Du dun de dum dum…….For anyone who played video game anywhere in the 1980’s and had an NES, Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom in Japan), that little intro is one of the most, if not the most recognizable musical jingle in the entire video game universe….Some more recent…kids….(even millennials are older than THAT) would say Halo, CoD, Minecraft etc…..No, NO, NOOO on those! That jingle, from the original Super Mario Bros. is THE national anthem for gamers anywhere and everywhere whether they are a fan of Mario or not. This is because back in the early ’80, following the royal disaster that was E.T. (couple years ago, someone finally paid enough to dig up all the wasted extra copies of that game from a landfill somewhere in New Mexico), Pac-Man on the Atari (two guys only had a week to develop that game….Yes, even though games back then was A LOT simpler, you can imagine how WELL that went!) and a bunch of other games that stunk so bad, they crashed the entire industry, it was up to Nintendo and their mustachioed plumber to save the day and revive the entire industry, an industry that’s worth minimum 60 BILLION in today’s money!

Mario actually started life as a unnamed antagonist in the Donkey Kong arcade game in Japan. In the U.S., he was named Jumpman in the instructions for the home consoles and named Mario in the sales brochures. When he branched out into his own game “Mario Bros.” (Notice the lack of Super), he became officially known as Mario, named after the Italian American landlord that owned the Nintendo warehouse at the time. As Shigeru Miyamoto recalled at the time, the character was supposed to be named “Mr. Video”. But one day, Mario came in and demanded back rent from the Nintendo employees. An argument ensued. Eventually, Mario left after the employees promised they will back pay the rental money soon. And as they say, the rest is history! Mr. Video just became Mario!

Mario original design was made by the iconic video game legend Shigeru Miyamoto. The original design was for a carpenter in the Donkey Kong game, hence his iconic blue and red coveralls. He would also acquire the even more iconic mustache. As Shigeru describe it, the mustache was born out of necessity due to the technology of the time since the character needed a separation between the nose and the mouth and the mustache was the simplest way to do that, which also made the character more Italian since Shigeru pegged him as an Italian-American plumber for the new upcoming game, especially since the character by this time was named after the Italian American landlord, Mario Segali.

Super Mario Bros. was released on the NES, then in Japan known as the Famicom back in 1985. There was a huge struggle to release it here in the U.S. since the video game industry has long crashed but Nintendo took a calculated gamble and released the NES back in 1986 here with Super Mario Bros. packed in. The rest was history!

Over the years, Mario and the gang have branched out. He and his brother Luigi had long ago grabbed their friends (and enemies) to play tennis, soccer, golf, go kart racing and even beating the bejesus out of each other in Nintendo’s hit fighting franchise Super Smash Bros (the latest saw Mario almost being stabbed to death by the newest character to the roster, Sephiroth). But in the mainline platforming games, Mario is always tasked with one mission, saving the “Princess of Mushroom Kingdom”, Princess Peach (her name actually wasn’t made official until Super Mario 64). Ahhhh! Still remember the anguish everytime I beat a world in the original Super Mario Bros, and Toad told me “Our princess is in another castle”…Near the end, almost wanted to strangle him to death! But yes, Peach also soon joined Mario on his various adventures, such as becoming quite a handful of a fighter herself in Super Smash Bros.! Now, there isn’t a lot of model kits of Mario and the gang…But one day trolling through the E2046 web site….I spot this kit….

