LEGO announces 1900-piece Mario Kart set!

Gotta love that they used the MK8 design for the kart, even though MK9 (Which has a redesigned kart) is releasing this summer.

It looks really good, very accurate in a lot of ways.

I'm not sure I see 2000pcs though.

Im confused by the price - Showing at £149,99 on Lego UK, not £139,99 as in this article (and elsewhere)

FYI
£149.99 on Lego Uk

Okay, so the promo covered most of the extended family (Maros, Marob, Maro T, Maro B, and Marog), and now they’re announcing a set to celebrate Mayis? Makes total sense. Oh, and it would look better with a plaque and a minifig sitting next to it.

they will do anything but minifigures! how sad.

I find it funny how they're focusing so much on Mario Kart 8 this year, the same year a brand new Mario Kart with brand new designs for everything (including the characters) is coming out. All these new Lego Sets are gonna feel outdated pretty soon.

Woah. That thing is cool, and looks better than it has any right to look.

Let's a go driving.

I must have that mustache plate...

This looks ace. Cant justify or room to display it, but, hey lol

Hmm... steering wheel is too small, right?

https://www.mariowiki.com/Standard_Kart

@daniellesa said:
"What amazes me is the contrast between this and 76443, which looked quite freakish and unrealistic, yet this looks very smooth and life-like."
Human vs. cartoon characters... they had a harder job with 76553.

Looks really good, almost like a sculpture. Even though I'm still salty about them refusing to do proper minifigures and Mario Kart being the last hope of ever seeing it come to reality, I'll still buy this at the usual 35-40% discount ofc.

@MrBedhead said:
" @finlayspencerknight21 said:
"they will do anything but minifigures! how sad."
My guess is that this is mostly a Nintendo decision. They are notoriously picky when it comes to what they allow license holders do do and what not."
Or someone else has the license for such toys, e.g. Jakks Pacific (see what happened with Funko Pops based on Star Wars... they had to be bobbleheads).

Just realized they could have tweaked the part count a little to get 1992, the year Mario Kart released. Now I'm disappointed, LEGO.

They've actually done quite a good job, surprisingly.

I really like this, though I'm iffy on his hands. I'm also trying to get a feel for how big it will be. It's designed so well that it takes me a minute to put it into LEGO perspective.

Very tempting pickup for my gaming room. It's a wee bit expensive, and I am more interested in any Zelda release that comes out this year, but I'm considering it.

@yellowcastle said:
"I really like this, though I'm iffy on his hands. I'm also trying to get a feel for how big it will be. It's designed so well that it takes me a minute to put it into LEGO perspective."

32cm long according to the back of the box.

I ussually hate these types of Lego but this one looks amazing.

@yellowcastle said:
" @TheOriginalSimonB said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"I really like this, though I'm iffy on his hands. I'm also trying to get a feel for how big it will be. It's designed so well that it takes me a minute to put it into LEGO perspective."

32cm long according to the back of the box."

Runs to his Convert to Imperial calculator. :o)"

12.6 proper units. (Inches. We’re talking about inches, here, not “a unit whose cube is based on the volume occupied by the cube of this unit”.)

Interesting coincidence, Huwbot.

I just want a brick built Mario for $60-70. I don't care about the car.

@HOBBES said:
Mario has 3 knuckle's holes on his driving gloves but has 4 fingers on each hand (which is rare for cartoon-ish characters - usually they are shown/drawn with 3)

I'm pretty sure those aren't meant to be knuckle holes like on driving gloves (after all, in all of Mario's various appearances they never show the skin underneath). Looking it up because I was curious and actually don't know a lot of glove terminology, I think like Mickey Mouse's gloves, the ovals on the back of Mario's are meant to be a simplified cartoon depiction of "points"—lines of stitched seams on the back of some styles of leather gloves to aid in their shaping, which often appear in groups of three like these.

@bnic99 said:
"LEGO really will do everything but minifigs for Mario huh.....

This does look really good though!"

I'm just curious, maybe they are not allowed to do minifigures from the company... example you get the ip but no minifigures blah blah...

