LEGO® Super Mario interview: Jonathan Bennink & Christian Munk

Back in May, Tim Johnson and Francesco Spreafico from New Elementary interviewed 2 LEGO® employees about the new Super Mario theme: Jonathan Bennink (Design Manager - Creative Play Lab) and Christian Munk (Marketing Director Lead - Reality & Games) including some questions from our patrons. Their answers give great insight and understanding as to why these sets were designed the way they have been! 

©2020 The LEGO Group

First, could you tell us a bit about yourselves?

Jonathan:
I'm Jonathan Bennink, I've worked at LEGO for 6 years now. I started at LEGO Dimensions but 4 years ago, I got the Creative Lead on the Nintendo collaboration. And that was just, yeah, gig of a lifetime! This is a dream I didn't even know I had – to work for LEGO, and then also for Nintendo? Super cool.

Christian:
My name is Christian Munk and I'm in marketing on LEGO Super Mario, so a part of the Product and Marketing Development team on it. I've been with LEGO for a little more than 11 years now, in various sales and marketing roles; now mainly working on gaming IPs and product lines that have technology in them, so for instance LEGO Boost and Minecraft and so on. I'm so lucky to have been working on LEGO Super Mario for the last couple of years.

LEGO® Super Mario 2020: The Prints and... Stickers?

Today, Ben Davies continues his thorough examination of the new pieces in the LEGO® Super Mario sets released this month. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

Following our coverage of the LEGO® Super Mario’s new moulds and recolours, today we’re turning our attention to the many new printed and stickered pieces that have been introduced for the theme.

LEGO® Super Mario 2020: Recolours Galore

With the imminent release of the new theme LEGO® Super Mario on 1 August, Ben Davies thought this was the perfect time to tell you about all the LEGO parts that come in new colors across the range. Namely; 40414 Monty Mole & Super Mushroom, 71360 Adventures with Mario, 71362 Guarded Fortress, 71363 Desert Pokey, 71364 Whomp’s Lava Trouble, 71365 Piranha Plant Power Slide, 71366 Boomer Bill Barrage, 71367 Mario’s House & Yoshi, 71368 Toad’s Treasure Hunt, 71369 Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle, 71370 Fire Mario Power-Up Pack, 71371 Propeller Mario Power-Up Pack, 71372 Cat Mario Power-Up Pack, 71373 Builder Mario Power-Up Pack, 71376 Thwomp Drop and 71377 King Boo and the Haunted Yard. These products were provided to us for free by LEGO; the author's opinions were not biased by this. 

When we spoke to LEGO® Super Mario lead designer Jonathan Bennink in May, he teased that nearly 200 new elements had been introduced for the brand new theme. In the second part of our comprehensive examination of the LEGO Super Mario range, we’ll be taking a closer look at the new and rare colours of parts introduced in the upcoming sets.

LEGO® 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System: The Reveal

Following a teaser posted to social media yesterday, The LEGO Group has now unveiled the latest product resulting from their partnership with Nintendo. Ben Davies (Professor Brickkeeper) reports.

71374 Nintendo Entertainment System will be launching on 1 August 2020 alongside the LEGO® Super Mario product range. While the kit will initially be exclusive to LEGO Brand Retail Stores and LEGO.com, it will be available at third party retailers starting in 2021. It will cost US$229.99/ £209.99.

We will be reviewing the set shortly but based on the initial reveal there will be no shortage of things to examine, so why not start now?

LEGO® Super Mario 2020: The Many Moulds of Mario

Today, Ben Davies provides our first look at LEGO® Super Mario: the incredible array of new pieces that have been developed for, or appear for the first time in, this exciting new theme. (Or jump ahead to Ben's later articles covering the existing pieces that come in new colours, and the printed and stickered parts.) Products were kindly supplied by LEGO; all content represents the opinion of the author. 

One of the most curious new LEGO® themes in recent memory is undoubtedly LEGO Super Mario, which combines Nintendo’s famous plumber with the LEGO Group’s plastic bricks. Ahead of the August launch of the theme, we here at New Elementary had an opportunity to get hands-on experience with some of the upcoming sets, and examine many of the exciting new moulds introduced by the theme.

Mario

The most prominent new moulds are those used for the theme’s eponymous hero. He’s received a bit of a make-over for his LEGO debut, appearing considerably more blocky than usual.

Mario consists of three all-new primary pieces (body, hat, and overalls) plus 1x1 round tiles for ears and buttons.