World of Nintendo Series 14
It’s-a Mario! And he-a gonna be taken the center stage-a for the next couple-a World of Neeeeeeentendo series from-a Jakks Pacific! We are really enjoying this line, so I am glad to be able to get my mitts on this new assortment, complete with Mario-focused packaging.
So, I don’t think Jakks gets the proper credit they deserve for the World of Nintendo line. Yes, I want to get every character I have ever wanted from every game ever, but as far as the SMB universe goes, we have been doing pretty darn well in terms of building out our collections. While “World of Nintendo” has been indicative of covering a lot of Nintendo’s games and properties in one spot, it has been clear that Mario has been the focus over the years, and I PROMISE you that sales are dictating that. So, rather than running from it, Jakks has begun to embrace the Mario focus, and their new packaging, complete with new SMB-specific branding and larger bubble space helps to take steps in that direction. Don’t worry, I am still with you all in terms of wanting lots of characters from other games, but there is still so much to do for Mario and company alone, I am good with going with this direction.
I am all about building out this diverse universe with new characters, but I still understand why it is important to balance that with anchor characters like Mr. Mario Mario himself. That is why I think this is a pretty rock-solid assortment as I am getting new guys in Parabones, the Piranha Plant, and Fire Bro, but Mario and Luigi are also along for the ride to provide that A-list recognition. Because I have trouble finding time to hunt, I pre-ordered this assortment from BBTS right when it went up, but I know people are finding these guys at Target now, so if you have been with the line for a bit and you have Mario and Luigi covered, you can skip them. I have taken a few pictures of them, but I am not going to be going into any kind of detail on them here, as I have take a couple swipes in the past. I will say this though, Ice Flower Luigi NEEDS to be the next simple repaint of the character we get. Ice Mario has been out for a good bit now, and we need his kid brother to match.
Let’s start with the Piranha Plant because frankly, this is a bit of an outsider in terms of being an action figure anyway. Yeah, technically it is, especially seeing how it does have three points of articulation, but like in the games, this guy is meant to be mostly stationary. That said, Jakks has done a nice job here, and even though I wish the green pipe was a bit bigger to be in better scale, the plant itself has a great sculpt. The is articulated, so you can have some posing options, and expression changes quite a bit depending on how opened or closed you arrange the mouth. This is modeled more after control art than actual game screens so the stem is curved to help give this more personality rather than being straight up and down like the game. There are not a ton of paint applications but the dot and lighter green leaf detail (a nice touch) are all very clean with not smudge or run to report.
This is one figure I wasn’t really sure I needed for this line, but now that I have it, I will be on the lookout to grab a couple extras at some point. For the shelf, these will look nice slightly raised and in the background behind the other figures, so that will help with some of the pipe size issue as well. The Question Block accessory is pretty ubiquitous in this line by now, but hey, these are scattered all throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, so I can always use more.
The Fire Bro was one of the figures I was most anticipating in this series, and I can tell you now, I already want another one. This is, of course, a repaint of the previous Hammer Bro figure, but that is perfectly fine as they are simply a green to red palette swap in terms of design. I would love it if Jakks got us all the “Bros” (amirite, bro?) as they are simple releases but entirely essential, so I will start calling for a Boomerang Bro in blue right now, and then Ice Bro in light blue would make for a very solid foursome. I rather like the red on this guy, and as I said, it is a nice offset to the green. The articulation is mostly functional, but a bit peculiar as is the case with some WoN figures, but e fact that you can get him to balance on one foot is the winning pose I needed from this figure, so I am happy.
The included accessory is, of course, the requisite fire ball, and the fire portion itself is nicely sculpted and has great paint gradient transition form yellow to orange to red to give it nice detail. It is attached to a white stick so the figure can hold it, and while that is okay, I will probably end up cutting mine down a bit so you cannot see it as it is being held to give more of the illusion that it is being shot from his hand. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad they went this way so the figure can actually hold the fireball, but I am just thinking ahead a bit.
Finally, Parabones was the guy I was really waiting on in this wave, and I am happy to report he did not disappoint. In fact, he is the best figure out of the five by far to me, and you can tell that he is one that has been designed more recently, and a lot of though has gone into capturing the design and personality. The sculpt work is very nice, and no detail that should be brought with sculpture is left to paint, so the eye sockets are inset, the ribbing on the front of the shell is there, and the back of the shell damaged and decayed. I am a fan of the Dry Bones design anyway, but the colors look great in 3-D, and combination is something we don’t have in the WoN collection yet. This guy seems like he has a bit more articulation than a standard Troopa, and the real kicker is that the jaw is articled, so that right there means lots of options, and probably multiple buys.
Speaking of, since this is technically branded as Parabones, the accessories are the wings, but making them detachable essentially gets you two releases in one. Like the Troopas, there are standard and “para” Bones, so if you want yours flightless, just leave them off. For me, that just likely means I will be getting three figures total, two for standard and one as a true Parabones, so I am quite pleased with the options.
Overall, this series is a great release from Jakks Pacific, and even though the World of Nintendo line itself seems to be making a hard cut to Mario dedication, I am still mostly good with that. There is still a lot of work to do, and I hope that the rest of the Koopa Kids are going to start coming fast (poor Iggy is so lonely), as well as longtime holdouts like Birdo and Daisy. I have an appointment with the Jakks team at Toy Fair in a couple of weeks, so I am beyond stoked to see what is in-store after the next Super Mario Odyssey-heavy wave. Don’t sleep on this one, and go to BBTS to get yours now.