Super Mario 2023 - Rumors & Discussion

[BrickBob Studpants]

I think movie sets can be ruled out since releasing them four months after its debut is pretty nonsensical, especially considering the movie was initially scheduled for last December

Game-inspired minifig sets are certainly possible though, but I‘m not getting my hopes up. @Legoman123: There are no rumours pointing in that direction, only speculation.

[Legoman123]

Just now, BrickBob Studpants said:

I think movie sets can be ruled out since releasing them four months after its debut is pretty nonsensical, especially considering the movie was initially scheduled for last December

Game-inspired minifig sets are certainly possible though, but I‘m not getting my hopes up. @Legoman123: There are no rumours pointing in that direction, only speculation.

What do you think the reason is for not doing them, or even doing a CMF?  Surely Lego knows how well they would sell. 

[BrickBob Studpants]

17 minutes ago, Legoman123 said:

What do you think the reason is for not doing them, or even doing a CMF?  Surely Lego knows how well they would sell. 

We don’t know the reasoning, but it’s not TLG alone who decide what to do with this theme, Nintendo also has a say in this. The consensus among fans is that they’ve avoided minifig sets so far to avoid self-cannibalising, which makes sense.

I can see the course building system ending soon because TLG tends to plan in 3-year cycles (see the big bang themes and HP for instance) and the PPRs of the new sets are notworthy too, on top of the apparently missing digifig and character series.

However, this is merely circumstantial evidence. Unless we hear clear rumours, I refuse to get my hopes up

Edited January 8, 2023 by BrickBob Studpants

[Kaijumeister]

2 hours ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

We don’t know the reasoning, but it’s not TLG alone who decide what to do with this theme, Nintendo also has a say in this. The consensus among fans is that they’ve avoided minifig sets so far to avoid self-cannibalising, which makes sense.

I recall that when the theme was first announced (2020 feels like forever ago…), one of the interviews held with lead designer Jonathan Bennink revealed that the digi-figure route was actually Lego’s idea, whilst Nintendo wanted to go the more traditional route. I find that ironic given that it’s usually Nintendo that prefers the unconventional approach.

Those prices are PPRs are quite interesting, certainly a departure from what we’ve seen so far with this theme.

Edited January 8, 2023 by Kaijumeister

[Capybara554321]

Course builder needs that last line of sets before switching to figs. We need the last 2 koopa kids. 

[Legoman123]

Just now, BrickBob Studpants said:

We don’t know the reasoning, but it’s not TLG alone who decide what to do with this theme, Nintendo also has a say in this. The consensus among fans is that they’ve avoided minifig sets so far to avoid self-cannibalising, which makes sense.

I can see the course building system ending soon because TLG tends to plan in 3-year cycles (see the big bang themes and HP for instance) and the PPRs of the new sets are notworthy too, on top of the apparently missing digifig and character series.

However, this is merely circumstantial evidence. Unless we hear clear rumours, I refuse to get my hopes up

That makes sense I guess, to be honest I never paid this theme any attention when I found out that it wasn't going to have minifigures in it, but here's hoping my mind is changed soon.

[Killian]

3 hours ago, Capybara554321 said:

Course builder needs that last line of sets before switching to figs. We need the last 2 koopa kids. 

I hope we get them, but Lego have been known to retire themes before completing the roster of characters

 

I wonder if they'll stick with brick built Koopas to save on new moulds, but do Mario, Peach, Toad, Luigi, Wario etc as minifigs

[Izzynufc-2]

3 hours ago, Killian said:

I hope we get them, but Lego have been known to retire themes before completing the roster of characters

 

I wonder if they'll stick with brick built Koopas to save on new moulds, but do Mario, Peach, Toad, Luigi, Wario etc as minifigs

If they retire the license without Mario Kart sets then it’s a waste of a licence, Mario Kart sets will sell through the roof. 
It’ll be interesting what they do if they do mini figure scale sets. Endless possibilities. Could they do sets based off boss battles on the 3D games such as Galaxy or Sunshine? Could we get a peaches castle like the Disney castle or a bowsers castle? Could we get sets based of Mario Kart courses? Could we even get a Lego Mario video game for switch? Something I would love to see, Mario in Lego form and he could go to different worlds, introduce a new power ups, firefighter Mario and Police Mario. One of the worlds could have Mario team up with Chase McCain or Duke Detain. 
Endless possibilities 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Izzynufc-2
Spelling mistake

