Banpresto
I thought I’d kick off the inaugural review by looking at a
toy that appeals to both my daughter and me. One of gaming’s most famous females, Princess Peach!
One day the kingdom of
the peaceful mushroom people was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe of turtles
famous for their black magic. The quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were
turned into mere stones, bricks and even field horse-hair plants, and the
Mushroom Kingdom fell into ruin.
The only one who can
undo the magic spell on the Mushroom People and return them to their normal
selves is the Princess Toadstool, the daughter of the Mushroom King.
Unfortunately, she is presently in the hands of the great Koopa turtle king.
Princess Peach first appeared in 1985’s Super Mario Bros, as a perpetually misplaced royal in
distress. However, by Super Mario Bros. 2 Peach (or as she was
known then, Princess Toadstool) was made a fully playable member of the cast,
and could more than hold her own in certain situations. The princess has been portrayed in
several different types media in the last couple decades, and in spite of being
continually captured, has been shown to have a can-do attitude and a level
head, even while those around her can be distracted by flights of fancy. Except for that time she was an
enthusiast of Milli Vanilli’s music, but we don’t talk about that.
Our Princess here (she’ll always be Toadstool to me) has a
wonderful sculpt, with a cheerful, almost expectant expression on her cute
face. The figurine stands 3 ½”
tall, which is just a bit too short to go with my old Toy Biz Mario Kart 64
Mario, as Peach is shown up to a head taller than her chosen champion. You can however, fake it fairly well. The word figurine from earlier should
clue you in to how many moving parts there are – none. However, it’s hard to be too mad about
that - after all, she has no legs under her dress, and her head would be almost
impossible to move even if it had a joint due to Peach’s large, cartoony
hair. Since Her Highness’ arms
seem to plug into the main body I suppose they could have let them swivel up
and down. Although Princess
Toadstool been seen doing more strenuous activities lately (racing, tennis,
soccer, and bare-knuckle brawling), this version of Not-A-Queen will have to
revert to form by standing around waiting.
What she lacks in movement, Princess Toadstool “Peach” makes
up for with a nice paint job.
There is very little to no slop on ours, and her crown is even a nice
golden color, to contrast with the yellow of her hair. Her eyes are particularly well done,
and even have six little eyelashes around them.
She-Who-Must-Be-In-Another-Castle comes equipped with a
small display case, as do the other figures in this line. It’s composed of a small, transparent
cube, and a green baseplate with her name on the front. I suppose if you’re really into
displaying figures you might like it if you get all four characters (Mario,
Luigi, Peach, and Bowser) – but I like to have my toys a bit more sociable than
that.
Toys based on video games have really propagated in the last
few years, that to companies like NECA, Jazwares, and McFarlane – just to name
a few American companies. With
Nintendo’s Mario being one of the most well known characters in the world
today, it’s somewhat surprising it’s taken this long to figures of some pivotal
members of the rest of the cast.
In any case, Princess Peach Toadstool seems to be a hit here at Casa
2GT. My daughter may not play
video games yet, but she can recognize a princess when she sees one – and the
plumber who tags along.