With so few new figures in stores near me, I’ve had to get creative and post fewer reviews the last couple of weeks.  When I saw this Tom Nook for a good price I thought, it might be fun to review this figure and see how it compares to the Amiibo.  After all, who doesn’t love this little raccoon slumlord!?  For such a low price, you would think the World of Nintendo figure has to compare somewhat favorably to the Amiibo, right?  Let’s take a closer look to see which figure is best!

Box – The Animal Crossing packaging design is simple for World of Nintendo.  It isn’t one of my favorites because it doesn’t quite capture the spirit of the games or overall design aesthetic.  Instead, it is just a picture of the cast.  That isn’t to say the design is bad, it just could use a little something extra to make it stand out more.

Articulation – Before opening this figure, I expected Tom Nook to have articulation in his arms and possibly head, and sure enough, that is exactly what is articulated.  Unlike a lot of 2.5″ inch figures which feel too limited, I think Tom Nook’s articulation is in line with the Animal Crossing games since all of the animals and villagers have limited movement in the games.  So in that sense, it is hard to complain about what this figure offers.  The World of Nintendo Tom Nook doesn’t put the action in action figure but gives you a little posing opportunity anyway.

Paint – Overall, there are parts of this figure that look great.  For example, the brown on the snout looks great with nice blending between the two browns so it looks natural.  Tom’s eyes also match the game really well.  If there was a place where I might criticize this figure, it is that the sweater lacks texture sculpted texture and the painted on details are not as strong as they could be.

Ability to Stand – The big problem with this figure is that Tom Nook is very hard to stand up on anything other than a flat surface.  I got him to do so a couple of times while taking pictures for this review but I swear that breathing on him will knock him over.  For some reason, I could not get him to stand with his back facing me either.  This is a shame because every Animal Crossing World of Nintendo figure I have reviewed has a lot of trouble standing due to their tiny legs.  It would be nice if Jakks Pacific fixed this issue because it is basically impossible to display a figure that won’t stand up on your shelf.

Comparison to Amiibo – And now we get to the big question I hoped to answer in this review, which is better to own?  World of Nintendo’s Tom Nook articulation is much appreciated and some of the paint details like the snout are better than the Amiibo’s in my opinion.  However, the Amiibo has really nice texture on the sweater (which looks surprisingly real) and obviously, the Amiibo has zero problems standing up.  Normally, you would say that the World of Nintendo Tom Nook is so much cheaper that you have to consider that but since the Amiibo is available cheaply as well, price is not as much of a factor as normal.  I would give a slight edge to the Amiibo but if the World of Nintendo Tom Nook could stand up, I think I would actually prefer it just because of the articulation.