[Killian]

1 hour ago, Izzynufc-2 said:

If they retire the license without Mario Kart sets then it’s a waste of a licence, Mario Kart sets will sell through the roof. 
It’ll be interesting what they do if they do mini figure scale sets. Endless possibilities. Could they do sets based off boss battles on the 3D games such as Galaxy or Sunshine? Could we get a peaches castle like the Disney castle or a bowsers castle? Could we get sets based of Mario Kart courses? Could we even get a Lego Mario video game for switch? Something I would love to see, Mario in Lego form and he could go to different worlds, introduce a new power ups, firefighter Mario and Police Mario. One of the worlds could have Mario team up with Chase McCain or Duke Detain. 
Endless possibilities 

That would all be amazing!

Minifigures make so much sense for them to be able to branch out into things like Mario Kart. It'd be like Lego City Stuntz, but so much better

[Izzynufc-2]

What’s the chance of a Lego R.O.B? 

[BrickBob Studpants]

17 minutes ago, Izzynufc-2 said:

What’s the chance of a Lego R.O.B? 

Probably pretty low. I‘d want one, but nowadays he‘s better known as s Smash character than the NES accessory he originally was

[Huigberts Builds]

On 1/8/2023 at 1:45 PM, BrickBob Studpants said:

I think movie sets can be ruled out since releasing them four months after its debut is pretty nonsensical, especially considering the movie was initially scheduled for last December

Game-inspired minifig sets are certainly possible though, but I‘m not getting my hopes up. @Legoman123: There are no rumours pointing in that direction, only speculation.

I think it's worth pointing out that even if they were to make Mario Movie sets, that the details illumination added to the regular designs (slightly green shoulders for Bowser, highly detailed overalls etc.) are the first to go when translated to minifigures and bigfigures. I mean we already saw it with what they did for McDonalds. Not to mention the lego colours are way closer to the games than the movies. So they would end up looking like they were from the games anyway. Maybe with exception of like the front pocket. If anything, they would end up looking like a strange hybrid. Ofcourse the Kongs will look significantly different, but that's almost an entirely different topic.

[Lyichir]

Just built the Conkdor set (the first Mario set I've gotten this year). Despite its simplicity compared to some of the bigger sets, it looks great and tipping/resetting the neck is inherently a lot of fun even with no major in-game "reward" for it. Reminds me of one of those old drinking bird toys (which I'm sure inspired the design of Conkdors in the first place).

In general I really love a lot of the bigger enemies. I especially love "boss enemies" like Bowser, King Boo, and Boss Sumo Bro, but even larger "basic" enemies like the Thwomp, Conkdor, big Goomba, Koopa Troopa, and Spike are a lot of fun.

[SlimyGhoul]

The most recent set leaks have me reeeeally suspicious/hopeful about minifigs for the summer waves. I know some people say that they could just be ditching the weird boxes for starter courses, but the most damning piece of evidence to me is the PPR. 71423 and 71425 both have the around the same piece count as Peach's castle (1,321 and 1,157 respectively), but they're ~$30 less than it. Why? Especially after the recent price increases. Not only that, but they also seem like sister sets in a way? They're both $99.99. That makes me think that *maybe* they could be Mario Movie sets (maybe one of, like, a section of Peach's castle with Mario + Peach + Toad? and the other Bowser with Luigi + Kamek, etc.), but it's a little late to be releasing those tbh. I dunno. That combined with the lack of the buildable minifig series (arguably their bestsellers? Why get rid of those unless you knew you had something that would sell better than it?) is...sus at best. I think this is the most likely minifigs have ever been so I'm cautiously excited!

Another situation I guess is Mario Kart, but...how fun is Mario Kart with only 3 players to choose from? Not only that, I feel like it would be weird/counterproductive for LEGO to do Mario Kart stuff considering Hot Wheels has been pumping out Mario Kart stuff for years and doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by SlimyGhoul

[nicknack116]

I hope you’re right! I think the Summer wave is looking very suspicious. And isn’t the Mario D2C set rumored to be a cheaper price this year, too? Or do I have that wrong?

