World of Nintendo 4" Series 2-7 and 3-1 Review
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The last year and a half has been very good for Nintendo fans. Unfortunately it hasn't been as good for Jakk's Pacific and their
World of Nintendo line. With Toys R Us no longer in business in the US, they have lost their largest retail supporter. But the line
is continuing. Over the last year, two additional series of figures have been released both focused completely on the Super Mario part
of the license.
Packaging - 8/10The packaging design for the line has not changed any with these new releases. The cards are bright and colorful which is completely appropriate for the license. The figures are easily visible as are the accessories. (The visible accessories are still a nice improvement from the early releases in the line.) The back of the card shows the figure, features and all of the figures in that series. I still have just two issues with the packaging. The first is a minor complaint, but I would like to see more graphics included in the design. A lot of the space is left fairly blank. I was alright with that design choice with previous series where they mixed in characters from a variety of Nintendo licenses. But here we have two complete series with nothing but Super Mario characters so they don't really have that excuse. The second issue is the quality and durability of materials used. I preordered both of these series from an online retailer so none of the figures have spent any time on a store shelf. But I still have some bending of the cards and Luigi's bubble fell right off of the card. I would not want to have to find and keep these cards in pristine condition as a MOC collector.
Sculpting - Shy Guy 4/10, Mario with Cappy & Propeller Mario 6/10, others 8/10Jakk's has been doing a pretty good job with this line. Which is good because most of the figures are just recycled from previous series with little to no change. Shy Guy, Luigi, Koopa Troopa and Metal Mario are all reused molds. Raccoon Mario has a new head with the raccoon ears and the tail, but is otherwise identical to Metal Mario. They are nice sculpts, but rather underwhelming when you already own one or even two of them. Iggy and the Hammer Bro are both terrific sculpts and look like they stepped right out of the games. Propeller Mario has a new body and head. It's well sculpted, but not a very interesting design to begin with. Surprisingly, Mario from the Super Mario Odyssey game is a completely new sculpt as well. The head sculpt is new of course since he is sculpted without his hat. But the overalls are now textured and even the gloves are new.
Paint - 7/10The paint work on all of the figures is just what I've come to expect from Jakk's World of Nintendo line. The paint work is clean and simple, but quite well executed.
Articulation - Shy Guy 2/10, Koopa & Hammer Bro. 6/10, Others 7/10For a line of figures with a bunch of short, stubby limbs, Jakk's has been doing a good job of putting as much articulation into these figures as possible. The Mario figures and Luigi have fourteen and fifteen points of articulation respectively. Iggy cranks that all the way up to twenty three points of articulation. But a lot of those are redundant joints in his arms. The Hammer Bros and Koopa Troopa both have twenty points of articulation, not counting the wings for Koopa Troopa. But their limbs are so short and stubby that even with all of that articulation, their range of motion is still fairly limited. Finally there is the Shy Guy who has just seven points of articulation. And three of those are rotating waist and ankles which don't actually accomplish anything in terms of changing the overall pose. So his only useful articulation are the shoulders which can both rotate and are hinged to swing outward.
Accessories - Shy Guy 1/10, Prop. Mario 3/10, Koopa Troopa & Luigi 4/10, Metal Mario 6/10, others 5/10Jakk's Pacific has done a nice job with the World of Nintendo line of making sure they include some sort of accessory with everyone. And usually the accessories are fairly nice looking versions of iconic power up items from the games. But they haven't done very well at designing the accessories to actually interact with the figures. Shy Guy once again just comes with a propeller that can be plugged into the top of his head, but it can't actually spin. Koopa Troopa has a pair of wings which give you the option of turning him into a Koopa Paratroopa. That's actually the best use of any of the accessories. But they are still just unpainted bits of plastic, so not too impressive. Propeller Mario has a coin which just feels like they couldn't be bothered to even try to make a propeller mushroom. Luigi comes with a green Koopa Shell. It's a bit small now that we have an actual Koopa Troopa to compare it to. But I'll give it some credit for being well painted. Metal Mario should have a metal cap in theory. But instead he comes with a Mario Kart trophy. I understand the lack of the metal cap since he wouldn't actually be able to put it on. And the trophy is actually really well sculpted and painted. The only down side is now I REALLY want deluxe versions of these figures that come with racing karts. (Get on it Jakk's!) Raccoon Mario comes with a repainted Tanooki leaf power up which Mario still can't hold. Iggy comes with a wand and the Hammer Bro. has a hammer. Neither of those items are all that surprising, but the characters would have felt incomplete without them and they are painted and designed for the figures to actually hold them. So I have to give them credit for that. So that brings us to Mario with Cappy who unsurprisingly comes with Cappy as his accessory. That is a cool idea and Cappy looks great on his own. But Cappy isn't designed to actually fit properly on Mario's head as the hair gets in the way. And despite the photos on the card, there's no means to balance Cappy on Mario's finger as though he was twirling him as seen in the game. This is a real shame. The pair look so great in the packaging. But because they didn't design the figure and the accessory to actually work with each other, you end up with a figure that just never looks quite right. And you are left with an accessory that actually makes the figure it is included with slightly worse.
Value - Shy Guy 2/10, Mario with Cappy 6/10, Iggy & Hammer Bro 8/10, others 7/10The four inch figures for Jakk's World of Nintendo line usually sell for $10 each, though that price can vary a bit depending upon the store. That's quite affordable. At that price I will gladly snap up every new character they produce, two in the case of the Hammer Bro. But with three recycled figures between the two series plus Metal Mario who is a simple repaint, it can't be denied that all of these figures were not created equal. Shy Guy in particular seems like a waste of space in the series. Iggy and the Hammer Bro are easily my favorite of the series. I really hope Jakk's continues expand the character selection and we eventually see more of the Koopa Kids. All of the versions of Mario are decent figures. But I was really expecting to love Mario with Cappy given the amount of effort they put into that figure. So finding out that he can neither wear nor hold Cappy properly was really disappointing. And now I'm anticipating this quickly becoming a hat less Mario figure.
Happy Hunting:The biggest limiting factor with the World of Nintendo line may just be getting the figures. Previously Toys R Us was the best source for the line here in the US. Both Target and Walmart have carried the line in the past, but Walmart doesn't seem to carry it currently. And the few Target stores in my area that do have any of the figures only stock half a dozen of them at a time at most. So the turn over is very slow and newer figures may never actually show up in stores. Because the distribution is so spotty, I've just been ordering complete series of figures online from BBTS.com. The downside to this option is that it does mean that I end up buying all of the reissue figures as well just to be able to get the new offerings. Presently I've been willing to do that just to ensure I can get the figures I want. But your mileage may vary.
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