Sure, these two figures aren’t from the same wave of the World of Nintendo line, but since I found them on the same day, I thought I might as well pair them together.
Jakks Pacific is continuing the World of Nintendo line, and it has quietly become one of my favorite lines to collect. Yeah, I am a bit of mark for Nintendo properties, but I have to say that they have done a great job of mixing properties, new characters, and variants that make sense, and the line just keeps chugging along. 2016 saw some cool things happen, like getting the main cast of Star Fox completed, so my classic video game shelf is looking great at the moment, thank you very much.
Mario and Yoshi variations might not be the most exciting releases on paper, but actually, I find both of these figures to be great additions to the line. They go right along with other variations in the WoN line, and I have to say that since repaints are a reality of almost every mass-market line, they might as well be thoughtful and useful, and Jakks has done a great job with almost all of their variations thus far.
Everyone knows that the default Yoshi color is green, and that is the first Yoshi Jakks gave us, but there is no denying that the near-countless color variations of Yoshi are very valid for action figures. This new blue figure joins the previously released red and pink versions, and tougher, they all look great. If Jakks had wanted to do just the green figure, that would have been fine, but I am having a good time collecting these color ways, and Yoshi is not even one of my favorite characters. All of the variations look great thus far, so now that we are four deep, I hope yellow is next, and I would be a liar if I said I would not get just about any of the other hues they would care to offer.
“Star Power” Mario is where the real action is, and for being essentially a clear figure of the regular old Mario, this figure turned out AWESOME. I really, really dig the work done on this figure because not only is it unique and flashy, it is a well-conceived way to bring the star power look to plastic. Speaking for myself, I can say that I do not have anything in the entirety of my action figure collection that looks like this figure, so the unique points are certainly valid, but the effect is what really sells it. The plastic seems to be a slightly clear yellow color, but the figure is actually painted with an iridescent/mother-of-pear clear paint, and the effect is just fantastic. I don’t think I would have even considered this approach for the star effect, but I am certainly glad Jakks did because this would have been an easy figure to pass on had it not been done well, but since it was, it instantly became a must-have.
I am really looking forward to 2017 for the World of Nintendo line, and I hope we get some continuation of core properties with figures like the Koopa Kids, Daisy, and Ganon (from Legend of Zelda), and also expand to more properties we have not seen yet, like Kid Icarus and Ice Climber. I am a big fan of the line and will happily continue to support it, especially if we keep getting demanded new characters, and thoughtful variations like Blue Yoshi and Star Power Mario.
