World of Nintendo: Waluigi, Gold Mario, Samus (Exclusive), and Sheik

More World of Nintendo!  My love for this line continues, and will forever more, on into the starry night and the dew laden leaves of the early morn.

Come on in and read my stupid jokes about them!

This is Waluigi!  You may remember him from....uh...various side Mario games.  No platformers.  Not even randomly Luigi's enemy in a Luigi game!  Just a sports playing kinda guy.  Nothin' wrong with that!  He looks built for sports, anyway.

I gotta say: This figure is pretty nice!  He moves well, is fun to mess with, and jumps straight from the crazy source material.  He could use some tighter joints and some swivels on his biceps, but in terms of basic toys: he gets the job done better than most.

I dunno what it is about this wacky monster of a man.  I've always liked evil versions of the hero, and Wario is cool, but perhaps he's been around long enough to be standard?  Waluigi is sorta new to me, since I've barely played any games with him involved, and he's just so nonsensical!  I realize now that the name is a portmanteau of Japanese words, and I quote:

 "His name is a portmanteau of the Japanese words, Warui and Ruīji, meaning "bad" and "Luigi". In addition, his name is an anagram to the Japanese word Ijiwaru, which can mean "ill-tempered" or "cruel"."

Still, it adds to his insanity, which somehow equals more than even Wario.  Wario is greed 'n stuff, but Waluigi is....?

What I'm sayin' is: Look out for this guy.  No one has a bead on him.

In terms of accessories...ugh.  It's a coin again!  WAY too many Mario characters come with this boring coin, and it's worse when they could easily come with something else!  For instance: Waluigi is a sports man, and his first game was Mario Tennis, so why not give him a tennis racket?  Maybe a golf club?  Maybe ANYTHING but the coin again?  Plus, it would have given them a reason to give Waluigi at least one open hand, which would have added to his possibilities for comedy.  What wouldn't you want to see Waluigi hold??

I'd tell you not to answer that, but ya know what?  Go ahead.  List it in the comments.

So far that I know, Waluigi lines up in terms of scale, for Wario.  If you partner them up.  I have no idea.  According to the wiki these two aren't even related!  They're just "partners."  I wouldn't be surprised if Wario wasn't even aware that Waluigi was following him around.

The best thing about Waluigi is how he seems to be created by the universe.  Like, there was some sort of imbalance with Wario existing, so Luigi just HAD to have a rival.  It's just....there's no reason for the rival.  Waluigi just...exists.  I like to think that even Waluigi was surprised by his sudden existence, and he constantly tries to be the rival to Luigi that he was built to be, but he fails miserably and just wants to live his life and play some sports.

Anyway: This is a good figure!  I'd get him, if you're trying to build a Mario universe.  How could you not?  Look at him!

What else do we have from the Mario universe, today?  An easy repaint?  Sounds good!

And so, appearing from the Ether in a flash of blinding light:

Gold Mario!  And yes, this is an official transformation.  Not that it isn't fun to play!  He transforms by touching a gold fire flower and then shoots off these big 'ol golden fireballs that explode on bricks and turn them into coins!  It's more fun than it sounds.  Sadly, though, this has only appeared in one game so far.

As a toy...well, it's just Mario again, but a nice cost effective solid gold.  It does give me a chance to review the standard Mario, though, since I never bought him (thanks to having the Figuarts Mario).

It's pretty standard, like Waluigi, and I see no reason to skip the standard Mario if you wana save money by not getting the Figuarts one.  The only parts I don't like are the near lack of neck (which is actually a problem shared with the Figuarts one) and the hips not giving enough range to give you the classic "jump" pose.  His legs actually move back farther than they do forward!  Sometimes I think the sculptors need to realize that these are toys, and while it's nice to keep the sculpt going: You just need to let it go, when it comes to the hips.  Let 'em look a little ugly so we can move the legs, ya know?

In the end, though, it's nothing that I would call a dealbreaker.  I mean, except for this particular figure. I'd get the normal Mario!  This one is just gold, and I probably wouldn't bother with him unless you're trying to collect 'em all.

Not that he isn't painted well enough!  Just not essential.

OH YEAH: and he comes with another coin.  Not even a gold-colored Fire Flower, which is what changes him into this state!  COME ON.  Put some effort into these accessories!

Alright, what's next?  Let's move out of the Mario universe and into the greater Universe at large!

I touched on this next figure a tiny bit in the Space Walls Schwag Brag, so I'll cover her quickly:

This is yet another Samus repaint, so you can feel free to get 'er or leave 'er based on how much you liked the other two.  As I've stated: not perfect, but good enough, and I'm a huge Metroid fan, so I just can't skip any of them.

