Super Mario 2021 - Rumors & Discussion

[Pulp Detective]

Do we know if the D2C will be Mario related? I know it's most likely is but I'm holding out hope that it's Zelda related.This year is the 25th anniversary of the franchise and I was hoping Lego would release some sets. 

[2lazeetomakeaname]

4 minutes ago, LOTR34 said:

Do we know if the D2C will be Mario related? I know it's most likely is but I'm holding out hope that it's Zelda related.This year is the 25th anniversary of the franchise and I was hoping Lego would release some sets. 

I think it's supposed to be a microscale Mario set

[Pulp Detective]

1 minute ago, 2lazeetomakeaname said:

I think it's supposed to be a microscale Mario set

That's even worse than what we got last year.Lego is doing everything to avoid having a minifigure scale Mario set. 

[kevkipo]

I've been wondering about a Lego Zelda theme as well, I heard rumours and rumblings last year when Mario was announced but it seems to all have died down. It would be nice if Lego could just give us a definitive "not for the foreeseable future" or something like that.

[Pulp Detective]

52 minutes ago, kevkipo said:

I've been wondering about a Lego Zelda theme as well, I heard rumours and rumblings last year when Mario was announced but it seems to all have died down. It would be nice if Lego could just give us a definitive "not for the foreeseable future" or something like that.

Lego is sitting on a goldmine.It would be foolish if they didn't take full advantage of this partnership.

Edited April 22, 2021 by LOTR34

[Fuppylodders]

I wonder if they're holding off on minifigures, to give this new version a clear chance to grow and gain a solid base. If we had minifigures, you'd probably see a good chunk of the current version fans move onto the minifigure stuff. Perhaps once this has settled and run it's course a bit, they'll move onto minifigure stuff, which to be honest, is almost a sure-fire guarantee that people will buy. If you give people what they immediately know they want, there's probably a less likely chance they'd venture away from that. Give people something a bit different with no former version to draw comparison to, they may be more likely to give it a chance and be open to something when it's the *only* thing they've had a chance to buy... 

 

[Lion King]

I’m not sure what is difference between mircofigure and nanofigure?

Anyways, would Super Mario have its own CMF Series? To clarify this quesiton, I’m not talking about Character Series. 

[BigGuy4U]

2 hours ago, DBlegonerd7 said:

I’m not sure what is difference between mircofigure and nanofigure?

Anyways, would Super Mario have its own CMF Series? To clarify this quesiton, I’m not talking about Character Series. 

The first one is a microfigure, the trophy that the minifigure is holding is a nanofigure.

There's no rumors for a traditional Super Mario CMF yet, there definitely won't be one this year.

[Lion King]

15 minutes ago, BigGuy4U said:

The first one is a microfigure, the trophy that the minifigure is holding is a nanofigure.

There's no rumors for a traditional Super Mario CMF yet, there definitely won't be one this year.

Thanks for pics! Well microfigure version of Mario? It doesn’t sound exciting to me. 

Yup, not this year. Looney Tunes CMF Series will be out on April 26th and Marvel CMF Series is jsut confirmed for September. 

So I would say it may not happen next year either but like you said, there are no proper rumors at the moment. 

[kevkipo]

20 hours ago, Fuppylodders said:

I wonder if they're holding off on minifigures, to give this new version a clear chance to grow and gain a solid base. If we had minifigures, you'd probably see a good chunk of the current version fans move onto the minifigure stuff. Perhaps once this has settled and run it's course a bit, they'll move onto minifigure stuff, which to be honest, is almost a sure-fire guarantee that people will buy. If you give people what they immediately know they want, there's probably a less likely chance they'd venture away from that. Give people something a bit different with no former version to draw comparison to, they may be more likely to give it a chance and be open to something when it's the *only* thing they've had a chance to buy... 

 

That's a very solid point actually, Lego and Nintendo might be playing the long game here

[Fuppylodders]

4 hours ago, kevkipo said:

That's a very solid point actually, Lego and Nintendo might be playing the long game here

Personally, I just hope it's not tooooo long because while it's a nice refreshing change on the normal lego stuff, and quite innovative, I'm just not into it, I want minifigs of mario/luigi etc and for the chance to get the legend of Zelda stuff... Thats where they'll gain free access to my bank account. 

 

I'm also wondering how long they can make the current rendition of sets go on for... Luigi is just released so he has a few waves to go, yoshi is brick built so won't be made digitally I highly doubt... Mushroom is also brick built as is all the bad guys including Bowser... So, this just leaves the princess/peach to potentially be made digital and get a few waves of her in it. And I guess if they really wanted to, make a digital Bowser at a stretch... Past any of that, it'll just be random waves of random layouts and different interchangeable costumes. 

This digital style could be lasting quite some time yet... 

I'll just quietly hold out hope for the D2C... 

