When those crafty designers at Nintendo put together the New Super Mario Bros. game a few years ago, they went with a time-tested cliché for one of the game’s more popular hooks: bigger is better. While giving a Mario a slight vertical increase with one taste of a Super Mushroom was good enough for a few decades, Nintendo really gave him the power in that faithful DS game, allowing him to fill the entire y-axis of your game screen and take on a larger-than-life stature in his quest to defeat the omnipresent King Koopa. Taking a page from that large book, Jakks Pacific has a giant offering of Super Mario like we have never seen before and proving once again that bigger is definitely better.
Due to a recent trend, we are not at a loss for giant-sized action figures in the market today. DC, Star Wars, TMNT, WWE, and a myriad of other licensed properties have offerings that often dwarf the intended consumer base and take up previously unheard of retailer shelf space. Of course the executions vary wildly in terms of success, and though it would take a special character from any of those groupings to get me to dedicate that much precious display space, I have to say that I really dig the larger figure concept and it gives some properties a new chance to shine.
Since Jakks is the master license holder for the Nintendo brand, it only made sense that they explore the large figure option, and with Mario being as iconic as he is, he is well positioned to run with the other big boys like Batman and Michelangelo. However, I find Mario to be a bit different from the other offerings in this large execution, and while he might not stand at that 36-inch line like a lot of the others, he has several things going for him that many of the others do not.
First and foremost, going back to what I mentioned before, is that this Mario is actually of a size that can be considered canonical with the rest of your 4-inch or 6-inch figures. Yep, that power-up in NSMB makes it so that you can have gigantic Mario amongst your other figures, and nothing will be out of place. It takes a wonderfully vivid imagination to have a 36-inch-tall Batman fight your DCUC Joker, but this Mario can take on the entirety of Bowser’s brigade and nothing will seem out of whack. With this execution, the standard 4-inch scale figures and the Micro Land series, Jakks is building up in several separate scales, but they all have a crossover capability with each other. Call that well thought-out marketing or a happy accident, it doesn’t matter because we are only about a year into Jakks’ having the license, and our collections are already taking on an interesting shape.
Now, that is not to say that this Mario cannot be appreciated on his own and by his own merits because he most certainly can. I have found that a lot of characters that get these big figures often go through a bit of skewing in terms of likeness and design. I mean, it is nothing that sticks out like a sore thumb, but legs get a little skinny and long, hands get bigger, heads get small and likeness gets soft depending on the piece you are looking at. It is not universal to be sure, but it is also harder to hide at this scale. I am happy to say that Mario has been captured in pretty perfect style (at least to my eyes), and I think he is the best Mario Jakks has done so far. He looks like he stepped right off of your TV (or DS) screen, and his expression has become synonymous with the red hat and overalls. If you are looking for an iconic Mario to stand at the back of your shelf, or just one to be a conversation piece in your game room, you really cannot go wrong with this.
The quality on the figure is also very nice, and one thing I was really struck with is that this figure is HEAVY. I mean, since he is 20 inches tall, I was not expecting him to be light, but there is some definite bulk to him. So, even with Mario’s giant head, he is still well balanced and stands up well, I know it is no large feat for a figure to be able to stand, but the consequence of that not happening only gets bigger with the figure, but there is no need to fuss about this guy crushing the hoi polloi beneath him.
Mario also features several points of articulation, which is something else that is lost when figures get bigger. Now, he does not have as many points as his smaller Jakks counterpart, but neck, shoulder, and hip movement help to give him more personality. Sure, he is not going to achieve any Spider-Man poses, but Mario is a rotund plumber after all, despite his ability to jump to ridiculous heights. One thing I do want to point out is that the hip joints stick just a little bit on this figure when you go to move them for the first time. I actually got a little scared I was trying to force something that wasn’t there, but they did break free and remained strong, so be forceful, but don’t rush moving them and you should be just fine.
Just what I need, another scale to collect! While Mario could easily stand by himself at this scale, I like this figure so much that curiosity has me wondering about a Luigi or a Toad at this size. Could you imagine a Bowser? He is another guy who could get the giant treatment and still be in scale with your smaller figures. While these large figures are getting a bit ubiquitous, this Mario ranks as one of the best and is a standout amongst his inflated brethren. He is very well executed and is substantial in terms of what you are getting. The likeness is dead-on, and, like I said, I think he is the best Mario Jakks has done. So, if you are a Mario fan, he is going to be hard to resist, especially since he is currently for sale at Toys R Us right now, so go get him!
*Thanks for reading and thanks to the team at Jakks Pacific for sending Mario along for this feature, we really appreciate it!
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