#40: World of Nintendo - Skull Kid

Fortunately, the World of Nintendo line has stopped with the mystery accessory gimmick, because otherwise I wouldn't have bought this figure. A Skull Kid isn't that interesting on its own, but when it's the one from Majora's Mask and includes the titular mask as an accessory, then I'm interested. The Skull Kid has two big slots on his face where the mask plugs in, so he looks kind of terrible without it on. There aren't any other accessories, but I figure that's all that's needed here. Maybe some different masks would have been cool, but it was Link who wore the rest of them in the game. Now I want them to make a Goron Link figure.

#24: World of Nintendo Animal Crossing - Villager

I usually can't resist Animal Crossing toys, so I was keeping an eye out for the Villager figure from World of Nintendo. It actually comes in two sizes, the smaller unarticulated version, and this larger version with some articulation. Due to the design of the character, having articulation once translated to three dimensions isn't very helpful. Mostly it's only useful for making sure he stays balanced enough to stand. I'm kind of disappointed that this version of the Villager isn't the default skin from Super Smash Bros, because that had all those memes about the character being a psycho killer. Alas, the hands are just spherical and unable to hold anything, like an axe. This version is wearing the Nintendo shirt with the number 1889 on it, which is the year the company was founded. The Villager's only accessory is a piece of furniture, represented as a leaf in game. Which piece of furniture is it? That's up to you to decide.

#124: World of Nintendo - K.K. Slider

I was checking out Target to see if there were any good post-Christmas deals, and found some new World of Nintendo mini figures. I don't really keep close tabs on this line, so it was a nice surprise to find K.K. Slider from the Animal Crossing series. He moves at the neck and shoulders and has his guitar case on his back. Since K.K. Slider typically appears in game on Saturday nights, it's appropriate that my last post of the year is about him and is being posted on a Saturday night. Thanks for reading, everyone. See you next year, and I promise not to let myself get months behind on posting like I have the past two years.

#107: World of Nintendo - Metroid

Last year for Christmas, I got the larger metroid figure, and now close to the end of the year, I found the newer small version. I feel like I could throw in a joke about how soul sucking 2016 has been here. This version is about an inch and a half high, does not have articulated mandibles, and includes a little hover stand. It's pretty basic, but it looks good and does what it needs to do.

#49: World of Nintendo - Sheik

I'm still waiting for a figure of Zelda herself, but (spoiler alert for a 20 year old game!) since this is technically her, that is pretty cool too. Sheik has had more appearances in the Super Smash Bros series than the Legend of Zelda series that she's from. She's probably not the only character with that distinction, which I suppose is a bit odd. Sheik's accessory is a lyre. Normally for this line, the accessory is inside a box, and is meant to be a surprise. But in this case, the lyre is displayed in the packaging, and called out in the print as well. Maybe there was concern that people don't know what a lyre is.

#46: World of Nintendo - Shy Guy

Originally hailing from Super Mario Bros 2, the Shy Guys aren't quite as iconic as goombas or koopa troopas, but I've always liked their look. Not surprisingly, the Shy Guy has very little articulation. The arms are swivel-hinges and the feet are swivels. Really, that's about all you can expect with a design like that. His accessory is a propellor that plugs into the top of his head. I don't remember Shy Guys flying in SMB2, so I'm guessing that's an ability that showed up in a more recent appearance. I haven't played a new Super Mario game since the Gamecube, so I'm kind of out of the loop in that regard.

#45: World of Nintendo - Tanooki Mario

Second to Kuribo's shoe, the tanooki suit is the coolest power up in Super Mario Bros. 3. It combines the raccoon suit's ability of flight with the ability to turn into an invulnerable statue. It was also Mario's first foray into full bodysuit power ups. The original tanooki suit doesn't have the hat brim on it that this figure has, so this is apparently based on New Super Mario 3D Land. But I'm just going to pretend it's the original version, because Super Mario Bros 3 was such a huge cultural landmark. Mario isn't as well articulated here as is the Figuarts version, but it's good enough for the price. Mario's secret accessory is the super leaf power up.

#43: World of Nintendo - Gravity Suit Samus

I don't remember if I ever saw one, but I intended to pass on the first World of Nintendo Samus because I already have the much fancier Figma Samus. But I am totally down for a gravity suit repaint. Beside granting improved jumping ability, what I like about the gravity suit is the purple. And this is the Super Smash Bros color variant I always use for Samus. It's a nice looking figure with decent articulation. The secret accessory is Samus in morph ball mode.

#1: World of Nintendo - Metroid

So there have been more Samus figures in the past couple years than basically the previous 25. Even rarer than Samus has been a metroid toy. Fortunately, there's one in the World of Nintendo line now.
It's one of the deluxe figures, so it's really big. Like, probably too big to really be in scale with anything. But I'm okay with that because it's really cool looking. The only articulation is on the fangs, which is really the only articulation that would be appropriate. The outer layer is a soft, translucent plastic, while everything else is a harder plastic. I'd say this is a very nice translation of a metroid design into three dimensions. Too bad it (and Samus!) is so hard to find.

#114: World of Nintendo - Bowser

It was recently announced that Figuarts will be adding a Yoshi to its lineup, but whether they will ever do a Bowser is still unknown. Fortunately, the World of Nintendo line has taken care of that. Bowser is pretty massive. It's not just his height, but he's wide and has depth from front to back. He feels pretty weighty, as well. He looks pretty good, and really the only letdown is the articulation. His head is supposed to rotate, but in reality, the hair is in a notch on the the shell. So it doesn't move. The arms have shallow joints, so he can mostly rotate and slightly bend them. But it's generally a cool figure.

#105: World of Nintendo - Link

For the longest time, there weren't Legend of Zelda toys. There were a couple Ocarina of Time figures, and statues. Then there's a Figma Link, a Real Action Hero Link, a Nendoroid Link, and now a World of Nintendo Link. We are apparently living in the golden age of Link action figures. Like the Figma, this Link figure is based on his appearance in Skyward Sword. Of course, this is a smaller, cheaper figure. He's got a pretty good amount of articulation. For accessories, there's the Master Sword, and a scabbard which attaches to Link's back. There's also a Hylian shield, which is packaged as a mystery accessory. I guess that's just this line's gimmick. I'm curious to see where this line goes from here.