April 26, 2026
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Out of all of the collaborations so far between LEGO and Nintendo, I think that 72037 Mario & Standard Kart is one of the sets that impressed me the most when it launched last year. It had everything going for it – mass appeal thanks to not just one of the most popular and recognisable Mario video games but video games in general, a sizeable model with both a vehicular and character component, and overall just a great design and build experience. Oh, and not to mention, not a single sticker.
Topping it was going to be tough, in other words, but leave it to Mario’s lanky, green-cap-wearing brother, Luigi, to steal the show. 72050 Luigi & Mach 8 builds on what made his sibling’s set great, keeping what worked while turning in some incredibly impressive vehicle sculpting to make the iconic Mach 8 kart. As a long-time advocate of the other Mario Bro. I’m incredibly happy to have a second of these fantastic Mario Kart models.
72050 Mario Kart Luigi & Mach 8 is available exclusively from LEGO.com or your local LEGO Store.
See below for product pages and international pricing and read on to find out more about this great set!
Special thanks to the LEGO Group for sending this set over for review. If you’re planning on purchasing or pre-ordering this set, please consider using the affiliate links in this post. I may earn a small commission with each purchase that helps support the work I do on the blog!
72050 Luigi & Mach 8 Set Details
72050 Luigi & Mach 8 Set Details
Retail Price
US$179.99 / AU$279.99 / £159.99
Like his brother, Luigi ships in a nice and big but otherwise fairly standard 18+ box. While I understand why LEGO does this, I do think that something like Mario Kart deserves to feel a bit more fun on the shelf, but here we are.
The instruction manual kicks us off with a couple of quick blurbs about the Mach 8 as it appears in the Mario Kart games. It’s a bit of a sparse intro, to be honest, but I do appreciate the prevalence of “Luigi Death Stare” in the screenshots used – more on that in a bit.
The Mach 8 Build
Now, I’ll preface this by admitting that I don’t have a ton of experience with these Technic-heavy vehicle builds, but I do think that’ll be the situation for a lot of LEGO Super Mario fans coming into this particular set. Even if you’ve done 2025’s 72037 Mario & Standard Kart, this one is a clear step up in complexity and diversity of techniques and mechanisms, owing to the unique shape of the Mach 8, the size and spacing of the Slim tires typically associated with this kart, and the action of the rotating jet flames at the back.
That said, it’s hard not to appreciate and be impressed by the build here, which packs in a ton of Technic elements and techniques plus some pretty flashy SNOT work to turn what initially looks like a daunting mess of engineering into something colourful, streamlined and incredibly faithful to the in-game model.
The innermost part of the build felt so bewildering at times, to me, that by the time I was ready to start attaching all of these gorgeous blue-and-yellow curved panels I’d completely forgotten just how many ball joints and sockets I’d installed along the way. And so clicking each panel of the Mach 8’s body into place and seeing how that groundwork laid the foundations for some really neat angles and smooth, flush lines was super satisfying.
If there are any small complaints, it’s mostly with the Mach 8’s interior. The red seat is a bit unremarkable, though that’s mostly out of necessity to ensure getting Luigi in there and secure is nice and simple. The dashboard does also feel a bit undercooked, with just a few coloured round tiles on a couple of bare, 4×4 corner plates to create the effect, but again this is less of a LEGO design thing and more just owing to how basic the dashboard is in the actual in-game model.
My biggest actual gripe is simply with the wheels, which are quite large and sit quite wide for the axles they’re on, giving the impression that they’re a little flimsy and unstable. I also found that there was a bit of stiffness to the jet flame mechanism at the back that made pushing the Mach 8 along feel a bit fraught – though it’s hard to tell how much of that was potentially my fault during the building process. This isn’t the kind of model you’d actively play with, though, so it’s not really a huge deal.
