Review: Super Mario Character Packs
Posted by Huw,
71361 Character Packs provide a colourful collection of creatures to supplement the Super Mario starter set, 71360.
The random bags are packed in boxes of 20 which contain two complete sets of ten. If you want them all, it's likely that buying a sealed box will be the easiest way. You can always sell on the second set if you don't want them for yourself.
The creatures each have a unique barcode sticker but some of them share the same actual barcode, so have the same in-game effect. Six of them exhibit the standard 1-stomp for 1-coin behaviour but others are a bit more interesting.
Blooper, Urchin and Eep Cheep
These three aquatic foes share the same barcode and can be defeated with a single 'stomp' (a scan of their barcode) and yield one coin every time you do so.
As I have no idea who any of these creatures are, I've had to research them at the Super Mario Wiki. I thought it would be worthwhile adding information from there in case you have no idea either:
- Bloopers are squid-like creatures that are found in the ocean.
- Urchins are spiked aquatic creatures that have appeared as enemies throughout the Mario franchise. As their name and appearance suggest, they are based on real-life sea urchins.
- An Eep Cheep is a variant of Cheep Cheeps, a fish enemy. They are similar in appearance although they are yellow in colour, and will swim away from Mario when he gets close.
As parts packs, they contain a lot of useful and interesting pieces, particularly Urchin who contains 6 bright orange 1x1 pyramids, which are new, and a 2x2 'splat' gear. Surprisingly, the medium lavender 2x2 plates on his side are new, too.
Bullet Bill, Fuzzy and Paragoomba
The three share the same barcode (which is same as that on the Goombas in the other sets) and are defeated with a single stomp which yields one coin.
From Super Mario Wiki:
- Bullet Bills are bullet-like projectiles in the Mario franchise. They are shot out of Bill Blasters and are usually under Bowser's control, acting as enemies of Mario
- Fuzzies are small, black-furred creatures with unusual, spiky bodies. They possess two strabismus eyes and large teeth. Despite displaying some level of intelligence and the ability to speak, Fuzzies are, for the most part, wild.
- Paragoombas are Goombas that have small wings protruding from either their head or torso.
Fuzzy is attached to the base via a hinge so can be pushed forwards to access the barcode.
Buzzy Beetle and Spiny
This pair share the same barcode and are defeated with two stomps which yields three coins.
- Buzzy Beetles, also referred to as Buzzies, are common, quadruped, turtle-like Koopa enemies with hard, outer shells that are often dark blue.
- Spinies are small, spine-shelled quadrupedal Koopas with a menacing look
The shell-like piece DECORATION ELEMENT 4X4, NO. 1 and DECORATION ELEMENT 4X4, NO. 2 are new in Super Mario sets and in these colours are unique to the character packs.
Both creatures contain two of the new feet piece which are printed to resemble paws.
Bob-omb and Peepa
From a gameplay perspective these two are the most interesting.
After scanning Bob-omb for the first time, a timer is started. The second and subsequent scans will yield one coin and if you're still scanning when the timer ends (5 seconds or so) Mario is stunned. Other commentators have suggested that coins are lost in this scenario but that hasn't been the case when I've tried. I think the timer is stopped after a certain number of scans.
I've been awarded more coins than stomps on occasions but I don't know why. One thing that I did discover, though, is that if you scan the star power-up found in 71367 Mario's House & Yoshi first you will receive 10 points after one stomp, but only the first time. This also prevents the timer from being started.
Peepa cannot be defeated without first scanning the star power-up and yields 12 coins after one stomp.
- Bob-ombs are living, moving mechanical bombs with eyes, feet, and a wind-up key on the back.
- Peepas are small, white ghosts with stubby arms, black eyes with white pupils and a permanently smiling mouth which shows its two teeth.
Verdict
It's been interesting researching the characters and testing their behaviour. I'm still not sure exactly how Bob-omb behaves and it's frustrating that it's not documented anywhere: you're left to trial and error to work it out for yourself.
As blind bags, they are colourful, collectable and appealing. Especially so, I suspect, if you're familiar with the creatures' appearances in the games. As far as feeling them out before you buy, I suspect it would be difficult given the number of indistinct small pieces. Other than the shells, there's not much else to feel for. In any case, it's probably not a good idea to fiddle with packets in toy shops at the moment, anyway...
Thanks to Minifigure Maddness for selling me a complete box.
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34 comments on this article
These are super neat, I love the Peepa, what an underrated enemy
These are really neat. I love the brick-built characters, and I love that they each come with a sort of mini-diorama to place them in. One especially great thing about these is that most Mario levels have more than one of any given enemy type—so getting duplicates, while possibly still a little disappointing if you were hoping for a figure you don't have yet, still can be beneficial since basically every enemy can be an "army builder".