[Just_a_brick]

I will say this 

Lego and Nintendo didn’t work on this iteration of sets for 4 years just to release a few waves.  Figs will come but don’t expect them so soon. 
 

I feel like it’s definitely plan B in case these sets flop but the theme has been a huge seller to LEGO. 

[Lyichir]

Back on the topic of the sets we know about... I only just noticed that the Bone Goomba in the Adventures with Luigi set has a new foot piece. It has one foot forward, as if it's walking. Not something I'd been expecting really, but it's interesting, and I suppose that might work better in the future for some "marching" enemies (like Ant Troopers, Blocksteppers, or Biddybuds) than the version with both feet planted to either side. It also makes the Bone Goomba from that set feel like slightly less of a repeat of the one from the character packs.

[Portal Out]

2 hours ago, Just_a_brick said:

I feel like it’s definitely plan B in case these sets flop but the theme has been a huge seller to LEGO. 

That’s a good way of putting it.  I feel like Lego wouldn’t sell minifigure sets and these current sets at the same time, and they’re probably gonna keep this iteration going until it’s no longer profitable.

[gedren_y]

5 hours ago, Fuppylodders said:

Personally, I just hope it's not tooooo long because while it's a nice refreshing change on the normal lego stuff, and quite innovative, I'm just not into it, I want minifigs of mario/luigi etc and for the chance to get the legend of Zelda stuff... Thats where they'll gain free access to my bank account. 

 

I'm also wondering how long they can make the current rendition of sets go on for... Luigi is just released so he has a few waves to go, yoshi is brick built so won't be made digitally I highly doubt... Mushroom is also brick built as is all the bad guys including Bowser... So, this just leaves the princess/peach to potentially be made digital and get a few waves of her in it. And I guess if they really wanted to, make a digital Bowser at a stretch... Past any of that, it'll just be random waves of random layouts and different interchangeable costumes. 

This digital style could be lasting quite some time yet... 

I'll just quietly hold out hope for the D2C... 

There are a couple more characters that would make sense as the playable digital figure. Wario makes some sense. I used to have one of the Warioland games for the original Game Boy.

[PGBQW]

I really want to get the dig figs, because they seem really fun, but I genuinely can't get myself to like the expansion sets.

[Fuppylodders]

12 minutes ago, PGBQW said:

I really want to get the dig figs, because they seem really fun, but I genuinely can't get myself to like the expansion sets.

Literally in the same boat. Maybe it's my urge just to get Mario and luigi in some manner of lego form, but, cool little desktop interactive things by themselves. 

I may just have to BrickLink them! 

 

5 hours ago, Just_a_brick said:

I will say this 

Lego and Nintendo didn’t work on this iteration of sets for 4 years just to release a few waves.  Figs will come but don’t expect them so soon. 
 

I feel like it’s definitely plan B in case these sets flop but the theme has been a huge seller to LEGO. 

Can very much agree with all of this. I'm really glad it's going well for them, I will be keeping an eye on what this theme releases as I do find it very interesting. 

[kevkipo]

23 hours ago, Portal Out said:

That’s a good way of putting it.  I feel like Lego wouldn’t sell minifigure sets and these current sets at the same time, and they’re probably gonna keep this iteration going until it’s no longer profitable.

That's valid but it doesn't explain the lack of different Nintendo properties being released as well? Why can't we have Zelda sets at the same time as this Mario theme?

[Portal Out]

9 minutes ago, kevkipo said:

That's valid but it doesn't explain the lack of different Nintendo properties being released as well? Why can't we have Zelda sets at the same time as this Mario theme?

Yeah, so many of the details about this Lego-Nintendo partnership don't make a ton of sense.  The only explanation for why I could imagine Lego is hesitant to expand into other Nintendo properties is because they got burned by Overwatch a few years back, and wanted to make sure Mario did well before going all in.

[gedren_y]

Was in one of the Lego aisles of Target yesterday, and a dad with two young boys came over to the Super Mario sets. The youngest was asking for Peach. I let them know that Lego hadn't made Peach yet, but that Luigi should be out in August. Lego knows what it is doing to appeal to it's core demographic with this theme.

[Lyichir]

On 4/24/2021 at 2:47 PM, Portal Out said:

Yeah, so many of the details about this Lego-Nintendo partnership don't make a ton of sense.  The only explanation for why I could imagine Lego is hesitant to expand into other Nintendo properties is because they got burned by Overwatch a few years back, and wanted to make sure Mario did well before going all in.

I think even without Overwatch both Lego and Nintendo have histories of being very cautious when it comes to licensing. The higher-ups at Lego have been leery about video game licenses for some time, and Nintendo is probably wanting to see results for Mario before they even consider licensing out smaller, riskier franchises. The same strategy seems to have been employed for the “Super Nintendo Land” park at Universal Studios Japan—start with Mario and expand out from there.

