It is no understatement to say that the regular Kirby Nendoroid is by far my favorite in my Nendoroid collection.  The combination of awesome accessories and fairly high posability made it is easy to love.  The fact that it captures Kirby’s cuteness so effectively doesn’t hurt either!  For these reasons, I didn’t hesitate when it came time to buy Ice Kirby.  With Nendoroids, the more you have, the more display options and fun you can have and Good Smile lured me in with accessories you can swap between Ice Kirby and the original Kirby.  How does Ice Kirby stack up to the original?  Let’s find out!

Box – The packaging for Nendoroids hasn’t changed much in a while and that’s okay.  The design is clean and simple and sells the contents well.  You can see several different display options Ice Kirby has on the sides and back of the box to get you excited to own this figure.  For those who haven’t seen this in person, the box for Ice Kirby is as deep as regular Kirby and not as wide so it takes up a bit less storage room.  Have no fear though, this Nendoroid is jam-packed with accessories!

Articulation – Normally articulation is really important but when you’re dealing with a magnetized figure like this, it works a bit differently.  Kirby’s arms and legs are magnets which stick to his body.  So it is really easy to move them around into different poses.  There are some limitations to the magnet system which I will discuss with specific accessories but overall, it works really well and is fun to play around with.  Kirby isn’t a very dynamic character (his arms and legs don’t move a lot in the video games when you think about it) but Good Smile Company have still made the most of it here.

Accessories – One thing I should mention is that Good Smile Company had a production error and the piece you need to hook Kirby into the standard Nendoroid base is actually not in the box.  The piece they give you does not have two pegs on it like you need.  If you have any extra of these pieces that every Nendoroid comes with or you can steal one from another Nendoroid then you’ll be fine.  However, if this is your first Nendoroid and this mistake happens to you, definitely contact Good Smile Company and they will send you what you need straight from Japan.  I did not count this against the figure but I can definitely see how this would be an annoyance and it is not good for new Nendoroid collectors who can’t use the figure much until they get the replacement part.  Hopefully, Good Smile gets this worked out and it only affects the initial release of Ice Kirby’s because it is a bummer.

Since there are so many accessories, I’m going to talk about each one and discuss how they work in terms of articulation and how they work for displays.

Ice Crown and Skate Effect – One of the big draws to Ice Kirby would have be his ice, power-up, right?  If you own the regular Kirby and used the Flame power-up at all then you have a good idea of what to expect with the Ice Crown.  It is fairly large and does restrict how high you can move Kirby’s arms but as I will discuss later, it is beautiful looking and worth using!  The Ice Crown can be paired with a “skating” effect to make it look like Kirby is skating across the ice just like he does in the video games.  It looks pretty neat but it is not easy to balance Kirby to get him to look like he is skating.  The effect also looks best from the side which means you can’t focus on Kirby’s face and his cute expression in your display which is a minor disappointment.  Neither of these accessories are easy to use but they look nice and will be a great display option.

Ice Attack Effect – If you would prefer that Kirby is not skating but actually using his attack from Kirby’s Dream Land then Good Smile has you covered!  The ice effect looks better in-person and is a bit shinier than it looks in the photo above and is relatively easy to get on its stand.  It can be slightly tricky to get it to look as if Kirby is blowing it out of his mouth (and not have ice rest slightly to the side but overall, it looks nice and is a solid display option, especially if you have some of Kirby’s enemies to put nearby!

Star Attack – While it isn’t an attack you necessarily want to use in Kirby games too often (because having a power-up is more fun), it is cool to have the option with either Kirby Nendoroid.  Sucking an enemy in and then shooting out a star happens pretty often in the games, especially the original Kirby Dream Land where there were no power-ups!  Fortunately, the star and the effects to make it look like it is moving through the air look really nice.  If you have any of Kirby’s enemies, this could also be really useful for your displays.

Umbrella – One of the cutest accessories that comes with Ice Kirby is undoubtedly the umbrella or as it is often called in the games, the parasol.  This power-up is adorable but also really handy for offense and defense in Kirby’s Dream Land.  The umbrella comes with a special hand that has a hole that you stick the umbrella in.  Regular Kirby comes with a hand like this as well to hold a sword so the accessory can easily be used on either figure.  The only tricky thing is that the umbrella is big and heavy enough that Kirby has a little trouble holding it up.  I could generally get Kirby to hold the umbrella straight up but if I moved it forward much at all, the magnet couldn’t support the weight and it would fall down.  This means the umbrella isn’t too poseable but since it looks so good straight up in the air, I think most fans can live with this limitation.

Fighter Power-Up – This looks like a really simple accessory because it is basically a headband but it is actually three separate pieces.  The actual headband on Kirby’s head is easy to put on but the parts that hang off the back and flap in the wind are a bit more finicky and take some forethought to pose.  They aren’t too difficult to use, they just take a bit more time to setup than you might think.  Personally, I think this power-up is not only really powerful in Kirby games but also fun so it is a welcome inclusion even if it is one I don’t think I’ll use too often in displays.

Face Plates – Finally, you get a wide variety of face plates with Ice Kirby as well.  Most of them are repeats of the regular Kirby face plates and I’ve used them throughout this review so I won’t breakdown each one in the review.  There is a special one included however, and that is sleeping Kirby!  There are many cute ways to display Kirby but this one surely is the best as you can see from the picture above.  It is easy to pose Kirby like he is sleeping and when you combine it with this face, it is priceless!  Most Nendoroids do not come with as many face options as the Kirby’s do so we really are spoiled for choice with Ice Kirby and Kirby.  This is an area where Good Smile Company has really gone above and beyond any Nintendo fans’ expectations and the variety of face plates make it easy to come up with little scenes and find the right expression for whatever moment you want.

Closing Thoughts – With the exception of a few accessories being hard to use or having some posing limitations, I have no complaints with this figure.  It is great to have Kirby alongside Ice Kirby and much like when I got Mario and Luigi together, it was a blast seeing what kind of cool displays I could create.  I have only scratched the surface of what you can do with these two and I’m sure there will be some great pictures of these Nendoroids in the future.  If you don’t have any of the Kirby Nendoroids, perhaps the regular Kirby is the best one to start with since it is the pink Kirby we all know and love but you can’t go far wrong by starting with Ice Kirby either.  It is a great figure and one of my favorite Nendoroids I’ve reviewed.  I’d love to see a King Dedede Nendoroid one day or more Kirby variations or possibly even Waddle Dee.  The Kirby Nendoroids are the best Kirby action figures a fan could hope for and they’re a must have for any fans of the character or video games.