A life-sized Miraidon bike was noticed within the wild on the 2025 Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, California. That is the Toyota Miraidon Mission, a collaboration between the Toyota Engineering Society and The Pokémon Firm that brings a digital dragon to life.
Miraidon isn’t your common Pokémon, as this electric-dragon hybrid, launched in 2022’s Pokémon Violet, is the participant’s foremost mode of transportation, reworking from a quadruped to a two-wheeled bike. Its futuristic look, with LED eyes and a jet engine tail, is high-tech mobility to say the least. Toyota’s engineers noticed Miraidon as the proper inspiration for a real-world automobile. This prototype matches the in-game design to a T, right down to the purple and blue coloration scheme and glowing eyes.
Constructing this factor was no straightforward activity. Why? The Toyota Engineering Society, a gaggle of round 300 engineers, had solely six months to prepare for the 2023 Wakuwaku World occasion in Toyota Metropolis. They needed to translate Miraidon’s slender animated type into an actual construction that would maintain a rider. The legs in Low-Energy Mode needed to home motors and wiring whereas trying delicate. As for the tail, it transforms right into a rear wheel in Drive Mode, balancing power with the Pokémon’s smooth form.
The physique has a multi-colored paint job that shifts underneath completely different lighting, similar to Miraidon’s in-game sheen. The LED lights carry the eyes to life, making the bike nearly appear sentient. Even the controls are a nod to the supply materials – a Nintendo Change controller operates the bike, so children can “drive” throughout exhibitions. Security was key, with a 143-pound weight restrict and a design that prioritizes stability over velocity, so children can hop on with out danger.
In the present day it reworked from quadruped to bike, tomorrow it’s going to remodel again. Guests couldn’t experience it full throttle (it’s extra of a show mannequin than a highway bike) however simply seeing it was sufficient to be in awe. Youngsters and adults alike have been amazed by its practically 4-meter lengthy, 2-meter excessive body, a close to good reproduction of the Miraidon recreation sprite delivered to life.
Toyota gained’t be promoting the Miraidon bike and it’s not meant to be a efficiency automobile. However that’s precisely what makes it so cool. It’s what occurs when engineers get to be children once more and switch a pupil from Aichi Prefecture’s design into an actual life fantasy and craftsmanship. The collaboration additionally implies greater issues: Honda’s current Koraidon prototype, Miraidon’s Pokémon Scarlet counterpart, means automakers are moving into the Pokémon enterprise.
