LEGO Super Mario!

 Last year, LEGO introduced a bunch of new products around their Nintendo license.  The biggest set they released was a NES complete with a TV and a scrolling screen featuring Mario in World 1-1.  In addition, LEGO released a series of playable Mario sets - one of which had the actual Mario figure (complete with blue tooth and all sorts of bells and whistles) while the rest were add-ons to that main set.

I don't yet own the main set, but I have gotten interested in the small blind bags which feature various Mario baddies.  Within the past year or so, LEGO has released two different series of brick-built Mario baddies in mystery bag form - and it's been until today that I can say that I've finally finished off the first set.

The full checklist for LEGO Mario Series 1 Collectible Character Packs is as follows:

1. Paragoomba
2. Fuzzy
3. Spiny
4. Buzzy Beetle
5. Bullet Bill
6. Bob-omb
7. Eep Cheep
8. Blooper
9. Urchin
10. Peepa

For a little while, I was able to find the blind bags at my local Wal-Mart but once those disappeared it was off to eBay to hunt for the last two figures that I needed for my set.  We'll begin with one of the more dastardly underwater foes that Mario encounters in the original Super Mario Bros. game - Blooper.  

The brick-built Blooper is actually kind of adorable and I love the pink coral piece that acts as his stand for the display.  The final figure that I needed was one of my favorites in all of Series 1 - Peepa! 

I love the small brick castle bits included in Peepa's stand.  You can definitely get some Bowser's Castle vibes from even that tiny bit of scenery.  

Like I said, I don't yet own the actual Mario figure that you need to be able to properly "play" with the various elements but I figured I'd at least show off how they work.  Each bad guy (along with some other blocks and what-not in other sets) have a tile with a particular QR-esque code on them.  

When you use the Mario figure to scan a particular code, the figure then knows how to "react" whether that be by making stomping sounds when you defeat a foe or perhaps getting coins when hitting a "?" block.

My son isn't yet old enough to play video games or really even know who Mario is but I do think I'll try to grab the Mario set with the actual figure at some point and then perhaps stash it away until my son gets a bit older.  For now, I'm going to simply display all of my Mario figures on an Ikea shelf that was a Christmas gift from my sister.  

The little ladders came with the shelf and I think it works perfectly for a Mario-themed display!