The launch of the LEGO Animal Crossing line at the start of March 2024 brought five sets based on Nintendo's slow-life-sim franchise to shop shelves, but there was also a secret sixth bonus set available if you knew where to look.
Maple's Pumpkin Garden is a small bonus polybag set that was sold exclusively online from Lego stores. It's little more than a bonus minifig with an extra couple of terrain modules, but it is an exclusive figure — at least at launch — so fans will no doubt be interested to know if it's worth hunting down.
So, more to satisfy our completionist tendencies than anything else, here's a very quick look at what's in the bag and our thoughts on whether it's worth paying over the odds for this neat little extra set.
What's in the bag?
You get Maple, of course. The little bear's legs are of the short and static variety — no bending at the hips here — but the print is cute and she also has a little watering can to water the titular garden.
Beyond that, the pumpkin patch is lined with a white picket fence panel, and the adjoining terrain module has a hill with a ladder topped with a small pink flower and one of the same disappointing fir trees from the Bunnie's Outdoor Activities set. It's hard to get too upset here, though — if you're buying this, you're really after the Maple minifig, so all the rest is gravy.
That's it. Actually, we tell a lie — you get three bonus pieces, too: another green stalk and pink and green flowery studs. We made a second flower and put it at the bottom of the hill.
Maple's Pumpkin Garden cost
Priced at $4.99 / £3.49 / €3,99 for 29 pieces, the cost-to-piece ratio could be better, but for an exclusive minifig, it's a steal.
The problem you'll find, though, is that this bonus set is out of stock from most of the official outlets (Lego itself was the primary seller, although we've seen reports of the bag being available from other retailers depending on the country).
In our case, we took to eBay to procure this one. They're available elsewhere, too, and you'll naturally be paying a premium to third-party sellers. We paid €6,99 plus postage for ours, which honestly we were pretty happy with considering the hefty sums that hard-to-find or out-of-production minifigures can sell for.
It's unknown whether Lego will make more of these. We'd say it's entirely possible given the popularity of the AC sets (anecdotally, most of them were sold out post-launch and were on backorder), but then again if you're a die-hard fan, having to pay exorbitant resale prices down the line is a risk. That's why we jumped on this relatively quickly after missing out at the online Lego store, but we're precisely the kind of people to get excited about little pieces of exclusive plastic depicting a video game bear. C'mon, she's adorable!
Whether you're prepared to spend more will depend on your budget and your level of love for this Animal Crossing line. Our personal Lego collection OCD might have seen us paying up to, say, $20 to have the 'complete' minifig set, but that's us.
Conclusion - Is it worth it?
Look, we're not going to say Maple's Pumpkin Garden is worth paying over the odds for on the reseller market, but if you've got the rest of the Lego Animal Crossing sets and you can't resist a cute minifigure, keep an eye out for it.
Obviously, an official restock would be ideal, because an exclusive licensed minifigure plus a dinky little set for $5 is a no-brainer. For that price, we'd absolutely recommend snapping it up if it's available in your region. Beyond that, it's really down to your budget and how desperately you want to own every official Lego Animal Crossing minifig. We paid double the RRP and were still satisfied.