Today, I’m taking the reins of the Most Requested article to talk about a character I’ve wanted to see made into a decent toy for a long time. It starts with the Nintendo Entertainment System. It’s still one of the coolest Christmas presents I ever received and the three games I got with it will always be some of the best games ever made. Super Mario Bros., Castlevania, and Metroid. I was only eight at the time. And while I eventually learned to beat Mario and its many fake-princessed castles, you can probably imagine how annoyed I was with the other two games (especially Castlevania, that game was just evil). It wasn’t until I grew a little older that I was able to best the games, but even with all that frustration, those games gave me some of my fondest gaming memories.

This brings me to our Most Requested figure this week, Samus Aran.

Not only is Metroid one of the important “Legacy” games in the Nintendo library, but Samus herself has surpassed her own series popularity, allowing her to guest star in other Mario & Kirby games, be included in all three Smash Bros., and even make it as a main character in the old Captain N comic books.

Samus’ recognizability and popularity can be attributed to a couple things. First, she was one of, if not the first female lead in video game history. The best part being that no one knew it until they had beaten the game. As a kid, that’s kind of a big deal. You go through the whole elaborate story, with tons of exploration, puzzles, and difficult bosses. By the time you reach the end, you’ve connected with this cool little space suit guy with a gun arm. Then, the shocker. The space suit guy you’ve connected with turned out to be a girl. I guarantee that was a memorable moment for everyone who beat that game back then.

The second reason why Samus is so memorable is her personality, or lack thereof. After nine games that are all in continuity with each other, we still know very little about Samus’ personality. Sure we’ve gotten tidbits of her back story. We learned why she hates the Space Pirates so much. We even learned where she got her Power Suit from. But in all that time, we’ve never heard her speak. She doesn’t ponder herself or the things around her much. The armor she wears doesn’t just protect her from her enemies, but it also keeps the players out too. She’s tough, determined, and vengeful, yet we’ve seen her be compassionate at times. In essence, she is an enigma. Or perhaps just a blank slate, that the player can prescribe her the way he or she wants to see her. Either way, it makes us want to know more.

So what greater honor does the first video game heroine deserve more than a well-made, well-produced action figure that isn’t limited to near obscurity?

In 2003, the now defunct Joyride Studios released a Samus figure. This figure is lacking, to say the least. Here’s a
review if you want to see what it’s like.

Recently First 4 Figures has been making a series of statues for the Metroid series. All of those seem like great statues, but I’m a toy guy. There are also some Japanese Garage Kits out there that look really good, but are incredibly hard to find and expensive to buy when you do find them.

Basically, there’s a mint to be made here. Sell that license to one of those awesome Japanese toy companies like Revoltech. It would be amazing to see a Zero Suit Samus in the Frauline line. So, come on Nintendo! Let us get our toys, and you can have our money. Sounds fair to me.

-AdventureVault