LEGO Pokémon 2027: Five New SMART Play Pokémon Teased, and Where the Range Stands Today

On Saturday, August 29, 2026, day two of PokémonXP in San Francisco, LEGO ended its SMART Play demo with a teaser a few seconds long: five black silhouettes, a question mark on each, and a "Catch them in 2027" card. No names, no prices, no date. Here is what can be read into it, and where the LEGO Pokémon range stands in the meantime.

The teaser's last frame. Everything LEGO has promised in so many words fits in these four words. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

What did LEGO show at PokémonXP for 2027?

A teaser, nothing more. During the LEGO SMART Play panel on Saturday, August 29, LEGO announced that new Pokémon sets would arrive in 2027, then played a short video in which five Pokémon appear as shadows, in the "Who's that Pokémon?" style of the anime. No name, no set image, no release window narrower than the year.

PokémonXP is The Pokémon Company's first fan festival, held at the Moscone Center from August 28 to 30, 2026 alongside the World Championships. LEGO ran a demo booth for the SMART Play range released on August 1, and the teaser closed that demo. Nintendo Life and Game Rant covered it overnight; Nintendo Life published the captures of the silhouettes.

What the teaser leaves out matters as much as what it shows. As Game Rant points out, nothing says whether these five Pokémon will join the interactive SMART Play line, the 18+ display statues, or a new format. The silhouettes are cut in the style of the SMART Play figures, studs showing, which leans towards the first option, but LEGO did not say so.

The teaser's first shot: three silhouettes, a curled tail, two big ears, two outstretched wings. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon, via Nintendo Life

The second shot: a small helmeted fighter and a monkey with its tail up. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon, via Nintendo Life

Who is hiding behind the five silhouettes?

According to fans and the specialist press: Charcadet, Grookey, Mankey, Pichu and Wingull. Nintendo Life writes carefully that "trainers believe the designs are based on" those five, and Game Rant runs the same list. Neither LEGO nor The Pokémon Company has confirmed anything, but three of the five leave little room for doubt.

I went through both captures frame by frame. In the first, the left silhouette has a spiralling tail and short legs: that is Mankey, Kanto's Fighting-type monkey. The centre one, with two big pointed ears ending in an angle and a stocky body, can only be Pichu. The right one glides wings spread, beak forward: Wingull, the seagull from Hoenn. In the second capture, the small character on the left wears a spiked helmet and holds a guard stance, which fits Charcadet, Paldea's Fire Child Pokémon; the tall one on the right has a leaf stuck on its head and a raised tail, which points to Grookey, the Galar Grass starter.

Two side notes. This pick spans five different regions, while the current range is heavily Kanto: LEGO is widening the cast. And Wingull is no random choice in 2026, it is one of the twenty-five Pokémon confirmed in the trailer for Pokémon Winds and Waves, the tenth generation also due in 2027. A Galar starter, a Paldea Fire-type and a seagull gliding over the next region: LEGO's calendar tracks the games'.

How does LEGO SMART Play work?

A 2x4 electronic brick, the SMART Brick, slots into the figure and makes it react to what the child does with it: sounds, light, battles, all without a screen. SMART Tag tiles hidden in each figure tell the brick which Pokémon it is animating. This is the platform LEGO launched in January 2026, first with Star Wars and since August 1 with Pokémon.

The SMART Brick: the size of an ordinary 2x4 brick, a 4.1 mm chip inside. © 2026 The LEGO Group

LEGO's fact sheet gives the measure of the thing: a custom 4.1 mm ASIC chip, smaller than a stud, an accelerometer, a light sensor, a microphone, a speaker driven by an onboard synthesiser, LEDs, and wireless charging. LEGO claims "more than twenty patented world-firsts" for the platform. The bricks locate each other through a copper-coil positioning system: two figures placed side by side know where the other is and which way it faces.

In practice, with a Pikachu fitted: tickle its belly and it giggles, offer it the brick-built sandwich from the set and it munches (not always happily, some Pokémon turn their nose up at the food), lay it on its back and it dozes off, shake it too hard and it gets dizzy. Two figures left near each other start chatting. For a battle, bring them close and shake gently until the music starts: a lunge towards the opponent fires a quick attack, a shake charges a powerful one, pulling back is a guard. The brick's LED turns yellow as HP drops, then red: knocked out.

Types matter. The pokemon.com team, which tried the sets in London before launch, learned it the hard way: "Our opponent scored a quick Knock Out on our Fire-type partner with their Rock- and Ground-type Geodude," they write after picking Fuecoco. Some training in Pikachu's house raises the stats, a brick-built Potion restores HP. A free app, LEGO SMART Assist, handles volume and firmware updates; it is not needed to play.

