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Pokémon nostalgia is tied up in 30 years’ worth of raising and growing monsters, yet you can’t discount the importance of the human characters who bring that world to life. Sure, we’ve got Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Gengar as Lego sets, but where are iconic faces like Ash, Misty, and Brock? In an exclusive interview with Polygon, Lego representatives detailed the creation of the new Smart Play Pokémon toys — and why we’re not getting any classic minifigures in those sets.
According to Siddharth Muthyala, design director for The Lego Group, the company’s primary objective with its slate of interactive Pokémon sets was capturing the essence of the monsters themselves. To figure out what that meant, Lego consulted young Pokémon fans.
“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 Smart Tags included in the Lego Pokémon sets are programmed to facilitate play along these lines. Player movement is tracked to level up the monsters. The higher the level, the more fearsome your partner will be during fights. All of these features are communicated to the player without a screen, using only sounds and lights. Players can also mix and match elements of different sets to make their roleplay scenarios, as many of the pieces can communicate with one another. The idea is to make the play as seamless as possible, without risking losing a child’s attention.
“The intentionality goes so deep that we don’t have any minifigures in the assortment because children are the Trainers,” Muthyala says. “So it’s a Pokémon world you’re entering and all the children out there in the world, they are the humans, they are the Trainers who are catching these Pokémon, bonding with them and battling and training with them. So that was also a choice.”
Makes sense. But if Lego ever changes its mind, fans would probably buy a Team Rocket set of minifigs in a heartbeat.
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