Review: 72037 Mario Kart - Mario and Standard Kart
Posted by SetToBuild,
Since 1992, Mario Kart has been a staple of Nintendo console gaming—at 33 years old, the classic racing game has been around for as long as many fans can remember. It's the king of party games and the great resolver (or instigator!) of many feuds.
The latest release, Mario Kart World, is just around the bend of the rainbow road; the new game launches with the Switch 2 on 5 June 2025.
To celebrate this gaming icon, 72037 Mario Kart - Mario & Standard Kart brings us another brick-built sculpture, joining the likes of 71411 The Mighty Bowser, 71438 Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi, and 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System.
Summary
72037 Mario Kart - Mario & Standard Kart, 1,972 pieces.
£149.99 / $169.99 / €169.99 | 7.6p/8.6c/8.6c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Celebrate a Nintendo icon at a reasonable price with this hefty, fun-to-build model.
- Great value
- Printed elements throughout
- Fantastic shaping and techniques
- New parts
- Mario is fixed in a sitting position
- No barcode for electronic LEGO Mario
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Box
The moderately-sized tray box follows the typical 18+ black style. It contains 17 paper bags, one plastic bag containing rims and the two biggest tyres, plus two smaller tyres loose in the box. The modern Mario Kart logo (used since the 2014 launch of Mario Kart 8) completes the minimal branding.
The minimal box imagery continues on the back, with just one ‘lifestyle’ photo depicting a black and white portable TV. Growing up, we had one of these, which I’m sure is now unrecognisable to at least one generation of Mario Kart players. Seeing ancient relics from my childhood like this on display makes me feel as old as I did the day I saw a Nintendo Entertainment System in a museum!
The instructions come in a new design of paper sleeve—it’s my first time seeing this more colourful decoration for the instruction envelope. The instructions include a timeline of all Mario Kart games, although it omits Mario Kart Tour, a mobile version. Also, there are no stickers!
Kart
The kart design is based on the Standard Kart from Mario Kart 8. We’ve seen this vehicle in LEGO form before, in 72032 Standard Kart. This model’s much larger scale allows for some excellent sculpting around the bumper, side pods, and dramatic large exhausts. The huge printed 6x6 round tile is also a bold new addition.
Many genius techniques are used to create the shaping of the kart, and the complex brick maths made for a fun build of the side pods. In some places, parts aren’t even connected—the upside-down red sub-assembly isn’t connected to the parts below. Instead, slopes and tiles secure everything from the top afterwards. There are even more cool things happening with the 1x2 grateless cheese grater slopes, but you'll have to build it for yourself to understand!
A subtle and clever hidden SNOT technique gets a smooth finish to the top of the bumper with a side-built layer. The inkwell pieces fix securely into the holes of the SNOT bricks in the upper white section.
A few noteworthy parts make appearances on the rear of the kart. Trans orange 1x4 tiles were first seen last year in 10333 The Lord of the Rings: Barad-dûr. The black cone 4x4x3 was first seen in white on 10318 Concorde, and more recently also used as skirts for Wednesday and Elphaba. It was a pleasure to see that they bothered to print the 2x4x2 curved panel. Although the colour doesn’t match perfectly since the yellow is printed directly onto a black element, the thought still counts.
The columns around the back wheels use some fun stud reversal techniques so that the undercarriage sculpting can face downwards and sideways.
Annoyingly, there is something about the rubber material of the front wheels that picks up dust incredibly easily, while the back wheels stay clean. Luckily, the prominent printing on the hubcaps distracts from that.
Bold shaping and large elements come together for an impactful design at the front and back of the vehicle. This view also shows the low ground clearance, but on a smooth floor, the kart glides along very well. For an 18+ set, the bumpers withstand a fair amount of abuse on softer surfaces, but aren’t durable enough for young children to play with.
The simply designed stand allows the kart to be displayed at a variety of angles, and the connection point slots onto it easily.
Mario
Let’s start with the Elephant Mario in the room: our favourite plumber is built in a way that doesn’t allow him to stand. While disappointing, after understanding his construction, I think the compromises necessary to give him hinged legs might have been too great.
Angled wedge tiles and curved slopes make for subtle shaping of the stomach and waistline. The legs clip into the body with a simple ball joint connection, which unfortunately doesn’t allow for them to be straightened.
In profile, it’s clear that Mario has excellent posture—we should all strive to sit up as straight as he does! The top of his hat is formed by last year’s windscreen, recently seen in red on 71484 Cooper's Robot Dinosaur C-Rex’s back.
The arms have small gears hidden beneath his shoulder blades to resist swinging, keeping them steady for positioning.
The back of his body does have some unsightly gaps, but you wouldn’t normally see this anyway, as Mario is meant to always be in his kart. This hair design is simple yet effective, using boat studs fixed by clips.
