Starter

This post is a review of the nanoblock Charizard DX build. Charizard DX is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click Here for a list.

Names:

• English: Charizard DX
• Japanese: Lizardon DX

Number: NBPM_080 

Number of Pieces: 860

Difficulty Rating: 4/5

This is the deluxe build for Charizard. It has a lot more detail than the original Charizard build. It is a much larger build made in pieces and held together with ball joints. I did the build over a few days, so I recommend having a safe place to leave the build spread out while you are working on it.

The nanoblock build begins by creating a base for the body. It takes about 6 steps to make the entire base of cream and orange bricks. You then continue the body by building up rings that get smaller until it closes the body. This build includes slanted pieces that I find stab my fingers when I push them into place.

The next step is to add the feet and arms via ball joints. The feet are built by stacking bricks to create a base to stand on. You attach the feet to a ball joint attached to the body. I had a hard time getting the ball joints lined up to stabilize the feet. You also build arms through a chain of ball joins. The hands are pretty fragile.

Now it is time to build the main section of the head. It is tricky because the head is generally only 3 bricks thick, so there isn’t much overlap, so it’s easy to push the bricks apart. The head is generally just building chunks of bricks onto other chunks until you have a completed head. When I attached the neck, I realized that I had attached the lower jaw in the wrong place, and the whole head fell apart when I moved it.

The following stages are to add the neck and tail. Both are very straightforward builds. The neck is a solid build that you eventually attach the head onto. The tail is a chain of bricks held together by ball joints. The tail includes the clear flame, which is a stack of clear bricks. As a warning, the tail likes to fall off the 1×2 brick that holds the flame.

The final stage of the build is to build the mirrored wings. These are large pieces that are 2-3 layers thick. They are built by creating smaller pieces that connect to the base. The directions are very straightforward and easy to follow. Once you make the wings, you attach them to the body, completing your build.

Overall I’m not sure how I feel about the build. This is the second deluxe Pokemon I’ve done, the other being Pikachu, and the detail is excellent. This is the 4th Charizard type build that nanoblock has made, and while it has the most detail, I would have rather had a different Pokemon. I found the final build to be very fragile and had difficulty posing it to get the photos because the flame kept falling off.

Things I liked:

• The amount of detail in the build

Things I didn’t like:

• The head isn’t layered super stable and tended to fall apart

This post is a review of the nanoblock Piplup build. Piplup is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click here for a list.

Names:

• English: Piplup
• Japanese: Pochama

Number: NBPM_079 

Number of Pieces: 170

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

The nanoblock build for Piplup has 2 parts. There is the head and the body.

The section you build is the body. It begins with a layer of bricks in various shades of blue. The body is then built up using layers of blue bricks. In building layers, you add the white for the spots on Piplup’s chest. You also add Piplup’s wings.

The second part of the build is the head. The head begins with a layer of blue and white bricks. The head is built by adding layers of bricks. As you add the layers of bricks, you add the details of the beak and eyes. In my opinion, they are super large for the build, so it looks a little funny. The beak looks closer to yellow than the gold bricks that come with a kit in the directions. When finishing the head, I had the unusual problem that the top layer caved in a bit, so adding the final layer of bricks was challenging.

To finish the build, there are a couple steps. First, you need to attach the head to the body. It is a bit challenging to tell where exactly where the head goes. Then you add a final bottom layer of bricks. The final step is to add the feet to the build.

Things I liked:

• Piplup is one of my favorite pokemon, so I’m glad we got a build for him

Things I didn’t like:

• His eyes are huge and look too big
• I’m not sure if changing out the gold bricks with yellow bricks would look better

This post is a review of the nanoblock Chimchar build. Chimchar is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click here for a list.

Names:

• English: Chimchar
• Japanese: Hikozaru

Number: NBPM_078

Number of Pieces: 150

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

The Chimchar nanoblock build has 2 parts. There is a head and a body.

The build begins with the body. It begins with a layer of bricks, including clear bricks. The clear bricks will become Chimchar’s flame tail. This is a detail that mirrors the builds of the Charmander family.

The rest of the body is made of cream and brown bricks. The body and the tail are built together in layers of bricks. At some point, you attach the arms. This can be a tricky step because the bricks are chained together. Meaning it is easy for a brick lower in the chain to fall off even after the top is secured. You finish building the body by eventually adding the feet.

After building the body you move on to the head. The head begins with a layer of cream bricks. The head is built up in layers of mostly brown and cream. As you build the layers, you add the details of the eyes, nose, and ears.

The build is completed by combining the head and the body. I personally had some difficulty lining up the head so it was straight on the body.

Things I liked:

• The clear blocks for the flame on the tail are similar to how they are used in the Charmander family.

