The cable running down the back of Mewtwo's neck has been lifted straight onto the heel of a Spezial silhouette by adidas' design team — reworked into a pull-tab loop that carries the narrative weight of the entire shoe. This isn't a collab that slaps character graphics on for the sake of it; it's a systematic project that dismantles Pokémon anatomy and redistributes it into last shapes and hardware structure. That level of detail is exactly what powers this twelve-shoe collection celebrating Pokémon's 30th anniversary.
Pikachu takes three of the twelve. The most direct hit is the Pro Model and one of the Superstar pairs: a plush-textured yellow upper mimics Pikachu's fur, paired with black detailing and Poké Ball-shaped lace jewels. Another Superstar flips the approach entirely — an all-over Pikachu print covers a white upper, trading the plush intensity for the looser tone of flat illustration. The Charizard evolution line follows the same logic downward: the Superstar "Charmander" builds softness for the baby form through cream and orange layering, "Charmeleon" switches to a crimson upper with claw-shaped Three Stripes branding, and "Charizard" itself piles a wing-shaped flap directly over the eyelets — a design vocabulary that recalls the exaggerated moves Jeremy Scott has long favored in his adidas work.
Darker tones take over from here. The Adistar XLG 2.0 "Gengar" drenches the upper in deep purple with the character illustration printed on the tongue; the Adistar Control 5 "Haunter" carries forward that ghostly unease with sharp layering and moody colorways echoing the character's design. Both are built on adidas' own performance silhouettes, letting structural texture carry the theme rather than relying on colorway swaps alone.
Three Silhouettes, One Mewtwo
Beyond Pikachu, Mewtwo gets the most real estate in this collection, spanning three pairs. The Samba OG "Mewtwo" turns the triangular eyelet design into a detail that echoes the character's finger shape; the ZX 8000 "Mewtwo" pairs lavender purple with violet tones and Poké Ball-shaped lace jewels; the Spezial "Mewtwo" leans on the aforementioned heel pull-tab to visualize the bioengineered nature of this genetically-modified creature. Each of the three shoes approaches the same character from a different angle, making it the most design-dense stretch of the entire collection.
Closing out the lineup is Rayquaza with two pairs: the F50 Tunit Mega "Rayquaza" retains the Megaride sole structure and the constructive logic of a football boot, while the Adistar Control 5 "Rayquaza" leans into the performance-driven adistar line. Both use a green-and-black colorway to echo the legendary dragon's scale texture. Running through the entire collection are recurring elements — Poké Ball-shaped lace jewels, character illustrations on the tongue, and custom layering — that stitch adidas' silhouette lineage together with Pokémon's character design, rather than letting the two speak past each other.
The Pokémon x adidas Originals 30th Anniversary Collection launches globally in September 2026 via adidas.com and select retail partners. Pricing has not yet been announced.