(Which makes me think, if the survey leak is correct, I could see LEGO/Nintendo opting to do a smaller Mario D2C so they don’t undercut a bigger Zelda D2C? Maybe?)

As others have said in this thread, a 3-year cycle seems consistent for LEGO. I could see them still making a set or two to go with the current Mario line, but I think they’ve pretty much exhausted the potential of this digital figure line. And the options for new player characters after Mario, Luigi, and Peach wouldn’t exactly be big-sellers in my mind. So no new starter set makes sense to me, too.

Either way, this year’s Mario theme is definitely looking like it will be a shake-up from the past few years, and that has me excited. Especially if we could potentially get minifigures from Mario and Zelda games.

[Agent Kallus]

 

11 minutes ago, nicknack116 said:

 

Which makes me think, if the survey leak is correct, I could see LEGO/Nintendo opting to do a smaller Mario D2C so they don’t undercut a bigger Zelda D2C? Maybe?

 

The Deku tree isn't that big though, there could be more Zelda sets I suppose (I'd certainly like that) but I'd assume the Deku tree will be the first set, and hopefully soon, the picture leaks from the survey looked finalised unlike some of the other sets.

I'm hoping it's a may release to line up with the TotK release or at least officially announced in may but I guess we coul also get a big Zelda D2C too, assumably BotW/TotK based maybe a Hyrule castle or temple of time? Or a 4 in 1 divine beast (almost definitely not a huge D2C being a multi build would be a huge first)

[nicknack116]

Maybe I should've said 18+ set instead of D2C. But if the survey leak is right, then the Deku Tree was listed as 1,920 pieces. Compared to the NES (2646 pieces), ? Block (2064 pieces), and Bowser (2807 pieces), I'd say the Deku Tree would fit at the low end of that range, especially when you factor in the new molds needed. So I'm guessing it'll be about $200 to $250? And, to me, that makes it a "big set." Maybe not $500 Rivendell big, but still...

If LEGO releases a Zelda set and a Mario set similar to the NES/? Block/Bowser in 2023, then it could mean we have two new $200+ sets based on Nintendo properties in one year. To me, that seems like a risk, and you could end up making sales for both but LEGO hasn't cared about our wallets much lately anyway.

But all of that was sparked by me remembering I had read that the 18+ Mario set was supposedly going to be smaller this year? But now I'm not sure where I saw that or if it's accurate. IF that is true, it could give more hope to the thought that Zelda is coming this year to take the place of that $200+ Nintendo set. And then a smaller Mario 18+ set would be easier for me to grab in addition to it.

Who knows, I think it's fun to speculate while we wait. Didn't mean to make it sound like it was definitely happening. Legitimately cannot remember if a smaller 18+ Mario set is correct now though...

A 4-in-1 Divine Beast would be awesome, though! Could definitely see that working as a set.

[Agent Kallus]

Maybe it'll bite Me in megablocks but I'm pretty certain the Deku tree is happening.

Yeah £200 is a big set no doubt, but it's on the lower end of what I think of as a D2C 

[Kaijumeister]

13 hours ago, SlimyGhoul said:

Another situation I guess is Mario Kart, but...how fun is Mario Kart with only 3 players to choose from? Not only that, I feel like it would be weird/counterproductive for LEGO to do Mario Kart stuff considering Hot Wheels has been pumping out Mario Kart stuff for years and doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. 

This is by no means a knock against the current digi-figure play pattern for this theme, but I really think scale and space rapidly becomes an issue. The course builder system relies on maximising space to populate with diverse builds to create an immersive ‘world’ for the digi-figures, but it comes at the cost of efficient space usage. There are of course exceptions to this with some sets, but it’s just my opinion - and I say this as someone who has bought a fair number of sets.

That’s why I don’t think adapting Mario-Kart with the current system in play is the best idea. Comparatively minifigures would do a better job here, and I’m hoping like many of you that this summer brings about minifigure-scale sets. The product portfolio over the past 3 years has been quite vast and definitely enough for people to start designing their own courses, and I’m sure Lego could keep the course builder system going for a while at least with new scannable tiles and firmware updates, not to mention completing the Koopa kid cast.