Samus comes as an exclusive from a "lootcrate" like thing called Comic Con Box.  In the end, the box ended up not being my kinda thing (mostly comics), but if that kinda stuff speaks to you, then I'd check it out.  It wasn't bad stuff, just not my kinda stuff.

Samus came out nice, though!

The mold of Samus is based on Metroid Prime designs, but the first version sports more Super Metroid like colors.  This one is technically just a shiny version of the other, but when you see them side-by-side, you can sorta say the first one is from "Super Metroid" and this special one is from "Metroid Prime."

I can't really pick a favorite!  They both have their own merits.  I could understand if you didn't like the cartoony colors of the first one, but honestly: That's a draw, for me.  As a Metroid fan, I feel like both of them are welcome on my shelf (or in my pile, as it were).

I took a look around and it seems like she doesn't go for a ridiculous amount of money on the after-market, so if this is the first cheaper Samus to catch your fancy: I'd go for it!  She carries all the same flaws, but once again: I feel like she does well enough as an action figure.  I do still want to see Jakks take another crack at her and free up her articulation, but this mold still doesn't feel like a throwaway mold, to me.  Check it out, if you like the look.

Now let's head back planetside for a trip to Hyrule, with your favorite princess in disguise:

Sheik!  Specifically the Sheik from Ocarina of Time, since she's gotten tiny little changes to her costume in Smash Bros games, and the recent Hyrule Warriors.

She lines up perfectly with OoT Link, and honestly, I've sorta forgotten the first Skyward Sword Link, once OoT Link came along.  She's taller than the Skyward Sword Link anyway, so he's quickly becoming obsolete, even if he still looks nice.

Sheik comes with her, I mean, his - oh hell, let's just call it "her", since we all know who she is.  Anyway, she comes her harp, or the "Magic Cannon", if you're currently playing Hyrule Warriors.  In OoT, though, she just uses this to help Link out by giving him new useful songs to play on his ocarina (that Link should have come with).

The articulation in the arms and hands work really well for allowing her to do exactly what she needs to do: Hold on to the harp, and look like she's playing it.

Maybe I'm more impressed because I went into this fully expecting her to be unable to do that.  Technically she doesn't "hold" the harp - it just kinda wraps on to the top of her hand, but it holds snug and tight and doesn't drop off too easily.  Then, the hands have wrist articulation that allows her to bring her hand directly to the harp!  The elbows are a tad ugly, but they have a swivel, so you can bend her arm in the right direction.  It...well, it works!  There's just so many figures that have instrument-like accessories that can't use them in the slightest, so it's neat that this works so well.

On top of that, she looks great!  The detail on the tunic is especially nice, with a subtle light blue on the front.  Plus, they bothered to sculpt Zelda's masterful chest binding:

They didn't have to make this all separate, but they did, and the effort makes the figure better for it.

A WORD OF WARNING, THOUGH:  The head is on a ball joint, but the ball is attached to a separate neck, which did this, when I pulled the head off:

This is ONLY because I pulled the head off, which took EFFORT.  Like, I had to WRENCH it off.  It won't break, normally. I only broke it because of all the pressure I put on it, so you don't have to worry about this figure falling apart if you just turn the head like normal.

Now, there are some drawbacks to the sculpt.  She looks nice, but the neck is a little ugly, since it's just a straight cut around the scarf.  Personally, it doesn't bother me, since I want it to move more than I want it to look nice.  Your mileage may vary!

The other part is the only thing that really bothers me:

The knee is practically useless.  It barely bends!  She's like a ninja, for pete's sake!  Let her move!  Her hips don't help much either, but they wouldn't be as bad if they had just let the knee move back more than a slight angle.

On the plus side, the feet are ball jointed, so you can get some good poses despite the limitations.  It's a weird mix of good and bad, though I will say there's more good on here than on Link.

I wouldn't skip this one, even with the annoying knees.  She looks right at home next to Link, and if you've been playing Hyrule Warriors, you might want her just based on her status of being a freakin' force of nature.  Granted, she won't be pulling off any of those acrobatic poses that she does in the game, but if you've got some lightning around, then you can get close.

So let's boil it down:

Waluigi: Nice figure!  Moves well and fun to play with.  Might be pointless as a character, but if he keeps memeing like he is, you may want him just based on jokes alone.

Gold Mario:  Same as Mario, but gold.  He exists as an easy repaint and he's not essential in any way, but that doesn't mean he's terrible.  Just...not a must-have.

Samus exclusive:  More Samus!  I'm never gona complain.  Same flaws as the rest, but if you're a Metroid fan, she doesn't look expensive on the after market, and I'd get her.

Sheik:  Much cooler than I expected, and is so cool that it even overshadows the terrible knees. I doubt you'll find a better Sheik until they make a Figuarts or Figma one.

Stay tuned for next time when World of Nintendo continues molding my childhood in plastic!