If you have blinked, you might have missed that Jakks Pacific is quietly putting together a fantastic World of Nintendo action figure line. The Super Mario Bros. universe continues to be the primary focal point, and with the addition of Tanooki Mario and Shy Guy, they are starting to dig a bit deeper into the character roster.

I am not at all what you would call a “gamer,” but man, I LOVE me some Nintendo. Overall, I still find their consoles to be the most fun, and their pantheon of properties and characters are very dear to me: from Bowser to Zelda, I love them all. When it was announced that Jakks had the master license for their “World of Nintendo” execution, I assumed that Mario and company would be the dominant presence, but that was okay with me, and this hit just keep on coming.

I was recently able to grab (most of) series 1-4, and as you can expect, there more than a few SMB-related characters. That is cool though, as there are a LOT of characters and variations for Jakks to make, and the two I am highlighting here hail from my two favorite Mario games. I will always have a soft spot for Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros., but my true loves are most certainly Super Mario Bros. 2, and 3. I love the gameplay, stories, and characters from those titles so much, and Tanooki Mario and the Shy Guy make for some great representations from those adventures.

TANOOKI MARIO

Mario is the main character of Super Mario Bros. We know that. His name is in the title for Pete’s sake (full name: Mario Mario). So, I am pretty sure we all took it as a given that we would get several variations of the character in this four-inch line, and well, we were right! I don’t have any issues with variants when they are viable and important, and while the Fire Power version was most certainly expected, I was little surprised, but very happy when, Tanooki Mario was listed next on the docket.

Super Mario Bros. 3 opened the door to all kinds of new characters and gameplay options in the SMB world. My beloved Koopa Kids made their debut here, but Mario also got a chance to move beyond the power of the Fire Flower and explore all kinds of new power-up enhancements. The Raccoon Leaf, Frog Suit, Tanooki (that is, “Rackoon Dog”) suit, and Hammer Brothers suit all offered exciting new ways to defeat King Koopa and his cadre of miscreants on your way to saving the Princess. While the Hammer suit was the most elusive (and kind of difficult to control), the Tanooki Suit was always my favorite. With it, you got the flying and floating power of the raccoon’s tail, but you also had the ability to turn into a stone statue that made enemies walk right past you, leaving you completely unharmed. What a concept!

Along with the powers, well, you looked like Mario in a giant raccoon onesie, complete with ears, tail, and a round little potbelly – what could be cuter than that? Well, Jakks obviously saw the aesthetic opportunity here and has delivered a figure that is adorably accurate to the control art for the character, and he has instantly become one of my favorite WoN figures. Sure, he is not perfect, but I truly love the look of the figure, and it gives me hope that the other suits from 3 might have a chance of making it into the line as well.

If you have been collecting this line, particularly the Mario figures, you probably have a good idea of what you are getting from a build perspective, as this one follows many of the same construction and articulation cues of the previous versions. He has articulation points at the expected neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, but also with the added benefit of a tail twist. That makes him able to hit most of the poses that you would want this figure to get, though I am not sure why the wrist twist articulation wasn’t given. That lack of movement doesn’t affect the figure too much, but it would have been nice to have. I do like that you can hit the iconic “tail wave” pose that is captured in a lot of SMB promotional art, so that is how he will go on my shelf.

As far as the aesthetics go, I think Jakks pretty much nailed it, and as I said before, I really love the look of this figure. The body, head, and tail shape are all perfect, and I have always liked how Mario seemingly loves to run around in a giant furry onesie. I am not discounting the Fire Power Mario that was previously released, because that one got most everything right as well, but the radical change in look is just what we needed from a Mario variation, and I would be so pleased to see a Hammer Suit Mario show up in the line at some point.

Mario also comes with a little Brown Tanooki leaf as his accessory that is pretty much perfect.

SHY GUY

Do you want to get into a long and nerdy conversation with me sometime? Get me half-drunk and remind me what a shaft Super Mario Bros. 2 gets. I frikkin’ LOVE that game. I love everything about it, from the new world and enemies, to getting to play as four different characters, all with varying strengths and weaknesses. I am sad that we have never really gotten an update to the game, but more so, I sad that VERY few of the new characters from the game make into SMB marketing or updates. Sure, there are a few, but Wart and crew are HIGHLY underrepresented in the modern day Mario world, and frankly, that needs to change, and right quick.

That said, a few characters are out there: Birdo is around quite a bit, and even Ninji makes an appearance from time to time, but no character from the “Mario USA” chapter is more prolific than the Shy Guy. It is not hard to understand why that is, as he is about as perfect a Mario enemy as a Koopa Troopa, with his small stature and Noh-inspired mask, so even though they don’t show up in as many games as they should, Shy Guys are pretty ubiquitous in the marketing game. This is great for me, because I really dig them, and I always smile when I am reminded of one of my favorite video game titles.

However, to be perfectly honest, I was not even sure I was going to get this figure. The World of Nintendo line covers a few different scales, and while I primarily collect this 4-inch execution, I try to keep it all within relative scale. So, since I have the 4-inch Mario figure, the Shy Guy released in the 2.5” line is actually in perfect scale with him, and I already have one of those. So, as you can imagine, if you are going purely off of game scale, this figure is actually too big to fit in with the rest of the 4-inch figures. That potentially makes for an odd display scenario, but I have to say, I actually like having this larger Shy Guy in addition to the more appropriately scaled figure.

At first, I wasn’t going to get this figure because I thought it was a bit of an anomaly. Usually the Shy Guys are more closer in comparative size to the 2.5″ figure when you compare it to the Mario from this larger scale. I could not shake the fact that I thought I had remembered him from something, but it took me forever. It finally hit me when I was thinking over some old titles — if I am not mistaken, I think there were large Shy Guys in the Super Mario Bros. Advance for the Gameboy Advance. Someone check me on that, but I think it is correct. So, if you thought this 4″ figure was out of scale with the rest of the line, now you can be more accepting!

That all said, this figure is another example of getting the look just right. Yes, he is big for some, but the sculpt is right-on, so if you want a good Shy Guy, you should not, ahem, shy away from this figure. I mean, I am not sure what else I can say from a looks standpoint, as the pictures should speak for themselves, and the comparative scale is what it is. He is obviously not going to be the most articulated figure on your shelf (the little arms are about as functional as you can expect), but the Shy Guys have always been about personality, and this one has it in droves.

He comes with a propeller that plugs right into the top of his head, so he can provide plenty of shyness from above.

Overall, these are two great additions to the WoN line. Shy Guy is an important character and the Tanooki suit makes for a great variant to Mario, so you can find them shipping along with Fire Power Luigi as well. I am seeing that Series 1-5 is already hitting now, so getting Bowser Jr. and Waluigi is at the top of my priority list. These can be gotten on Amazon here and here right now, but TRU and Target seem to be your best chance at the brick and mortar stops.