World of Nintendo: Fox McCloud Review

The World of Nintendo line has been a mixed bag. While it's great to see a well-known property finally getting some figures, the character selection and actual quality of the figures has left a bit to be desired. Nevertheless, I can't turn down the chance of finally owning a Fox McCloud figure, so here we are.

Fox is packaged in the standard 4 inch packaging but has a distinct, navy blue color. This causes the figure to stand out on the store shelf among the many other Mario figures.

Out of the package, Fox looks good. He is based off the N64 appearance of Fox, and the figure itself is very close to the 3DS model of Fox in the N64 remake (the original model has the same features, but the blockiness clearly would not translate to a well-sculpted action figure). In fact, if you compare the promotional art for the game to the figure, Fox looks like he jumped out of the screen.

The sculpting is also very good where it needs to be. Most of the figure is smooth, replicating the simplistic nature of Nintendo models. The most detail is found in the robot legs (or metal boots) and the headset, and the lines are sculpted in very well.

The figure falls short in the articulation department, however. On paper, it sounds decent. Fox has:

• A swivel head
• Swivel/hinge shoulders
• Swivel/hinge elbows
• A swivel waist
• Ball-jointed hips
• Single-jointed kneese and ankles
• and a tail hinge

However, most of his articulation below the waist is limited. The farthest he can get his hips outward is this:

and the knee joints don't bend very far either. Additionally, the lack of ankle pivots, combined with Fox's large head, makes it very hard for him to balance in any dynamic poses. 

This is the best running pose I could get out of him

The paint detail is fine for a $10 figure. While there is some smudging in the jacket area and the lining of the boots, most of the figure's paint is clean. Fox also has his name printed on his chest, a detail I didn't recognize was on his character model.

Fox comes with one "mystery accessory" in a Star Fox-themed box.

If you didn't already know, it's a mini Arwing. It's nicely sculpted and only has a few paint details. 

The underside is completely unpainted, despite having some nice sculpted details. 

While the Arwing is a nice accessory to have, it's much too small to actually do anything with. Fox can't hold it because he's sculpted with two fists, and I'll probably lose it by the end of the day. 

I would have much preferred for Fox to be sculpted with one open hand and to have him come with the blaster he uses in Smash Bros. instead. The Arwing doesn't do much for me, but if the upcoming Falco and Slippy come with a mini Landmaster and a mini Arwing-with-legs (featured in Star Fox Zero), then I could see a small ship collection being nice for display. I'd still prefer a blaster, though. 

Scale is weird when we're talking about the World of Nintendo line. Fox doesn't seem to be in scale with the Mario figures, but he's in decent scale with Link and Samus, who are also done in a similar 4 inch scale. Looking at screenshots from Smash 4, Link should be taller, but Fox and Samus are in the correct scale. 

Minor scale errors aside though, they look fantastic fighting each other.

So, for $10, it's nice to finally have a Fox figure on the shelf. Because of his shortcomings in articulation, I wouldn't recommend buying him for aftermarket prices, but he's definitely worth having for the character alone.