71426 Piranha Plant: Hands-On Review

The Piranha Plant first appeared in Super Mario Brothers, back in 1985 and has been a stalwart enemy of the franchise since that time. We have seen several of these gigantic carnivorous plants crop up in the LEGO Super Mario sets, but they have been a relatively small scale models, designed to be used in the Gamer Mode for LEGO Super Mario. This 540piece sculpture looks like it might promise to bring a little more joy to a bookshelf than previously encountered Piranha Plants. I was delighted when the LEGO Group sent a copy of this set over: it feels that while we have had an onslaught of LEGO sets aimed at adults in recent years, there has been a relative paucity of sets that might come at less than $100 AUD, not releated to flowers, Star Wars or Super Heroes while still leaving enough room on your shelves for other things. This set does both with a RRP of AUD94.99 (59.99USD). This is just shy of the $99.99AUD shelf price of your standard botanical Collection set

So, is this set worthy of your time, real estate and hard earned funds? Lets take a closer look…

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71462 LEGO Super Mario Piranha Plant Revealed

Every year, around this time, we see an adult focussed set drawing inspiration from LEGO Super Mario: be it the Retro TV, the Mario 64 Question Mark Cube or the Mighty Bowser. These sets have drawn heavily on nostalgic aspects of the Super Mario games, to present an artefact that has certainly been a talking point in many households around the wolrd. Each of these sets has had a suitably impressive price tag attached, too (priced from 300-400AUD This year, perhaps as a sign of the times, with cost of living being what it has become in 2023, the scale has been somewhat reduced. This year’s adult focussed LEGO Super Mario set is a shelf sized model of the Pirhana Plant. With 540 pieces, the set will be released on November 6th and priced at $AUD94.99/$USD59.99 / €64.99 / £57.99.

Over recent years, the LEGO Group have been responsive to the cries of adult fans – Give us more, give us bigger – and now it has become apparent that the major problems that these large LEGO sets have give AFOLS are related to two major factors:

  • one is cost with the previous adult focussed Super Mario sets, we have seen prices starting at $USD199.99
  • another is display space. I love the look of the new Concorde, but at over 1m in length, there is no doubt that I have nowhere to reasonably build it or display it without causing major disruption to the family living spaces.
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Expanding LEGO Super Mario: 71382 Piranha Plant Puzzling Challenge [Hands On Review]

As we continue our look at the second wave of LEGO Super Mario sets, we turn to the return of one of Mario’s classic challenges: the Piranha Plant. Can we call it an enemy? Given the fact that it cannot directly attack, or nerf Mario in any way, I consider this level to be an obstacle, with a built in playable challenge. The set is now on sale, has 267 pieces and costs29.99 USD/EUR – 24.99 GBP – 49.99 AUD – 39.99 CAD.

Like other expansion sets, it is built using the instructions included in the LEGO Super Mario App. It is also possible to access the building instructions from the LEGO Building instructions app. The Super Mario App is necessary to update the Mario Brick to accept the latest sets; provide video demonstrations of different aspects of the set, and to get challenges, and share your levels/images to the LEGO Life. It is not necessary to play a timed game, BUT if it is connected at the time, you can get a complete break down of how you gained the coins during your game.

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LEGO® Super Mario’s Rogues Gallery: A Guide.

The recently released LEGO Super Mario theme introduces over twenty ‘enemies’ for Mario to defeat over the course of different games: some are easy to beat with a single scan on their barcode; some require specific powerups; some need to be scanned multiple times by Mario. In this article, we look at the enemies that Mario encounters, consider some of the things unique to that character; and how many coins can be gained by defeating them.

You may have already bought a couple of LEGO Super Mario sets – the Starter pack is essential for Game Play, while the expansion sets provide us with more opportunities to have fun with the game. You might be trying to decide which expansion set is for you. You might be looking for a specific enemy, or you might be looking for a way to maximise your score in a run through the game: hopefully, this guide will help.

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Expanding LEGO Super Mario with 71362 The Guarded Fortress

As the official release date of LEGO Super Mario approaches, I thought we would take a look at one of several medium-large expansion sets. The guarded fortress feels like the end scene to almost any game level.

With 463 elements, this expansion feels chock full of play value, and adds some new challenges for Mario to face. Challenges that can easily be incorporated into a layout. We also have three enemies to defeat, as well as the opportunity to loot the fortress for the coins hidden inside. As with all LEGO Super Mario Expansion sets, the 71360 Adventures with Mario set is required for full functionality.

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