Yoshi is the latest Super Mario action figure to come out of Bandai’s S.H. Figuarts lineup, and he is amazing. The figure is the perfect version of Yoshi and captures this video game favorite!
I mentioned before that I’m not a huge Super Mario source of knowledge, and my enjoyment of the games is even limited in this day and age. But I did spend a few nights playing Mario Kart 64 with my wife, my usual weapon of choice being Donkey Kong, hers Yoshi. And there were some bitter sessions, cutthroat sessions, and hours of senseless giggling as we went after each other in a no-holds-barred competition of video game kart racing.
canonball reviewed Mario, I nailed Luigi, and now Yoshi. It is a ton of fun taking pictures, writing reviews, and playing with these action figures. Bandai’s done an incredible job of capturing Yoshi in all his plastic glory. Every curve of his rotund form is perfectly crafted, seemless, and looks fantastic. The shaping is really well done — a figure with this much curved surface could really come out wonky. There he is! Yoshi, in all his cute glory.
Yoshi is the cute and loveable dinosaur that acts as Mario’s ride and companion in the Super Mario Bros series, and he’s even spun-off in his own games. This dino allows Mario to get into normally unreachable areas or grab hard-to-reach items with his tongue. And he’s know for eating a baddie or two.
The articulation on Yoshi mirrors that of Mario and Luigi, but it is slightly more limited. Yoshi does not have hinged knee joints, but that’s not a big loss as I don’t know how they would be able to add knee joints without making the figure look strange. And, to be honest, it doesn’t really impact the overall play factor with the figure; he’s still a ton of fun to roll around in the hand and pose. In fact, most of the poses that I’ve put him in the past few days don’t require knee joints. The ball hips and ankles provide enough movement. The other great joint that I love is the mouth joint, it’s an integration of the head and jaw and allows Yoshi to open his mouth and “smile.” It’s a great feature and, of course, has another purpose with one of the accessories. Here’s the breakdown:
Ball ankles
Ball hips
Ball shoulders
Swivel biceps
Hinged elbows
Ball hands
Ball neck
Hinged Jaw
Yoshi comes with a ton of accessories, which is kind of par for the course with these S.H. Figuarts figures and it’s a great way to build up your Mario World. I was lucky to get the special 1-up package that some collectors are receiving with their Yoshi — this is the bit of plastic that attached to the Mario World figure’s fists. It’s a great addition along with the 1-Up Mushroom.
As mentioned previously, there is an accessory that attaches to his mouth — his extended tongue. Collectors wanting to pose some in-game scenes will love this accessory. There is also a Yoshi egg that comes with set, which is really cool, except it’s glued to Yoshi’s hand. I guess I can see the logic in this, but then I can’t. Personally, I’m half tempted to heat my egg off the hand. There are two other items of interest: swappable eyes and two different back humps that Mario or Luigi can ride on. The eyes are an ok accessory, but the “seats” for Mario are a great addition. Bandai once again packs this figure with some great accessories.
For the Mario collectors out there, this is another great addition to your collections. I know there are problems with the head popping off easily (confirmed) and different colored shoes (not an issue for me), but that shouldn’t stop anyone from picking up this figure. Since there are a ton of different colored Yoshi’s in the games, we can only expect to see a ton of color variants coming from Bandai in the future.
You can still pick this figure up at:
