Review: 72045 Shy Guy & P-Wing
Posted by SetToBuild,
Don’t be alarmed, this isn’t a Star Wars x Super Mario crossover. To us ancient gamers, the P-Wing has a different meaning: in Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES, the P-Wing is an object that allows the player to fly infinitely in a level of their choice. In Mario Kart 8, however, the P-Wing Kart appeared as an exotic supercar that is so slick, it looks like it could fly right off the track.
Summary
72045 Shy Guy & P-Wing, 249 pieces.
£17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 | 7.2p/8.0c/8.0c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Impress your friends with this fancy new kart
- Shy Guy with non-swinging arms
- Includes starter items
- None
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Box
The box contains three paper bags, and the box art showcases some of the basic features of this wave of karts.
A fan of Speed Champions would scoff if they heard someone complain about just eight stickers on a car. In the game, the badges displaying the character’s icon change depending on who is driving the vehicle, so you could omit the Shy Guy symbols to keep the kart and glider generic.
Character
Shy Guy has been updated with higher-friction pins for the arms, making them more posable. A pink Shy Guy in 71434 Soda Jungle Maker Set had SNOT bricks to attach the arms. This was also a stiffer connection, but not as robust as the latest design.
Completed Model
The P-Wing kart has always given me Mach Five (Speed Racer) vibes, and the LEGO version is no different. However, the purple wedge for the windscreen is an odd choice. Although the details under the front of the car are represented nicely, the nose of the vehicle doesn't come to a point quite as much as it should. Perhaps a printed graphic would have captured the red V-shaped markings better?
The build experience follows a much more basic Speed Champions-like process for assembling the car. This cool side-built “floating” engine allows for a glider attachment point. I particularly enjoyed the cut-in the doors with the 1x4 slope forming a pair of black and white triangles.
There is a plate that slides out to let Shy Guy sit on a 2x3 space, but also slides away so Mario can sit and activate the barcode. The barcode is a standard kart ‘START’ action tag which begins the virtual race game.
The glider that comes with this set is the Plane Glider first seen in Mario Kart 8. This time, it has Shy Guy emblems as decoration on the wings. The gliders all feature the same click-hinge connection point, allowing them to be interchanged between other karts in sets like 72043 Interactive LEGO Mario & Standard Kart, 72038 Wario & King Boo, and 72039 Bowser's Castle.
All karts can glide during play with the interactive hero thanks to the gyroscope recognising when the car is lifted into the air. You can float with the glider and drift side to side to collect coins. Landing on the ground makes a big noise and a bash animation on the screen.
The extra pieces aren’t much to report. They do, however, hint at the lack of tiny, intricate details.
Conclusion
This kart is part of an impressive lineup in this new wave. I wonder what the plan is here—does LEGO hope people will want to buy them all to populate a Mario Kart race? Will they be releasing any sets focused on the tracks or courses?
It’s amusing to me that Shy Guy is the one to flaunt an exotic supercar, which might normally be associated with an extroverted show-off personality. I suppose you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover!
When it comes to the set, however, you probably can judge a set by its box—there isn’t much going on here that isn’t clear from the packaging. With 249 pieces for £18, this set is similar in overall size to a Speed Champions vehicle, but not as detailed nor intricately decorated, in keeping with the cartoonish Mario Kart aesthetic. For me, this charming little vehicle offers just about acceptable value considering Shy Guy’s unassuming form. However, the others in the line are more expensive, so I’m intrigued to see how the more A-list characters and their vehicles stack up.
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18 comments on this article
Hey, again those yellow wheel stickers that should have been prints after being used in so many sets....
And isn't this set rather sticker heavy in General for a Nintendo set? I can understand the optional ones, but still...
(and don't get me started on Speed Champions.....I've been building 77243 for two weeks now and I truly despise it.....hence why it's taking so long)
When this set was revealed it reminded me of the old Speed Racer sets. But this looks a lot better in person than the official images.
This looks like a pretty fun set. My kids and I played a lot of Mario Kart 8, so this might be a fun nostalgia set.
I really like Shy Guys, so I might have to get this sometime. I've been slowly building up my collection of Super Mario sets with some of the cheaper options.
Nice review!
I like the solution they came up with for having the car compatible with both three-stud-wide characters like Shy Guy and the four-stud-wide digi-figs. It's not a perfectly versatile solution—it wouldn't work on a shorter kart or bike that lacked space to slide out the extra seat from—but it works for this kart.
I'm glad this new wave has more glider options too—and this brick-built one is a nice "generic" option that's not branded with any one other character's iconography (it has Shy Guy tiles, but those are easily replaced).
So he's a fly guy AND a shy guy. Diana King, how do you want to handle this one?
@Crux said:
"So he's a fly guy AND a shy guy. Diana King, how do you want to handle this one?"
I bet she'll just send you to The Offspring....
@WizardOfOss said:
"(and don't get me started on Speed Champions.....I've been building 77243 for two weeks now and I truly despise it.....hence why it's taking so long)"
1st time?
@GusG said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"(and don't get me started on Speed Champions.....I've been building 77243 for two weeks now and I truly despise it.....hence why it's taking so long)"
1st time?
"
I have built Speed Champions before.....just so far avoided the particularly sticker-heavy ones. And not only are there many, but also lots of small ones that need to be aligned accurately.
And it's even more a shame because the build itself is actually pretty darn good.....
Even before I saw the first sentence of the article, I started thinking about what a P-Wing starfighter would look like.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Even before I saw the first sentence of the article, I started thinking about what a P-Wing starfighter would look like."
Off-hand, I'd say it would be more or less shaped like the letter 'P'.
@Crux said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"Even before I saw the first sentence of the article, I started thinking about what a P-Wing starfighter would look like."
Off-hand, I'd say it would be more or less shaped like the letter 'P'."
The B-Wing begs to differ.
I don't think I've seen a flag piece attached by only one clip in an official set before.
So I'm really in a dilemma. I really like the cars and characters for this new wave, and now want to collect them all from this year and display them. But I already really want the big display set:72037 . But I only have the room or the budget for one of the two. Any idea what I should do??
@aWm13007 said:
"So I'm really in a dilemma. I really like the cars and characters for this new wave, and now want to collect them all from this year and display them. But I already really want the big display set:72037 . But I only have the room or the budget for one of the two. Any idea what I should do??"
Run for president, I guess?
@Crux said:
" @aWm13007 said:
"So I'm really in a dilemma. I really like the cars and characters for this new wave, and now want to collect them all from this year and display them. But I already really want the big display set:72037 . But I only have the room or the budget for one of the two. Any idea what I should do??"
Run for president, I guess?"
And now I'm picturing a room in the White House dedicated to displaying Mario Kart sets. Maybe even with a MOCed track for them.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Crux said:
" @aWm13007 said:
"So I'm really in a dilemma. I really like the cars and characters for this new wave, and now want to collect them all from this year and display them. But I already really want the big display set:72037 . But I only have the room or the budget for one of the two. Any idea what I should do??"
Run for president, I guess?"
And now I'm picturing a room in the White House dedicated to displaying Mario Kart sets. Maybe even with a MOCed track for them."
Just imagine the state of the world if all the world-leaders would use just one of their yearly get-togethers, not to rattle their sabres, but to display their wonderful creations and maybe spend a few hours building together. It could be so therapeutic. It could heal such deep, ancient wounds.
Do you suppose we could just sign all of the world-leaders, without exception, up for a "Lego Masters: Heads of State"-edition? I dread the elimination-rounds, but other than that, it's a certified banger.
Nice review!
But the set isn't nothing special: the build doesn't even look like P-Wing enough, with all these details being omitted. Disappointing.