Jakks Pacific Super Mario Bros Movie Figures review

The Mario movie was a massive success! It surprised everyone who initially doubted it because of the celeb cast and because it was made by Illumination. Luckily, it was moderated by Nintendo, making sure it had more passion put into it than any of their games since 2019. And as expected, we have the merchandise made to tie-in for the animated blockbuster(?) of the year. We'll see if we'll get other characters from the movie, like Kamek, DK, and Cranky. Until then, let's see if these figures are worth $20-30. 

Let's cover the poster boy of the movie, Mario. The same guy who was voiced by a crisp rat who people hated at first, many fans can now get this guy with no problem after most of them were accepting of his honestly not-too-bad performance in the movie. The character design is given more sculptwork added to make his outfit more realistic while maintaining the same cartoony look that one would expect from the Illumination people. It kind of reminds me of how Mario Odyssey added more details to Mario and all the other characters as he looks less and less plasticky since the N64 era. Even the M on his hat comes off less like a tampo and more like it's etched onto the article. His eyes are made to be "articulated" because they're acrylic, meaning the pupils will follow you in any direction the head is facing. It's a neat feature for photos where Mario is staring at you, but it will be annoying if you want him staring at another toy rather than you. Oh, and his butt is as small as it is in the movie, and it weirdly reminds me of Hank Hilll's lack of an ass.

His articulation consists of a ball-jointed head, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, elbow bends as well as swivels at the elbows, the forearms swivel too, but they are useless due to the joint cuts; the wrists swivel, the waist is on a ball joint, hips move front and back, in and out, thighs swivel, knees bend, and the feet are on ball joints. He comes with his toilet plunger, but I do wish he had more alternate accessories, like fists for more dynamic poses (as dynamic as his body allows) or an alternate angry face. I'm surprised to see an increase in both scale and quality (along with the price) when put next to the main Mario, as the details on him are crisper, the paint isn't like pastel, and the quality control is much better. The articulation is comparable to the Figuart, but the leg movement is better on this guy in my opinion. I don't have the Figuart because it's easier to compare and contrast two figures from Jakks by a decade.

Next up, it's Luigi's turn. He is thankfully not a repaint or retool of Mario as in addition to the colors and head, his body has proportions of his own with longer limbs and torso to match his leaner frame. Even the hands and feet appear to be made for Luigi. One annoying QC glare is that the L isn't painted quite right.

His articulation is the same as his brother's, but his accessory is a flashlight, which is fitting for when he's going into the Dark Lands while running away from Dry Bones and eventually getting captured by the Shy Guys. Next to his original World of Nintendo counterpart, the difference in quality and size is higher this time around. I also like that Luigi's pose in the photo combined with the eyes makes him more photogenic. He could use a terrified face and alternate hands, though.

We then go to Princess Peach, who is depicted in a more traditional sculpt of having a plastic dress that doesn't make posing her much easier. It's inevitable, let's be honest.  Her dress's creases are believable in making her look like they're fabric, while the two-tone pink coloring is carried over. The shoulders are in the hot pink as are the pads on her dress, though.There are a few creases on the gloves, which I don't mind too much. Her eyes have the same acrylic look that the Mario Bros possess. Her hair is also sculpted to look like hair, though a golden wash would both be accurate to the movie and highlight the sculptwork more. At least the crown is nicely painted.

Her articulation is much more limited, with a slight bit of head movement, shoulders that are equally limited, elbow bends, and wrist swivels along with a torso joint. It's a shame that you can't pose her in a more dynamic fashion like in the movie, but either the dress looks nice or the figure has better posing. At the very least, she is taller and in some ways a better quality figure than her original self, which was unexpectedly harder to find. This one, being more expensive and coming with an umbrella, might work better. She could use a smirking alternate head, though, especially given her personality being different in the movie.

And it's now Toad's turn. This guy is amusingly the same as his appearance in the games, but with bigger eyes that, if they didn't have the white dots, would make him almost comparable to the N64 version of the character. His mushroom hat has the dots painted, but the backpack has various non-removable tools that are at least painted in different colors from each other, with a green sleeping bag, a beige rope, a blue cup, and a brown and white lamp being part of the admittedly back heavy backpack. The buckles painted in silver are a nice touch.

His articulation is where things get a bit weird since while the head, shoulders, elbows, legs, and feet are appreciative, he can't really be balanced well enough while he's in a walking pose. The biggest issue I have with the figure are the forearms. They're small, yes, but why are the joints flexible to the point where they feel like they'll tear off while I try to move the arm out or insert/remove the frying pan accessory? I should mention I don't have a normal Toad, but you can see here how different the proportions, amount of articulation, and the paint apps not being the same in terms of sizing.

