The LEGO Super Mario theme has produced many fun and playable sets since it premiered in 2020. Fans of the theme have lots of options to choose from, including LEGO Super Mario 71411 The Mighty Bowser set and several play scenes inspired by the video game. And now, one of the franchise’s most popular enemies, the dreaded piranha plant, joins the lineup. LEGO Super Mario 71426 Piranha Plant comes with 540 pieces and will be available on November 6th for US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £57.99
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
Unboxing the parts and instructions
The set comes in a tall black box that fits the shape of the finished model. Its image is featured on the front of the box, along with the Super Mario branding. The 18+ band along the bottom has red parts that go along with the color of the plant head. The back of the box shows the piranha plant from the front, posed at a tilt. Below this image is a row of 3 smaller pictures of the plant from different angles, and placed upon a shelf.
Inside the box there are six numbered bags and an instruction booklet. There are no stickers in the set, but instead, there are eight printed sloped parts with two different patterns for the piranha plant’s iconic spotted look. The booklet includes some fun information about the set, and a history of the piranha plant through the many Mario video games.
Aside from the 8 printed red slopes, there are 2 types of curved elements in bright green, including several of these long slopes used for the pipe, which are new in bright green.
The build
As you might expect, the build starts with a core of brackets and bricks with sideways studs. One feature you might notice right away is a simple mechanism in the back of the pipe to release the two gold coins.
Before starting on the curved sides of the pipe, we add two ball sockets that will attach to a small section allowing the stem of the plant to be tilted side-to-side, or front-to-back, since the plant and stem can be removed from the pipe (we’ll come back to that feature later).
After adding the tilting inner section, we build up the structural support for the top and sides of the pipe and finish with the curved interior.
With all the structural support finished it is time to add the four curved sides of the pipe. A slightly different design is used on the two alternating sides, with the final side in the back being different still to match up with the tiled feature to release the coins.
The stem comes next, with a very simple stacked plate design. This includes two Mixel ball joints for the leaf arms to attach to. The leaf arms are hinged in the middle to allow a limited amount of posing.
Moving on, we begin to build the head by starting with the bottom lip and tongue, and a set of four fangs attached to a simple Technic structure. We repeat this minus the tongue for the top lip, and the two lip structures attach using ball socket connectors. Finally, we have the two mostly identical builds for the top and the bottom head-halves, utilizing the new printed large curved parts in an alternating pattern.
The finished model
Compared to the source material, the LEGO design team did a pretty good job capturing the likeness of this iconic enemy.
The finished piranha plant has a decent amount of possibility, although the weight of the head may limit this somewhat. The fact that the stem can be removed means you can also display the pipe with Mario entering or exiting after cashing in on some bonus coins.
Conclusions and recommendations
Compared to the much more expensive Bowser set, this set is a very affordable homage to the Super Mario franchise and would look great as a part of any fan’s collection. It was a blast to build, and even as a parts pack, it is a great value, with several great landscaping parts. If you have the Bowser, this would make a great companion display set. LEGO Super Mario 71426: Piranha Plant comes with 540 pieces and will be available on November 6th for US $59.99 | CAN $79.99 | UK £57.99
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
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Is the new LEGO Super Mario 71426 Piranha Plant a real spitfire? Or is it all bark and no bite? Read on to find out
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