Storm Collectibles is without a doubt my premier go-to for video game figures these days. From Golden Axe to Mortal Kombat to King of Fighters, they are crushing it with their releases. And a short while ago they started digging into one of my favorite fighting franchises, Soul Calibur! I was first introduced to this series in the lobby of the local AMC movie theater, but I truly fell in love with it as a launch game for the SEGA Dreamcast. It was probably the first time I ever played a home port of a game that was actually significantly better than a current arcade release. The franchise has remained pretty consistent over the years with Soul Calibur VI hitting my PlayStation 4 in 2018. Wow, has it really been so long? Storm started this line with Taki and Mitsurugi, and today we’re checking out Taki!

Taki, the beautiful and heroic ninja warrior, has been with the series all the way back to Soul Edge, making her a good pick for one of the premier figures. Sure, I would have preferred Sophita, but that’s just because I really dig Sophitia. Taki comes in a collector friendly window box, which is pretty standard stuff for Storm’s game figures. The character art does obscure nearly a quarter of the window, but you can still get a pretty good look at what’s inside. It’s a little more compact than some of their other packages, and I appreciate that because I’ll likely be keeping this box!

Out of the box, Taki dons her modern look from the 6th installment, which definitely shares design beats from her earlier appearances, but also reflects the better detail in the costume that improvements in graphics allowed. So, let’s get the obvious out of the way first, Taki is sporting some fully erect nipples on her rather profound chest, and all I’ll say is that it was an interesting choice to go with. Yes, they are sort of there in the game’s character model, but I don’t remember it being quite to this extent. I’ll have to do some research this weekend and play some of the game to see. With that aside, she has her trademark skin tight crimson body suit with a brown leather half-jacket complete with boob window. She also sports some demon hunting armor bits on her shoulders, knees, lower legs, and left arm. On her back she carries her swords, Rekki-Maru and Mekki-Maru in their scabbards.

There is some absolutely gorgeous detail work in the armor pieces, as well as the ornamental work on the scabbards. The armor is mixed between silver and more tarnished finishes, all of which are dry brushed to give them some weathering. I really love the demon head shoulder pieces, as well as the one that clasps her jacket together under her neck. The jacket is a rich chocolate brown with some soft stitching in the sculpt, you also get some braided detail in the straps for her sandals. Other wonderful little touches include the gold band around her left bicep and the little studded bangles around her right wrist.

There are two heads included, one with a neutral expression and one with a shouty expression. Both of these are well done with immaculate paint for the eyes and lips. The hair is a separate sculpt and it falls beautifully down each side of her face, with some strands over her forehead and eyes. The back is tied into a ponytail, jutting out rather high off the back of her head, and secured with an adorable little devil horns fixture.

You also get the demon mask, which is cast in soft plastic and painted with a bit of silver dry brushing to show wear. This piece fits over the lower half of the face and is held on with friction. It works OK, but I find that it does slip a bit now and then. Because the mouth area is open you can still get the benefits of using it with either head and see the difference in the mouth. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to display her with or without the mask yet.

As for posability, well Storm delivers that in spades. Their bodies continue to feature one of my favorite systems of articulation in this scale. The jointing works smoothly and the double joints in the shoulders and elbows offer a great range of motion, as do the ball joints in the waist and under the chest. The ball joints in the ankles help to keep the feet flat on the ground, or you can use the articulated toe hinges for a more dynamic footing. The balance is definitely there too, as I had little trouble keeping Taki upright in any number of poses. She’s just an absolute pleasure to play aroune with.

Of course, Storm is big on hands. Lots and lots of hands! There are six pairs here total, which include fists, relaxed hands, gripping hands, and three different types of gesture hands. Getting some of these on for the first time can be a little fiddly as the wrist peg is super small, but ultimately it works fine. The bangles on her right wrist are separate pieces, so you do have to be careful not to lose them when changing that hand.

Finally, Taki comes with her two swords, Rekki-Maru and Mekki-Maru, which we’ve seen fit easily into the scabbards on her back and work with the two gripping hands. The differences in the two weapons is pretty subtle, but they have great paintwork and sculpts on the hilts and the short blades are painted silver.

As one of Storm’s debut Soul Calibur figures, Taki really delivers on the whole package. You get a fantastic sculpt, great paintwork, and superb articulation. Even nipples! These figures feel so great in hand with smooth joints and that are easy to work with and make for a fun figure that’s hard to put down. She retails at $100 and is still available at the time I’m posting this review. I believe she’s still a Big Bad Toystore Exclusive in the US, as BBTS continues to be the only licensed distributor for their figures in America. We’ve yet to see any forthcoming releases, but I’m looking forward to digging into Mitsurugi in the next week or so. Hopefully Storm will be going deep on this line!