This post is a review of the nanoblock Salamence build. Salamence is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBPM_100
Number of Pieces: 210
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Salamence is a Dragon/Flying type Pokemon that was introduced in generation 3. It’s the final evolution of Bagon. I feel that the finished build is highly recognizable as the Pokemon. I think its wings look very bulky, but I’m unsure how to make things less bulky and keep the shape.
Salamence is built in several different sections that are combined bit by bit to create the Pokemon.
Salamence begins with a layer of grey bricks that need to be laid out. I lay the layer out on my nanoblock pad to begin the build. The body is built in layers. There are a few points where a layer takes multiple steps, making the instructions much more readable.
After building the body section, it’s time to build the head. Once again, it begins with a base layer. I once again used my nanoblock pad to build the head. The head is straightforward. After building the head, it is attached to the body.
The next step is to build the 4 legs. The legs are then added to the body section. Then a few bricks are added to the tail on the body.
The final step is to build the wings. I was surprised that the wings were identical. They are the correct shape, but in order to create the shape, the wings need to be 2 layers thick which causes the wings to look a little blocky. Once the wings are added, the build is complete.
Things I liked:
I like that the colors of the build match the Pokemon
I like the fact that some of the layers are in 2 steps, which makes the steps clearer
This post is a review of the nanoblock Tyranitar build. Tyranitar is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBPM_099
Number of Pieces: 210
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Tyranitar is a Rock/Dragon type Pokemon introduced in generation 2. It’s the final evolution of Larvitar. I feel that the final build is highly recognizable. My only complaint is the color of the stomach plate. I think the plate should be a grey instead of the bright blue.
The build begins with creating the base of the Tyranitar. It takes 2 steps to create the entire base. From there, the bottom spreads out to create the widest point of the base.
The body goes up in a very straightforward fashion. In general, each layer takes 2 steps in the instructions. The fact that each step takes so much space means that it is very clear which bricks to add.
The build goes from the widest point and goes up in layers. Each layer is mostly green, but sometimes additional colors are added to create the claws, stomach plate, and details.
Tyranitar is a solid collection of layers of bricks. This includes the head. The only things not built into the main build are the legs. The legs are built separately and added to the bottom of the build.
Things I liked:
I loved how clear the instructions were and how much space each step has
Things I didn’t like:
I wish the stomach plate was grey, not bright blue, to be closer to the actual Pokemon
This post is a review of the nanoblock Dialga Deluxe Edition build. Dialga is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBPM_094
Number of Pieces: 1020
Difficulty Rating: 4/5
Dialga is one of the generation 4 box legendary Pokemon. It is the master of time. Dialga and Palkia are the only Deluxe nanoblock Pokemon that don’t have also have standard builds.
When I opened the box, I was sad to see that the instructions were printed on a huge piece of paper instead of a booklet. Some of the deluxe kits I’ve built have had booklets and I prefer those. There were 13 bags of bricks so I knew I needed to build the Dialga on my table instead of my tray table.
Dialga is built primarily made from navy bricks. While building, the navy bricks appear to be black when I’m digging around in the bags to find the bricks. There are handful of black brciks in the head. After I realized there was black I checked each bag with a flashlight to find the black and noted which bricks were black.
The first section is the main body. The body is very straightforward and I could easily build the body on my nanoblock pad. I was surprised by how many ball joints were in the body while I was building it. I waited until the end to connect the large section together so that I was trying to balance a build and could attach them in a way that made sense.
The second section is the gem on Dialga’s chest. It is a bit tricky to keep track of which slanty pieces are needed for each step. All of the grey slanty pieces are in the bag so it’s a bit tricky to find the right piece. Once again I built this section on my nanoblock pad.
The next section is the fin on Dialga’s back. Each large section of the fin is a tower of nanoblocks. The hardest part of the tower is making sure the layers are properly overlaid so gaps are minimal. However, what makes the fin truly tricky is the center core where all the towers attach. Getting the fins properly spaced out and not overlapping or pushing on each other depends on having everything centered perfectly which is tricky.
The next step is the base of the 4 feet. Each foot is identical and goes up in layers. Each foot is a solid tower of bricks. I was able to lay all 4 feet out on my large nanoblock pad which made it easier to make sure I didn’t miss any steps on any foot because I was looking at all 4 feet at once.
The next step is to build all 4 of Dialga’s legs. Each leg is a combination of adding the leg connection to the foot and the actual leg itself. all of the brick work is fairly straightforward. The biggest problem I had was getting the leg and foot to nicely attach due to how the ball joint was lined up. I wanted the moveable areas on the socket to be at angles but the actual socket only allows for 90 degree movements.
The next 2 sections are the tail and the neck. Both are fairly straightforward with the only real difference being the tail is 3 sections connected with ball joints.
The head is very straightforward to build. The instructions also make it very clear the couple of steps that used black bricks instead of the navy. I really like that the initial head build has studs sticking out the front which allows for building on and creating Dialga’s curved face instead of it being a block.