Rather, you’ll more than likely pop it on this stand just like the Mario & Standard Kart and put it on display, in which case it looks absolutely lovely. The front engine turbine in particular is a simple but solid design, and you’ve got some fresh elements in here like the printed Luigi L plates, the massive windshield piece and the printed rims of the Slim tire set. The tires are impressively sized and honestly look fantastic all around.
Luigi Build
Then comes Luigi himself. This build really isn’t too dissimilar from Mario’s model in the previous set, with a lot of the same techniques and elements reused, because after all these two are brothers and share a family resemblance.
The biggest differences come from Luigi being the taller brother, so his pose has his legs tucked right in and arms slightly bent to accommodate him into the Mach 8. You may or may not notice that Luigi’s body-to-head ratio is a bit different to Mario’s, which is a small concession to keep the scale of the two kart sets as close as possible, but the pose does a great job of implying his stature and sells the whole model nicely.
Luigi’s head is again a fairly close match for Mario with a lot of the same build techniques, just slightly tweaked for different proportions. The hat still looks great in its new green colourway and printed L plate, and you’ve got a new moustache piece and printed eyes/mouth to match his particular facial qualities. The inside of the nose is still kinda freaky, though.
Final Model and Fun With Mario
Here’s how it all looks with Luigi sat inside the Mach 8. The finished model looks positively stunning, offering a really polished build with a lot of presence, some great details and a pretty spot-on resemblance to the version in the game.
Better yet, with Luigi and his Mach 8 done, owners of the Mario & Standard Kart can have some fun with the two sets together. Though, somewhat disappointingly, it’s not all that easy to swap the two brothers between karts. That’s owing to their difference in size and the way that Mario is more “built in” to his kart.
Luigi was easy enough to slip into the Standard Kart, but to get the brother in red overalls into the Mach 8 I had to remove a bit of his back and base, and take off his feet – things you don’t really notice once he’s in there. You might be able to see from the photos that even with all of that, the front of the Mach 8 did start to pop out a bit… oops!
The other fun little mod you can do with the two, which is a lot more simple, is to swap their face panels. You might think that wouldn’t change too much, but by inverting Mario’s printed mouth piece before attaching it you get a pretty close version of the infamous Luigi Death Stare.
Plus a pleasantly happy Mario!
It would’ve been cool to see LEGO pack a proper face swap into the Luigi & Mach 8 set by default, given how iconic of a meme it is and the way it’s even used on the box and instruction book that come with the set, but it’s good to know there’s a close second option for those that own both.
Final Thoughts
As a follow-up to last year’s 72037 Mario & Standard Kart, there’s a lot to love about 72050 Luigi & Mach 8. The build process is a lot of fun, maybe initially daunting for folks not used to Technic-heavy vehicle builds but ultimately still fairly approachable, and the results are mostly fantastic.
At US$179.99 / AU$279.99 / £159.99 it might be slightly more expensive than the Mario set, but it’s also genuinely bigger and nearly 300 pieces richer, so the value is definitely still there and actually quite decent for something in the realm of Nintendo IP.
Assuming you plan to display this, probably alongside the Mario & Standard Kart, and aren’t interesting in actively pushing it around or playing kart-swap between the two brothers, there’s very little missing here and I sincerely hope this isn’t the end of the line for these. There are plenty more characters and plenty more karts that deserve the big-ticket LEGO treatment!
Build
The Mach 8 model looks fantastic with great details and some impressive angles and curves. Luigi follows in Mario’s overalls with another top-notch character model
Innovation
A fun, moderately challenging build full of interesting techniques. The wheels and axles/gears don’t quite feel good for actual play, but that’s hardly the point
Display Value
A good-sized, eye-catching build that looks superb alongside the Mario & Standard Kart, especially after a bit of face-swapping for the full Luigi Death Stare
Real Value
Slightly pricier than the Mario one, but still shockingly good value all things considered
Keepability
Definitely commands space on a display stand or bookshelf alongside a collection of Nintendo and/or gaming merch
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