Super Quick Crappy Review: World of Nintendo Star Power Mario*

I've been atrociously busy the last two weeks, normally I just wouldn't post or post articles I have queued up but a) I got obsessed with writing a new blog post NO MATTER WHAT and b) those queued articles all require photos I don't have time to take. As luck would have it though I bought a toy while out being busy and I can review it BUT I only bought one because I'm as skint as I am busy so I'm introducing a new type of review article: SUPER Quick Crappy Review, this works perfectly as I only had to take about three pictures, so yay? A tentative yay. 

Holy shit new World of Nintendo figures! I thought the line was dead! But a whole new wave just snuck into our local Entertainer stores (Mario and Zelda not being a corrupting influence taking our children from belief in the one, true God like Monster High I guess). Series 2-3 includes Star Power Mario and Koopa Trooper from Mario Brothers, Villager from Animal Crossing, Link in Goron Tunic from The Legend of Zelda and Peppy from Star Fox so of course I bought the translucent one and I’m still not done being fascinated by it

Star Power Mario is Mario when invincible, achieved by picking up the Super Star item (more commonly known, or at least it was back in my day – so oooold, as a Starman). The power-up (and powered-up form) debuted in Super Mario Bros for the NES and has appeared in pretty much every core Mario game since. This figure however isn’t of Invincible Mario, it’s of Rainbow Mario, a form that debuted in Super Mario Galaxy that comes from getting the Rainbow Star power-up – Rainbow Mario is the only time Mario becomes solid rainbow colours rather than flashing or being covered in an rainbow overlay with his normal colours showing through (both being versions of Invincible Mario).

I’ve been interested to see how an Invincible Mario could be realised in figure form and while I’m not 100% satisfied with this result I can’t say I hate what came out. In case my shoddy photography skills don’t get it across, Mario is cast in a plastic that has roughly the same properties of a soap bubble, with different colours visible depending on the light and angle – you can catch pinks, yellows, greens and it’s a decent way of getting a rainbow-y effect. It might not be utterly accurate but it’s certainly delightful to look at, in fact I’m sitting here right now turning my head from side to side to see the colours shift and move, I’ve been doing this since I unboxed him hours ago and it hasn’t lost its appeal - I’m a grown man, I swear. But this is a review so negatives – the colours just aren’t strong enough to be accurate and he’s just too translucent, but then I don’t know if you can do the ‘seeing colours when the light shines on it’ trick with foggier plastic so that might be a necessary compromise. He’s a straight repaint (well re-cast) of the original World of Nintendo Mario so any negatives carry over, his head articulation is blocked to the point of it being virtually worthless, he lacks for waist and wrist articulation and his hands are fists meaning he can’t hold anything. Of course he also carries over positives from that toy, he’s a spot-on sculpt, his arms artic and knees have great range and he feels lovely (actually he feels slightly different, almost like he’s got a film over him). Oh and they’ve put the copyright stamp right on his head, it really sticks out on such a light figure with no other details painted on.  

This was supposed to be Peach holding the star
Debby McGee style but she didn't have the articulation
for it, so I chose the next sexiest person in that
box to take her place

The mystery accessory gimmick has been dropped! *cheers and applause from the crowd*

If you missed this or haven’t read my utterly marvellous (translation: utterly amateurish) previous World of Nintendo reviews, the 4” scale figures came with a ‘mystery accessory’ hidden in a cardboard replica of the power-up box for the game series they came from. However the accessories weren’t randomly inserted into these boxes, they were always the same accessory and always connected to the figure (so for Tanooki Mario the ‘mystery’ accessory was the Super Leaf you collect to turn Mario into Tanooki Mario) so there was no mystery. It was pointless and I moaned about it. Now it’s gone and the accessories are plain to see in the package, awesome. Power Star Mario’s accessory is a Power Star, it’s virtually perfect except, y’know, it can’t stand up by itself (being a star and pointy and all) and Mario can’t hold it because he has fists so, um, I’m not sure how I’m going to display it, I’m sure I can do something with Blu-Tac. A Power Star isn’t a Starman by the way, it’s the larger stars (AND IT IS ALWAYS STARS) you collect to progress in Super Mario 64 and the Mario Galaxy games, though I think this is supposed to be a Starman (modern Power Stars look different to this and this looks very similar to the Super Mario 3D World Starman) it looks just like the Mario 64 Power Star so I’m willing to accept it as being a Power Star as the box implies. 

So, conclusion? It’s not the most accurate World of Nintendo figure nor is it even given an accurate name but it’s bloody pleasing to look at  (yep, still tilting my head) and his accessory is great (even if it doesn’t stand up).