Watch the trailer "LEGO Pokémon SMART Play sets are coming!" on the Pokémon YouTube channel

Which LEGO Pokémon SMART Play sets came out on August 1, 2026?

Twelve sets, from $14.99 to $119.99, on pre-order since June 2 and in stores since August 1, 2026. Two of them, the "All-in-One" sets, include the SMART Brick and its charger; the ten others, the "Compatible" sets, only carry SMART Tags and need a brick from an All-in-One set to come alive. That is the number one buying trap in this range.

72164, the entry set: one SMART Brick, four SMART Tags, and the "All-in-One" label in the top right corner of the box. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

So the set to buy first is Training House with Pikachu: 400 pieces, one SMART Brick, four SMART Tags, a USB-C charger, and a Pikachu that eats, sleeps and trains. At $69.99 it costs the same as Mewtwo, but Mewtwo without a brick stays a silent statue. Journal du Geek, which saw all twelve sets in person in June, stresses the same point: tell the two categories apart before you reach the till. On the boxes, look for "All-in-One"; compatible sets read "Add SMART Brick to play interactive".

72155: Bulbasaur, Bidoof, a berry tree and a garden hose for $19.99. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

The figure style divides people. Bodies are blocks, heads are cubes with softened corners, eyes are printed. It works very well on Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Jigglypuff, a little less on Mewtwo, whose lanky outline suffers from the format. Engadget, after a hands-on, mentions an "uncanny valley" effect on some designs and finds Charizard and Lapras excellent by contrast. I agree: round Pokémon translate into bricks better than tall ones.

72156: Squirtle, a buggy, a barbecue and two SMART Tags. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

Every set also hides a mechanism with no electronics. In Cubone and Gengar's Spooky Showdown, two targets collapse a platform and reveal a treasure. In Drone Search for Mythical Mew, the drone drops berries onto ruins that crumble onto the Mythical Pokémon. In Mewtwo's Lab Break, a dial bursts the containment chamber, and everything resets in seconds. Those are the same two Pokémon The Pokémon Company turns into figures in its 30th Celebration Mew and Mewtwo Figure Collections in November: 2026 really is the duo's year.

If your child is torn between the starters, the Squirtle buggy at $29.99 is a good compromise, and those who prefer the version that lights up will find a Squirtle crystal LED Pokéball in our shop at the same price, engraved in 3D inside the sphere. Nothing interactive, but it never runs out of battery.

72165: 831 pieces, a trophy and two SMART Tags, but no SMART Brick. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

The best-looking set of the wave, to my taste, is Umbreon vs. Garchomp Championship Battle: 831 pieces, a Garchomp bristling with fins and an Umbreon with printed yellow rings, for $79.99. Garchomp is a surprising pick in a range so focused on Kanto, and it pleases us: it is one of the dragons we engrave in the Garchomp crystal LED Pokéball, and the only fourth-generation Pokémon in this first LEGO wave.

72163: Mewtwo's containment chamber, a Master Ball and a single SMART Tag. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

A thirteenth set existed as a gift: 40887 Ditto as Squirtle: Movie Night, 185 pieces, offered with Pokémon purchases during the launch window in early August (from $130 spent in the US, from August 1 to 10 in France). The promotion is over, and this little disguised Ditto is already on resale sites. Do not pay more for it than the price of an entry-level compatible set.

What about the big LEGO Pokémon sets for adults?

Seven 18+ display sets with no electronics, from $59.99 to $649.99, plus a giant Red minifigure. The first three came out on February 27, 2026 for Pokémon Day, three more followed in August, and the last two are announced for October 1, 2026. This range, not SMART Play, is the one sold worldwide.

72168: Rayquaza spiralling above Sky Pillar, with a trainer minifigure. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

Rayquaza is the set that speaks to me most on that list: 1,083 pieces, the dragon coiling above a ruin, clouds in white bricks, and a trainer minifigure for scale. It is restocking on LEGO's site as I write, a sign it sold fast. Those who want the Hoenn legendary on a bedside table rather than a shelf have our Rayquaza LED Pokéball on a wooden stand, at 29.99 euros, with the dragon engraved in 3D inside the sphere.