I'm not sure which of these would be my favorite... probably the Blooper, since I love cephalopods in real life and Lego has perfectly captured the Mario enemy's pudgy, rocket-like shape with only a few pieces. But the Spiny, Buzzy Beetle, Fuzzy, and Peepa are also standouts. The Bob-omb offers the most unique gameplay yet is simultaneously perhaps the least "essential" of the blind-bags since unlike the others it also is reliably available in one of the larger sets.
The Spiny does highlight a little oddity about Lego Mario... since his only means of interacting with figs normally is to jump on them, he can jump on Spiny to defeat him without damage despite the spikes being harmful in most games. Normally to defeat a Spiny Mario would have to use fireballs, a shell from a spike-less Koopa, or an item like an invincibility star or Goomba's shoe. Perhaps Lego could have made the Spiny require a star to defeat like Peepa, but it seems like they've instead opted to treat it and other spiked enemies like Pokey, Bowser, and Bowser Jr. as jumpable like ordinary enemies and reserved the requirement to have star power for less common enemies like Boo and Peepa.
I do hope these are successful and that another series is produced. Some Mario enemies might be too big to include in blind-bags of this size, but others could be a good fit. Some possibilities include Galoombas (slightly more durable Goombas that need to be flipped to be defeated), Bone Goombas (spooky Goombas with skull helmets), Bony Beetles (skeletal Buzzy Beetles that can appear spiked or spikeless), Crowbers (flying crow enemies), Stingbies (flying bee enemies), Scaredy Rats (ground-based rat enemies), Octoombas (extraterrestrial alien Goombas), Deep Cheeps or Spiny Cheep Cheeps (more aggressive Cheep Cheeps that live underwater), Fish Bones (undead underwater fish skeletons) Freezies (chunks of living ice that freeze anything they touch), and Mechakoopas (wind-up Koopa robots that Bowser uses as guards).
For the bob-omb the words ‘mechanical’ and ‘living’ are pretty contradictory...
Great review! Actually makes me want a whole load of these colourful little sprites!
Anyone have any idea where to buy a complete box of these? The above-mentioned minifigure maddness is selling joblots of three complete boxes, which just seems, well, madness...
Yes it's maddness! It's probably to keep profit margins up.
I really wish good luck for lego selling a lot of it, but from my point of view it’s hard to imagine how this theme can be successful in 2020...
I just love those, all of them! By far my favourite sets in the entire series. And again not a sticker to be applied in sight!
They're all great and my son loves them. Funnily enough I ordered 10 blind bags from shop @home and got 1 of each character!
Bob-omb works as follows:
You hit him, and the timer begins.
You begin stomping as many times as you can.
If you stop before he explodes, Mario gets coins for doing stomps (more stomps = more coins)
If the timer goes off and he explodes, Mario gets dazed and doesn’t get any coins from the bomb. (When people say you lose coins, they mean all the coins you collected by stomping)
Hope that helps!
Another wonderful review! I bought a box and plan on opening and building shortly.
@Lyichir said:
"Normally to defeat a Spiny Mario would have to use fireballs"
The fire costume throws fireballs so they could have made it undefeatable without it.
@Huw said:
" @Lyichir said:
"Normally to defeat a Spiny Mario would have to use fireballs"
The fire costume throws fireballs so they could have made it undefeatable without it.
"
Yeah, but even with the Fire Mario costume, don't you need to stomp the enemy after throwing fireballs to scan it and deal the "finishing blow"?
@Lyichir said:
"Yeah, but even with the Fire Mario costume, don't you need to stomp the enemy after throwing fireballs to scan it and deal the "finishing blow"?"
Yes, true.
The character packs do look good. It reads like Super Mario may be growing on you since last Friday, Huw. Perhaps you are becoming the intended audience with intending to be so?
@BulbaNerd4000 said:
"Bob-omb works as follows:
You hit him, and the timer begins.
You begin stomping as many times as you can.
If you stop before he explodes, Mario gets coins for doing stomps (more stomps = more coins)
If the timer goes off and he explodes, Mario gets dazed and doesn’t get any coins from the bomb. (When people say you lose coins, they mean all the coins you collected by stomping)
Hope that helps!"
That is logically how one would expect it to work, but my experimentation suggests that it's not the case.
When the timer ends, Mario is stunned but the coins gained from scanning Bob-omba are not lost and you can continue to gather coins once he's gained his composure.
Also, it seems that if you scan Bob-omba five times in quick succession the timer is stopped and you receive 12 additional coins, to total 17.
