Ever since the new product was initially announced, I’ve been skeptical of Nintendo Micro as the evolution or next step for Micro Land.  Re-releasing old figures has merit, but the price had to be right.  Once the news that the Blind Boxes would be one figure for $4, I feel more strongly than ever that Micro Land is not likely to be successful in the future.  Despite these feelings, that wasn’t enough to dissuade me from buying a couple of the new Nintendo Micro Blind Boxes when I was perusing a Game Stop recently.  How is this new product?  Will I walk away feeling as disappointed as I expect?  Read on to find out!

What Do I Want and Not Want? – I have a pretty good collection of Nintendo Micro Land figures and yet there are quite a few in this set that I would like to have.  The big one for me is Nabbit.  I don’t have him and I love the character so I want him pretty badly.  While I have gold Bullet Bill and Koopa Troopa, getting those in a regular version would be cool.  As would getting Yoshi or Peach which are two characters I missed out on in the first wave of Micro Land.  The only characters I wanted to avoid were Toad, Luigi, Gold Mario who I already have in one version or another.  I think the fact that there were figures in this series that I wanted to get made me curious enough to buy a couple Blind Boxes.

Packaging – The Blind Box has a simple design and almost looks like the old accessory boxes in the World of Nintendo 4″ Figure line.  Having said that, this box is way oversized and the small figure would probably surprise anyone who doesn’t know about Micro figures.  I picked up a couple of the boxes in Gamestop before buying to see if I could notice any difference in weight and honestly, unlike blind bags which can be felt or groped enough to figure out what is inside (or at least with enough skill you can, I’ve had mixed results with the few I’ve purchased), I don’t think that will be possible here.

Blind Box #1 – So without further ado, let’s crack one open!  To my surprise, the large box opens up to reveal…. a tiny bag.  Not the most exciting thing but after opening the bag, who did I get?  A Bob-omb!  I don’t have a Bob-omb in Micro Land so that is a great addition to my collection.  The paint looks fairly good (maybe needing just a bit more white in the eyes) and the pose, while I appreciate it, makes the Bob-omb really hard to stand up.  All in all, not a bad Blind Box for me, but I’m not especially wowed by it either.

Blind Box #2 – So opening up Blind Box number two leads to another similarly sized black bag.  After feeling the bag for a second, I worry it could be the same figure, but I honestly have no idea who it might be so I go ahead and open it.  Who did I get this time?  None other than a Koopa Troopa!  I have a gold and a red version, but this is one of the most iconic Mario enemies I can’t complain about my luck here either.  What I would criticize is the paint.  It was hard to capture in the picture below, but there is green paint scattered all over the white part of the shell and his arm.  This is very disappointing, especially considering the figure costs $4!

Closing Thoughts – I feel very conflicted about the new Nintendo Micro Blind Box still.  If you’ve never opened a blind product, it is undeniably fun, especially if there are a lot of different figures you could get and enjoy.  I got two good figures that I wanted and yet, the quality of figures is low and I couldn’t look at what I was buying before I purchased it.  If I saw that Koopa Troopa in a Nintendo Micro Land figure pack, there is no way I would get it.  This is a serious downside to the Blind Box format and I would be curious to see how well or poorly other people do with this product.  When you consider the cost is $4, this really is not a good deal for the collector or average consumer.  Is Jakks Pacific trying to squeeze whatever last bit of money they can from consumers before retiring “Micro” products?  It sadly seems that way.  If you love Micro Land like me or are considering getting some of these, I would suggest waiting for Gamestop to clearance these in a few months or a year (the Gamestop near me had most of their figures on a clearance sale which was kind of shocking) or check out Ebay and sellers will be selling opened figures for probably less than $4 with shipping.  I hate to say that because I now it only hurts this product, but honestly, I don’t think I got enough value for my $8 to recommend this.  If you get any Nintendo Micro Blind Boxes, please let us know what you think of it and how satisfied you are in the comments below!