More information of Mario and minifigs today. Both Minifigures Series 23 and Super Mario Character Packs Series 5 were announced at LEGO® Con 2022. Since then, the LEGO® Group released additional details concerning each collection. While we already received details on Series 23, clearer pictures came to light. We also now have an image of the packaging. Additionally, the official product listing for the Mario packs revealed some interesting new facts along with a price increase.
Super Mario fans might want a deep, bracing breath here. Character packs are getting quite a bit pricier. Series four launched on January 1, 2022 with a retail price of $4.99 CAD. Series five launches on August 1 in the same year, but will retail for $6.99 CAD. We all knew the price of LEGO® was going up this August. However, is this really a case of said inflation? Comparing series four and five yields some interesting facts. Firstly, each pack in series five contains more bricks. 47 versus the former 29 according to LEGO.com. The cost/brick of the new character packs is $0.148 CAD whereas the old ones were $0.172 CAD. You can see the difference already in the product image. The new display bases are more robust.
Better character value, but at a higher series price.
With that said, the whole series will now cost you more, and you get fewer characters. There are eight collectibles in series five compared to 10 in series four. Thus, the entire series five collection costs $55.92+tax, when series four set you back $49.99+tax. Therefore, while each packet in series five is a better value than series four, the collection as a whole is not due to a reduction in characters.
While we’re on the topic of Mario and minifigs, let’s talk about packaging. Mario fans are in for another surprise here. Series five does away with the foil packaging of its predecessors. You now get a box à la Vidiyo Bandmate. I can hear your groans already. This complicates things for fans who feel the packages to determine what they are buying beforehand. Granted, Super Mario characters are buildable. Therefore, you get a package of bricks. That makes it hard to determine which character you get to begin with, foil pack or not. Anyone else remembering the Unikitty series? However, these characters still have telltale bricks in many cases. So, while harder to figure out your character, it is not impossible with a foil bag. Get ready for doubles, folks!
Thankfully, Minifigures Series 23 does not follow suit.
By comparison, Minifigures come with distinct accessories that make identification easier. Looking at series 23 above, each character has a tell you can feel in the foil bag. Luckily, Minifigures fans will not see a price or packaging change with Series 23. The foil pack remains (according to the promotional pictures), as does the $4.99 CAD price tag. Let’s hope it stays that way with future collections. What do you think of the Mario and Minifigs news? Let us know in the comments below or reach out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
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