@HOBBES said:
"Mario has 3 knuckle's holes on his driving gloves but has 4 fingers on each hand (which is rare for cartoon-ish characters - usually they are shown/drawn with 3)"

Mario has 5 fingers, his thumb can only be seen from certain angles here.

Imagine they give the same amount of attention to Marvel sets as well... The designers are creating winners for Mario. I really like the Piranha (got this one coz its so cute!), Bowser and now this one. I won't buy them all but the designers are really pulling all the stops.

@Lyichir:
Pictures I’m seeing show some versions of Mario with three solid black darts on the back of the hand, like those on Mickey’s gloves, while others show three ovals (black line, white center) on the knuckles like this. All of these pictures also show him with four fingers. They don’t make sense as decorative darts due to their shape and where they’re located on the hand. They also don’t make sense as knuckle holes because they’re between the knuckles rather than over them. It could very well be the case that the black darts were taken from Mickey (Japan has a deeper fascination with all things Disney than the US does, and Astro Boy is even based entirely on Mickey’s design), and that this version of the glove was designed by someone who has zero understanding about gloves beyond that you wear them on your hands.

@Fan_Of_Bricks:
4x fingers, 1x thumb. Thumbs are frequently counted separately because they are functionally different.

Looks good, now where are the minifigure sets?

new mustache piece!

Looks beautifull. If I get it, I'll try to remove him from the cart. Mario would look perfect as a stand alone set.

Oh look another huge expensive set...

Absolutely love this! Bummer they couldn't add 20 more pieces as Mario Kart released in 1992 and they have 1972 parts!!!

@daniellesa said:
"What amazes me is the contrast between this and 76443 , which looked quite freakish and unrealistic, yet this looks very smooth and life-like.

Not interested, but got to applaud the designer for skilful execution."

But that's like 3 times the set size, and likely budget to make more custom parts/prints, while keeping revenue, and I also think Mario + a Kart will sell a whole lot more of those sets, despite the much higher price.

A badly designed / unpopular large set will hit sales/retirement quickly, as seen with some recent ones.

I doubt LEGO would even sell that many hagrid motorcycles if it were a similar €170 18+ set.

Harry Potter license is running a bit on fumes right now, until that planned 7 season tv/steaming show will provide a next generation of new Harry Potter content.

Quite noticeable in what they are doing with the theme right now, instead of repeating standard playsets, they cover a bit more of the previously uncovered subjects, or even if it's similar/repeated, a lot of it comes at a larger or more detailed scale, partially AFOL focused even outside of the 18+ sets.

I love it, but it seems odd to me that they would announce it on March 10th instead of releasing it on March 10th.

@TeriXeri:
I feel it’s hard to get an accurate read on it right now. The recent video game reportedly did very well, in spite of the fractured state of the fandom. The 2024 HPAC was nearly impossible to find, and never (that I saw) hit discount like the other five Advent Calendars. HP content still draw a lot of positive attention at shows that I’ve participated in.

Did the fandom see a reduction? Absolutely, but how much is the question. Being very vocal about it doesn’t change the numbers involved, and basic demographics make me doubt the exodus was as large as claimed.

However, there could be other things at play. If the main fanbase is starting to have kids of their own, they may have had to step back from expensive hobbies. Or some people may have just gotten more selective about which sets they purchase, instead of building up a fleet of castles.

But there’s no guarantee the show will translate to toy sales, either. It won’t be as accessible as the films, and will be constantly compared to them as well. They have access to any DC shows that are exclusive to HBO, but this could be the first time they actually release sets based on an HBO Original series, so there’s nothing to gauge that by.

It’s me, Mario!

@kkoster79 said:
"Absolutely love this! Bummer they couldn't add 20 more pieces as Mario Kart released in 1992 and they have 1972 parts!!! "

I mean, they tweaked 21309 to get it to 1969 pieces...

@TheOtherMike said:
" @kkoster79 said:
"Absolutely love this! Bummer they couldn't add 20 more pieces as Mario Kart released in 1992 and they have 1972 parts!!! "

I mean, they tweaked 21309 to get it to 1969 pieces..."

Exactly!

