Starter

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

Names:

• English: Monotone Charmander
• Japanese: Hitokage Monotone

Number: NBPM_0175

Number of Pieces: 130

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Monotone Charmander is a version of the Pokemon that uses greyscale instead of various colors to create the build. Since the build is identical to that of the original, I’m going to direct you there for a review of the building process. I’m only going to review the final build of the Monotone Charmander build here. For more information about the Monotone line please check out this post.

Overall the build is primarily grey. The creature has a white stomach. I still really like the detail in the tail, which uses white and dark grey to create the variation in the flames. Overall, the Pokemon is still super recognizable and looks like it could have come from the original Gameboy games. I really liked the monotone line and wish nanoblock would make more.

A surprise is that the 4 monotone starters (this build along there are builds for Pikachu, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur) all come with a few extra bricks to make a Monotone Mew. This build comes with:

• 2 1X1 light grey
• 2 1×2 dark grey
• 6 1×2 clear

Things I liked:

• I like how the grayscale turns out

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

Number: NBPM_014 

Number of Pieces: 150

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Monotone Pikachu is a version of the Pokemon that uses greyscale instead of various colors to create the figure. Since the build is identical to that of the original colored build, I’m going to direct you there for a review of the building process. I’m only going to review the final build of the Monotone Pikachu build here. For more information about the monotone collection please click here.

Overall the build is primarily light grey. The back stripes are normal grey, and its cheeks are dark grey. I like he still has all of his details even though everything is grayscale. Overall, Pikachu is still super recognizable and looks like it could have come from the original Gameboy games. I really liked the monotone line and wish nanoblock would make more.

A surprise is that the 4 monotone starters (this build along there are builds for Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur) all come with a few extra bricks to make a Monotone Mew. This build comes with:

• 16 1X3 light grey
• 6 2×6 light grey
• 2 2×3 clear

Things I liked:

• I like how the grayscale turns out

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

Number: NBPM_019

Number of Pieces: 220

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Blastoise is the 3rd evolution of Squirtle from generation 1. His most recognizable attribute is the cannons on his back.

Overall I found the build challenging because this was one of the first builds that was built using a ton of smaller builds. From the beginning, you are connecting smaller builds together, so it takes a while to see how you are making. In particular, I found Blastoise’s arms to be finicky because there was one stud holding up the L-shaped blocks.

Overall I really like the final build. It is solid and clean and highly recognizable as Blastoise. I feel like it has enough details, like the cannons and the white fingertips, to clarify which Pokemon you are dealing with.

Things I liked:

• How the cannons look on his back

Things I didn’t like:

• Getting his hands to hold and building around the hands once you added them

Link to order: Amazon

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

Number: NBPM_004

Number of Pieces: 120

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Squirtle is the water type starter from generation 1. It eventually evolves into Blastoise. In the anime, there is a gang of Squirtles that is terrorizing the town and wearing sunglasses. The gang is are known as the Squirtle squad and they end up being firefighters that help the town.

The build is very straightforward, like with most early Pokemon builds. It starts with a base and builds up to create the Squirtle. The directions are very straightforward building around the edge. Unlike some builds that get split into parts this build is just one solid build which makes the build very simple.

I find the build to be very recognizable. I’ve looked into trying to build sunglasses for the turtle but because his eyes are so big I haven’t been able to come up with a plan.

Things I liked:

• Cute and straightforward
• I think it could be easy to make a shiny becuse of how the shell it built

Link to order: Amazon

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

Number: NBPM_061

Number of Pieces: 210

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Sobble is the water type starter from generation 8. Generally, this Pokemon looks sad in merchandise, so I was glad that the nanoblock version has a natural face.

Sobble is made up of 4 main pieces, the body, the tail, the head, and the fin on the top of his head. All of the individual pieces are relatively straightforward. The body and tail are rectangles that are built up. The head is a standard sphere shape. Things get a bit for detailed when you get to the fin. For the fin, as you can see in the photo before the fin has a lot of chaining with bricks that are single brick in depth.

Things I liked:

• That it doesn’t look like Sobble is going to cry

Link to order: Amazon

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

Names:

• English: Bulbasaur
• Japanese: Fushigidane

Number: NBPM_003

Number of Pieces: 120

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Bulbasaur is a pokemon I feel that people are super polarized about. I know it is probably the least popular of the generation 1 starters, but I have always thought it was cute.

This was one of my early builds, so I was still learning how to follow the directions. I really learned how to use the arrows from the first step to make sure things are lined up, which was less critical with the rounder pokemon.

Overall, I felt Bulbasaur was a bit of a letdown compared to the other pokemon I had done. It doesn’t really have the detail, and I think the colors don’t flow together like they do on the actual pokemon.

Things I liked:

• I liked how they gave the spot detail by having the dark green on the body

Things I didn’t like:

• I feel like the greens from the main body and the bulb clash

Link to order: Amazon

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

Number: NBPM_001

Number of Pieces: 130

Difficulty Rating: 2/5

Who else could be the first nanoblock Pokemon other than the famous Pikachu? Everybody knows him on sight and is generally part of any pilot for any kind of merchandise. I picked up my kit at a local toy shop and was super excited to build him. I could tell from the picture that it was closer to the classic fat Pikachu from the original Pokemon compared to the current more trimmed form.

Overall the build was pretty straightforward because there were apparent color cuts between the yellow body, the brown of his stripes, and the bright red for his cheeks. The two most challenging things were his ears and tail, but even those weren’t too bad. These had breakout very detailed directions.

Pikachu seems to defy physics a little, as he constantly slopes forward between the bottom layer to the top of his head.

Things I liked:

• It’s like a fat pikachu

Things I didn’t like:

• I think his nose looks a little odd but I’m not sure what color would have been better knowing what colors exist.

Link to order: Amazon

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

Number: NBPM_008

Number of Pieces: 200

Difficulty Rating: 3/5

Charizard is the most popular final evolution of the generation 1 starter Charmander. Even when the other gen. 1 Pokemon haven’t been available in the game, this Pokemon is still there. When mega evolution was introduced in generation 6, Charizard was one of 2 pokemon to get a Pokemon X and a Pokemon Y form.

Charizard is broken down into 5 builds, the body, 2 wings, the head, and tail flame. The body is straightforward and made up of orange and tan bricks. Then there are 2 wings; they are the same but mirrored. I had the most challenging time getting the wings right for some reason. I think my husband ended up fixing the wings. The head was another straightforward, and there are excellent directions for where to attach the head. I love the way that nanoblock uses transparent blocks for the flame tails on the Charmander family.

I would describe the Charizard build as frustrating. I found the wings impossible to put together and he ended up needing a base because it was tippy.

Things I liked:

• The transparent bricks that make up the flame on the tail

Things I didn’t like:

• Tippy and needed to have a base for it

Link to order: Amazon

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

Number: NBPM_002

Number of Pieces: 120

Difficulty Rating: 2/3

Charmander is by far the most popular of the generation 1 pokemon. I believe that this is because he evolves into the super-powerful Charizard. I personally think he is cute.

Overall, this build has a fairly usual build for the pokemon sets where you start with a base and build your way up through the rest of the build. He is a bit unusual because of the jut out for his tail. The most unique thing about Charmander is that they use transparent blocks for the flame on this tail.

Things I liked:

• The transparent blocks in the tail

Link to order: Amazon