But all this aside and regardless of preferences for which direction this theme should go in, I don’t think anyone can deny that the buildable characters in this theme are impeccable. Both the large and small scale ones. 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Kaijumeister

[nicknack116]

1 hour ago, Kaijumeister said:

The course builder system relies on maximising space

So true! My son has six or so sets, and not even the big ones, and setting up everything takes over the whole room.

I just hope when we do get minifigure sets, LEGO draws more inspiration from the 3D games. We’ve already seen a 2D-inspired interpretation of Mario in the current line. I would be a little disappointed if we got the same kind of sets just scaled to minifigures.

If we got sets based on the movie coming out that would probably be a good middle-ground, actually. A specific visual style that can reference any game.

I would love a set in the style of the Ninjago City ones, but the Toad Town from the new Mario movie.

[SlimyGhoul]

16 hours ago, nicknack116 said:

I hope you’re right! I think the Summer wave is looking very suspicious. And isn’t the Mario D2C set rumored to be a cheaper price this year, too? Or do I have that wrong?

You're correct! The 18+ set for Mario this year is only $60. Which is also insanely suspicious.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that they released a "creativity toolbox" as a set this year, and to me that seems like..."Okay we ran out of ideas" kinda? They included a bunch of stuff they could have just made expansion sets out of. It seemed kinda like a last-ditch thing.

14 hours ago, Kaijumeister said:

This is by no means a knock against the current digi-figure play pattern for this theme, but I really think scale and space rapidly becomes an issue. The course builder system relies on maximising space to populate with diverse builds to create an immersive ‘world’ for the digi-figures, but it comes at the cost of efficient space usage. There are of course exceptions to this with some sets, but it’s just my opinion - and I say this as someone who has bought a fair number of sets.

That’s why I don’t think adapting Mario-Kart with the current system in play is the best idea. Comparatively minifigures would do a better job here, and I’m hoping like many of you that this summer brings about minifigure-scale sets. The product portfolio over the past 3 years has been quite vast and definitely enough for people to start designing their own courses, and I’m sure Lego could keep the course builder system going for a while at least with new scannable tiles and firmware updates, not to mention completing the Koopa kid cast.

 But all this aside and regardless of preferences for which direction this theme should go in, I don’t think anyone can deny that the buildable characters in this theme are impeccable. Both the large and small scale ones. 

I agree with allllllllllll of this. The current sets are just. Wayyy too big. They're also cumbersome and really hard to move. Which is why I don't think Mario Kart would really work here, either. 

I looove the buildable characters, and I honestly think they could still work with the minifig line (well, some of them. Bowser, the koopalings, etc. would all work imo!)

[SlimyGhoul]

Apologies for the double post, but WM posted this image. Are bootlegs ever indicative of things coming down the pipeline? Some of these are just too good.

 

[Lyichir]

2 hours ago, SlimyGhoul said:

Apologies for the double post, but WM posted this image. Are bootlegs ever indicative of things coming down the pipeline? Some of these are just too good.

 

 

No, bootlegs rarely have anything to do with actual future Lego products. If anything, they often spring up to fill the niches Lego ISN'T producing figures for (whether or not Lego has any plans to produce similar figures in the future), like these or unproduced DC/Marvel/Star Wars characters.

Anyway, on the subject of the actual sets... I recently got 71418 and one thing that surprised me was the box style. Unlike the other sets I've gotten in this set, this one came in a resealable "flip top" box like you typically see in themes like Architecture, which is much nicer for storage (especially useful for a set like this that has a lot of loose components for augmenting stages). I'd love to see more of this in the future since convenient storage of the interchangeable set components can be one of the more challenging things about this theme!

[Izzynufc-2]

Really hoping to see a Lego Super Mario video game, something like Super Mario Odyssey, but with maps such as the Lego City Undercover, Isle Delfino or Wuhu Island, new power ups could be Police Mario, Firefighter Mario,Sword Mario etc, but also Dr Mario could appear too. 
If Lego did Minifigures based from Mario it’ll have the potential to lead to this. It would sell like hot cakes. 
We’d get sets based off the game and new enemies such as Crook Koopas.  

[Agent Kallus]

When (or if but I'm going to go with when ) the Zelda set is revealed, should we turn this into a Nintendo sets discussion thread ?

If the course builder does continue I'd like to see Galaxy (and Galaxy 2) stuff as those are by far the best Mario games ever made.