Super Mario

Creativity Toolbox Maker Set

A box of Mario scenery pieces that turns a flat starter course into an actual world.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 71418 · 2023

Pieces588

Minifigs4

Year2023

Set number71418

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The verdict

This is the set I wish I'd had when my Mario course looked like bare plates on a table.

It hands you three biomes worth of trees, pyramids, mountains and mushrooms to dress up levels you already own, and Wendy the Koopaling alone makes it worth a look. Just know going in that it does nothing on its own, you need a Starter Course to play, and the building ideas live in the app rather than a paper booklet. If you already have Mario, Luigi or Peach on the table, this is the best value expansion in the whole line.

Best for: Families who already own a Mario Starter Course and want to build bigger, prettier levels

The full review

What it is

The Creativity Toolbox Maker Set is exactly what its name promises, a big grab-bag of Super Mario scenery pieces sorted into a top-opening plastic tray, and I came away liking it a lot more than I expected. Instead of one fixed model, you get the raw ingredients to build grass, desert and lava levels: trees, flowers, mountains, mushrooms, pyramids, a Checkpoint Flag, plus figures. The thing that got me was how quickly a sad, flat starter course turned into something my nieces actually wanted to run Mario through. When you pull out the green plates and start planting little trees, it stops feeling like loose bricks and starts feeling like a world.

The catch

I do have to be honest about the catch, and it is a real one. This set does absolutely nothing by itself. There is no interactive Mario, Luigi or Peach figure in the box, which is the electronic character that reads the action tags and makes the whole line light up and make sounds. So if you buy this expecting a self-contained toy, you will be disappointed the moment you open it. It is designed purely to bolt onto a Starter Course you already own. The other thing worth flagging is that the building suggestions live in the free Super Mario app, not a paper booklet, which is fine for app-happy kids but frustrating if you wanted to sit down and follow printed steps. At sixty dollars for scenery and no screen figure, the pitch only makes sense if the core toy is already on your table.

Who it's for

So who should get this. If your household already plays with a Mario, Luigi or Peach course, this is genuinely the most bang-for-buck expansion out there, because it hands you enough parts to reshape levels endlessly and throws in four characters you cannot get elsewhere. Kids who love building their own courses rather than following a fixed layout will get the most out of it. Who should skip it. Anyone who does not own a Starter Course, and anyone hoping for a display piece or a structured build with a story. This is a toy toolbox, not a showpiece, and it is happiest in the hands of a child who wants to invent their own worlds.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building this one is barely building in the traditional sense, and that is the point. Most of the elements are small quick sub-builds, a tree here, a flower there, a little pyramid, so a child can assemble a piece in a minute and move on. There is no single satisfying hour-long build to sink into, which will bother adult fans but is exactly right for the six-plus audience it targets. The joy is in the rearranging afterward, snapping scenery onto the modular Mario plate system in whatever shape you dream up.

The standout is the character roster. Wendy O. Koopa is the real prize, a buildable Koopaling in mostly yellow with a pink shell, bow and shoes plus printed face and body pieces, and she is exclusive to this box, which is why collectors chase it. You also get Blue Yoshi, a Goomba and a Stone-Eye enemy, all unique here. Beyond the figures, the value is in the sheer spread of sandy desert plates, fiery red lava elements and green landscape parts, useful terrain colors that are handy for custom builders well outside the Mario theme.

Fun facts

01The set is a Maker Set, meaning it ships with no interactive Mario figure and relies entirely on the free Super Mario app for its level-building ideas rather than a printed instruction booklet.
02Wendy O. Koopa is one of Bowser's seven Koopalings, and her exclusive appearance here made 71418 a target for collectors trying to complete the full Koopaling lineup across the LEGO Super Mario range.
03The box packs three complete biomes at once, standard grassy green, sandy desert yellow and fiery lava red, so a single purchase covers the three main Mushroom Kingdom level types.
04Released in January 2023 and retired by the end of that same year, the set has held remarkably steady, still sitting right around its original 59.99 dollar retail price on the aftermarket.