Being able to feel for the character I’ve wanted has been a rarity in recent releases as stores have stopped selling them altogether or moved them to behind the counter and you have to ask for them. As you can see the price bump isn’t completely unjustified as you get a lot more stuff (compared to Series 4’s Freezie) and it does look more substantial.

The action begins with the Adventures with Mario or Luigi Starter Course sets, featuring the highly interactive LEGO® Luigi or Mario figure. LEGO® Mario reacts in a variety of ways as he meets enemies and collects coins. Series 5 flips the script, and sees LEGO moving the format from 10-character sets, to 8-character complete sets, as well as introduces slightly larger and detailed models, but the big change is the shift from plastic blind bags to these small boxes. Ever since 1958, LEGO® components have met strict industry standards to ensure they are consistent and compatible for a simple, secure connection every time. For the next series I’d learnt by then that you could get the whole series by purchasing a whole row of a new box, so I purposely hunted out for weeks trying to find a store with an unopened box. This worked, and then – low and behold, Lego went the dodgy again and for the next couple of series didn’t even include 2 full sets in the next box. Also very anti consumer, artificially driving up the rarity of a couple of the characters in my opinion, and making collecting full sets super hard (what do you do with the not quite complete second set in the box?) Still, hope LEGO continues to have success with it. Just wish it was Crash Bandicoot or something… :)"Also bare in mind that lots of people wont comment on a thread about Lego Mario that Lego Mario is selling well in their area, as that is the default assumption. This feels like its encouraging an element of gambling, which I don’t believe is compatible with LEGO’s values, especially as these are aimed at kids. It also makes people more likely to buy more and more to get the characters they want, which encourages waste. I don’t know why they couldn’t just make sure the list of names matched up with the characters in the lineup photo. The yellow action stands and the trans-yellow hand-lightning are the only two parts that immediately draw my interest, but does Crowber come with a new color of base to represent sky? For those thinking blind bags aren’t gambling: https://neurosciencenews.com/blind-bag-child-gambling-15348/. That’s just one article and there are many. Also, I recommend looking up what a Skinner Box is. The Waddlewing’s face is painted on, and the build was pretty fun – I like the confident and cute expression, but would’ve liked it to look fatter. A curved protruding tummy would’ve been nice.

Maybe Huw can add a filter by country to the number of members owning the set such that when displaying the search result, the number of members owning the set from a particular country can be seen. Also, there's probably a big difference between continents for some lines. As Huw said in the past, Technic is not as big a thing in North America as it is in Europe. Vidiyo seems to be doing quite well in North America. Maybe the Nintendo line doesn't work as well in Australia?" Add these characters to the Starter Course, rearrange it and combine with LEGO® Super Mario™ Expansion Sets to create new solo challenges and competitions with friends and family.The Adventures with Mario Starter Course (71360), featuring the LEGO® Mario™ figure, is needed for the full play experience. As LEGO Mario jumps on these characters, he reacts in various ways. Not necessarily. They could simply roll it out because they had planned to, anyway, and cancelling the product would be more expensive then just firing it out. You know, it's not like they are deciding this from month to month or even every half year. Lead-in times for such products can be two years and longer and you wouldn't notice it.

Lego teased yet more Super Mario sets were on the way recently with an update to its Mario toy that made the plumber begin to cry out for his brother. Now that's pester power.However, if sales are negatively affected, lego will likely do what they should have at first and added a QR code to verify the contents. Doing that would solve the problem from the consumer’s standpoint, while still making them money. This is our one shot to send the message early that what they’re doing is wrong. Sadly, I don’t have much faith that enough people will take a stand. Having just got the starter set, I can see the appeal for people- my 4yr old adores Mario and making him “courses” bouncing on baddies etc