Bowser Yowser!

When I first opened my Target shipping box with my Super Mario Bros. Bowser inside, my first thought was, "Good on you, Target. You've finally learned how to safely ship action figures."

Good sized box. Sufficient padding. Nothing looked like it was kicked or stomped on. Kudos!

The size of the box immediately puts into perspective just how much larger this figure is when compared to the heroes from the line. I'll show a side by side comparison at the end of this post. For now, let's take a look around each of the sides for Bowser.

Pulling the figure from the box is no easy feat. There are a ton of stings and bands holding him in place. Also, be careful if you buy this figure. The watering accessory blends very well into the box, and could be accidentally disposed of if you're not looking for it.

There's also a set of instructions tucked underneath the inner cardboard insert / backer.

Pulling the figure out, the joints immediately feel looser, I'm talking, wobbly loose. Additionally, the figure has a more rubbery feeling than the hard plastic of the others.

Regardless, this looks good from every angle, and there's no mistaking it's Bowser from Super Mario Bros. lore.

The shell actually comes off, and this is where you will find the compartment for batteries. A portion of his hair can be popped out to access the well for holding water. It's the pony tail looking portion in the above photo.

Because I have no interest in my figure molding from the inside, I'm not even going to try the fire breathing effect out. I have, however, seen people show this in Youtube video reviews, and it certainly looks cool.

The figure boasts fourteen points of articulation, all of which is limited to the arms, legs and tail. The head neither swivels, nor can it be moved up or down. Additionally, the mouth does not close. Thee lack of details are unfortunate, because Bowser comes with a ten dollar price increase over those of the five inch figures in the line. I get that there's a lot more plastic involved here, but at $30.00, I was hoping for a bit more movement.

Unlike the other figures, this one does not boast the "realistic eyes" feature. But they still look really cool.

Bowser incorporates well into the line, and his increased size gives you a bit more play options than mere side by side interactions.

Don't let this battle scene fool you. It was a pain in the backside to set up. Between the balancing act of having him step on Toad, and the loose joints not being able to support Luigi's weight...Nightmare!

Still, when the shot was finally ready to take, I admittedly got a lot of fun out of it.

I had no intentions of collecting this line when I first saw it in Walmart. However, I think what drew me in to do so was not only the fact that the figures look amazing, but they weren't a hassle to get.

While I ended up getting them from three different locations over the course of multiple days, ultimately, Target had them all. Granted, I did have to buy Bowser off their website, while the others were readily available on shelves. But, the takeaway from this is that I didn't have to look at secondary markets or pay scalper rates just to get a new toy. It was on store shelves / websites, as it should be with all toys.

Basically, at the end of the day, Jakks Pacific made it easy for fans to buy their products. So I did.

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