Long before Pokémon existed, Chinese folklore told the story of a carp that swam upstream, leaped a waterfall called the Dragon Gate, and turned into a dragon as a reward for its stubbornness. That legend inspired Magikarp and Gyarados, which explains how the most useless fish in Kanto grows up into a furious sea serpent. Honestly, the fish earned that glow-up. A LEGO builder named CDBuilder has staged the same leap in plastic. This time, the waterfall is the edge of a trading card, and Gyarados is clearing it with his mouth wide open.
The build is called Gyarados: Sunset Splash, one of five finalists picked from 756 entries in the LEGO Ideas Pokémon Trading Card Game Challenge. Fans had to build an original full-art card inside a 37 by 26 stud frame, and the winning design will become an official LEGO set. CDBuilder’s entry uses 1,262 pieces and took three weeks to build. The head alone ate up a whole week. Gyarados starts out flat inside the card and becomes more three-dimensional as he climbs, until his fully sculpted head is roaring right at you.
Designer: CDBuilder
At the bottom of the card, Gyarados is pressed into the waves like part of the illustration. As his neck climbs, the bricks step forward, and his cream belly segments swell into rounded, sculpted bands. By the time you reach the head, he’s hanging off the front of the card. The change in depth suggests motion without a single hinge or crank. It also echoes the Dragon Gate story, with the flat section suggesting the carp still in the water and the sculpted head the dragon that broke free.
CDBuilder spent that full week on the head because they wanted it as accurate and detailed as possible, and you can see where the hours went. The jaw hangs wide open, revealing a bright pink mouth ringed with white fangs. The eyes carry the same furious glare Gyarados has been wearing since 1996. A white crest and fins fan out behind the head, while thin blue whiskers curl off the sides of the snout. LEGO’s own Pikachu took a beating online for its slightly off face back in January, so it’s fun to see a fan capture an expression this angry.
Behind Gyarados, a sunset glows in lavender, pink, and coral, with puffy brick-built clouds and a couple of birds drifting past. The sea below is made of curved pieces in teal, blue, and dark green, laid in overlapping rows like brushstrokes. CDBuilder says they wanted the water to look realistic and painted at the same time, and it took plenty of experimenting with parts and techniques to get there. That painterly feel suits a full-art card, where the illustration fills the entire face. Squint a little and the waves start looking like a Japanese woodblock print.
My favorite detail, though, is the water spilling over the bottom edge of the frame. It does three jobs at once. It serves as a stand, keeping the card stable on a shelf. It breaks the card’s border, exactly the kind of rule-bending the challenge brief invited. And it adds to the splash of Gyarados bursting out of the sea, as if the card couldn’t hold all that water in.
CDBuilder also filled in the card text, listing Gyarados as a Stage 1 Water Pokémon with 180 HP, a Lightning weakness of ×2, and a hefty retreat cost of four. Anyone who has played the TCG will appreciate that a giant sea serpent is about as easy to bench as a parked truck. For comparison, MEGA’s Motion Gyarados uses 2,186 pieces and a hand crank to move its jaw, tail, and neck. CDBuilder gets plenty of drama from 1,262 pieces and zero moving parts, relying on composition alone. It would also sit comfortably beside LEGO’s first official Pokémon sets, which launched in February with Eevee, Pikachu, and the Kanto starter trio.
Gyarados shares the final five with The Mythical Arceus by livetobuild, A Mew Soaring High by IsleOh, Rowlet Razor Leaf by DMWM, and Joltik Charges Up! by Chrixeleon. The fan vote closed on June 11, and LEGO says votes help guide its decision without being the only factor. The winner will be announced on February 4, 2027, and its builder will be credited as a LEGO Ideas Fan Designer on the finished set. Until then, you can check out Gyarados: Sunset Splash on LEGO Ideas and judge the fangs for yourself. Magikarp had to wait until level 20 to evolve, so a few more months shouldn’t bother this guy at all.