Snow, ice, penguins and a large pink walrus wearing a swimming costume, no they are not the subjects of the latest natural history documentary from Sir David Attenborough, it’s just another average day in the Mushroom Kingdom. Those are also things you find in the largest of the new LEGO® Super Mario Expansion Sets. Fliprus Snow Adventure expands the snowy biome and brings a few new play features which can be introduced into your own take on a Mario adventure. So here’s a hands-on look at the Fliprus Snow Adventure set and the last of my reviews of the latest Nintendo sets.
Product Details
Set Name: Fliprus Snow Adventure | Set Number: 71417 | Pieces: 567 | Theme: Super Mario | Action Tags: 6 | RRP: £59.99/$64.99/64.99€ | Number of Bags: Bags x 7 (plastic) | Instructions: LEGO Super Mario App | Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail
Snowy worlds are often found in games and have featured in a number of Mario games, most famously in the 3D era such as Super Mario 64’s Cool, Cool Mountain or Snow Kingdom from Odyssey. Only recently have they inspired the LEGO Mario sets. Many of the Expansion Sets released during 2022 focused on the sunny side of Mario’s adventures along with the spooky side of Luigi’s. Hints of some arctic endeavours could be found in the 4th series of the Character Packs. In fact, 2 of the characters found in that series of buildable characters, make a return in this set. But it’s the focus of the set is a very obscure Mario character.
As with all the Mario Expansion Sets, this set is made up of different buildable elements which can be combined to create a larger set. This modular-like style of set is necessary to enable these additional sets to be combined with other Mario sets. In order to get the most from this set, you’ll need to combine it with one of the 3 Adventures With… Starter Courses. You’ll also need to use the LEGO Super Mario app or LEGO Builder Apps in order to build the set. They really are difficult sets to review as some parts of the set require a lot of building, whereas other parts can simply be a couple of elements. Those small parts of this set include the trees, a couple of small platforms and a little campfire, which includes an Action Tag.
Before tackling the more complex builds, there are also a couple of icy platforms. Similar to the smaller Ice Suit Mario set, these use a new 6×6 tile. It’s a rather larger tile and has a random pattern etched into it. Obviously, this represents a frozen watery surface. In terms of play features, when Mario, Luigi or Peach are placed on this icy tile, they can ‘skate’ on it to collect coins. There are two platforms featuring this surface, one smaller one near the Baby Penguin’s home and the other a much bigger area, which sort of acts as a hub for the other sections of the set.
One thing I enjoy about the LEGO Super Mario sets is the contraptions they feature to represent elements of gameplay found in the various Mario games. This Expansion Set features 2 functional builds the first is an ice-covered platform. Within this column is a hidden fruit, which is being guarded by a Freezie foe. Atop the frozen platform is a chilly-looking snowman. This is mounted on a rotating platform, by twisting this, it causes the snowman’s body to tilt and it’s head to roll off.
The other larger functional build features a giant pink walrus known as Fliprus. This really obscure character first appeared in New Super Mario Bros. U on the Wii U, where it only appeared in a couple of secret levels. They have also made an appearance in the Mario Party series. This makes its appearance in a LEGO set quite surprising, yet its in-game attack has been recreated nicely in LEGO form. It’s mounted on a movable arm of Technic beams. These are connected to a small island plate, if this is hit it causes the Fliprus to flick an ice ball with its tail.
Fliprus is one of 5 characters featured in the Expansion Set. It joins the headless Snowman and a red-shelled Koopa Troopa. There’s also a Freezie and a Baby Penguin, both of these were featured in the 4th series of LEGO Super Mario Character Packs. If you only pick up certain Expansion Sets for the characters and you already own those 2 then this is less appealing.
Finally, the unique feature of the LEGO Mario sets is the Action Tags. These are pre-applied stickers featuring a special barcode which can be read by the interactive figures. There are 6 Action Tags featured in this set. These offer a mix of character interaction and power-up
Overall
It’s good to have another area of the Mushroom Kingdom represented in the LEGO Super Mario sets. For those dedicated to creating elaborate courses using the Expansion Sets these snow-themed ones to help add a little more variety. That’s not through just their appearance but also the play features they introduce. I do understand why some people are not fans of these sorts of Mario sets. The build experience is different and the overall style of the sets can sometimes be a bit random. But they do offer inventive creations and unique physical play features.
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This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