Another factor may be timing. Mario is a big franchise with a new release pretty much every year (and even a movie on the way), but for a franchise like Zelda that only gets a big game release every few years? It might feel like a less safe bet even if the sets are based on “legacy” games, especially since unlike Mario, most Zelda games look very different from one another (making it comparatively harder to appeal to all Zelda fans with any one release).

I do hope Lego is planning to take on Zelda next, but I don’t know if more minor franchises like Metroid or Star Fox are likely to see sets at all in the long run, given that they’re a good deal more niche than those big hitters despite how passionate their fans are. Best case scenario for  some franchises might be a Disney-style CMF series that could feature a wide variety of characters, if not their vehicles or settings.

 

[Fuppylodders]

On 4/25/2021 at 8:07 PM, Lyichir said:

I think even without Overwatch both Lego and Nintendo have histories of being very cautious when it comes to licensing. The higher-ups at Lego have been leery about video game licenses for some time, and Nintendo is probably wanting to see results for Mario before they even consider licensing out smaller, riskier franchises. The same strategy seems to have been employed for the “Super Nintendo Land” park at Universal Studios Japan—start with Mario and expand out from there.

Another factor may be timing. Mario is a big franchise with a new release pretty much every year (and even a movie on the way), but for a franchise like Zelda that only gets a big game release every few years? It might feel like a less safe bet even if the sets are based on “legacy” games, especially since unlike Mario, most Zelda games look very different from one another (making it comparatively harder to appeal to all Zelda fans with any one release).

I do hope Lego is planning to take on Zelda next, but I don’t know if more minor franchises like Metroid or Star Fox are likely to see sets at all in the long run, given that they’re a good deal more niche than those big hitters despite how passionate their fans are. Best case scenario for  some franchises might be a Disney-style CMF series that could feature a wide variety of characters, if not their vehicles or settings.

 

Couldn't agree more with everything you said. Literally, like you're in my mind 

 

Except.... What is this movie?? First I've heard about any movie! (I don't keep up to date with Nintendo stuff like I do with certain lego themes) 

[Lyichir]

3 minutes ago, Fuppylodders said:

Couldn't agree more with everything you said. Literally, like you're in my mind 

 

Except.... What is this movie?? First I've heard about any movie! (I don't keep up to date with Nintendo stuff like I do with certain lego themes) 

There's an animated Super Mario Bros. movie being produced by Illumination Entertainment, best known as the studio behind the Despicable Me/Minions movies! I'm generally hopeful for it both because Nintendo has nailed down what the Mario franchise should look and feel like a lot more than they had when the older, cyberpunk-flavored live-action movie came out, and because Illumination seems to have a good track record when it comes to fantasy/slapstick humor (which feels essential for a brand as colorful and cartoony as Mario). It's supposed to be due out next year, and I expect we'll be seeing Lego sets based on it as well due to Lego acquiring the Mario license as well as beginning their first licensing deal with illumination for Minions. No guarantees as to what that might look like yet, but a big movie release like that might be a good chance for Lego to expand the theme beyond the digi-fig compatible sets that are out currently, potentially including things like BrickHeadz, a CMF series, and/or minifig-scale sets.

[cosmic]

I don’t buy this theme but i just wanted to opine. Looking at the buildable character pack I realize how convenient it is to brick build all these characters because of the size and detail each requires. If it was smaller I can imagine lego being faced with the reality of making each a specialized piece. With this format Lego makes the character packs do-able, and Mario looks very chibi like. He looks exactly like the overhead view of modern Nintendo character animations. He looks perfect. And the mechanism of the connectable video game like builds to me, is genius. I agree a minifigure scale Bowser final battle set is definitely a must have and buy, and the expense of adding a new theme is why I don’t indulge in these but I think they’re neat. Maybe buying them physically may change my mind but as of now I see the scale good for 

• creating a building system that works like a video game

• recreating the chibi like design of Nintendo DS characters

• effectively introducing the charcter pack designs with as little new moulds as possible

• creating a system bulky enough so kids can throw the characters around like a video game without losing small parts.

 

I’d love to see a mini figure scale set, but this current system I think is genius.

 

Edit: just found out about the power up pack suits. I guess Lego could print those different designs on torsos and legs and produce only the hat swap pieces as peg-ons to a hole in a minifig scale hairpiece, but that ability to swap costumes also works so perfectly for this line. I think the system lego introduced is genius for Nintendo Mario. He looks like a video game design, the builds connect like a video game, his suits are customizable , its genius.

Edited April 28, 2021 by cosmic

[Lion King]

I’m not sure if it’s ok to talk about but it’s my pure opinion. Well, if Mario movie is in work, I think Lego may plan on movie-inspired sets that are not for video games. That would be great! If Lego would do minifigure-scale Mario characters, that would be great too. I really don’t collect any NES-based sets, to be honest. So I think it would be neat to see non-NES sets in a few years from now.