The final step is to build the head decorations on both sides of Dialga’s head. They are identical other than 1 brick which has a side stud that is used to connect the piece to the head. Both pieces are connected by inserting a round 1×1 into a socket. This is my favorite way of connecting bricks, but I think it works in this case.
After building all the sections I needed to connect them. I would recommend getting a second pair of hands for this part so that each ball joint can be added but pressure can be kept off the already connected ball joints. First I connected the head to the neck and added the head decorations. Next, I connected the tail to the body. Then I attached the fin. Next, I attached the feet. Finally, I attached the head unit to the body.
Things I liked:
The batch builds. Building multiple identical items at once instead of having split-up identical directions.
Things I didn’t like:
I wish the instructions had been in a booklet instead of a huge piece of paper.
I wish the handful of black had been marked in some way. There are so many bricks that the few black ones were difficult to find.
This post is a review of the nanoblock Brilliant Shining ver Pokemon builds. These builds are numbers NBPM_082 to NBPM_088. Each of these builds is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon collection? Click here for a list.
With the release of the Brillant Diamond and Shining Pearl video games, nanoblock released Pokemon from generation 4 as Brilliant Shining versions. These builds are identical to the original builds but are built using clear glitter bricks. The Pokemon in this rerelease are Lucario, Leafeon, Glaceon, Garchomp, Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup.
I’m reviewing the Brilliant Shining ver as a group because these builds are the same as the original builds, except each build is built with glitter bricks. Each build will have photos of the glitter builds and a link to the review of the original builds.
Overall I really liked building these. The clear glitter bricks fit together very nicely and tightly. In general, I find clear bricks hard to use because they seem to be tighter fitting, so I had been avoiding building the Brilliant Shining ver builds. I didn’t have this problem with the glitter version of the clear bricks, which was a pleasant surprise.
I really liked the cream bricks that were created for this build to make the main section of the body. It was also easy to tell the difference between the white and cream bricks. It was harder to tell which bricks were white in some of the later builds.
While building this build, I noticed some errors I had made in the original Lucario build, so I was able to fix my original build. I’m not sure what the difference is, but the glitter Lucario can stand on its own, while the original build isn’t able to even after making the corrections. The Brilliant Shining ver stands, but it is still a little tippy, so you want to ensure that the surface you put the finished build on is flat.
I found the Leafeon build super easy to put together. The only real difficulty I had building Leafeon was that the clear glitter white bricks got lost in all the clear glitter beige bricks.
I like the finished build, but many details are lost because of the clear bricks. I feel that the white in the eyes gets lost. It is also hard to see all the details in the ears because of how the light flows through the bricks.
Glaceon is very similar to Leafeon for a building process, so it was also easy to put together. However, it was really hard to tell the clear glitter blue and the clear glitter light blue apart, so I kept needing to recheck the color and take bits apart because I had picked the wrong color.
Overall I like the original build significantly more. This is because I can’t see the details in the build because the blues are similar.
Garchomp is generally a tricky build. This is because so many sections are built unattached to the body and attached once the section is completed. The arms are also easy to pop off as the layers that create the head.
Overall I feel that most of the details of Garchomp are lost with the clear glitter blocks. This is because the body is so dark it seems that all the yellow bricks are much darker, so the color isn’t clear. It is even hard to tell the clear black glitter from the clear dark blue glitter bricks in the actual build.
There was no real noticeable difference between building the original Turtwig and the Brilliant Shining ver.
I personally don’t really like the color of the Light Clear Green Glitter bricks. These bricks make up the main body of Turtwig. The color of the bricks is very close to the color from Leafeon, which is supposed to be more yellow.
There was no real noticeable difference between building the original Chimchar and the Brilliant Shining ver. The hands are still very fragile.
I don’t really like how the final Chimchar looks. The only way I can describe the final build is fuzzy. There are few places where the clear bricks are backed by a dark color, making the edges and color changes unclear. This makes the entire build seem fuzzy and unclear, which is an effect I don’t care for.
Like Chimchar, I can only really describe the finished Piplup build as fuzzy. This is because of the see-through nature of the bricks. I also think it’s a shame that Piplup’s eyes get lost in the dark blue that makes up most of the head.
This post is a review of the nanoblock Metagross build. Metagross is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBPM_098
Number of Pieces: 230
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Metagross was introduced in generation 3. It is the final evolution of Beldum, and the evolutions are all triggered by leveling up.
This build is made up of the main body section and Metagross’s 4 legs that are attached to the main body.
To build the main body section, I began by laying the base layer out on my nanoblock pad. The body went up in straightforward layers. I really like the depth of the grey X that makes up the front of the face. I also really like how the eyes peak out of build depending on the angle you look at the build.
The next step is to add the 4 legs. They are similar, with there being differences between the front and back legs. While building, I noticed it was easier to build the top and bottom half of the legs and connect the sections. After building the entire leg, I would attach the legs. I found this made the legs more sturdy.