@PurpleDave said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @TheOriginalSimonB said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"I really like this, though I'm iffy on his hands. I'm also trying to get a feel for how big it will be. It's designed so well that it takes me a minute to put it into LEGO perspective."

32cm long according to the back of the box."

Runs to his Convert to Imperial calculator. :o)"

12.6 proper units. (Inches. We’re talking about inches, here, not “a unit whose cube is based on the volume occupied by the cube of this unit”.)"

However, an inch is defined as exactly as 2.54cm, and it has been that way since 1959. I don't know exactly what your definition of meter is though.

Edit: I do however like this set, I hope there are instructions to motorize it

The molded Duplo bananas piece would probably scale well with this.

@Chopstix89 said:
" However, an inch is defined as exactly as 2.54cm, and it has been that way since 1959. I don't know exactly what your definition of meter is though."

A cubic centimeter is a milliliter, and a milliliter is a cubic centimeter. Metric is based primarily around making it easy to convert between units, but got clogged up with a metric crapton of useless units of measure as a result (which is supported by the fact that the vast majority of these are no longer “official”). Imperial was based around the units of measure that were functionally more useful. The math is hard in Imperial because the units frequently have very little to do with each other, but the math is largely meaningless in Metric because you rarely achieve anything by it. And the only reason the inch is pegged to the centimeter is that, prior to the Metric system, the inch was only vaguely defined. The centimeter was very rigidly (if incorrectly) defined, and by keeping one system locked to the other, it eliminates the need to change all of the relationships down the line.

But it’s worth noting that, all around the world, many things (particularly building construction and cooking) are still essentially defined in terms of Imperial measurements, and only labeled in Metric because the law says they have to. Why? Because Metric wasn’t based around human physiology or experiences.

This looks amazing! It would look good besides the big Mighty Bowser! I hope theres an alternate build where Mario can stand on his legs.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Chopstix89 said:
" However, an inch is defined as exactly as 2.54cm, and it has been that way since 1959. I don't know exactly what your definition of meter is though."

A cubic centimeter is a milliliter, and a milliliter is a cubic centimeter. Metric is based primarily around making it easy to convert between units, but got clogged up with a metric crapton of useless units of measure as a result (which is supported by the fact that the vast majority of these are no longer “official”). Imperial was based around the units of measure that were functionally more useful. The math is hard in Imperial because the units frequently have very little to do with each other, but the math is largely meaningless in Metric because you rarely achieve anything by it. And the only reason the inch is pegged to the centimeter is that, prior to the Metric system, the inch was only vaguely defined. The centimeter was very rigidly (if incorrectly) defined, and by keeping one system locked to the other, it eliminates the need to change all of the relationships down the line.

But it’s worth noting that, all around the world, many things (particularly building construction and cooking) are still essentially defined in terms of Imperial measurements, and only labeled in Metric because the law says they have to. Why? Because Metric wasn’t based around human physiology or experiences."

Coincidentally, one thing cubic centimeters (cc) are used for even in countries which mainly use imperial measurements is to measure the volume of engine displacement in internal combustion engines, which in turn became used as a shorthand for the various speed/difficulty modes in the Mario Kart series (with 50cc being the slowest and most forgiving, and 200cc being the fastest requiring skilled braking and drifting to stay on the track).

@Lyichir said:
"Coincidentally, one thing cubic centimeters (cc) are used for even in countries which mainly use imperial measurements is to measure the volume of engine displacement in internal combustion engines, which in turn became used as a shorthand for the various speed/difficulty modes in the Mario Kart series (with 50cc being the slowest and most forgiving, and 200cc being the fastest requiring skilled braking and drifting to stay on the track)."

Not so coincidentally, since all modern passenger vehicles that I know of are built in Metric, to more easily incorporate into the global supply chain. Technically, I think it’s more stuff like motorcycle engines that are measured that way, with larger enclosed vehicles being measured in liters (my vehicle is a 3.0L, which would be 3000cc). But that’s fitting, since Mario Kart is go-kart racing, which would involve dinky 2-stroke engines like a starter motorcycle.

