Yoshi! Mario’s faithful steed and best buddy is set to join Mario on your toy shelves thanks to the new World of Nintendo line from Jakks Pacific! Anyone who has played a Super Mario game in the past 20 years can tell you that Mario is at his best when he’s mounted atop this little green dinosaur who chomps and stomps Koopas like they’re going out of style, so it’s a real treat to be able to add a Yoshi to our toy shelves so soon after the release of S.H. Figuarts’ Super Mario figure. Now, Jakks Pacific has released their own Mario in this line (see Robo’s review), but for those of us who have already invested in the Figuarts figure, it’s nice to see that this Yoshi serves as a fine complement to that figure. So whether you’ve got the Jakks or Figuarts Mario in your display, Yoshi does a decent job of holding his own with either. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Yoshi!
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Yoshi is adorable, and when he was first introduced way back in 1990, he was an instant hit with fans of the games. I mean, a green dinosaur that Mario can ride? Not since the Transformers’ Grimlock had a dinosaur so instantly become such an integral part of a franchise.
This figure by Jakks Pacific does a good job of capturing Yoshi’s most endearing qualities and rendering them in plastic. That’s where they’re most successful, however. The figure looks cute and it’s positively heartwarming to see this figure on the shelf, but in strict action figure terms, he doesn’t bring a whole lot to the table, unfortunately, and that’s mainly due to his articulation, or lack there of.
Yoshi was given what is usually considered the bare minimum points of articulation by modern action figure standards — a whopping five points, to be exact. His articulation scheme is as follows:
- Swivel and hinge shoulders
- Swivel neck
- Ball hips
And that’s all she wrote. He can be posed, but your options are limited, of course. He’ll most likely remain in a standard vanilla pose on most collectors’ shelves.
I wish there were a way for Mario to sit on Yoshi as though he were riding him, but, alas, it’s not really possible to accomplish that in any convincing way, not without lots of additional support, anyway.
The Mario in all these pics is the S.H. Figuarts Mario, so the scale here is really close — close enough that they do look good together. It’s possible that a Figuarts Yoshi may be coming down the pike, but until that day, this Yoshi does a fine job of serving as a display piece in any Super Mario display.
As a bonus, Yoshi’s “mystery accessory” is the egg he hatches from in the games. It’s the perfect accessory for the character, and it’s one of those small details that adds a lot to a display. If it were possible to open it, like if it could be opened along some pre-cut “cracked eggshell” lines, then that would have been amazing, but that’s perhaps too much to hope for from a $9 retail figure.
Yoshi can be found at most Target stores at the moment, and his case-pack is a bit more collector-friendly than Link’s, fortunately. Yoshi looks to be packed 2-per-case, so he shouldn’t require all that much effort to track down. He’s not the greatest figure you’ll ever own, but he looks great with Mario (both Jakks and Figuarts), so that alone makes him worth the purchase.