72152: a life-size Pikachu, 2,050 pieces, released for Pokémon Day. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

The most anticipated set of the autumn is Iconic Trainer Moments Poké Ball: a 2,386-piece Poké Ball that opens onto a diorama, with the first Pokémon minifigures ever produced, Red, Professor Oak and a Picnicker, joined by a brick-built Pikachu and Eevee. Pre-orders are open at $299.99, release announced for October 1, 2026, the same day as the Up-Scaled Red Minifigure and its 930 pieces. Since January, Julia Goldin, LEGO's Chief Product and Marketing Officer, has repeated that "bringing the world of Pokémon to life in LEGO bricks is both an exciting opportunity and a great responsibility"; the Poké Ball is the set where that responsibility shows most.

72154: the Poké Ball that opens, and the first three Pokémon minifigures. © 2026 The LEGO Group / Pokémon

Where can you buy LEGO Pokémon SMART Play sets?

In six countries only: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Poland and Australia, on LEGO.com, in LEGO Stores and at a few retailers. Elsewhere, including Spain, Italy, Canada or Japan, only the 18+ sets are distributed. LEGO has given no timetable for a wider rollout.

That limited distribution is the main complaint levelled at SMART Play since its Star Wars launch. Brick Fanatics describes "a rocky start" for the platform, sets available "in only six countries" and reactions "more mixed" since release: adults are not won over, kids have fun but end up playing with these sets much as they would with ordinary LEGO. The Star Wars SMART Play sets have seen deep discounts since launch, mostly on the compatible sets; the Pokémon sets, more recent, have not moved yet.

One reason to visit a LEGO Store before the end of September: Pokémon GO is running an event there until September 30, 2026, with more frequent one-star Pikachu raids around the stores, a stamp rally that unlocks a Pikachu with a special background, and a LEGO jacket for your avatar. Same six countries as SMART Play, and that is no coincidence.

Which other LEGO Pokémon sets are expected in 2027?

Announced by LEGO, the five silhouettes from the teaser, and that is all. Behind the scenes, four SMART Play sets planned for 2026 and never released are said to slip to 2027, three 18+ sets are expected in February, and a LEGO Ideas set based on the Trading Card Game is being selected. The table separates what is confirmed from what is circulating.

The four delayed sets have been known since a December 2025 leak listing ten; six came out in August, the other four did not. Leaker A Clay Brick wrote on August 9 that they "ended up being 2027 instead of 2026", and Brick Fanatics confirmed it the next day through another source. None of the five teased Pokémon appears in those four sets: if both lists are right, 2027 will bring at least nine new Pokémon in bricks. The Eevee Evolution set, if it ships, will be the first to give Flareon and Vaporeon in LEGO form; while you wait, our Vaporeon LED Pokéball on a wooden stand already puts Eevee's Water evolution in the spotlight.

The LEGO Ideas set is a different, nicer story. In March 2026, LEGO launched a "Build Your Card" contest: build a Pokémon TCG card 37 studs by 26, that is 30 by 21.5 cm, between 400 and 2,500 pieces, featuring one of thirty eligible Pokémon. 756 entries came in, five finalists remain: an electric Joltik, a Mew in flight, a Gyarados at sunset, an Arceus and a Rowlet firing Razor Leaf. The fan vote is open and the winner will be announced in February 2027, for a later release.

Should you buy now or wait for 2027?

If the child is between 6 and 10 and you live in one of the six countries, buy now, an All-in-One set first. The current range already covers Pikachu, the three Kanto starters, Eevee, Mewtwo and Mew; the 2027 sets will add to it, not replace it, and a SMART Brick bought today will work with next year's figures.

Three pieces of shopkeeper advice, even if LEGO is not what I sell. One: start with 72164, Pikachu's Training House, and add a $19.99 compatible set to have an opponent, the brick swaps between the two. Two: do not pay the resale premium on the gift Ditto, nor on Rayquaza while its restock is pending. Three: for a younger child, under six, a SMART Play set comes too early; at that age a Pokémon night light makes a better-suited gift, and our light-up Pokéball collection covers most of the Pokémon in the LEGO range, Pikachu, Eevee, Mewtwo and Charizard included.

What I am watching next: the reveal of the five Pokémon by LEGO, which should come with the January catalogue or the May announcements, and a possible expansion of SMART Play to more countries. This article will be updated then.

Antoine, founder of Pokéled. Sources: Nintendo Life and Game Rant (PokémonXP teaser, August 29 and 30, 2026), LEGO press releases of January 12 and June 2, 2026, SMART Play fact sheet published by Brickset, pokemon.com hands-on, Journal du Geek, Engadget, Brick Fanatics (July 10 and August 10, 2026), Stonewars, pokemongo.com. Visuals: © 2026 The LEGO Group, Pokémon, Nintendo, Creatures, GAME FREAK; teaser captures via Nintendo Life.