The ghostly Boos have been following Mario around since Super Mario Bros. 3 but this expansion set is inspired by something far more awesome. Luigi has stood in his brother’s shadow for many years until the days of the GameCube. After mysteriously winning a huge mansion, located deep within Boo Woods, Luigi became the star of the show in Luigi’s Mansion. It is here King Boo makes his debut. This right royal spectre has also found time to haunt a spooky yard. For a rather drab looking expansion set, it may not be as brightly coloured as other sets in the range, but it has plenty of Action Bricks and interesting play features to keep you busy. But does this Poltergust 3000-less LEGO® Super Mario expansion set suck or is it a worthy addition to your own take on the Mushroom Kingdom? Let’s find out in my review of the King Boo and the Haunted Yard expansion set.
Product Description
LEGO® Super Mario™ fans will love the frightful challenges in this King Boo and the Haunted Yard Expansion Set (71377). A fun gift for kids to add to the LEGO Super Mario Starter Course (71360), this collectible toy features King Boo, 2 Goombas and 4 Swoop figures for action-packed gameplay. To get to the hidden Super Star, players must stomp on Goombas and a spider web, flip a tree and then stomp the spinning Swoops to topple King Boo.
- Set Name: King Boo and the Haunted Yard
- Set Number: 71377
- Pieces: 431
- RRP: £44.99/$49.99/49.99€
- Action Bricks: King Boo, Spider Web, Fallen Tree, Super Star Block, 2 x Goombas, 4 x Swoop
- Availability: LEGO.com, LEGO Stores & Selected Reatilers
The Set
If you haven’t played Luigi’s Mansion it’s a vastly different looking game compared to most Mario ones. Which has certainly been represented in this expansion set. The main part of it is a spooky-looking shack, which is flanked by a flock of Swoops and the mighty King Boo. Like all of the other expansion sets, the path to the focal point is made of a number of plates and expansion island plates. This particular set doesn’t have as many gaps as others do, so most of these branching routes have something covering them.
Passing through an iron gate, guarded by Goombas brings you to a couple of interactive scenery elements. One is simply a spider web, which can be flipped to reveal an Action Brick, the other is a craggy looking tree, which can be felled to reveal another Action Brick. Both of these actions work really well just goes to show, they don’t have to be complex to be fun. A pair of ornate spooky towers, frame the entire set but offer nothing in terms of play features. But they do help to give it a far more spooky vibe. Especially thanks to the spiderwebs.
But the bulk of the set can be found within that central shack. This features a hidden mechanism, connected to both the wheels of Swoops and King Boo. A gear system is connected to the four-arm wheel of Swoops. Spinning this causes a worm gear to turn within the shack. With King Boo slotted in the top, the toothed bar connected to the bottom of it is slowly teased upwards, causing King Boo to topple. There is a red Technic rod, which can be pushed to change the resistance of the Swoops spin. Even on the easier to spin setting, it does take a while to get King Boo to fall.
One of the interesting things I’ve found with the LEGO Super Mario is the way characters have been translated into LEGO. As you’ll have seen with LEGO Mario, a cubic design standard has been taken and it works surprisingly well. I love King Boo, even though he and his fellow Boo are known for being circular, his blocky form still as a feel of how the character looks in the games. Same goes for the Goombas and Swoop bats. It’s very much in the same vein as Nintendo do with their games like Paper Mario, Yoshi’s Woolly World and Kirby’s Epic Yarn, which transform iconic characters into unique new styles.
Action Bricks
If you want plenty of Action Bricks for your buck, then this is the set for you.as you get an impressive 10 Action Brick elements. These can be found on King Boo, hidden under the flippable spider web, beneath the fallen tree, on each of the Goobmas, one on each of the Swoops and one on top of the Star Block.
Overall
In terms of appearance, the set feels like it doesn’t really go with the rest of the range. Even though Mario’s games have a vastly varying range of environments, many of the sets are based on early games. Which weren’t as well travelled as more recent titles. For me, it connects more to the Mario Kart games and of course the excellent Luigi’s Mansion series. Regardless of this I really like the set, the play features are fun and the various elements combine well together. Displacing King Boo does feel a little monotonous, especially hitting such a small area of the Swoops with LEGO Mario. I also thought the Goombas were an unnecessary addition. A couple of smaller Boos would have been much better, not only in terms of the theme of the set but also to bring a little more variety to Mario’s foes. Plus these smaller spooks would have gone great with the larger King Boo. Please note LEGO Mario is not included with this set.
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This set was provided to BricksFanz.com by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz.com and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing the set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
