World of Nintendo: Falco, Paratroopa, Wind Waker Link, and Shadow Link

This line keeps trucking along, and I'm tailgating that truck and waiting for it to pull over so I can steal all the stuff out the back BECAUSE I WANT IT ALL.

There's a few repaints in this wave, like another Yoshi and a....repaint of Tanooki Mario in white?  'Cause everyone's clamoring for that (though you gotta pay the bill with repaints, ya know?)

Anyway, I'm going over the more unique items from the current wave, as well as an exclusive!  Guess which one that is.  Go ahead, guess.  Well, keep guessing while we go over everything else first!  Let's start with Falco.

Just like with the last wave, they seemed to have ditched the "secret item", or the "item we know HAS to come with the figure, so why beat around the bush."

So Falco is...

....uh.

Falco?  You okay buddy?

Yeah, let's start here: Falco broke, folks.  He done busted his leg.  This is a major problem with this mold that Fox shares:  the hips are terrible.  I was willing to let it go with Fox 'cause I could shove the legs around for the most part, but the moment I tried that with Falco - SNAP - and here we are. 

There wouldn't be a problem if the hips weren't SO restricted.  The joint is almost pointless.  As you can see, it doesn't even allow for outward movement, which is nuts, because many of the figures in this line DO!  These hips don't make any sense. 

I dunno why I bought another one.  I'm not even a Star Fox fan, I just like Smash Bros, and Falco is in Smash Bros, and I'm WEAK, OKAY?!

So you can pretty much expect the same thing here as you got with Fox.  Except the hips are worse, somehow.  Don't try to push them farther than this, which is far enough to take old-man-shuffle-steps. 

Both of 'em have articulated tails, in case you need to either display emotion or adjust a flight pattern. 

Falco also comes with another tiny Arwing so he and Fox can play out some sweet space battles. 

Or, I dunno, throw 'em at people.

It's hard to recommend something that broke, but if you don't try to push the legs past their very short limit, then he'll be about as good as Fox.  It's not bad!  It's just....hips joints like that annoy me.  You REALLY want to get him in some dynamic poses, and it thwarts you at every pass.  You can't even force it!  So buy 'em if you've got a static display, or kids who don't have a savage need to pose figures, like I do. 

Next on the docket is TOTALLY different:

This is the kind of figure that confuses me, 'cause it's so awesome, and there's no reason why Falco couldn't have been the same.

It's just a little Koopa Paratroopa, but MAN does he move well!

His "accessories" are his wings, but...come on, those are just parts to assemble.  They're on ball joints and they just pop in there, which gives you a great range.  You can make 'em a regular red shell Koopa Troopa, but then you'll have those holes in the shell, so it's up to you.

The real treat is how articulated this guy is, for being stomp-fodder.  I mean it's not what you'd call "super articulation" but it's above and beyond what you'd expect for a mook.

Disc hinged hips and shoulders, elbow joints, some....weird cut joints for knees (but that doesn't matter much), ANKLES, and a neck hinge!

Yeah that's right, ankles!  They bothered to articulate the crap out of this dude so he can do side kicks or forward lunges.  Troopa's gotta work out, ya know?

AND THE SHELL COMES OFF.  I checked it up and down to make sure I didn't break it, but it appears this is a feature!  You can pop the shell on and off and it stays on pretty snug!  Not only are you getting a Troopa, but a basic Mario item as well!  What is not to love here?

Continuing on my old faithful toy gushing: Here he is next to the Figuarts Troopa, from an enemy pack.  I mean, if you wana play with a toy, there's no question here.  The Figuarts one looks nice, but that's about it.  He even needs the stand to be upright, and it barely does that!  Keeps falling over.  The WoN Paratroopa does what you want!  Name it!

I don't think there are any questions here: If you're a Mario fan, buy this figure.  On sight.  He's so much fun.  I can't put him down.

I mean I bought two - what more endorsement do you need?  I can't wait for a standard green version without the wings!  I can only hope a future Hammer Bro gets the same treatment this figure did.

Now it's time for an INCOMING BONUS!

I just wanted to mention this before we leave the Mushroom Kingdom.  This is from the smaller line of mostly static collectable figures, but some of them are sized correctly with the 5 inch line, like this Chain Chomp!

There's no block or wooden stake to chain him to the ground, but I'm fine with that (plus, who knows, I might find something to use someday).  I would still like one with some sorta chomping action feature, but until then, this works.

ALSO: If you like Mario RPG (as you should), you can give Bowser his Chain Chomp weapon!

Okay, on to the final stretch!  Let's take a jump over to Hyrule, or what's left of it after the flood.