Things I didn’t like:

• It was a pain to get the head centered when I combined the head and the body

This post is a review of the nanoblock Turtwig build. Turtwig is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click here for a list.

Names:

• English: Turtwig
• Japanese: Naetle

Number: NBPM_077

Number of Pieces: 130

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

This build is made up of 2 major parts. There is the head and the body.

The head begins with a layer of yellow and green bricks. The head is built in layers of green, yellow, and black bricks. The eyes are added by having black bricks that remain visible. Once the head is mostly built, you add a cap of brown to complete the head.

The next chunk that is built is the body. Like the head, the body is built in layers. In this case, the base is green. Using brown and black bricks, you then build the hump on Turtwig’s back. After you build him up, you flip the build over and add the feet and a brick to keep the build from tipping over due to the size of the head.

Now that you have the 2 major pieces, it is time to combine the head and the body. The final step is to add the leaf on Turtwig’s head.

Things I liked:

• I think it’s a cute build

Things I didn’t like:

• The starters keep getting a bit bigger, so they don’t match in size to the other starters
• I think the leaf on his head would look better if it was the lighter green

This post is a review of the nanoblock Mega Charizard X build. Mega Charizard X is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click Here for a list.

Names:

• English: Mega Charizard X
• Japanese: Mega Lizardon X

Number: NBPM_057

Number of Pieces: 320

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Mega Charizard X was originally in Pokemon X. Mega is used to describe Pokemon that have mega evolved, which was introduced in generation 6. Pokemon X has its own mega evolution named Mega Charizard X. Mega Charizard is grey with blue flames instead of the standard orange.

This built is breaks the building focus into several parts. There is the body, wings, tail flame, and head. Overall the directions are clear as to which colors to use and when.

You begin by building the body. You start with a base layer and build up. The arms on my build are a bit loose and feel like they want to fall off the studs holding them in place. The build is straightforward other than the last step when you flip the build upside down. It is hard to tell where exactly where the underside bricks go.

The next step is to build the pair of wings. I have trouble getting wings to line up because they are so narrow. The directions are clear as to when and where to use each brick. They nicely and solidly attached to the body and didn’t cause the body to tip, which was nice.

Then you build the tail flame using clear blue and pastel blue bricks. It was tricky to attach to the body because it’s a 2×2 brick going onto a single stud.

The final part of the build is the head. You begin with a base layer and build up in layers. As you build up the main section of the head, you will also add the flames coming out of the Charizard’s mouth. The flames are one of several brick chains on the head that you will build in the process of creating the head.

Things I liked:

• The use of multiple shades of blue

Things I didn’t like:

• I’m not sure I needed another Charizard build I would rather have had a different Pokemon

This post is a review of the nanoblock Cyndaquil build. Cyndaquil is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click Here for a list.

Names:

• English: Cyndaquil
• Japanese: Hinoarashi

Number: NBPM_029

Number of Pieces: 150

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Cyndaquil is the fire-type starter from generation 2. It is a starter along with Totodile and Chikorita. It is also one of the starters in the new Pokemon Legends: Arceus game. Cyndaquil is generally shown as a very shy Pokemon.

The build begins with a base of bricks. In the second layer, you start to add the dark on the back. You continue to build layers of bricks, and eventually, you begin the flame on the back. The next step is to start building the head. You build the head up from a base in layers circling and creating rings for the head.

Once you have the started head, attach it to the body you built earlier. Next, you close up the head and make the flame on the back. Once you have completed closing up the head, you add more details to the flame. The final step is to add the details of the feet and the clear bricks that keep the build from tipping.

Overall I think this is a super cute build. Cyndaquil has always been one of my favorites, so I was worried about how the figure would turn out. I like the amount of detail in the flame between the orange and clear red bricks. I wish they had used a lighter color for the light part of his body. It seems really dark compared to the photo.

Things I liked:

• The amount of detail in the flame

Things I didn’t like:

• The light section of the body is too dark

This post is a review of the nanoblock Totodile build. Totodile is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click Here for a list.

Names:

• English: Totodile
• Japanese: Waninoko

Number: NBPM_031

Number of Pieces: 150

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Totodile is the water starter from generation 2. It is light blue with orange spikes going down his back.

Overall the build is an average build from a solid base. There are a lot of areas with different colors, such as dark red for the eyes and dark grey to make his nostrils. The most challenging part I had was getting the fangs to correctly line up because it is just a 1×1 brick hanging off a 2×3 brick.

Totodile is very recognizable as the little water dragon he is. He does have an excellent line of red going down his back which helps to make it clear which Pokemon you are looking at. I notice his eyes seem to be huge compared to the rest of the Pokemon.

Things I liked:

• How the spikes ended up looking

Things I didn’t like:

• Eyes seem super large compared to the rest of the nanoblock pokemon

Link to order: Amazon