Toyota Has Built A Real Pokémon

Yes, you read that headline right, car manufacturing giant Toyota has built a real, functional Pokémon. And no, it’s not some animatronic AI-powered Pikachu that’ll gain sentience, conquer the planet and lock us all away in giant Pokéballs - rather, it’s built a motorcycle.

If you haven’t played Pokémon since, say, 1998, that may seem strange but let us explain. In the latest entries into the mainline games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, there are two new legendary pocket monsters - Koraidon and Miraidon.

Both can be used as transport late in the game depending on which version you picked, with Koraidon walking around on all fours while Miraidon covers the ground on air sacks that look an awful lot like wheels. It’s the latter that Toyota has turned its attention to.

It’s a bit unclear as to what exactly spurred Toyota on to build a functioning motorcycle dressed up as the legendary Pokémon (presumably not just because it has Mirai in the name), although it’s not set for production and instead has served as a project for its in-house Engineering Society.

Equally unclear is how it’s powered - a jet propulsion system seen on the in-game monster has been visually recreated but presumably not physically. We’d hazard a guess at some kind of electric powertrain. There is a set of functional LEDs serving as the eyes of the Miraidon motorcycle, too.

In-game, Miraidon can also fly but it seems Toyota has decided to not take on the task of making this motorbike capable of taking to the skies too. However, the Engineering Society is no stranger to getting off the ground - back in 2015, it built a functional hoverboard.

It’s unlikely the creation will have any relevance to Toyota’s future production plans, but it’s good to see a company willing to give its engineers a fun way to express themselves from time to time.