Like each wave before them, this wave of LEGO Super Mario sets has brought a new collection of buildable figures. The figures have been a little hard to get hold of until recently, particularly in Australia. The boxes of Buildable characters brought a disturbing revelation: While we maintain the count of 10 characters in the series, there are only 18 blind bags in the box. Reports from several Blogs with a full box suggest that (if you get a new box) the front 9 figures on either column of the box side are identical, while the rear one at each end is either Crowber or Bony Beetle.

The team at Toybricks were able to fix me up with a set of the figures, through COVID Safe delivery. Today, we can take a look, look at the characters, as well as look at their relative scores, and other special behaviours…

Before you can play with all of these characters, you will need to upgrade the firmware in your Mario and Luigi bricks, otherwise half of the characters will not be recognised. I find the process can be occasionally fraught with problems. So… a few hints:

• Download the latest version of the LEGO Super Mario App to your device. [The field that used to contain all of the scanned sets now seems to be empty. Certainly it was a resource hog, maintaining animations for every set. Apparently you should get a randomly contructed layout, based on your sets, appearing on the screen. I have yet to see this work.( August 14 2021)]
• Connect only one character at a time – Mario or Luigi – using the Bluetooth ( select the connect icon on the top left off the app screen, and press the Bluetooth button on Mario.)
• The process may take up to 5-10 minutes: leave your phone and smart brick alone while they get themselves sorted. I had the process fail once, but trying again worked without issue. This was with a pre-release version of the app. When the full version was released, I had no problems (iPhone 12 Pro Max). However, I know there are others who have not had such a smooth ride. Certainly, my iPhone seven, which was fine with earlier versions, was struggling.

The Figures:

Each character comes with a printed instruction sheet. Once built, you can scan them into your collection use the add set button on the top right of the app.

I looked at each figure on its own, when played in a scored game, and also looked to see if star power or POW blocks influenced what happened. Dont forget, you can also get star power from the ‘?’ block. You can read about the other power-ups here.

So, lets take a look at them all (in the order they appear on the instruction sheet):

One-Up Mushroom

• Biome: Desert
• Scans to score: 1
• Points: If active at end of the game you receive a 10 coin bonus.
• Pow: No effect
• Star Power: No effect
• Resists damage: one fall: more to super mushroom state (3 points if active at the end of a timed game). If stunned/injured again – ‘normal’ state. If injured again: ‘No coin state’ – Eyes spin, and you cannot score points.
• Rescan: no
• Glitch: Today, Mario looks fine with the 1-up Mushroon. Luigi does not. Although he makes the correct sound, and behaves appropriately, going on to display the super mushroom if injured

Amp

• Biome: Dungeon/Lava
• Scans to score: One, but requires Star Power
• Points: 7 (but Star power gives you double points, so 14 coins)
• Star Power: required to score
• If no star power, Amp will rob Mario of a life – if no One up or Super Mushroom bonus, a lightnig bolt appears on his chest, and he enters a no coin state.
• Rescan: single coin. Do not need Star Power.

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Scuttlebug

• Biome: meadow
• Scans to score:1
• Points:1 coin
• Pow: No effect
• Star Power: 2 coins
• Rescan: 1 coin

Parachute Bob-omb

• Biome: Desert
• Scans to score: As many as possible, before Bob-omb Explodes (my best to date is 18)
• Points:One per scan. If bob-omb explodes, you get no coins
• Pow: No Effect
• Star Power: 10 coins
• Rescan: 1 coin

Swoop

• Biome: Dungeon
• Scans to score: 1
• Points:1 coins
• Pow: no effect
• Star Power:1
• Rescan: 1 coin
• The barcode is different to that seen in 71377. That version added a points multiplier for repeated striking of the multiple Swoops.

Galoomba

• Biome: Tower
• Scans to score: 1
• Points: 1 coin
• Pow: no effect
• Star Power: 2 coins
• Rescan: 1 coin

Crowber

• Biome: Sky
• Scans to score: 1
• Points: 1 coin
• Pow: no effect
• Star Power: 2 coins
• Rescan: 1 coin

Torpedo Ted

• Biome: Water
• Scans to score: 1
• Points: 1 coin
• Pow: no effect
• Star Power: 2 coins
• Water based enemies feature a ‘splash’ sound when scanned.

Bony Beetle

• Biome: Tower
• Scans to score: 2
• Points: 3
• Pow: one scan required
• Star Power: One Scan, 6 coins
• Rescan: 1 coin

Boo

• Biome: Soda Swamp
• Scans to score: 1 – but requires Star Power
• Points: 6 – with Star power double coin bonus: 12
• Pow: No effect
• Star Power: 12. Star power required to score
• Rescan: One coin (star power not required)
• Power ups: Mario loses one power up. If none available, he runs scared, and is unable to score for a few seconds.
• By scanning any ghost prior to entering the launch pipe, you can play the ‘Beware of Boo’ Game Challenge. Listen for Boo Approaching, and stay very still, to avoid being caught, and terrified.

Each bag comes with a couple of Extra Pieces.This is how they look, when gathered together

Unlike previous waves, half of this series is more sophisticated that scan once/one coin.

The One-up Mushroom provides additional strength against in game de-buffs; Amp and Boo both require star power to win, and Bony Beetle needs a couple of strikes, to score 3 points. Bob-omb has the potential to boost your score nicely.

I am disappointed that we do not find two complete sets in a box, however.

These characters bring our total of buildable figures to 30. You can find my review of the powers they provide in my series one and series 2 reviews.

Have you managed to secure a few of these figures? Who is your favorite? why not leave your comments below, and until next time,

Play well.