⚡ Quick Read
- LEGO’s biggest 2026 wave drops on August 1, featuring ~16 new Pokémon sets at once
- The LEGO Smart Play system debuted in March with Star Wars sets; a Smart Brick is packed with sensors, speakers, and motion detection — no screens required
- Only one Pokémon Smart Play set (Pikachu’s Training House, ~$69.99) includes the Smart Brick; nine others are compatible but require the brick separately
- Rumored Smart Play sets include a Mewtwo Lab, Cubone vs Gengar, Jolteon vs Charizard, Riolu’s Dojo, Scorbunny Evolution, and more
- Three traditional brick-built sets are also coming: Munchlax (757 pcs), Arcanine (1,190 pcs), and Rayquaza (1,083 pcs), targeting August 1
- A 2,339-piece Poké Ball set (~$259.99) will open to reveal an interior diorama and is expected to include the first molded Pokémon minifigures
- A leaked molded Eevee minifigure and a Pokémon trainer figure have already surfaced online
LEGO has already had a genuinely impressive 2026. The Smart Play system launched in March alongside a fresh batch of Star Wars sets, the Pokémon collaboration kicked off with a jaw-dropping Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise diorama priced at $649.99, and the more accessible Pikachu and Eevee sets gave everyone an entry point into the new license. By any reasonable measure, that’s a strong first half of a year for any toy company.
But here’s the thing — that was just the opening act.
If you thought LEGO was done making moves in 2026, the leaks and rumors swirling around the summer wave suggest otherwise. Some of the most exciting sets of the entire year haven’t hit shelves yet, and with approximately 16 new Pokémon sets reportedly dropping all at once on August 1, the next few months are going to be genuinely dangerous for anyone with a LEGO budget to protect.
First, a Quick Refresher: What LEGO Smart Play Actually Is
Before getting into the upcoming Pokémon sets, it’s worth understanding the Smart Play system — because it’s central to a big chunk of what’s coming.
LEGO unveiled Smart Play at CES 2026 in January and launched it on March 1 with three Star Wars sets. The headline piece of the system is the Smart Brick — a 2×4 brick that, on the outside, looks completely ordinary. Inside, it’s a different story. It’s packed with a custom chip smaller than a single LEGO stud, an accelerometer, proximity sensors, a color sensor, a miniature speaker, magnetic field sensors, and wireless charging. LEGO describes it as the most significant evolution of their system since the minifigure debuted back in 1978.
The Smart Brick works alongside two companion elements: Smart Tags (2×2 studless tiles that carry unique digital IDs and tell the Smart Brick how to behave in a specific set) and Smart Minifigures (standard-looking minifigs with an internal chip the Smart Brick can detect). When these elements interact, the brick reacts in real time — making sounds, lighting up, and responding differently depending on how you’re physically moving and playing with the set. No app. No screen. No setup required.
In practical terms: put a Smart Brick in a TIE Fighter set with the appropriate Smart Tag and it plays engine sounds. Move it through the air, tilt it, crash it into another set, and the sounds change accordingly. Put Darth Vader’s Smart Minifigure near the brick and you get his breathing. It’s reactive, physical, and screenless — which is a harder thing to pull off than it sounds.
The early reception to the Star Wars launch has been mixed. The sound quality of the onboard synthesizer has drawn some criticism, and a few reviewers noted that the live sets underdelivered compared to the polished CES demos. That said, the underlying technology is genuinely novel — LEGO filed more than twenty patents for the platform — and the Pokémon wave will be the first real test of whether Smart Play resonates at scale with a mass audience.
The LEGO Smart Play Pokémon Sets
Here’s where things get interesting. A significant portion of the summer Pokémon wave is expected to be Smart Play-compatible, though with one important caveat that’s worth flagging upfront: according to leaks, only one set will actually include the Smart Brick in the box.
That set is Pikachu’s Training House (set 72164), a roughly 400-piece, 8+ build reportedly priced around $69.99, which will come with the Smart Brick included — making it the “All-In-One” entry point for the Pokémon Smart Play experience. The other compatible sets will include Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures, but you’ll need to bring your own Smart Brick from another set, or buy one separately.
That’s a frustrating limitation, especially for families buying a single set expecting the full interactive experience. Hopefully that changes before August, but based on current leaks, that’s where things stand.