Here we have Link from Wind Waker, or "Toon Link", as he's called in Smash Bros.

Link comes with his basic gear, rather than the best shield and the Master Sword, like the other Links (I'm kinda hoping we get that for WW Link too, sometime).  The accessories a little rubbery, but I think it's for the best, since the handles are so thin.  You don't have to worry about snapping anything.

As is customary for Link figures in this line, the sculptors refuse to put a swivel joint on the hat, so it will run into the sword when you turn his head.  However: On this particular Link, it's only a problem with the sword in the sheath, whereas with the others, the hat will run into the empty sheath and knock it off constantly.  So that's a plus, I guess!

He holds everything nice and snug, though the shield is kinda heavy and his arm a little loose, so it'll flop down when you're posing him (though it may just be mine). 

And pose him you can!  They actually bothered to give his little stump legs some knees and standard forward and outward movement at the hips!  They're restricted by the skirt - once again - but it's less of a problem here because getting him to stand will require some VERY specific leg positions.  Honestly, I'm surprised I was able to get him to stand at all!  His head is massive, as you can see, but that's just the fault of the design.  It looks great, but it needed to be hollow, rather than solid plastic.  A hollow head would have taken a LOT of weight off him, and probably would have made standing easier.

Also his head feels a little too round?  Maybe?  I dunno, I'm happy with how it looks, but it seems like it's just the tiniest bit off from the source.  Up to you.

As you'd expect, he's not really gona....mesh, with anyone.  But that's exactly how he shows up in Smash Bros, so it shouldn't be a problem.  If you're buying this, you're buying it for the specific look, and it works well.

As far as I can tell, he's sized well against Ganondorf, though I'm still hurting to see Ganondorf's swords.  Ah well.

This is a weird one, 'cause I love it, but it's hard to stand and put into action poses.  But...I expected that, so the fact that I was able to do so actually impressed me a little!  I mean, he still falls over constantly and I wouldn't put him in a display without a stand, but I was pretty happy with how these pics turned out, and the fact that it didn't take me forever (like with some other figures that tend to fall over). 

I think it's because he still takes a lot of great stances!  The articulation works for him and he ends up looking good after very little work.  I think he would be a total ten outta ten if they had included some sort of stand, like a clear "wind" kinda thing that looks like he's in the middle of a spin attack, or maybe a stand that looks like the distinct smoke puffs from the game. 

So this is a buy, I think!  Especially if you're a fan of the game and the design.  He's probably more of a fun toy than a display piece, so, most certainly for kids of all sizes and ages, but you'll need something extra if you're gona display him.

Now let's take a look at that exclusive!

Shadow Link, or Dark Link, if you prefer, was first seen as the final boss of The Legend of Zelda 2, and then again in Ocarina of Time (and maybe somewhere else, but I can't remember).  This is a curious release, because for some reason, it's exclusive to....Spencer's Gifts.  Yeah, that neon place in the mall that looks safe enough until you get to all the awkward sex-joke-gift(?) things.  If you shared my same crawling feeling on the back of your neck at the thought of having to visit this place frequently to catch this figure, then go here and buy it from them online.

The only reason I find this curious, is because I can imagine kids would like to have this, and I wouldn't suggest bringing kids to Spencer's Gifts. 

This is a straight repaint of the Ocarina of Time Link, with the same drawbacks that should annoy me, but I still end up liking the figure.  This one, though mostly black and grey, actually has some improvements in paint that I wish the regular one had. 

DAT SILVER.  Would have loved to have seen that on the original version, though I know they were going for a "right off the artwork" look.  The silver just looks SOOO much better, though.

Nicest thing about him is that they could have just cast him in black plastic, slapped some red eyes on there, and called it a day.  Thankfully they added the grey secondary color!  It's in all the right places to make this guy pop and feel worth it, rather than a cheap repaint (though I suppose I would have liked the belts to be painted gray as well, but I don't mind much).

So like I said, this guy still has the restricted hips ('cause of the skirt), limited knees that barely bend backward, a hat that knocks his sheath off, and useless side-to-side movement of the wrists when up-and-down would have worked better for a swordsman.

...and I still love it and highly suggest it, because you're not gona find a better Ocarina of Time Link until they make a Figma, and even then, I probably wouldn't end up getting it, because this will be more play worthy when my kid eventually wants to play with these.

So if you're collecting these, I'd get 'em!  Otherwise it IS just a black repaint of Link, so I can't really call it absolutely necessary.  Unless you're a fan.  Then it TOTALLY is.

So go buy some more Nintendo stuff!