Waluigi :: K'Nex Super Mario Series 4

The other 'one per case' minifigure in the K'Nex Super Mario Series 4 is Waluigi. But I don't think he's as popular with collectors as Bowser Jr. He's certainly not as cute. I've actually found him a couple times, but only bought him because at the time I found Bowser Jr. there was a BOGO 40% off sale on these guys.

No respect, I tellya.

Waluigi is real easy to find via the squeeze method due to those long legs. In addition, his code begins with a double underlined 0. It's that simple.

Now that I have Waluigi, I regret not having picked up Wario from a previous K'Nex minifigure release. Oh well, I'm sure he'll be re-released in a later wave, as both Bowser and Donkey Kong have had multiple releases.

Bowser Jr. :: Super Mario K'Nex Series 4

One per case. That's how this Bowser Jr. minifigure is packed in with the K'Nex Super Mario Series 4. So unless no one in your area is paying attention to these, you better get tot he fresh case first if you want him! That's what I had to do - I saw many cases over the past few months but all were missing their Bowser Jr. I found a fresh case shortly before Christmas and was able to squeeze almost every figure in the case (so you don't have to!) and I can confirm his code is 05(underlined 1)4150.

I've had Bowser since one of the earliest blind bagged waves. When I heard a Bowser Jr. was being released, I knew I'd have to get to searching! He's just too cute to pass up!

Bowser Jr. isn't as sturdy as his elder counterpart. His shell is held on with a soft rubber tab, so it falls off easily. The spikes on his shell and his ponytail are also soft rubber. If a kid plays with this guy that ponytail isn't going to last long.

Otherwise he's a great minifigure, albeit difficult to obtain.

It's okay to be little Diddy

Having already gotten the K'Nex blind bagged Mario Kart Wii Donkey Kong (which you could win - details here) and King Koopa (aka Bowser) I decided I wanted to return and search for the little monkey Diddy Kong.

Because LITTLE MONKEY IN A NINTENDO HAT!

Fortunately for me I discovered a code break for these figures too, so I was easily able to home in on little Diddy.

Diddy is pretty cute; not much fun to use as a driver in Mario Kart but cute as a minifigure.

And even though these K'Nex guys are heftier than Lego minifigures, Diddy seems pretty small, especially next to the powerhouse King Koopa!

I hope this blind bag line continues for a long time and we get other Mario Kart staples such as Daisy and Princess Peach! In the meantime I am not sure if I want Mario, Luigi, Toad or Yoshi, but maybe someday I'll break.

K'Nex Angry Bird blind bags have (crash) landed!

I didn't initially think I would get any of these. They are cute and all, and everyone loves playing Angry Birds, but with so many blind bagged toys to choose from nowadays, I just didn't think I'd care.

But when I discovered there was a code break over at Raving Toy Maniac (via Battlegrip) AND a BOGO 40% off sale at Toys R Us, I decided to take one for the Toyriffic Team. That 'team' would be the Toyriffic Terrors, by the way.)

Based on the code breaker, I aimed my hunt directly at Space Red Bird. Because he has some cool eighties punk glasses. Or maybe because he reminds me of Robin.

BRING ME THE HEAD OF ROBIN!

I blindly picked a second pack for the fun of a random find (since the Space Red Bird was really the only must-have I decided I, well, must-have) and ended up with a frozen Pig with helmet.

Cool, a good guy and a bad guy! I'll let you decide which is which.

These blind bagged figures are of course designed to supplement the K'Nex Angry Bird building sets, which include a slingshot to launch the birds. Therefore the bird figures are designed with a connection slot on their backs to fit the slingshots. Conversely, the pigs are designed to attach to a base or structure. The bird is mostly a hard rubber 'shell' around a plastic 'core.,' while the pig is designed via your standard build toy type plastic construction. The bird is two halves clamped together and that's pretty much it, but the pig can be built and deconstructed to your heart's content.

Also, his helmet is removable, which is pretty neat.

Each one came with the same 'accessory,' an egg with an antenna. I didn't photograph them because they are kinda stupid but you can see them in the checklist above.

These figures (if you can call them that) do make for fun desk-dressing though; the Pig will join King Koopa and Donkey Kong as another video game villain amongst their ranks: here's hoping for some Pac-Man ghosts when Wreck-it Ralph comes out and (hopefully) toys of Q-Bert and Pac-Man and other eighties video game heroes and villains.

Next on my Angry Birds must-have list: the Hot Wheels Angry Bird Cars. Yes, you heard me right. Stay tuned!

Donkey Kong K'Nex Blind Bagged Minifigure

K'Nex dove into the minifigure pie recently by releasing some of their Mario Kart build set figures first in bags that identified the figure inside (making short-packed King Koopa harder to find for most because he was so easy to find for store employees, scalpers and the random lucky toy collector who got there first.)

For the second wave, K'Nex has blind-bagged the figures, forcing those of us in the know to employ the squeeze method. There may be a code on these somewhere too, but I find the squeeze method to be sufficient and don't feel the need to carry around a decoder sheet in my pocket everywhere I go.

Donkey Kong here is new to wave 2, as is Toad and Diddy Kong; wave 2 also includes all the wave 1 releases in case you missed out the first time on Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and King Koopa.

Like King Koopa (or 'Bowser' if you prefer,) Donkey Kong was a must have for an old-school gamer like myself. And I admit, now that I have his nemesees...nemesisis...nemsies...these two, I want a K-Nex Mario as well.

I don't know how many Donkey Kongs are released per box (I had heard King Koopa was two per box for wave 1, and DK is similarly large but not nearly as detailed/complex,) but somehow upon discovering these at K-Mart he was in both the first and second pack I squeezed! So maybe he's more plentiful, or I was just lucky. Hint: his mouth is football shaped and from there you can feel the 'tuft' of hair on the top of his head to confirm. He's also wider than most in this wave, so feel for that.

As you can see, I have recently employed an intern to help me complete my toy reviews.Thank God for Craigslist!

Although I don't think Donkey Kong appreciates the assist, and she spills my coffee every time! But what do you expect for free, right?

*NOTE: this post was made with extreme parental guidance and oversight. This toy does present a choking hazard and should not be left with a young child unsupervised. Also, this baby doesn't actually make me coffee. Yet.

Random Toy Pic :: Koopa's Angels

King Koopa on a Hotwheels Harley Davidson. Your argument is invalid.

Sha-Na-Naur Princess is in Another Castle

OK let's get one thing straight right off the bat:

This is Bowzer:

This is King Koopa:

Now that that is settled...

I'm now one of the lucky toy bloggers to have found the elusive King Koopa K'Nex bagged mini-figure!

King Koopa is shortpacked and very hard to find; he's not blind bagged (his pic is on the pack) so as soon as the one or two per shipment hit the shelf he's gone.

I was lucky to find one today - I would have bought more but one was all I saw - so if there were more and some other collector was nicer than me and left this guy behind, I say 'thank you!'

With the derth of Marios and Luigis and Yoshis in this release, you either get a King Koopa right away or wade through the same three goody two-shoes time and time again because really, do they NEED to order more? No, the shelves are spillin' over with Marios!

Looks like it isn't just me who made a long sought-after find today:

'Daddy?'