LEGO® Super Mario review: 71383 Wiggler's Poison Swamp

Nicolas Geeraert, a UK-based builder and former contestant in LEGO® Masters, is our special guest reviewer today. He's taking a look at the parts in the 2021 LEGO Super Mario set 71383 Wiggler’s Poison Swamp. Buying this £34.99 / US$39.99 / 39.99€ set? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

Alongside the Character Pack Series 2, a series of LEGO® Super Mario sets was released at the start of 2021 including 71383 Wiggler’s Poison Swamp. This is my first experience with the Super Mario sets, and so the lack of a Mario figure prevented me from reviewing the gameplay, but that should not spoil the fun. The set brings some great new parts and recolours, with a new SNOT element as the highlight.

LEGO® Super Mario review: 71380 Master Your Adventure Maker Set

Tim Goddard (@tim_goddard928) continues our LEGO® Super Mario coverage today with 71380 Master Your Adventure Maker Set as he lists its new parts, prints and exclusive 2021 Super Mario barcode stickers. Buying this 366-piece set? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

‘Master your Adventure Maker Set’ - what an impressive name! In order to use any of the Super Mario sets to their full potential you need the 71360 Adventures with Mario starter set, but this is sort of an additional starter set to space out other expansions you might have purchased and to give a bit of room for your character packs to be displayed or line up an attack against any passing plumbers.

That is not all: it comes with some new play features, a special ‘customisation machine’, a 30 second pipe and some new characters.  We will look at them a bit later but first on to the parts.

LEGO® Super Mario Power-Up Pack reviews: 71384 Penguin Mario & 71385 Tanooki Mario

Tim Goddard (@tim_goddard928) returns with more LEGO® Super Mario reviews today by looking at the two Power-Up Packs for the Mario figure – which unfortunately he does not own! The products in this and our other 2021 LEGO Super Mario articles were provided free by LEGO (the author's opinions are not biased by this) and we weren't aware at time of acceptance that the range does not include the figure. Buying Mario sets? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | UK Amazon | USA LEGO Shop | USA Amazon | Australia LEGO Shop, for other countries 'Change Region'. New Elementary may get a commission. 

In this, the second wave of Super Mario sets, we get two new Power-Ups to upgrade our hero: 71384 Penguin Mario & 71385 Tanooki Mario, priced £8.99/ US$9.99/ 9.74€. There are new moulds and some recoloured hats and overalls to provide him with his new outfits. Mario’s body is not supplied with these two sets, which the packaging makes very clear, and is indeed at pains to point out that the starter course set 71360 Adventures with Mario with its barcodes is needed. I do not have that set and therefore no Mario to dress up, but no matter, I have a plan!

LEGO® Super Mario review: 71386 Character Packs – Series 2

We will be examining some 2021 LEGO® Super Mario sets over the coming weeks, starting today as Tim Goddard (@tim_goddard928) analyses the 10 blind bags of 71386 Character Packs Series 2, which are priced £3.49/ US$4.99/ 3.99€. Buying these when they are released on 1 January 2021? Consider using our affiliate links: USA LEGO Shop at Home|UK LEGO Shop at Home. New Elementary may get a commission. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.

I did not pick up any of the little Super Mario impulse polybags from Series 1 so I was not sure what to expect prior to reviewing the Character Packs from Series 2. Now that I have, it seems that I’ve been missing out!

I have been a casual Super Mario player in my time. I played a couple of games on the GameCube (showing my age there) and enjoyed some handheld adventures along with a bit of Mario Kart but I am not by any means a hardcore plumber nut. Even so, every bag I opened was a joy. A combination of nostalgia, great design and a flurry of interesting parts poured out of each one.

LEGO® set review: 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System

Yesterday in part one, Ben Davies looked at the new pieces in 71374 LEGO® Nintendo Entertainment System and today in part 2, he reveals the interesting techniques he found in its build. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this. If you're buying this set, consider using our LEGO Shop at Home affiliate links: USA or UK. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases.

The box for the LEGO® Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is appropriately massive, measuring 58 x 47.7 x 12.1 cm (22.8 x 18.8 x  4.8 in). Like other large sets, the first several bags of parts, as well as the bagged instructions and stickers, come in a white cardboard sub-box.

LEGO® parts review: 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System

Following his extensive analysis of the LEGO® Super Mario sets, today Ben Davies returns to give the same thorough treatment to the 2646-piece 71374 LEGO Nintendo Entertainment System. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this. If you're buying this set which is priced £209.99/ US$229.99/ 224.19€DE, consider using our LEGO Shop at Home affiliate links: USA or UK. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases.

Before diving into the building process of 71374 LEGO® Nintendo Entertainment System in our next post, let's first take a look at its parts – starting with the new moulds that have been introduced for the set.

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 including the barcodes. Buying Super Mario LEGO? Consider using our affiliate links: UK LEGO Shop | UK Amazon | USA LEGO Shop - for other countries, Change Region | USA Amazon. New Elementary may get a commission. 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 including LEGO Super Mario barcodes.) 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.