The perfect alignment of LEGO and Mario’s primary colour palettes makes the adorable buttons for his overalls really pop. These accentuate his great gut!
The designers didn’t hold back on printing the smallest details in this set, even including the stitches on Mario’s gloves. The hand structure is quite intricate, with slight offsets making for an animated, detailed appearance.
Posable arms let Mario express himself in many ways, with a good range of motion despite his lack of elbows.
The shaping of the arms looks a bit funny at certain angles (like the very gappy armpits in this T-pose!), but when made to hold the wheel, it all fits just right.
Since STAMPs (STickers Across Multiple Pieces) are not allowed anymore, a new POOP (Part Out of Other Parts) has been introduced just to give Mario an uninterrupted ‘M’ logo print for his hat. Currently, this piece is only used in one other Dreamzzz set, 71490 Izzie and Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny for a character’s face; like the 6x6 round tile, this part is currently only available as a printed element.
This copy of the set’s right eye printing is slightly off-centre, but this isn’t too noticeable once assembled, as the shadows of the nose create a distraction. The printed ear structure on the 2x2 tile is also a nice touch. LEGO is listening when we say, “more prints!”
The nose piece is well-structured with lots of support and clutch for various stud connections. Where else might this mould be used, in this or other colours? It does look nightmarish from underneath though!
Mario’s Moustache reminds me of the cloud plate from the Unikitty CMFs. Like the nose, I wonder if we’ll see this used elsewhere. I can imagine it making a brilliant edge to an ornate roof or dark silhouettes of clouds and bushes.
Without his moustache, Mario has a baby face—or an oddly rectangular open mouth, and a double chin. It’s interesting that the first assembly of the hat is integrated into Mario’s forehead.
Impressive engineering went into constructing the head and hat. The back of Mario’s cap is constructed integrally with his hair, and a complex array of Technic structure leaves axles protruding at the required angles to slot into his head. Once together, the brim is attached, then the crown slides onto the long yellow axle.
The sculpt of the head and hat is so well done that I couldn’t help but think of Super Mario 64’s secret face manipulation on the start menu.
Completed Model
The Technic structure of the stand is hinged such that the kart can be tilted along one axis. Because the kart’s attachment to the stand is free to rotate, this hinge allows for a wide variety of poses.
The steering wheel is comically small. Its diameter is probably a result of aligning with Mario’s shoulder width, since his arms can’t angle inwards.
The back, however, is more well-proportioned to Mario’s head and body.
The colour palette of the extra pieces is quite on-brand! The technic pieces are of some interest here, with less common yellow and red pins.
Scale Comparisons
The Spiny Shell scales perfectly to this set. Mario’s mouth can be easily flipped upside down for an angry expression reacting to this threat, since his eyebrow shape is already ambiguous. At the time of writing, the Shell is still available from the Insiders Reward Centre.
The Mighty Bowser exists in many scales depending on the game, but as far as Mario Kart games go, this is reasonably accurate. He definitely looks mighty compared to Mario, but our hero surely won’t take this menace sitting down!
The Piranha Plant, however, looks to be a serious threat to Mario. It’s not quite big enough to be a track hazard, but it’s decent scale for the kart-mounted power-up.
The printed coin from the Piranha Plant set looks great in Mario’s hand—he can grab a few from the track to increase his speed!
As for the kart, I know what you’re thinking… One final important comparison: Yes, 40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure can sit in the kart. It may be a bit awkward, but it’s possible! Thanks to ASkywalker91 for the suggestion.
Conclusion
The obvious missing accompaniment here is a brick-built banana peel for Mario to run afoul of; although LEGO have recently had some good practice of banana shaping with 77072 Peely Bone, the opportunity was wasted, so I might have to build my own.
It was surprising to see no reference or connection to electronic LEGO Mario at all—this set really separates itself as an 18+ sculpture distinct from the children’s Mario toys. The previous large display sets all did offer at least a barcode for the electronic figures to interact with.
It does jar a little that they went through all of this effort to make a wonderfully sculpted Mario model, but the figure can’t stand on his own. Dicken_tututu on Instagram has already made a standing version of Mario and a motorcycle for him to ride!
This set has quite the heft to it, with a significant density of parts to form all of the cleverly built cartoonish forms. The price is very reasonable considering everything is printed, there are new moulds, and the model is so well done.
Nintendo take their iconic imagery very seriously, so it’s no surprise that their LEGO sets include a significant number of bespoke pieces; I suspect this external influence is what allows the designers to create new moulds more easily than some other themes. I’m excited to see what MOC ideas are sparked by these new pieces, and by the Kart concept as a whole—who else will we see sitting in a kart soon?
Just as with the previous Nintendo big builds, six-year-old SetToBuild would have been bowled over by this phenomenal model in 1992—and he still is today! It’s a great time to be a Nintendo and LEGO fan.