The only other thing I know of that’s measured in cc in the US is medicine. Partly this is, again, probably due to global supply chain, but “cc” is also incredibly fast to say compared to any alternative (including the cumbersome “milliliter” that rolls off your tongue like a mouthful of peanut butter when you’re dehydrated), and it allows for a very minute increase in dosage.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Chopstix89 said:
" However, an inch is defined as exactly as 2.54cm, and it has been that way since 1959. I don't know exactly what your definition of meter is though."

A cubic centimeter is a milliliter, and a milliliter is a cubic centimeter. Metric is based primarily around making it easy to convert between units, but got clogged up with a metric crapton of useless units of measure as a result (which is supported by the fact that the vast majority of these are no longer “official”). Imperial was based around the units of measure that were functionally more useful. The math is hard in Imperial because the units frequently have very little to do with each other, but the math is largely meaningless in Metric because you rarely achieve anything by it. And the only reason the inch is pegged to the centimeter is that, prior to the Metric system, the inch was only vaguely defined. The centimeter was very rigidly (if incorrectly) defined, and by keeping one system locked to the other, it eliminates the need to change all of the relationships down the line.

But it’s worth noting that, all around the world, many things (particularly building construction and cooking) are still essentially defined in terms of Imperial measurements, and only labeled in Metric because the law says they have to. Why? Because Metric wasn’t based around human physiology or experiences."

That is not what defines a centimeter though, a centimeter is 1/10th of a meter. A meter is defined as being the speed light travels in a vacuum in 1/299792458th of a second. Metric is a much simpler system using base 10 numbers. There really are not that many units in metric, I see meter, liter.. what am I missing? what else do we measure things in? Kilometer (Kilo - 1000 meters) Hectometer (Never used, hecto means 100- meters) Decameter (Very rarely used Deca means 10 meters) centimeters (Centi) - 1/10) Milli (1/1000).. an inch is what.. 12 barleycorns? and there are 4 poppy seeds to a barleycorn, or was it 3? and then.. you get 3 feet to a yard, and how many yards to a mile..?
I work in the trades, a lot of our building materials come in in metric, we provide metric products, a lot of our European customers and Mexican customers use metric in their building measurements. Most of the baking books I own have measurements in metric. Physics internationally is done in metric. NASA (You know, the space agency of the USA) uses metric. Metric is not harder, there are not more units, the units are self explanatory. Most of the world uses metric. The rest of the world has to adapt to imperial because the USA will not switch to metric, I imagine it is because it would just be logistically very challenging to change, and I don't see why they (Or any country) would want to add problems to their own country.
Edit to add about medicine, when is the last time you had to take a dram (or drachm) of medicine? I don't think most people would understand if I told them they should take 9drams of a medicine. Americans love guns, so I actually would guess they would understand if I said take 9grains of a medicine though.

That's a lot of newly shaped bricks. I don't really like that path. New pieces are welcome, but in this set there are too many. I think it's more impressive to build such sets with the current inventory (colours aside) of bricks, than to create all those new bricks to cover those curves and angles. Feels like the easiest way (and therefor less interesting).

@AfterBeat said:
"That's a lot of newly shaped bricks. I don't really like that path. New pieces are welcome, but in this set there are too many. I think it's more impressive to build such sets with the current inventory (colours aside) of bricks, than to create all those new bricks to cover those curves and angles. Feels like the easiest way (and therefor less interesting)."

"A lot" is a big stretch...I see '4' pieces for sure, specifically the nose and the mustache. The other two "new" pieces with the logos (the round plate and the half circle) are arguablly not new. There are round plates that size already but I think the current/past production of them had 4 studs in the middle. The half circle piece could have been done with two quarter circle pieces already in production, but then we would have had a line in the middle of the logo.

I bet the main reason for the new pieces had to do with Nintendo's requirements. I bet they tried to make the nose and mustache but couldn't meet the IPs specifications.

Some IP owners are very particular about their brand (Games Workshop and WH40k come to mind; they tend to be heavily involved with third parties using their IPs, one specific instance is the development of Space Marine 2).

@Prof_Physika said:
"Barely even looks like LEGO."

THAT'S the beauty of it. I'm finding myself drawn more and more to those brick built models that don't even resemble the medium in final form. Simply amazing design and execution.