The list of rumored Smart Play Pokémon sets makes for a pretty exciting read regardless:
- Squirtle’s Training Buggy Adventure — potentially drawing inspiration from Pokémon Snap’s iconic research vehicle
- Charmander’s Wild Encounter with Geodude — a mountainous scene pairing two Gen 1 favorites
- Pikachu’s Training House (includes Smart Brick) — the Smart Play anchor set of the wave
- Cubone vs Gengar’s Ghost Challenge — one of the more intriguing matchups in the lineup
- Jolteon vs Charizard — a battle set that sounds visually intense
- Eevee Evolution — building on the already beloved LEGO Eevee that launched Phase 1
- Dojo House and Riolu — a personal favorite on this list; Riolu is an absolutely perfect fit for a dojo-themed set
- Mewtwo Lab — the most conceptually rich set of the bunch, likely featuring a laboratory build with Mewtwo in its iconic test tube
- Scorbunny Evolution — a nice step beyond the Kanto-heavy early wave
- Stadium Bus — the most mysterious entry, but potentially great depending on execution
The Kanto bias is still visible here — Squirtle, Charmander, Pikachu, Eevee, Charizard — but the inclusion of Gen 2 and Gen 8 Pokémon like Riolu and Scorbunny shows LEGO and The Pokémon Company are at least starting to branch out. The Mewtwo Lab is the one I keep coming back to. There’s always something compelling about Mewtwo in a lab context, and if the set leans into the cinematic legacy of that setting, it could be one of the best displays in the entire collaboration.
The Traditional Brick-Built Sets
Not everything in the summer wave is Smart Play-focused. Three more traditionally built Pokémon sets are also reportedly targeting the August 1 date, and they look like solid additions to the lineup.
According to leaks on r/PokeLeaks, the three sets are a 757-piece Munchlax, a 1,190-piece Arcanine, and a 1,083-piece Rayquaza. None exceed 1,200 pieces, all sit at relatively accessible price points, and none of them include the Smart Brick system. Think of them as closer in spirit to the LEGO Eevee that kicked off the whole collaboration — compact, displayable, and focused on capturing the personality of each Pokémon through brick-building craft alone.
The Eevee comparison is apt beyond just size. That set was around 750 pieces, retail at $59.99, and came with a fun secondary build option: you could rearrange the pieces into a Bidoof. Whether any of the summer traditional sets include a similar secondary build is unknown, but it would be a smart way to add replay value to models in this price range.
Rayquaza is the headline name of the three — it’s a Legendary with an iconic silhouette that lends itself well to a large-format brick build. Arcanine and Munchlax are slightly more unexpected choices, but that’s exactly what makes them interesting. Munchlax in particular is a Pokémon whose round, compact shape seems tailor-made for LEGO construction.
The Poké Ball Set — And the First LEGO Pokémon Minifigures
Save the best for last. The most talked-about upcoming LEGO Pokémon set is the Poké Ball (set 72154) — a 2,339-piece build reportedly priced at $259.99 that opens up to reveal a diorama inside.
The concept is a no-brainer. A giant, openable Poké Ball with a scene inside is the kind of set that sells itself on the shelf. But what makes this one genuinely exciting — and potentially the most significant set in the entire LEGO Pokémon collaboration so far — is that it’s expected to be the first set to include molded Pokémon minifigures.
Unlike the brick-built Pikachu or the studded Eevee, these will be traditionally molded figures in the style of standard LEGO minifigures, scaled to fit the Poké Ball’s interior diorama. A leaked image of a pre-molded Eevee figure has already surfaced on r/LegoNewsAndRumors, and a second leak from leaker Chief Wiggum points to a Pokémon trainer minifigure also being part of the lineup — with speculation pointing toward Ash Ketchum as the most likely candidate. There are even rumors of an Up-Scaled trainer variant, which LEGO typically reserves for especially iconic characters.
This is a bigger deal than it might seem at first glance. Minifigures drive collectability. They drive army-building, custom builds, display scenes, and secondary market values. The Pokémon franchise has an enormous roster of trainers and partners that translate naturally into minifigure form, and if this set performs well, it almost certainly opens the door to minifigure-led sets across future waves of the LEGO Pokémon collaboration.
The Summer Wave in Perspective
LEGO and The Pokémon Company described their deal as “multi-year” at announcement — industry language that typically signals a minimum three-year commitment. Looking at the trajectory of what’s already confirmed or strongly rumored for 2026 alone — three launch sets, promotional exclusives, approximately 16 summer sets, Smart Play integration, and the first minifigures — the scale of this partnership is genuinely ambitious.
Whether the Smart Play sets land the way LEGO hopes will be the most interesting story to follow. The Star Wars launch was technically impressive but had some sound quality criticisms to work through. The Pokémon IP brings a different kind of emotional attachment with it, and if a child or collector can put a Smart Brick into a Mewtwo Lab and hear Mewtwo’s iconic sounds react to their play, that’s a different kind of moment than a TIE Fighter engine hum.
Either way, August is going to be a genuinely exciting month for LEGO fans. And for wallets everywhere, consider this your warning.
While you’re in the mood for gaming and collectibles news, check out our guide to the Pokopia Bulbasaur Jump Rope Contest running now in Nintendo’s new Pokémon life sim, see what’s changing in Arc Raiders’ Expedition system ahead of the Riven Tides update, or take a look at what Roblox has dropping in May 2026.