157 likes
29 comments on this article
Let’sa go!
It's a-me, Mario!
That'sa so nice!
I bet someone smart will figure out a mod to make mario stand up
This is an impressive set — almost doesn’t look like LEGO. Loved the pictures of it with the other Mario sets!
Love the images within images. Great way to show off more of the set without extended ingredients the article. Well done and very well executed. Felt like I was reading a magazine.
really enjoyed the depth of this review!
Excellent review! I liked the highlighting of some MOCs modifying Mario at the end—a benefit of brick-built characters like this is that as long as significant printed/molded details like the eyes and moustache are taken care of, there's plenty of room for modification to things like the pose. This feels like a great starting point for MOCs, whether it's making different vehicles like the excellent bike MOC highlighted at the end, or making different items for Mario to collect on the track. Bowser being a similar scale even makes it conceivable that you could design a kart for him so that he and Mario could face off on the track!
The unique molds for Mario's nose and moustache are definitely specialized, and I don't expect to see them used outside of this theme. That said, the nose and moustache being separate means that if they ever see fit to make a Luigi in this scale, the bulbous nose would work perfectly with different parts for Luigi's sleeker moustache.
Definitely getting this one. But not giving the shell as GWP means I'll wait for a retail discount instead
I don’t think there’s been a Nintendo themed set with any stickers? I maybe wrong but Nintendo are likely being very strict with their IP and telling Lego they won’t let them compromise on quality with the dirty stickers. Good for Nintendo.
I'm sure with some extra parts and effort some fans will find a way to make him stand. Modeling is super nice and the whole thing looks so colorful and fun.
arrrggghhh, stickers and price .... oh, ummmm
arrrggghhh, sitting on a kart and no barcode ... ah, okaaaay
@Milocubed said:
"I bet someone smart will figure out a mod to make mario stand up"
I thought I saw that done by someone but can't find it now. The mod just needed a few extra parts.
Not a set for me, but I can't deny it's pretty great. And all prints! Granted, those exhaust pieces and the M on the hat are as bad as you can expect from what's likely the company with the worst prints in the entire industry, but still better than stickers. And in this case it doesn't hurt the overall looks too much. And apart from that, there just isn't much to nitpick on. So all I can say: Lego, please make all sets to these standards!
@Tynansd said:
"I don’t think there’s been a Nintendo themed set with any stickers?"
The smaller Mario Kart has stickers for the wheel caps.
"Nintendo take their iconic imagery very seriously, so it’s no surprise that their LEGO sets include a significant number of bespoke pieces; I suspect this external influence is what allows the designers to create new moulds more easily than some other themes."
Honestly I think the lack of minifigures might be a more significant factor here — after all, in other licensed themes like Disney, Star Wars and Super Heroes, a lot of the budget for new elements tends to go toward figure parts and accessories.
Good review overall! I love some of the more whimsical/playful photos you included like the recreation of the Mario 64 intro screen and the kart with the upscaled minifig at the wheel. This set definitely feels like a great jumping off point for other upscaled Mario Kart MOCs, such as a banana like you mentioned.
A lot's been said about how to mod Mario to stand freely instead of sitting in the kart, but your photo of the Mighty Bowser alongside Mario makes me wonder what modding it would take to make Bowser sit comfortably in the kart… though obviously, even if you managed it, the steering wheel would look even more diminutive in his huge claws!
@Lyichir said:
"Excellent review! I liked the highlighting of some MOCs modifying Mario at the end—a benefit of brick-built characters like this is that as long as significant printed/molded details like the eyes and moustache are taken care of, there's plenty of room for modification to things like the pose. This feels like a great starting point for MOCs, whether it's making different vehicles like the excellent bike MOC highlighted at the end, or making different items for Mario to collect on the track. Bowser being a similar scale even makes it conceivable that you could design a kart for him so that he and Mario could face off on the track!
The unique molds for Mario's nose and moustache are definitely specialized, and I don't expect to see them used outside of this theme. That said, the nose and moustache being separate means that if they ever see fit to make a Luigi in this scale, the bulbous nose would work perfectly with different parts for Luigi's sleeker moustache."
For that matter, without a mustache, you could probably build Baby Mario and Baby Luigi using the same nose piece!
@Tynansd said:
"I don’t think there’s been a Nintendo themed set with any stickers? I maybe wrong but Nintendo are likely being very strict with their IP and telling Lego they won’t let them compromise on quality with the dirty stickers. Good for Nintendo. "
A number of the smaller Mario Kart sets use prints for the characters and items, but stickers for a number of other details such as the wheel rims, driver insignias, and race sponsor billboards in 72036 . So it's definitely not some sort of Nintendo mandate. I do believe that internally, the designers who work on "gaming themes" like Super Mario, Minecraft, and Animal Crossing prefer to avoid stickers whenever possible, though.