And here we now have Bowser. The best performance in the movie thanks to Jack Black, Bowser is depicted as intimidating as he is in the games, and maybe moreso since he's not usually like this in the games. The sculptwork is given a new layer of texturing that makes his skin more organic while paint apps not missing any important details for Bowser. The hair, the mouth, the shell, the spikey bands, even the claws on the hands and feet are not missed out on! New to this version of Bowser is a green face that transitions between the shell and the yellow skin. His shell is actually a PVC material, somewhat like parts of his figure. Honestly, when I first opened the toy out of the box, the smell of it reminded me of the paint that NECA's figures had.

His articulation is pretty basic, with no neck or mouth movement, shoulders that rotate 360 degrees, elbow bends, wrist swivels, hips that move front and back (with a bit of different sculpting for the bottom region with the left leg, knee bends, ankle rotations, and two points at the tail. Removing the shell leaves one spike, a switch, and a battery cover. Yes, this guy has a gimmick where you can put water inside the head and press the one spike to have him breathe smoke while a red light blinks. It's meant to emulate him breathing fire.

And here he is next to his main counterpart. Amusingly, Bowser almost fits well for a Smash Bros iteration, and possibly the closest to that style for the character. The WON Bowser figure is not only more cartoony in this form, but he also looks more limited in articulation, especially in the knees while the hands can hinge rather than swivel. He also looks the most pastel when he stands next to his movie counterpart. Their joints are both fairly loose, which is especially annoying given how they're supposed to be Deluxe.

And that wraps up the first wave of Nintendo figures. Overall, these figures are alright for what they are as tie-ins for the Mario movie. The Mario Bros are the best figures in the wave, while Peach and Toad are perfectly fine for what they are while they aren't as good as the former. Bowser is pretty decent, but I don't think he's worth getting at full price. Some of these should be on clearance, but the others are mostly worth getting at full price.

 

Overall Wave Ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Legends Retro Ghost Vision & Spiral review

These two characters had nothing in common, and they went against my rules for pairing up Marvel Legends figures. But I did want to kind of represent the duality of two figures in the Retro line-up. One feels very basic and is best getting on clearance, while the other is worth getting at full price. While Vision is a character we've had plenty of times, with this being our second ghost version of the character, this is our second version of Spiral, and amusingly, the previous one was also made by Hasbro. Let's see what I mean by this comparison in the review!

Let's get Vision out of the way. This is a ghostly white version of the character based on his appearance in West Coast Avengers, part of the Vision Quest storyline where the character was disassembled while his exterior got damaged over time, resulting in its coloring being lost over time. This results in the aforementioned white and light grey remaining after the operation. He also loses his emotion matrix. It's more interesting to discuss than the figure itself because while it's not the same as the 3-pack version that came with an Ultron reusing Ultimate Beetle's buck or the not-Bruce Banner Hulk, its deco is minimal and the cape is now opaque. The feet having regular toes is a nice touch, though.

Head sculpt is not the best unless it was either filtered or painted with a wash to make it look more detailed, but it is better done than the version we previously got. Since this is a Bucky Cap reuse, I won't go over the articulation but I wil say that the rigid cape makes some poses hard to pull off. If you got this guy for $10 bucks, he's fine, but as much as I don't care about the MCU, at least its own White Vision was a new sculpt IIRC. Sadly, this guy will be your cheapest bet at a comic Vision that is more classic-inspired since the first Retro one is ridiculously expensive on eBay. Marvel Legends scalpers are no different from Transformers scalpers, but with how more common the Bucky Cap buck is, it's more insulting.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And here is Spiral in-hand, who is an entirely new sculpt to my knowledge. While the first version was from an era where Hasbro Marvel Legends were getting worse because they started to be phased out in favor of smaller toys (look at the selection from 2007-8 compared to 2009-11), this figure shows how some retro-carded Legends are worth getting even in spite of their price. The tooling appears to be new for her as we can consider the three pairs of arms on her, but we also get stuff like the pockets on her pant legs, the boots, the shoulder pads, and the belt all being unique for her. While there isn't much paint on the outfit, I do like that the arms, in addition to having double-jointed elbows, are given unique bicep and forearm guards along with even a left arm on the back that is entirely made of metal. Even some of the arms are unique in terms of the layout.