Now, the kit is called Youki, or Youki Princess Mushroom…But the instant I saw the pictures, I just went, WAIT A MINUTE!!! There is no mistaking the crown, the pink dress…Or in this case, the lingerie, and the blonde hair! Upon closer inspection, yep! This is a very very sexy Princess Peach. Anyways, from what I can gather, the first cast of this kit (from other manufacturers such as ModelKitOnline) was first made in 2011. It soon became very popular! I would not be surprised! Safe to say, I would think just about every gamer that started in the 1980’s have played at least one Super Mario Bros. game, if not started on the original SMB packed in with the NES. Even those who never ever touched a single Mario game know who the red capped Italian plumber is and what he does, saving a certain pink dressed Princess from the clutches of the evil Bowser!...Funny, when the previous CEO of Nintendo of America retired, Reggie Fils-Amie, replacing him is a guy named Doug Bowser…And yes, Nintendo had fun with him and the King of Koopas Bowser during the 2019 E3 presentation. But anyways, yes, a lot of people know who Princess Peach is and I’m certain a lot of people also bought the kit from various manufacturers because of this reason. Don’t know when E2046 got their hands on this mold, but the instant I saw it, I want it! Yes, I still play the various Mario games and finally broke down and bought it.

The kit arrived a few days ago and in great condition. There are not a lot of parts. The biggest is the main two body parts and the…ummm…..Have I told you the other reason is probably this Princess Peach is far more adult oriented and very VERY sexy? Yes, she’s now in a very slinky lingerie with a removable top and she’s riding on a red “super” mushroom (anyone who played any Mario games will know this)…This is the other largest cast in the whole kit except its shaped to be very….how to put this lightly…phallic….Yes, this is NSFW but very attractive, especially towards someone who grew up on these games. Now, yes, you can indeed paint that phallic mushroom as a red “super” mushroom, but since it’s all white, there is nothing to prevent you from making it into a green “1-Up” mushroom either. Now, with this one, since I am making Princess Peach, I’ll do it as a red “Super” since Mario wears red. However, I’m already thinking of buying another one to make it into the “Princess of Sarasaland”, aka, Princess Daisy, who is now more of a couple with Mario’s younger brother, Luigi. And since Luigi wears green, the 1-Up mushroom seems more appropriate.

Anyways, the molding are well casted. There are some very minor air pockets and just a slight lesion on her right leg, between the calf to hip bend…Guess the resin didn’t pour down there enough. No biggie, I already fixed it with some red spot putty glazing. Now, the other point to beware is her hip garter belt. Unfortunately, I broke it in three pieces. This is because it’s way too “Crispy” so becareful! I did superglue the small piece back on but kept it separate since it allows me to join the upper to lower body and then attach the garter belt. Much easier that way. Now, after joining, notice there is a seam around her waist. You can forgo puttying it up since the garter belt will cover that seam up. The only other thing to watch out is her earrings…I lost them…They are rather small and I misplaced them…Sigh, guess I’ll make some replacements with some stretched sprues. The third and final piece to watch out for is her chest and back corset. Now, these pieces are designed to be separate and can be removed to show her….Umm……Rather huge fun muffins. Her panties are molded on so she’s covered downstairs but upstairs can be either NSFW or at least “PG-13”. It’s up to you. However, the chest piece can’t really attach to her chest because the sides are too straight and can’t quite “catch” her waist. No biggie again since I borrowed SWMBO hairdryer and heated this piece up three times and then pinched the side of the corset and it’s now fully fixed. Other than that, have fun painting and making her since she should be really nice looking when done!

Well, there goes another one of my “waifus” on the front burner. The only big tripping point other than the ones I mentioned above is that there are no eye decals included in this kit. Think when she first came out, eye decals is still a figment of someone’s imagination. Now, indentations are there for both the eyes of the mushroom and Peach herself. Just beware though, This Peach is very anime so not a lot of facial details and her eyes are the huge bulging “Kwai” kind. Fortunately, these days, various manufactures do make eye decals, including E2046, I happens to have their “D” set, which contains the appropriate eyes so will be using the blue ones for Peach, and possibly the green set for Daisy since again, I’m already planning to get another set to do her also. Also, one last disadvantage, but this one is all me thus very subjective. I wish this figure is at least 1/6. At 1/7, for me at least, it’s somewhat small since Peach is very small in the games. Otherwise have fun with this one. I know I will!!!

[Your editor would like to mention that painting anime eyes is not difficult and is a good skill to learn. There are several 'how-to' features on the 'net.]

April 2021

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