Released in 2023 for the Nintendo Switch, Super Mario Bros. Wonder was the first side-scrolling Mario game in over 10 years. The colourful Mario adventure skipped the Mario Kingdom for the Flower Kingdom. Ruled by Prince Florian, the Flower Kingdom was home to magical blooms known as Wonder Flowers. But Mario’s visit to the Flower Kingdom soon descends into chaos as Bowser swipes a Wonder Flower and its power merges the King of the Koopas with Prince Florian’s castle to become Castle Bowser. This upcoming LEGO® Super Mario set is the first to be inspired by Super Mario Bros. Wonder and is one of the biggest of the new sets. Here’s a closer look at set 72042: Prince Florian & Castle Bowser.
Product Details
Set Name: Prince Florian & Castle Bowser | Set Number: 72042 | Pieces: 1251 | Theme: Nintendo
Number of Bags: Bags x 12 | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Action Tags: 8 | Characters: A Pink Yoshi, a Fiery Note Piranha, Prince Florian & Wonder Bowser Jr
RRP: £89.99/99.99€/$99.99/149.99AUD/129.99CAD
Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from August 1st
Once Bowser has merged with the Flower Kingdom’s royal place, it becomes a giant floating fortress. This provides an interesting design choice both in terms of the set’s build and its play functions. To allow the set to appear in its floating form, its inner core has been crafted to retract when picked up or set in the additional purple stand. But once you place the castle on a flat surface, the core emerges to reveal a removable section, which looks a lot like Bowser. This also reveals three Action Tags, one on each hand and the central section. As one of the interactive figures, you’ll need to stomp all three to defeat Wonder Bowser.
The central section also includes an Action Tag on the main platform and one hidden within the castle’s prison cell. Both are only revealed once the central section is popped up. Although it has several Action Tags, the set feels less like an expansion set as a model in its own right. The colourful build is well detailed and fun to play around with. Plus, it looks rather cool as a display piece. It has plenty of neat little details, and the functional aspects of the inner core aren’t overly complex to create.
The set includes four buildable characters inspired by those found in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Prince Florian is a new addition to the Mario universe and is a caterpillar. His royalty is portrayed through a small flower-like crown and a red ‘robe’. Florian includes a flower platform, which includes an Action Tag.
Yoshis have appeared in many Mario titles, and in Wonder, the floating dinosaurs are one of several playable characters. Oddly, none of them are pink. Yet a Pink Yoshi is included in the set. The build of Yoshi is almost identical to past versions, but it swaps out a 1×2 plate and half-round plate on the chests for the newer 2×2 half-circle tile. This does look better than the two elements. Yoshi also includes a small island featuring an Action Tag.
It’s not just Bowser, who has had a Wonder makeover. His son, Bowser Jr., had been dabbling with the Flower Kingdom’s magical blooms. This has transformed Bowser Jr. into a purple variant. Similar to Yoshi, Bowser Jr. has an identical build to his previous LEGO version but is completely recoloured, including purple shell elements and unique printed pieces for his face. The final character is a Fiery Note Piranha. A musical, flame version of the classic Piranha Plant. It has no real play elements, but it’s nice to have something unique.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of the most delightful of all the Mario games. It looks great, sounds great and introduces some interesting new characters. So I’m glad to see the LEGO Mario theme continue to seek inspiration from beyond the core Mario adventures. It’s a shame the Mario Character Packs are no longer a thing, as I would love to see more Wonder variants of characters appear in LEGO form. But if this is the only set we get based on Mario’s most recent platforming adventures, it’s a worthy albeit a little expensive celebration of the game. It can easily be combined with other sets, should you be using them as intended, but it’s one of the few LEGO Super Mario expansion sets which look great as they are and still offer plenty of play functions. (The LEGO Mario interactive figure is not included in the set). Set 74182: Prince Florian & Castle Bowser arrives on August 1st.
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This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or Nintendo. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