This figure's head is well sculpted and contains the great level of badassery that one would expect from someone who's either known to follow Mojo around or kicks ass in Marvel vs Capcom 2. Her eyes are blank white with no pupils in sight, but the eye makeup along with the lips and eyebrows not being misaligned is a win in my book. Her helmet is molded silver plastic but it otherwise works well given it's in a darker shade while the blue does not look faded on it. I believer there is even an outline for it which I appreciate. As for the articulation, it's about the same as with the Bucky Cap mold in terms of how the joints move, especially with the addition of double-jointed elbows, but the diaphragm joint is different from the ab-crunch/waist swivel combo. After swapping the open flesh-tone hand and metallic fist-hand (both on the left side), we can give her four katanas, and two golden weapons in the form of a sword and an axe. The katanas have some nicely added paint to further complete their look in contrast to the golden weapons.

Overall, you get a sense of the duality of Marvel Legends' retro line. One side has really basic repaints while the other side has releases with more effort put into them. White Vision isn't a bad toy, he feels more like a budget release that you'd only buy if you see him on discount and have nothing else to buy. By contrast, Spiral is way worth picking up at the MSRP she goes for, especially if you wanted an updated version to replace the 2007 mold as someone who mained her in MvC2. In any case, happy hunting getting Bleasion and the not-Woman Spider!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Power Rangers Lightning Collection Blue Senturion review

The Blue Senturion is yet another extra hero in blue from the Zordon era, and the conclusion to the trio we previously had with Ninjor and Auric the Conquerer. As expected, Senty got chosen first due to his proportions being closer to a Ranger compared to the other guys' bulkier designs. But while figures in this price tag got vehicles that made them more interesting, especially with ones light on alternate display options like the Omega Ranger, this guy came on his own and did not come with his Cycle, probably because it'd make him similar to said SPD Ranger. So does coming on his own justify the price that he comes with?

Here is the Blue Senturion in-hand. This guy is a beautifully painted piece, with details picked out immaculately with nothing skimped out, from the buttons and lines scattered all over the figure to the badge that rests on his torso. There are translucent parts for the shoulder pads as well as the traffic lights on the figure's torso, representing the guy's Sentai counterpart's name (Signalman is probably a little too much like a generic arcade game name compared to Blue Senturion). While I can't really prove it, the weight and density of the toy feels a little heavier than on an average lightning figure. There's nothing missing in any way, shape, or form from this toy apart from a possible complaint stemming from how bland the gray parts look on the thighs and elbows compared to the rest of the toy. Those should probably have silver paint to complete their looks if I'm being honest. But this guy nails just about everything I'd want from a Blue Senturion figure and then some (apart from the right knee's slightly misaligned yellow dot).

His head sculpt is perfect to the character design, from the biker helmet silhouette to the pitch black visor combined with the sculpted lips, his antenna on the left side of the head and the POLICE print on the side further completes this guy if you ask me. The former could be a little more straight, though. His articulation consists of a ball-jointed neck, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out (with the shoulders both swiveling in unison as well as the flexibility allowing outward motion), bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, a diaphragm joint along with an ab crunch, hips that drop down in order to allow better movement front to back as well as in and out what with the sculptwork of the pelvis, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, foot rotation as well as ankle hinges joined with pivots.

His accessories include his Senturion Synergizer in baton/sword as well as gun and badge/walkie-talkie modes, two alternate thigh holsters for the badge, two gripping hands, a blast effect, and a whistle, a majority of which come with various paint apps that further complete the set, though it is odd that the badge mode has the black paint missing on the handles of the gun and sword.

These display options being entirely character-exclusive is something I always value for the non-standard releases of figures in the Lightning Collection, but I'll be honest and say that I'm amazed I didn't get screwed over with getting missing or duplicate accessories like other people did. This is actually out of order from the Lightning Collection Wave 13 review so maybe they fixed up the newest batches rather than wait for their current copies to be put out with worse QC. That being said, going for the plastic window packaging would have made things easier, Hasbro. As for the accessories, he holds them generally well, but the whistle, while neat that it's included, can be easily lost and hard to insert into his hand.

Let's wrap it up with his sword baton in his hand for the last two shots, one on his own and another with the other Turbo guy we have so far, that being the Phantom Ranger. Yeah, they both look really good next to each other, and I wouldn't be surprised if Hasbro wanted to get these two out of the way since they're easier to make with unique designs rather than do the simpler Turbo team while their more popular In Space counterparts are still prioritizes. In any case, I recommend fans get a hold of the Blue Senturion if it is at a much cheaper price because while I didn't mind paying what it goes for, I still feel it isn't entirely worth the new Deluxe price that Hasbro put out of late. It is making me excited to continue the season with TJ joining the collection, with hopefully the rest of the members popping up to complete the first five years' worth of Power Rangers history on TV.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