bulbasaur?) all the other set's names sound pretty plain.
But plain is what LEGO doesn't want these sets to be! Because LEGO is going to incorporate their latest gimmick into all their Summer sets: Smart Play.
What is Smart Play? Pretty much their latest attempt to force sets to have a digital interactive component. These sets include one or more of a special LEGO piece called the "SMART Brick" which has computer hardware in them including lights, speakers, and sensors. Then there are LEGO pieces which have a "SMART Tag" which, when the SMART Brick interacts with, makes it give off sound and light depending on what the SMART Tag has it programmed to do. For example, there are already some Star Wars sets that are planned for release and LEGO gave early access to some people, here's two videos:
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CNET and PCMag
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Tiago Catarino
They seem to work well enough once you get the hang on how to get them to work. And I'm sure when they release these Star Wars sets they'll have the proper sound effects you'd expect. But getting back to Pokemon, you can see how they'll be incorporated. They'll either make Pokemon Minifigures or a small build you can place a SMART Tag on (like the R2-D2 figure) and have it interact with other Smart Tags in the playset or be able to have an interaction with other Pokemon figures. In addition the interactions won't be confined to just their set, a Pokemon can interact with environments and other Pokemon from all sets which include the Smart Play feature.
Sounds very ambitious, though there's a few issues I see with it:
* First is with the SMART Tag. As we see with the R2-D2, the SMART Tag can stick out like a sore thumb. Now they'll probably work on trying to hide the SMART Tag better, especially where the Tag would be visible, but already this also may limit the Pokemon figures. Now I imagine the small Pokemon will probably get a Minifigure so this isn't such an issue with them, but bigger Pokemon which would have to be small builds may have to deal with an obvious Tag piece somewhere on them. Now the bigger the Pokemon the less of an issue this may be (such as Charizard, Gengar and Mewtwo), but this could be an issue with the more medium sized ones like Jolteon (maybe Geodude and Croagunk).
* SMART Play bumps up the price tag. As we've previously seen, the rough ratio of price per LEGO piece is 10 cents. However, because the Smart Brick is essentially a mini-computer (not to mention the Tags are individually programmed to have the Smart Brick act a certain way),
going by the Star Wars sets it seems that each SMART Brick adds $30 to the price tag! Now I believe it was Tiago Catarino who said to those who may not like the SMART Play Star Wars sets that they still have plenty of other Star Wars sets they can focus on instead. Which is great for LEGO Star Wars fans... but what does that mean for Pokemon? Sure, there will be sets which don't include the SMART Play feature, especially in the first wave, but the Pokemon sets have the issue of limiting what Pokemon they have. Sure the popular Pokemon may have display models, but what if your favorite Pokemon is now only going to end up in the Smart Play sets? Now, unless they're small enough for a minifigure or big enough their small build can better hide the Tag, their design is going to be slightly altered to include the Tag somewhere and you're going to have to pay at least an extra $30. Also, had they made normal playsets, how many more Pokemon could they have included? They're obviously going to limit the amount of Pokemon in a SMART Play set because each one they include will need its on set of programmed interactions.
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Yeah, judge me for getting worked up over a children's toy, but this sucks. This feels like both companies forcing something fans don't want into what could have otherwise been an awesome collab. On the Pokemon side its the frustrating Nintendo ideology that they need to be constantly innovating even if that means adding in features fans don't want/need and increasing the price. On the LEGO side they obviously spent a lot of money in making the SMART Play feature, desperately trying to connect LEGO to the digital age (something they've done previously with themes like LEGO Dimensions and other one-offs that either failed to take or eventually lagged in sales so they cancelled), and are hoping by stapling it to a popular franchise it'll pay off despite all the cons it causes. And of course this is happening during a time many people don't have the excess money in a world that's becoming more and more expensive. At least they'll be neat to look at...
And yeah, this was definitely my worry when they called that Eevee Year thing.... That I'll have to open wallet irresponsibly for them....
