Printing the Kanto Pokedex: A Gen 1 3D Printing Guide

Printing all of Kanto is a marathon, not a sprint. Done right it's one of the most satisfying projects in the hobby. Here's how to keep it fun.

Plan before you print

A full Gen 1 set is 151 figures. At even an hour or two each, that's a serious queue. Decide up front:

• Scale: pick one height and stick to it so the shelf looks cohesive.
• Order: print your favourites first — momentum matters.
• Finish: raw multicolor, or single-color to paint later? Mixing looks messy.

Batch smartly

Don't print one tiny figure at a time. Fill the plate with several small Pokemon per job to cut heat-up cycles and, on multicolor, share purge waste across models. Group by support needs: run all the easy, flat-footed ones together, then a plate of winged/dynamic poses with supports on.

Color strategy

Two clean paths:

1. AMS multicolor: print the pre-painted 3MF files and skip painting entirely. Fastest route to a full colored shelf. See the AMS guide.
2. Single-color + paint: print in one filament, then paint them. Slower, but display-grade.

Getting the files

Buying 151 files individually is painful and expensive. A Kanto pack gives you the whole generation in one download, and the full 493-file Gen 1–4 collection future-proofs the project if you catch the bug. Both include AMS-ready 3MF and plain STL.

How to keep the project moving

The enemy of a 151-figure project is burnout, not printer failure. Keep momentum by printing in themed batches — a plate of starters, a plate of legendaries, a plate of your personal favourites — so each session finishes something satisfying. A simple spreadsheet tracking printed / painted / shelved turns an overwhelming list into a steady series of wins.

Budgeting filament and time

At desk scale, most Kanto figures use well under a euro of PLA each, so the whole generation is cheaper in material than a few store-bought figures. Time is the real cost: batching and running overnight prints is how people actually finish. Start with a pack so you're not hunting 151 separate downloads, and print the ones you love first.

FAQ