About

Non-Specific Action Figure (NSAF) is a digital companion character for Nintendo's upcoming gaming system Wii U.^[1]

Origin

The character was introduced in a promotional video for Nintendo's Mii Universe, a new user-interface that would've become available on the Wii U system, screened as part of the Nintendo Direct live broadcast^[2] event on June 3rd, 2012.

The trailer begins with a video gamer playing a zombie game and attempting to use the Mii Universe for tips on how to beat the boss he is stuck with. Throughout the clip, the gamer talks to a blue, yellow, and red action figure he calls "Non-Specific Action Figure." Later that day, the video was uploaded to YouTube on a handful of different channels, including Nintendo World Report^[3] and IGN^[4] in addition to individual user uploads.

Spread

Discussion about the Non-Specific Action Figure began appearing immediately on gaming forums including The Wii U Forums^[4] and GameFAQs.^[5] Later that day, “Non-Specific Action Figure” became a trending topic on Twitter.^[9] Also on June 3rd, a Twitter novelty account^[6], Facebook page^[7] and single topic Tumblr^[8] were created to celebrate the oddly named character. GoNintendo^[10] published an article on why Non-Specific Action Figure should be a character in the next Super Smash Brothers game.

On June 4th, Nintendo Gamer^[11] published a tongue-in-cheek article with a faux history of the character and photoshopped images placing the figurine in a variety of historical events to argue that he had been around since the 1940s.

On June 7th, Nintendo’s official YouTube channel uploaded a video of Nintendo executives Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto and Reggie Fils-Aime in their last meeting before the end of E3 2012. In the video, Iwata tells Miyamoto and Fils-Amie that they did a good job, before the camera pans out to show he had been covering the ears of Non-Specific Action Figure. After uncovering them, Iwata tells the toy that it did the "best job." Following its release on YouTube, a handful of fan art has appeared on deviantArt.^[12]

Notable Examples

External References