I'm testing by doing nothing but scanning start, scanning Bob, then scanning end once the test is over.
I welcome input from others on this.
Best value for money on all Collectible packs so far (you get 3-4x the weight of a minifigure in parts). I loved them and they are much easier to feel than minifigures.
But the new HP Series 2 will be awesome too with all those nice prints and exclusive parts that LEGO did not even try to replicate in the normal HP sets.
This is one instance where getting multiple of an specific enemy isn't a problem as they are generic adversaries bur it's strange that the Spiny can be defeated using regular stomps as they tend to carry a spike on top as well (they should be therefore be deafeted only with the fire flower or the star). Each and every pack has some useful parts specially the undersea plants as well the feet of the Spiny and the Beattle, thanks for your review.
Anyone else got misprint for bullet bill? Mine did ... https://youtu.be/K_LfsN3wXS4
I want the starter pack just so I can get these.
@BulbaNerd4000 said:
"Bob-omb works as follows:
You hit him, and the timer begins.
You begin stomping as many times as you can.
If you stop before he explodes, Mario gets coins for doing stomps (more stomps = more coins)
If the timer goes off and he explodes, Mario gets dazed and doesn’t get any coins from the bomb. (When people say you lose coins, they mean all the coins you collected by stomping)
Hope that helps!"
Yes! Helps a lot! Thanks
I found a comment on one of Just2Good’s videos that said that you could make a more accurate Spiny interaction by using the Peepa tile. Maybe it’s changing the rules a bit but it could work.
At first i was like Meh about the super mario bros theme but now its really grown on me :D
After getting the Starter Pack I decided to grab all these blind bags first while the same price as a minifig at our local Big W. Managed to find all 10. Fun to build with my daughter.
Only thing missing would be a 2x4 plate to allow it to add on easily regardless on what other Mario sets you have. And easy to hide under the base if collected just for display.
The last collectable minifigure line that came out? I took a pair of disposable gloves with me into the toy shop. They were fine with me feeling the packets (to get the figures that I wanted), but they asked me to wear the gloves first (which I was okay with. And I knew they would, which is why I took them).
These characters are great. Nice little builds.
Not only that, but the included stands are fantastic little mini-vignettes of classic Super Mario scenery.
Peepa also features the same barcode as ‘Boo’ in 71369 Boswers Castle Boss Battle, although peep A’s tile is round, and Boo’s square
I am not really a Mario expert, but I think these packs give some nice and relatively rare pieces for a reasonable price!
@Huw said:
" @Lyichir said:
"Normally to defeat a Spiny Mario would have to use fireballs"
The fire costume throws fireballs so they could have made it undefeatable without it."
We were this close to LEGO Super Mario becoming pay-to-win. Wow! Gotta commend them for having the foresight to avert that.
The only one of these that I'm interested in is the Peepa, and that's only because I realized it's a ghost that I can add to the army of ghosts that I have the Ghostbusters fight. I need to get Moaning Myrtle and Nearly Headless Nick to add to the pile as well.
One row from a sealed box should have a complete set. This was my experience, and others in my Facebook group are reporting the same
I don't like the current Mario LEGO sets at all (despite being a big Mario fan), but these character packs are very nice and I'll probably try to get them all.
@bananaworld said:
"
Great review! Actually makes me want a whole load of these colourful little sprites!
Anyone have any idea where to buy a complete box of these? The above-mentioned minifigure maddness is selling joblots of three complete boxes, which just seems, well, madness..."
I went into the lego store and they gave me all ten instead of buying multiple random ones
This is the first time I've purchased a full box of "CMFs." Partially because the builds are so much more substantial, partially because less of them are in a box so its cheaper, partially because the box comes with exactly two sets which makes the collection look nice, partially because every single one is massable making extras welcome, and partially because this is the first time since Series 14 I've wanted a full Blind Bag wave.
The only possible flaw I could see with the series is that Bob Omb also comes with the Guarded Fortress, but this doesn't personally bother me because it's a massable enemy anyway so having one extra from a $50 set isn't gonna make that much of a dent in your collection or display.
@Fodder said:
"One row from a sealed box should have a complete set. This was my experience, and others in my Facebook group are reporting the same"
Unfortunately, this is not my case.
I bought "one row" from LEGO store today. No touching allowed.
The brick specialist was kind enough to get one row for me from a sealed box upon request.
To test my "feeling" skill, I felt before opening each bag, leaving duplicated bags unopened.
In the end, I got two sets of Paragoomba, Buzzy Beetle, Bob-omb, Blooper, Urchin, one set (5 bags) opened, the other 5 bags unopened.