Six months into LEGO Pokémon, the people building it say the line’s most debated feature, the Smart Brick, is not what many fans assumed. In an interview with Video Games Chronicle published Thursday, Oct. 1, LEGO design director Siddharth Muthyala and senior interaction designer Mike Kirk Andersen explained how the sound-making brick works, how they pick which Pokémon to build and how adult collectors fit in.
VGC’s Jordan Middler spoke with the pair at the 2026 Pokémon World Championships and Pokémon XP in San Francisco. VGC said the newest wave of LEGO Pokémon sets was set for release Oct. 1.
What’s actually inside the Smart Brick?
A synthesizer, not a speaker playing recordings. Many fans expected Pokémon to either let out their video game cries or say their names, as in the anime. Muthyala said it’s neither. “We do not record anything. There’s no audio in the brick. Everything is created when you’re playing with it,” he told VGC.
When a Pokémon does something, the brick essentially presses a key on that built-in instrument, so the sounds shift slightly each time. Muthyala said that approach also lets LEGO “scale it across so many Lego Pokémon,” while still fitting the brick’s small size.
Why is the Smart Brick so divisive?
VGC noted that the Smart Brick, which first appeared in LEGO Star Wars sets, has split the fan base. Younger builders tend to see it as a fresh, interactive way to play, while many adult fans remain unconvinced. The brick can play sounds and react to other Smart Bricks, building on ideas from the LEGO Super Mario line.
LEGO’s answer so far has been to split the LEGO Pokémon range in two: Smart Brick sets aimed at kids, and larger display models aimed at older, nostalgic collectors.
How did LEGO choose which Pokémon to build?
Playtesting drove the picks. Muthyala said the team tested ideas with “several hundred children,” asked them about their favorites and worked through the list with The Pokémon Company. “But it all comes down to play,” he said, describing a search for the most fun Pokémon that fit in a child’s hand and could fly, swim or walk.
Andersen said the Smart Brick became central to the line very early, once the team learned that kids wanted to be trainers on a journey with their Pokémon. The moment it clicked, he said, came after playtests, when children went back to the Pokémon they’d built, gave them a high-five and asked the team, “Hey please be careful with my Squirtle.”
Are adult fans part of the plan?
Yes. The largest LEGO Pokémon sets so far lean on first-generation nostalgia, and a recent Rayquaza set even includes a minifigure of Zinnia, a character from “Pokémon Omega Ruby” and “Alpha Sapphire” whom many casual fans won’t recognize.
Muthyala said that kind of deep cut comes from a team of roughly 40 to 50 designers, many of them longtime Pokémon fans. “The deep-cut ideas, the references to the lore, it’s all there on purpose because it’s stuff that we’ve grown up with,” he said. The team then works with The Pokémon Company International to “stress test” ideas so they stay authentic to the lore while still feeling “magical, unexpected.”
What’s next for LEGO Pokémon?
The designers didn’t detail future sets in the interview. Andersen said LEGO wants the line to work for every age group: “Like we have the kids lineup but then we also recognize that everyone wants to build and be part of the journey.”
Rayquaza fans can revisit why the legendary still matters in our look back at Pokémon Emerald. LEGO’s Pokémon push has also reached mobile, as covered in the Pokémon Go LEGO collaboration, and shoppers can find current discounts in our Pokémon Prime deals roundup.
