I think I’d had a preorder on Big Bad Toy Store for “Nintendo 2-4inch Figure Collector Case with Bowser Figure” for roughly three years. Maybe more, I dunno. There was never a picture of it on the site, nor one that I could find online. And every month the expected arrival date would be pushed forward. But I held on to hope, you know? My collection of Super Mario mini-figurines reeeeeeeeeeally needed a Bowser. Yeah, I had double Paragoombas and double Koopa Troopas and such, but these were tiny guys, up against the much larger Mario, Luigi, and their frankly insane number of Yoshis. Pitted against each other, you feel really sorry for the bad guys, and that’s not what bad guys are for!
No, they needed a huge centerpiece, a center of power. But as far as I could tell, the line was likely dead. There’d been no sign of the fourth wave or even the “Figure Collector Case with Bowser” that I’d had on preorder since the beginning of time. Newer Mario figures had begun to show up, but this was a newer, smaller scale. A Bowser in a box-set had shown up in this scale, but, man, it would be a pointless Bowser. A pointless, tiny Bowser that would fulfill none of my collection’s requirements other than it being a Bowser. Bowser needs to be appropriately huge. Mario shouldn’t be able to look over the top of his head. You shouldn’t feel sorry for him as he’s about to be beaten up soundly by the legions of pastel Yoshis. Princess Toadstool shouldn’t look like she weighs more than him. And so I passed, and have continued to pass on him for probably many years.
So Wednesday Graham and I were out looking for Prime Wave 3 but stumbled upon this. There was just one giant carded Bowser sitting on the shelf next to the rest of the Mario/Sonic/whatevers in a Toys”R”Us. There was no sign of the rest of a new wave or of other Bowsers. Just a single giant carded Bowser, waiting for me, as if an angel had placed him there for me to find.
First I wondered what the hell was wrong with it that it hadn’t sold. I mean, this was what everyone in the universe should by all rights desire. It’s like finding Allison Mack sitting there on the shelf, untouched. Was this Allison Mack secretly a dude? There was a pockmark in the shoulder, and the snout looked a little incohesive, but it was by all rights exactly what I had waited for for half a decade and had basically given up all reasonable hope for. That thing was coming home with me.
It was $15. When I got home, I canceled my preorder. I also checked online to see if this Bowser was something that existed elsewhere in the world other than in my mind. And it does. So, phew.
Aah, I know how that feels. I’ve been looking for a Micron Big Transformers Jetfire for years. I knew it existed, because Remy has one, but other than that it may as well have been my imagination, until one showed up on eBay for $5 sealed.
Now all I need is the chrome Micron Jetfire. If anyone’s got one of them going for under $100, get in touch! Anyone? No?
Tempting, but no.
Well, that certainly looks way better than the 6-inch Bowser they showed off at Toy Fair 2011.
http://www.16bit.com/toyfair2011/globalholdings/toyfair2011-globalholdings6.jpg
I don’t know about “better,” but certainly more dynamic.
But apparently is not this:
http://www.16bit.com/toyfair2011/globalholdings/toyfair2011-globalholdings6.jpg
Now I wonder what happened to this one.
Those toys are a trap. Always have been, always will be. Sitting there. Taunting me. Seeming like exactly what I want and need, but never being close to same.
Thankfully I walk into random Japanese gift shops all the time because they tend to sell cooler Mario stuff, and found a complete collection of Mario Choco Egg Toys. Now these, these are exactly what I wanted and needed.
http://dimic.ikaryas.nl/2011/review/furuta-mario-choco-eggs-series-1-3/
These have infinitely more personality, and are better in every imaginable way. They’re even cheaper, despite having to be imported from Japan and then collected at random from chocolate covered eggs where the chocolate is a cruel joke played on the unsuspecting.
I prefer their character range, but they don’t look nearly as nice to me.
Really? they’re pretty close to me. Varies from figure to figure.
I really don’t like the stands. I prefer guys being able to stand directly on the shelf. And if a character’s got to have a stand, then I’d like it to look as unobtrusive as possible. Those are some thick brown stands with fancy edgings. Obvious stands make a display look like a collection of individual pieces, and I like to collect to make groups.
Yeah, the stands are absolutely the downfall of the set. I’ve tried taking interesting photos of the figures but they mostly come out strange as a result of either removing the stand and trying to balance the figure or else trying to hide the stand “creatively.”
But for display purposes, I guess I got used to the idea of huge ugly stands since one of my favorite things to collect and display are HeroClix of my favorite heroes (the fact that you can get a complete Power Pack, or Spider-Girl, or even Darkhawk in HeroClix is just incredible and makes up for all of the HeroClix drawbacks in my head—it’s the price of being a fan of the more obscure guys rather than just Spider-Man and Batman).
nice to see that people read my reviews and actually link to them.
As for the stands, they absolutely don’t bother me at all.
Don’t forget that these figures are really, really, REALLY tiny and thus the stands themselves are tiny as well.
These Furuta’s are my favorite gashapons that I have. The sheer mass of them is awesome. Still need the other volumes of this set
Yeah, that’s been in Australia for months! Must be like the ONLY toy we got first. It’s most common in a three-pack with Peach and Mario.
… I feel like I’ve had that figure for years. It almost looks exactly like a recolor of the Mario Kart toys they had back in the day.
It’s true. The best toys are the delusional, hallucinatory ones that no one else can see. Unfortunately when those toys break though, you are screwed. You’ll never find another one. Because you’re crazy, but you aren’t crazy ENOUGH.
The only thing I care for is that there is no Birdo and therefore, I shall not make a full collection. Birdo is everything.
Birdo you say? Just gotta push my favorite Mario figures one more time…!
Damn, if i had known you were looking for a Bowser, i could have mailed you one of the six sitting on the shelf at my local Toys”R”Us.
Yeah, I bought heaps of those eggs when I went to Japan. Must have about 5 of those Birdos! But I need more Birdo.
Oh wow. That Bowser…..I manage to snag the Mario Galaxy Gashapon Bowser…. I wonder what the size difference is. Anyone know??