[REVIEW] 71387 Adventures with Luigi Starter Course

[Darkdragon]

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Set information

Set Name: Adventures with Luigi Starter Course

Set Number: 71387

Number of Pieces: 280

Theme: LEGO Super Mario

Year Release: 07/2021

Prices: £54.99 / $59.99 / 59.99€ (Euro prices may vary)

@Lego US https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/adventures-with-luigi-starter-course-71387

@Brickset https://brickset.com/sets/71387-1/Adventures-with-Luigi

Box & Contents

For those who have the Mario starter set, you will recognize the unusually shaped box. I'm sure the marketing team had a great reason for this, but as any sort of collector will find out, it's quite an annoying shape to try and store. It does serve the purpose of catching they eye and showing lots of information about what's inside though.

The set consists of a quick start guid (not to be confused with an instruction booklet, more on that later) and 7 numbered build bags. The numbered bags are great if you are building with a child who might not have the best attention span. 

The Build

Let's start off by looking at the Quick Start Guide.  It is not instructions as you are use to, this is more of a short primer on how the LEGO Super Mario sets work. It shows you how to use the app and the Luigi figure. You will need the app to follow instructions, that's how it is meant to be used.  For most sets, however, you can find the PDF instructions over at LEGO Service.

Bag 1 - Luigi

The first bag is, of course, Luigi. This is a computerized character that is needed to interact with the LEGO Super Mario courses, including the areas included with this set. Let me warn you now, batteries are NOT included. You'll need 2 AAA batteries as well as a screwdriver to open up the back and install them. I highly recommend using some long lasting rechargeables. 

Once you insert batteries, the rest of the Luigi build is pretty straight forward. You can purchase other costumes or even use the ones you might already have for Mario. There are a few extra parts in this bag that will come into play later one when you want to assemble the whole course.

Bag 2 - Skeleton Goomba, Beginning and End

Interstingly they have placed both the beginning and end of a level in the same bag as well as a small enemy. There's one flag and two flagpoles, but both of my poles were slightly bent. This is very common with these LEGO tubes and not something to be concerned about if you notice the same issue. The length of the poles is short enough that adding the flag did not cause any sort of extra bending.

Bag 3 - Pink Yoshi & Play Areas

Most of the excitement of bag three is building the Yoshi. An adorable, if unstable, character. There is also a ? block and a couple of gear play areas. At this point, it's important to remember that everything can be set up however you want when laying out the game and there is not really a "correct" way. 

Bag 4 - Platforms

To me this is the most boring bag, though I do like all these shades of green and the cactus piece. There isn't a lot going on here, just building a few simple platforms for Luigi to jump around on.

Bag 5 - Spinning See-saw

Now we're talking! Some real action is coming with this build. A little bit of Technic adds a lot of fun play to this build. Luigi can launch an enemy right into the air by jumping on the opposite platform. What fun!

Bag 6 - Boom Boom

Bag 6 is the mid level boss, Boom Boom and his small castle tower. It has one of my favorite LEGO Mario elements, the turtle shell. Not a complicated build by any means, but a fun character with jointed arms.

Bag 7 - Connectors

Last and definitely least, bag seven is just 9 plates. These are used for connecting various parts of the set to other parts to form a play level for Luigi to jump around in.

Everything at once

Here's the whole set, laid out similar to how they have it in the instruction manual app. Normally if playing with a set, a child will lay it out in a straight line but that doesn't work well for me or for LEGO to get it all in one photo 

Characters

There are four cute characters with the set. Three of them are brick-build and Luigi is the computer and main character. The character design is really good, printing on the printed parts is also nice. Yoshi & Luigi have big-fig type arms that are movable and Boom Boom has Mixel type arms that are joined.  I love all the characters in the theme, the only negative here is that with those tiny feet Yoshi is quite unstable when not on some studs.

Play Features

Those who have seen this theme before will be familiar with the basic idea of the play features. The whole theme is one big play feature! Turning Luigi on and placing him into the green tube starts the level, you'll hear the Super Mario music play as time counts down. The player manually jumps Luigi around the level, hitting those barcodes at various points to collect coins and take out enemies. 

The main special play feature of this set is the see-saw which spins as well as having the lever action and both sides have bar codes for collecting coins. It is a fun little feature even if I am reticent about making a character fly off the other side!

Conclusion

This is an actual must-have set for anyone getting into this theme if they don't already have Mario. The characters in this set are also unique to it so from a collector standpoint it's a good one to get. My son is 7 years old and absolutely loves playing with the theme, he likes to build up a level and play it. Now that we have Luigi, there's the option of two players which is fun for kids as well. Personally, I wish there were more to the game part of the game, but it is definitely fun to have my favorite characters from childhood video games available in some sort of LEGO form. I recommend the set and the theme for anyone interested in Super Mario, I only wish the price wasn't so high for so few parts.

Score

Design: 8/10
The design of the characters is true to form for the IP they are based on. They are brick built which also gives builders a chance to learn some creature building techniques. The main play feature of this set is well designed and doesn't have any weak or fall apart feeling when playing with it.

Parts: 7/10
The parts aren't all that exciting, mostly because there are so few of them. The biggest thing that we are paying for in this set is the computerized Luigi which is well built, but does require batteries. I also like the red shell and all the character feet.

Build: 7/10
Overall, there's not a whole lot of building going on here. A few segments, characters and one main play feature. It's a small set but the builds themselves are well designed and sturdy.

Playability: 9/10
This theme is all about play. In theory  a kid would spend a lot less time building it than playing with it, which is fine if that's what the buyer is looking for. There are a lot of barcodes in this set, which is the main thing you need in a Mario set to make it playable.

Price: 7/10
We're back at price again. It's high, there's no denying it. Luigi is a little computer with multiple screens, that's the reason this small part count set is so high. I would rather the set be around $35, but that would probably be the price if it was just Luigi with no level builds. 

Overall: 38/50
 

[Tohst]

I wasn't going to get Mario at all but Luigi sucked me in.  And now I have Mario and Luigi and you can get the little vacuum attachment for them.  Circle of life or, I dunno, Something.

 

Now please Darkdragon, stop hurting me.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Tohst

[MKJoshA]

Fantastic review! As soon as my kids realize what I haven't bought them we will be getting sucked into this theme for sure!