Super Mario Happy Meal Toys

Super Mario Happy Meal Toys

and

Jakks Pacific 2.5 inch Retro Figures

It's been a long time since there was a good Happy Meal promotion.  Even longer since the last Super Mario Happy Meal toys I collected.  Even though I would prefer just standard figurines, these all have some pretty fun action features.  Like Mario here...he has a button on the bottom of his stand that, when the figure is lifted, makes the classic jumping sound effect from the games.  Neat!  Nice sculpt and paint for a fast-food premium, too!

Luigi can be loaded and launched from this pipe.  He has wheels on his underside to give him some rolling distance, but the power on this one is pretty disappointing.  He might get 6 inches to a foot depending on the surface.

Princess Peach (or Princess Toadstool, as she used to be known in the original English manual translation and Super Mario Bros. Super Show) is the weakest of this bunch.  She is attached to a base with a Mushroom Kingdom backdrop.  There are wheels on the bottom that, when rolled forward or backward, make Peach spin in a circle.  Not all that exciting.  I guess you can at least get some dignified, royal waving going on.

Bowser is a block of a figure.  He comes with two fireball projectiles.  Why two?  Because there are two Mario brothers to toast, of course! What's more important is that, unlike Luigi, these things have some power behind them.  Maybe more than 3 feet!  Die plumbers!

Yoshi is here to finish off the set.  Push down on his shell, and his tongue sticks out.  Exciting, right? Game accurate at least.  I never really cared for Yoshi as a game mechanic, and my feelings toward him really took a dive after the awesome Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World 2 was followed by the deplorable Yoshi's Story.  I only got this figure because the size is almost in scale with the World of Nintendo 4-inch poseable figures, and it's impossible to get Mario to ride on the standing figure in that line.  

Giddyup!

As a little bonus review, here a two 2.5-inch World of Nintendo 8-bit figures that I picked up recently.
The ever-annoying Toad is here to tell you "your princess is in another castle"...and what's more, he looks like he's flipping you the double-bird!  You little @#?*!  Star Power Luigi has a cool pearlescent sheen like the Star Power Mario I reviewed a couple months back.  Obviously, these figures are not articulated.  They're barely three-dimensional:  if you flip them over, you get a flat, black back.  Great for a desktop display if nothing else, and not all that expensive.  I've got several 8-bit Marios and Links, a Donkey Kong, and now these...here's hoping for classic Bowser soon!