LEGO Mario Kart, Luigi & Mach 8 (72050)

This is the second big-scale car-and-driver set in the Mario Kart line, and it takes Luigi and drops him into the Mach 8, that blue jet-turbine kart that's been a fan favourite since Mario Kart 8 back in 2014. It's a chunky LEGO® set at 2,234 pieces, and once it's together it has real presence on a shelf, measuring roughly 41cm long, 25cm wide and 23cm tall. Luigi himself is a buildable figure with a poseable head, arms and hands, and he perches behind the wheel looking every bit the slightly nervous younger brother we all know and quietly root for.

The headline feature, and the thing I kept doing without meaning to, is that rolling the kart makes the flames out the back spin. It's a lovely little mechanical touch. Turn the steering wheel and the front tyres shift too, though only a little. And the best part for me is that the whole thing is sticker-free. Every detail, from Luigi's eyes and ears to those iconic letter 'L' number plates, is printed. If you've ever fought with a wonky sticker on a curved panel, you'll know exactly why that lands so well.

Now the honest bits. The interior doesn't quite match the quality of the exterior. Reviewers keep landing on the same gripes, that the red seat is plain and the dashboard feels a bit undercooked, basically some coloured round tiles sitting on bare plates. The tyres are another sore spot. Getting the Slim tyres onto the rims is genuinely a fiddle, and once the heavy body sits on top the wheels can wobble or buckle a touch. A few builders also found the instructions confusing in the deep interior sections, and the final stretch of the build a little tedious, which matched my own experience near the end.

At $179.99 it's ten dollars more than last year's Mario set, but you're getting a noticeably bigger and more sophisticated model for that, so the value holds up well for a licensed Nintendo set. I'd point it at grown-up Mario Kart fans who want something handsome to display, and anyone who enjoyed the first kart and wants to keep the collection growing. If you're buying for a younger kid who wants to smash it around the living room, this leans display piece, and the fiddly wheels and interior probably aren't worth the outlay. But if you want Luigi on your shelf looking sharp, this is one of the best things the Super Mario theme has done.