PokémonTop pick

Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise

The three Kanto starters all grown up, gorgeous on the shelf and heavy on the wallet.

3.8/5

Set 72153 · 2026

Pieces6,838

Minifigsn/a

Year2026

Set number72153

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The verdict

If you grew up agonizing over Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle, this LEGO® set nails that nostalgia with three excellent brick-built final evolutions, every decorated part printed rather than stickered.

The catch is the 649.99 dollar price, and the fact that much of the piece count sits in the display bases while the three figures never actually connect. Grab it if you want the complete trio on display and the cost doesn't scare you. If you only love one of them, you'll wish LEGO had just sold them apart.

Best for: adult Gen 1 Pokémon fans with a wide shelf and deep pockets

The full review

What it is

Here's the pitch: the three original Kanto starters, all grown up into Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise, rendered at proper display scale in one enormous 6,838 piece box, timed for Pokémon's 30th anniversary. If you're anywhere near the right age, that lineup hits a very specific nostalgic nerve, and the good news is the models absolutely deliver. Each Pokémon is instantly recognizable, the proportions feel right, and they're built as posable action figures rather than static statues. Venusaur's vines and feet move, Blastoise gets an articulated head, arms and those iconic shell cannons, and Charizard can pose its wings, legs, arms and head. Set the three on their type-themed biome stands (jungle, beach and volcano) and you've got a shelf display any Pokémon fan will stop and stare at. The presentation is premium too, with three separate Poké Ball themed inner boxes, one per Pokémon, each with its own instruction book.

The catch

Now the honest part, and it's a big one. This set costs 649.99 dollars, and it arrived as a first-wave Pokémon release, which even glowing reviews called a bit much for an opening act. More importantly, those pretty biome bases inflate the piece count (and therefore the price) quite a lot, and the three figures plus stands don't physically connect. That epic battleground framing is generous, since in reality you're placing three independent builds next to each other, and Charizard's stand can't even display on its own. Brick Fanatics went as far as calling it three lovely models that never click together, and plenty of fans said they'd have happily bought just their own starter if LEGO had sold them separately. The building itself is mostly great across roughly 15 hours, though Venusaur is the slog of the three, and a few small extremities like Blastoise's claw toes come loose with handling.

Who it's for

So who's this for? If you want the complete trio, you have the shelf space, and 650 dollars is something you can swing, this is a lovely centerpiece and you'll be thrilled with it. It's aimed squarely at adult collectors and plays that role well. If you only really care about one of the three, or the price makes you wince, hold off, because you're paying for two Pokémon you didn't especially want. It launched in February 2026 and isn't going anywhere soon, so there's no retirement pressure. Waiting for a discount, or hoping LEGO releases the starters individually, is the sensible play for most people. It's a genuinely good set trapped inside a genuinely awkward buying decision, and only you know which side of that line you land on.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The box splits into three sub-builds, each with its own instruction book and brick separator, so you can tackle one Pokémon at a time instead of staring down all 6,838 pieces at once. That structure really helps pacing across the roughly 15 hour build. Charizard is the standout to assemble, with motion in the shoulders, elbows and wrists and feet that actually look right from below thanks to the suspended pose. Blastoise is chunky, satisfying shell work built from separate curved segments around a core of clever sub-builds. Venusaur is where most builders slow down, though the head section hides some smart techniques and the big flower on its back comes out looking great. The biome bases act as palette cleansers, more relaxed landscaping between the denser figure sections.

For parts nerds this is a big deal. It's one of the most recolor-heavy single sets LEGO has released, with a huge run of new molds and existing shapes turned up in fresh colors across 43 different colors, including a stack of dark azure recolors used to build Venusaur. Every decorated element is printed rather than stickered, which at this price is exactly what you'd hope for. The one grumble is that a few essential shaping parts didn't get quite enough recolors to go around, and reviewers even flagged a couple of oversized leftover plates that turned out to be genuine surplus rather than the usual tiny spares. As a bulk source of unusual colors and shapes for your own MOCs, though, it's hard to beat.

Fun facts

01With its tail straightened out, the tips of Charizard's two flames sit about 47cm apart, which tells you just how much shelf real estate this trio demands.
02It's one of the most recolor-packed LEGO sets ever made, ranking among the highest number of recolored parts in any single set.
03These were part of LEGO's first-ever official Pokémon wave, launching on 27 February 2026 alongside sets like Pikachu and Eevee.
04The set recreates the three Kanto starters in their final evolutions, the fully grown forms of the Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle that every Gen 1 player agonized over choosing.