Okay, everyone – we have done it! We are finally past the halfway point to getting all of the Koopa Kids in the World of Nintendo line. If you have keeping us with these features, you know that is a HUGE deal to me, and the arrival of Larry means there are only three left to go. Fortunately, he’s a fun figure, and the fact that we get a new Yoshi with him is the icing on cake.
For Nintendo fans, this line is most certainly more of a marathon rather than a sprint, and while getting new characters can be slow-going at times, it is always a welcome sight. Getting all of the Koopa Kids (or Koopalings) has been my personal priority for this line even before Iggy was released a few years ago. While I know I rail about that just about every chance I get, I know I am not at all alone in wanting these characters, and having them all will not only be a satisfying piece of a Super Mario collection, it will also be a nice feat for Jakks. Larry joins Iggy, Ludwig, and Lemmy, so Roy, Morton, and Wendy remain, and I can only hope we will see all of them soon. C’mon, Jakks – I KNOW you can do this!
As I said, Larry is a nice figure and he matches up with his brethren well in terms of style and articulation. I am glad there is cohesion in terms of the era that these figures are based, so Larry is very much a “modern” take on his design, even though he has not changed all that much over the years. These all look like they have jumped out of the standard Nintendo style guide, and I am finding that true down to the basic pose and expression for each character. So, Larry has a slight gradient in the blues of his hair (a nice touch), and the star on the left side of his head present as well.
While he is the fourth Kid to join the articulated 4” line, he is actually the first to be in all three scales across all of Jakks offerings. This includes the 2.5” line, as well as the dearly departed Micro Land scale from several years ago, so Larry has certainly had a solid presence throughout the various expressions. I would assume Morton will be the only other one to HOPEFULLY accomplish that, but thus far, we have not seen any movement towards him in either the 2.5 or 4” lines. I have found all of the Larry figures released thus far to be charming and mischievous in their rendering, but this one is my favorite due to the scale and articulation.
Speaking of articulation, Larry matches up the with recently-released Lemmy in terms of points and range of movement to the joints. Iggy still beats all in terms of number of points (with elbows as the main addition), but Larry is better than Ludwig just by the nature of being able to move his head. He features a swivel neck, partial ball shoulders, wrist twists, partial ball hips, hinge ankles, and a hinge tail, for about ten points overall. That is not “super articulated” by the standards of some other lines out there, but for a Koopa Kid, it is not bad at all. I only really miss the elbows, but as his arms are very small and thin, I get the challenges there. For the most part, Larry can do most of the movement required for a Koopa Kid.
Larry has his requisite wand with him, properly colored with the orange tip. I am happy to see all of the Kids have had their wands thus far, and if Larry was only going to come with one accessory, I am glad it is this. In terms of scale, I think he fits in with Iggy and Ludwig mostly well, but Lemmy is still a bit big compared to his brothers. Overall, I find Larry to be just as strong as a release as Lemmy, so for me, he rates better than Ludwig, but not quite as high as Iggy. I am just really glad to him!
Orange Yoshi joins Larry are the only “new” character in this assortment, though the Paratrooper and Goomba make for good army-builders. Cappy Mario is also included, but I would say this is a solid wave, even with the repeats since you can make good use of them. I do not begrudge Jakks for re-issues in the line, but like the valid Yoshi repaints, I would like to see more things like Yellow Toad, blue or yellow Koopa Troopas, so that we can have some additional valid variants with our new figures.
Yes, this is just a repaint of the standard Yoshi figure, but it is a solid release with good articulation and and a faithful sculpt. So, if you have any of the previous Yoshi figures, you know what you are getting here, right down to the repainted egg accessory. The orange, red, and blue used for the figure all match up well with the source material, and all of the colors are in the right place, so Jakks has handled this straightforward release well. We now have green, pink, red, light blue, black, yellow, and orange Yoshi in the line, but I am still game for a few more. I would love to see the dark blue/purple version, as well as the white/grey at the very least. These are fun figures that look really sharp when displayed together.
I am always THRILLED when we get a new Koopa Kid, so Larry is most certainly the standout for me, but the new orange Yoshi is very nice, too. I really do enjoy the World of Nintendo line, but I still hope we can get more new characters a bit more frequently. Like I said, I am going to be on edge until Roy, Morton, and Wendy come to the 4” line (the 2.5” line looks to have everyone save for Morton by the end of the year), so I hope they can come a bit more quickly than just one a year. Even for a marathon, it is has been a LONG time coming. After that, they still have a lot of important characters like Daisy, Toadette, Birdo, and Rosalina to get to, so there is a lot of life still in this line. You can pre-order this assortment at BBTS now.
