Sometimes a new action figure release inspires joy, and sometimes it simply inspires relief. Well, fellow Super Mario Bros. fans, I am sure many of you are with me when I say that this new Ludwig Von Koopa World of Nintendo figure inspires both.
Holy Koopa! If it seems like forever since the last Koopa Kids was released by Jakks Pacific, it is because it has been FOREVER. Listen, I love the Kids, and while I got REALLY lucky in that my favorite of the lot, Iggy, was released first, ever since then I have been dying for the rest. Frankly, it has taken far too long to get Ludwig in the line, but I am really glad to have him now, and I would like to think that this maybe, just maybe, Jakks will get on their proverbial horse and get us Lemmy, Roy, Larry, Morton, and Wendy is fast fashion.
Okay, since I got that out the way, let’s focus on the focus of this feature, and that is Ludwig, or Ludwig Von Koopa as I have always known him. The oldest of the Koopa Kids (or Koopalings, if you rather), he has always kind of been the de facto leader of the bunch, and that was pretty apparent by the fact that, in their first game (Super Mario Bros. 3), he was the boss of the live just before Bowser. He has never been one of my personal favorites, but at this point, I want all of them ASAP.
Ludwig has some definite strengths, but also one pretty noticeable weakness. I am going to start there to put focus on the good, but as you can see in the pictures, this figure is just too small. I mean, I thought maybe it could be that he was going to be too small compared to the tall Iggy, but as you can see, he is small even compared to Mario. To me, Ludwig should not be as big as say, Roy or Morton, but he should be taller and larger in stature than he is. His proportions are fine within themselves, so his build looks good to me, but, yeah, the figure is undersized.
Once you get past that, or if the scale doesn’t bother you in the first place, everything else is pretty good. Like I said, the likeness is pretty great for this modern take on Ludwig, and the sculpting work and paint job are both pretty solid. He has about as much articulation as you would come to expect for this line, but I do lament the missing elbow articulation. You can still manipulate him well enough for wand poses (his is appropriately blue), but having those elbows would have made him all the more dynamic.
Overall, I do like this figure, but it is not without the fault of his size/scale; he really is too small. Past that, though, Ludwig is a very nice looking figure, and I am really happy to have him in my collection. He is not as nice as Iggy, but Ludwig is a good looking figure overall. Jakks, please, I IMPLORE you, focus on the rest of the Koopa Kids. Get this group done for this line, because we NEED them. It would be such an amazing collection to have together with all seven together, so let’s get at least one of each of Morton, Larry, Roy, Lemmy, and Wendy in the next few series. PLEASE!
