Super Mario Bros:The Movie ERTL 1993

Back when video games to movie transitions were not the common occurrence we see nowadays Nintendo's hugely popular Super Mario bros video game made the historic leap to the big screen but with mixed results! Some called it an utter disaster, a messy, stupid and down right ugly abomination of a movie whereas others were a little kinder and consider it a pop art experiment with some redeeming qualities including good performances (particularly that of the Late Bob Hoskins) the blade runner like depiction of an alternate world where Dinosaurs evolved into human beings and its high energy action set pieces this guilty pleasure of a movie can be thoroughly enjoyable if you are in the right frame of mind!   

The action figure line from ERTL has A similar reputation to that of the movie however due to its ever growing cult following the desirability for these figures on the secondary market has grown somewhat as these represent the only merchandise released that is based on the movie! Here we will be exploring some of the toys released in that 1993 line in detail:

 

Mario: As played by Bob Hoskins Mario here looks as though  he stepped right out of the original Nintendo game! Hoskins performance as the older of the two Mario brothers and Brooklyn plumber was probably one of the best  contributions to the movie and his likeness is perfectly captured in this figure which depicts the character in his iconic boiler suit and sporting his "Thwonp stompers" all of which has some fantastic detailing! 



Mario comes equipped with tool belt and A firing Plunger gun (the projectile of which does not launch all the way for safety reasons!) both accessories are very nicely detailed but lacking in paint applications!



Luigi: Mario's kid brother is as kind hearted as he is naïve and as such ends up getting himself and his older brother trapped in an alternate universe were instead of primates man evolved from the Dinosaurs! Their mission is to rescue (the apparent princess) Daisy from the clutches of evil dictator like King Koomba! Likeness aside this figure is a decent rendition of Luigi even if its not a spot on lookalike of actor John Leguizamo! The sculpting details throughout are decent though the proportions are a little off!

Luigi comes complete with a tool belt and firing a accessory which in this case takes the form of an over-sized wrench! aside form the wrench itself the accessories are identical to Mario's which is a bit of a shame!



Goomba: The Goombas are a race of lizard like minions who serve the dastardly King Koomba! Though they are undeniably dim witted and ferocious they love to shuffle along to the odd bit of elevator music when the mood strikes!

This figure captures the likeness of the Goombas, which were brought to life via animatronic puppets used in the Movie, very well and the figure even includes a fabric coat which when removed you will notice that all of the excellent sculpting details carry on throughout the entire figure making this the best of the set!




ERTL was perhaps better known for their die cast figures and vehicles but the now defunct company had some success with the couple of action figure lines they had produced including the Super Mario Bros set. The figures probably aren't the greatest ever produced and pale in comparison with some of the stuff Kenner was putting out around the same time but these aren't as bad as you have probably heard and are actually really quite endearing once you actually see them in the flesh! Each toy even came with a cut-out -and- keep bio card on the back of the packaging relating to relevant character which is always a win!

The figures available in the set:



-Mario with "plunger lunger" and tool belt
-Luigi with "wrench whipper" and tool belt
-King Koopa with "devo gun"
-Iggy with flame thrower
-Spike with "devo Gun"
-Goomba with Flame thrower and removable coat

-12" Talking Mario
-12" Talking Luigi

-Crash action police car

-Devo chamber with Goomba variant figure