Lego Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise

Red or Blue? What was your choice? Bulbasaur, Charmander, or Squirtle? Before I embarked on my first journey in the Kanto region, I had to make several choices, decisions I have repeated several times since then: Red and Charmander. If you had told 13-year-old Fredrik that he would be sitting with his two sons, spending a week building three giant Lego Pokémon, he would never have believed you. Charmander will always be my first Pokémon and the first one I trained to evolve into its final form, Charizard.

If you buy Lego's huge Pokémon set, you don't have to choose a starter Pokémon. In this massive 6,838-piece Lego set, you get Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise and a cool base to place the creatures on. The only choice you need to make is which of the three giants to build first. In the huge box, you get three boxes printed as Poké Balls. On the back, there are icons that reveal which Pokémon type is hidden in the box. The boxes are numbered, but there is nothing to stop you from building the three figures in the order you prefer. If you follow the numbering on the boxes, Venusaur is first, followed by Blastoise, and finally Charizard.

I decided to make it easy on myself and started building when my sons were asleep. After two hours and ten minutes, it was bedtime. How far did I get? Six bags and a finished, cool plant-covered base for Venusaur to stand on. The next day, my 8-year-old and 6-year-old joined in, and together we spent almost seven hours completing Venusaur. It's entirely possible that I could have built the Grass-type faster on my own, but every time my sons and I look at the Lego set from now on, we'll know that the build was a team effort.

Venusaur was indeed number one in the order when we followed the numbers on the Lego set's boxes and instructions. When my sons and I finished Venusaur, both boys insisted that Charizard was next. It wasn't too difficult to convince me, given my favouritism. Charizard's base is a volcano with a mount at the top where the orange giant is to be attached. My eldest son helped me build the base, which took us another four hours. Then it took another three to four hours to complete Charizard. After that, we lost count, but it probably took us another seven to eight hours to build the base and Blastoise to complete the Lego model, one week to the day after I brought the box into the house.

Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise is the largest Lego set I have built since the Ultimate Collector's Edition of the Millennium Falcon in 2017. I discovered Star Wars before Pokémon, but both universes are close to my heart and while I got to build the Falcon myself, this time I got to do it with my family, which was even more special. Unlike the Millennium Falcon, this is an 18+ set that contains significantly fewer Lego Technic parts and this suited me well and it also suited my sons too.

How was the set to build? Varied, challenging, fun, and time-consuming. Who is it for? Pokémon fans and Lego enthusiasts. Venusaur and Blastoise are both compact and more similar in design. Charizard is slimmer and has two wings made of printed fabric. The three bases differ greatly in their design, where bag six of Venusaur's base was like a regular Lego Botanical set to build. Charizard's volcano felt like the part of the build that contained the most Technic parts and for the children, the biggest challenge was staying focused for a long time. After three hours of building, my youngest son said, "Dad, this is the most fun thing I know. Building big Lego sets!" That's when I realised he has many future building projects ahead of him.

Lego sets are available in all price ranges and this set is among the more expensive ones. It's a statement piece, something you build because you love Lego and Pokémon. It's a set that needs a place in your home where it can be seen, with a base 54 centimetres wide and a trio reaching a height of 50 centimetres, you can imagine how much space is required. Many content creators and writers have mentioned the price and suggested that Lego could have removed the base to make the set cheaper. I ask myself why? When Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary and is released as a Lego set for the first time, it should be given space. If I had to mention something that could have been better, it would be the shape of Charizard's face and the gaps on Venusaur. Overall, however, this is a set that is a worthy premium model to celebrate three decades of a universe that entertains millions of people every year.

Footnote: The Lego set is sold exclusively by Lego itself and has been extremely popular. The set is backordered until April.