#9: S.H. Figuarts - Luigi

I got the Figuarts Mario last year. So of course, I had to get the Luigi to go with him. Basically, he's the same as Mario. New sculpt and all that, but he's engineered in the same way. Luigi's accessories are a little different. Fortunately, Luigi includes a base and stand, so that he can be posed in mid-jump.

There is also an extra pair of hands and a shell that he can hold. I forgot to include it in the pictures, but there is a brick block as well. There's a concurrent release of an accessory pack which includes a red pipe with piranha plant, and a buzzy beetle. That's actually somewhat tempting. At least there aren't two accessory packs like when the Mario figure came out.

There's a Yoshi coming out, but I've never really felt a need for a Yoshi figure. On the other hand, Mario or Luigi will be able to pose riding on Yoshi's back...

#75: S.H. Figuarts - Super Mario Diorama Playset A

The other item I got at the toy show was the other accessory set for the S.H. Figuarts Mario figure. While the other set had the very cool pipes, this one has a more important accessory: a stand. All in all, you get a base, a stand for Mario, an alternate back piece for Mario that the stand plugs into, a Goomba, two brick blocks, a ? block, a coin, two stands of varying heights for the coin, a stand for the blocks, and a platform for all three blocks to rest on (so you can have one block or all three floating above Mario at once). Ideally, the stand and base would have been included with Mario in the first place, but it is cool to have the addition to the figure. It does drive home the point that Mario's arms are too short to actually hit anything, so he looks like he's hitting blocks with his head. That's not a knock on the figure, that's just how the character is designed.

#64: S.H. Figuarts - Super Mario Diorama Playset B

My roommate knew I was going to buy the Figuarts Mario figure, so he asked which of the accessory packs I liked better and got it for me as a birthday gift. Good deal, since I wasn't planning to get either of them myself. Basically I picked this set because it has green pipes. There are two pipes, one tall and one shorter. The tall one has a very shallow platform inset, so Mario appears to be standing on top of it. The short pipe has a much deeper recess, so it will look like Mario is going into or popping out of the pipe. Also included is a coin (with a short stand and a tall stand to give it the appearance of floating), a Goomba, a Koopa Troopa shell, an alternate pair of hands, and some clear plugs that help the hands hold the shell.

Now that I've got this accessory set, I'm kind of thinking about getting the other one, which has a base and a stand so Mario can do some jumping.

#63: S.H. Figuarts - Super Mario

Since Figma made Samus and Link figures, I hoped that they would make a Mario as well. For whatever reason, Bandai ended up being the company that made a comparable Mario figure, in the Figuarts line. I pre-ordered a few months ago, pleased that the anticipated release date was my birthday. The figure arrived the day after my birthday, so that was pretty good timing. Mario's appearance was kind of variable for the first few years, but was basically settled by the time Super Mario Bros. 3 was released, and this is the Mario we all know and love. Mario's pretty well articulated, although due to the relative thickness of his limbs, they don't bend as much as they might if they were thinner. But really, it's good articulation, and fairly well coordinated with the sculpt so that it still looks good.

For accessories, Mario comes off a little light in comparison to other figures of this variety. But he's also notably cheaper as well. And if these aren't enough accessories for you, Bandai has released two sets of extras to supplement the figure (more on those later...). But for this figure, there's a "?" block, a coin (with stand), and a power up mushroom. The block has a notch in the bottom for attaching a stand (not included).