@Lyichir said:
"I liked the highlighting of some MOCs modifying Mario at the end."
Congratulations on proving you actually read the whole article. Let's see if anyone else notices...
Great review with some funny nods!
Don't think I've ever played Mario Kart but, as nice as this set looks, I'm tempted to get it.
The fun design, interesting parts usage, and lack of stickers combined with no appearance of an IP tax makes this exactly the type of item I've been requesting from LEGO.
This is a great set. I'm not a huge Mario or Mario Kart fan, but I want this set.
Was a brilliant day 1 purchase despite never having played Mario (as was 71374 too, despite never having played that either)
"the thought still counts."
No, it doesn't. The horrible color-matching on the exhausts and hat are inexcusable for a company that makes billions in profit and uses just such an example as their raison d'etre.
That said, the model is excellent (but alternates for standing should be included). The price is pretty good. But, the review is incredible!! I wasn't planning to get this. The review has sucked me in.
I loved the images with other sets and enhancements for emphasis. The writing was clear, energetic, and fun. The mention of mods was also a plus.
I do like this set a lot, it's very tempting even though I've mostly given the Mario line a miss.
It feels almost wrong to complain, but at some point going into more and more custom molds starts to feel a little less LEGO. Where do we draw the line?
"Yes, 40649 Up-Scaled LEGO Minifigure can sit in the kart. It may be a bit awkward, but it’s possible!" If I were going to get this, I'd be tempted to get 40819 just to put in the driver's seat. I already have 40649, but the race car driver would just seem more appropriate.
I never played Mario games - my family had a Sega Megadrive and then a Sony Playstation when I was a kidlet, so my console game thing was Sonic and Talmit and then Tekken and racing games - so this kit is decidedly not for me, but it seems generally well-executed and cleverly built.
However, I would really like Lego to figure out how to print white on red without it coming out medium pink because it’s just painful every time they try. Even light pink would be better, but white or off-white would be a vast improvement and what they really ought to be aiming at. The Piranha Plant suffers from it, too.
(I’m still mourning Commander Fox’s chest print. I have no plans to stop.)
You say that Mario Kart logo on the box was introduced in 2014 with MK8... No, I don't think so... google Mario Kart DS
i decided to buy it, impulse, as i dont like full price lego, but, this just looked so cool. My partners kids also like Mario and lego, so see this is a half term build with us all. Strangely looking forward to the big envelope and bags inside. A shame he wont stand, but, I didnt really think about not having him in it. Kart probably be okay without him in it though for display. Looking forward to building this
@JasonBall34 said:
"You say that Mario Kart logo on the box was introduced in 2014 with MK8... No, I don't think so... google Mario Kart DS"
Similar but slightly different. Wikipedia also says the current version of the logo has been used since MK8. Looking at the box art for both, it's a difference in the gradient shading and the beveled edges.
@BabuBrick said:
"This is an impressive set — almost doesn’t look like LEGO. Loved the pictures of it with the other Mario sets!"
Those comparison photos were fun to take, so thanks!
@shedjed said:
"Love the images within images. Great way to show off more of the set without extended ingredients the article. Well done and very well executed. Felt like I was reading a magazine."
I'm glad they're appreciated! My background is in editorial design, so I always try to weave those magazine-like elements into my articles. Thank you!
@lego4elio said:
"really enjoyed the depth of this review!"
Thanks! I was worried it went on a bit long, but then I remembered the Great Deku tree article.
@Lyichir said:
"That said, the nose and moustache being separate means that if they ever see fit to make a Luigi in this scale, the bulbous nose would work perfectly with different parts for Luigi's sleeker moustache."
I really hope LEGO makes Luigi at this scale! Mainly so we can recreate the death stare meme.
@Aanchir said:
"Good review overall! I love some of the more whimsical/playful photos you included like the recreation of the Mario 64 intro screen and the kart with the upscaled minifig at the wheel. This set definitely feels like a great jumping off point for other upscaled Mario Kart MOCs, such as a banana like you mentioned."
Glad you enjoyed the article! Now I definitely have to make that banana.
@Faryn said:
"Great review with some funny nods!"
Delighted that the humour is understood. :D
@TheOtherMike said:
"If I were going to get this, I'd be tempted to get 40819 just to put in the driver's seat. I already have 40649, but the race car driver would just seem more appropriate."
Oh good point! I still need to get that set too
@Settobuild
Reviewer review here :) I have to say this is masterpiece of review! Pleasure to read.
I'm not Mario fan but this set looks great for display (dynamic pose helps a lot) and value is fair for volume which we get and all prints. Also they finally success with building face (which often is creepy) close to source material.