Things I liked:
I really like the detail in the face and how it changes depending on how you look at the build
Things I didn’t like:
The legs aren’t pinned in via the top, so the legs can easily fall off while building or moving Metagross
This post is a review of the nanoblock Milotic build. Milotic is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBPM_097
Number of Pieces: 200
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Milotic is a pokemon introduced in generation 3. It is the evolution of Feebas, which doesn’t have a nanoblock build at this point. While Milotic appears to be a dragon, it is only a water type.
When I originally looked at the build, the snake shape reminded me of the Rayquaza build, so I was worried the build would very fragile. While I was building, however, I noticed that the overlapping layers were deeper, so I knew the build would be much more solid.
Then building the first 8 or so steps is creating the base of the pokemon. Each step either adds bricks to the base or locks the base layer in place. This was a build where I was glad to have my nanoblock pad because it made keeping each base layer lined up a piece of cake.
After building the base, the top of the body is rounded out. I liked the use of various colors in the back section to create the patterning on its tail.
The next step is to build Milotic’s neck. While building the neck, the long head decoration that comes off the right side of the head is also built in pink. These steps are fairly straightforward.
The next step is to build and attach the head. I had some issues when adding the bricks to top off the head, with the main section of the head falling off. I think this is because the head is so front-heavy.
The final steps are to add the details that make Milotic recognizable. The first is to add the long head decoration on the left side of Milotic’s head. The antenna on both sides of the head is also added. The final addition is the tail. Each detail is very simple to build but has a lot of impact on the final build.
Things I liked:
I like that the build is solid and that I can easily move the build as needed instead of feeling that it needs to sit in 1 place for forever.
Things I didn’t like:
In my head, Milotic is a really smooth pokemon. This build is a bit blocky and not as smooth as it could be if they kept it more snakelike
This post is a review of the nanoblock Gardevoir build. Gardevoir is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBPM_096
Number of Pieces: 130
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Gardevoir is the original final evolution of Ralts. It was initially only a psychic type but became a psychic / fairy type when the fairy type was introduced.
Unlike most pokemon builds, I feel that Gardevoir isn’t really recognizable. This is for 2 major reasons.
First, the head is misshapen and doesn’t appear like the head in video games. The head in video games is much smoother and rounder than the head. Also, Gardevoir has redder eyes, so it might be slightly better if red bricks had been used for the eyes.
Secondly, I also feel that the body isn’t correct. The nanoblock Gardevoir appears to wear a skirt with visible legs. The build simply has the skirt without the legs.
The first few steps of the build create the base of Gardevoir’s skirt. Laying out the entire skirt took about half of my larger nanoblock pad.
After creating the base, the body goes up in layers of white. Then the arms are added along with the detail coming out of Gardevoir’s chest.
The head begins with creating a base layer over a few steps. The head goes up in straightforward layers adding details to the face. I feel that the head isn’t shaped in a recognizable way.
The final step is to attach the head to the body, and the build is done.
Things I liked:
I really like the detail in the skirt and how it creates Gardevoir’s hips.
Things I didn’t like:
I feel that this build isn’t very recognizable as the Pokemon Gardevoir. The head isn’t really appropriately shaped, which I find disappointing since, normally, Pokemon builds are very recognizable.
This post is a review of the nanoblock Rowlett build. Rowlett is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click Here for a list.
Names:
English: Rowlett
Japanese: Mokuroh
Number: NBPM_051
Number of Pieces: 170
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Rowlett is the grass starter from generation 7. Initially released under NBPM_27, it was only available at Japanese Pokemon Centers.
Overall this is a straightforward build. It is building the outer shell of a sphere from the base. The first step is to create the base by putting two smaller builds together. From there, you add the Pokemon’s sweet little bow tie. Next, you build the Pokemon by adding rings of bricks for several layers.
As you reach the top of the Pokemon, you begin to close up the head. At this point, you need to be careful to make sure that bricks are extra carefully lined up. As you close up the head bricks, you can push bricks into the cavity and create indents so that you can’t build the next layer.
Once you have closed up the sphere, it’s time for the final details. Attach the tail and the feet, and viola, the build is done.
Overall, I really liked this build. I liked the color that was selected for the green details. I had some difficulty getting the head to close up because I wasn’t super tight on my connections.
This post is a review of the nanoblock Popplio build. Popplio is part of the nanoblock Pokemon collection. Wondering what else is part of the Pokemon Collection? Click Here for a list.
Names:
English: Popplio
Japanese: Ashimari
Number: NBPM_050
Number of Pieces: 110
Difficulty Rating: 3/5
Popplio is the water starter Pokemon from generation 7. Initially released under NBPM_26, it was only available at Japanese Pokemon Centers.
The build begins at the tail and builds up along the body. The directions are straightforward for building the body. Until you add the feet, the build can easily tip over. Adding the feet happens in steps 4 and 5 with great directions. Next, you add the light blue collar and build the head directly on the build. The head can be a bit tricky to perfectly line up because a couple of chains of bricks go into making the head.
Overall I enjoyed the Popplio build. I feel that the colors are close and nicely match the original pokemon. Every build has a couple tricks, but overall I thought of this as a pretty easy build.
Things I liked:
The colors they picked for the pokemon
Things I didn’t like:
It kept tipping when I was building before adding the legs
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
