Tag Archives: video games

Nov 6 2023

King of Fighters ’98: Mai Shiranui Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

I already talked about the cornucopia of King of Fighters merch that’s been hitting the shelves, back when I looked at Storm’s Blue Mary figure and a lot of that merch mostly seems to be centered around KOF 98, which works for me, because it’s definitely the game in the series I played the most when it was released as KOF Dream Match 99 on the SEGA Dreamcast. Of course, since then I’ve collected a ton of KOF releases for just about every platform imaginable and have access to the actual arcade games on my Neo Geo Arcade Stick Pro so it’s a pretty great time to be a fan of the franchise. And even Kotobukiya is getting in on the action with 1:7 scale statues in their Bishoujo series.

Here she is in the box, which features some colorful artwork and some generously sized windows to let in plenty of light. Indeed, once you remove the plastic wrap, she displays really well in the package! The box also feels a lot more durable than the super thin cardboard they were using for a while. Some of you may know that I have a pretty sizeable collection of Koto’s Bishoujo statues, most of which have been reviewed here on FFZ, and I was fond of ending most of those reviews by stating that these statues were the best value to be had on the statue market. Well, those days are long gone as the retail price of most of Koto’s releases have doubled in the last ten years or so. I can remember getting most of mine back in the day for around $59-69.99 and nowadays most release at over $120. Yikes! The quality is still there, but because of the price hike, I’ve pulled back on collecting them and even let some of my Street Fighter Bishoujos go. Heck, the last Bishoujo I reviewed was Ibuki from Street Fighter and that was six years ago! But, here we are today and Mai turned up at a pretty deep discount a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t resist.

Sporting what I would consider her most iconic pose, I can practically see her going through the fluid motions of her idle animation and hear her exclaim.. NIPPON ICHI! Her pose places her left hand upon her jutting backside while her right hand clutches her butterfly fan. She sports her red and white kunoichi regalia, which is sculpted separately from the body to really give the figure some wonderful depth. She has has heavy braided cords that cross her back and loop under her arms, while the split running down the middle front of her top can barely contain her great assets. It’s belted in white around her slender waist and spills down between her legs, stopping at her knees in the front, but bisecting into two flowing forms out the back, each girded with a giant ball. The outfit is rounded out with a pair of red and black tabi on her feet. Koto did a wonderful job capturing the flow of the outfit as well as the sensual curves of her amazing body.

As is always the case with Koto’s work, the colors are gorgeous. The whites feature a clean matte finish while and the red pops with a vibrant glossy sheen. The plastic they use for the skin holds a beautiful warm tone with some added shading to bring it to life, with none of that waxy finish you get on lesser quality statues.

The portrait is spot-on with the Bishoujo style matching the KOF artwork quite nicely. Mai looks up and off to the side with a thin smile on her lips. Her hair features a top knot that cascades down in a ponytail while her bangs part to perfectly frame each side of her face on the front. So beautiful!

For the base, Koto went for more of a diorama style than usual. I’ve been used to seeing either stylized logo bases or just plain generic black or clear disks for a while. This one is just a section of a street with a manhole cover. It looks OK, but it’s nothing special.

There’s no doubt about it, Kotobukiya still knows how to put out quality figures, and unfortunately they know it, so those prices keep going up. Mai retails for around $120, but I nabbed her for $80. It was still a bit more than I felt comfortable spending, but she went up right before I was going into a spending moratorium for a while, so I decided to splurge. Ultimately, I’m glad I picked her up as she looks gorgeous, but I really wish Max Factory would give us some KOF PopUp Parade figures so Koto’s wouldn’t tempt me so much. Koto also did a Bishoujo of Athena from KOF 98, but I’m not a big enough fan of hers to get her unless she went on a serious clearance sell-out price. And, of course they did a female version of Terry Bogard, and I swear the first release pre-dated the SNK Heroines game that gender-swapped Terry. I wasn’t interested in it back then, but now it’s actually branded under the game and I kind of want her, but it’s not a $130 kind of want.

Sep 29 2023

King of Fighters ’98: Blue Mary by Storm Collectibles

SNK has had an interesting couple of decades since it’s bankruptcy and well… whatever the state of the company is these days. And yet in a way, it’s been enjoying a renaissance with there being more ways to access the Neo Geo library now than probably ever. Even legally! We’re also getting a decent number of toys and collectibles as well. I’ll refer you back to my look at Metal Slug 3’s Marco Rossi figure if you want to hear me gushing on about what it was like to live in envy of Neo Geo owners in the 90s. And yeah, most of that envy was aimed at Metal Slug and the shoot-em-ups, but it certainly applied to the fighting games too. Case in point, it wasn’t until almost 10 games into the series, when Dream Match ’99 arrived on the Dreamcast that I was finally able to play a decent port of a King of Fighters game. And boy was that a blissful weekend spent with that game and my ASCII Arcade Stick. Good times! And now, Storm Collectibles has been releasing figures based on the KOF 98 roster. I pre-ordered late in the game and all but Blue Mary got cancelled. I sat on her for a while, trying to decide whether to keep her or not, when just this past week Storm announced reissues of Terry Bogard and Iori. I was able to get these pre-ordered (along with Mai!) and now I’m excited to get Mary opened knowing the others will eventually be on the way!

Storm does a wonderful presentation for these figures. Mary comes in a big window box with the game logo on the front, along with a shot of Blue Mary. The window is huge and shows off the figure and some of her extras, and there’s a printed backdrop based on one of the level backgrounds behind the tray. Everything is collector friendly.

KOF 98 was Mary’s second appearance in a KOF title, but the character actually premiered back in Fatal Fury 3. When I play Dream Match 99, I tend to gravitate toward Terry first but I’m quick to take Mary or Mai for a spin when I’m feeling adventurous. And it’s probably because of how many hours I burned on Dream Match 99 that this version will always be Mary’s most iconic look to me. Casting off the jacket from the Fatal Fury series, she dons her mid-riff exposing red top, blue baggie pants and fingerless gloves, and a pair of reddish-brown sneakers. The whole ensemble is rounded out by a loose brown belt that rests on her hips. It’s a simple character design that makes for a great looking figure.

And as always, Storm did a beautiful job sculpting this figure. Her top is part of the upper body, but it still hangs down over her midriff hiding that joint. The pants go light on the rumples, but bag up down by the highly cinched ankle cuffs. The ringed stars on the thighs are sculpted on as is the smaller black belt with the gold buckle. The wider brown belt has a peg to secure it, but the peg is too soft to go in and hold there, so I just let it float off one hip or the other, which works well enough. The colors on this figure are absolutely gorgeous and she pops just like the original pixel art. The vibrant blue and red compliment each other perfectly, the skin tone looks good, and the added orange on the stars is nice. I think the boots could have been a tad more brown, but that’s just me nitpicking.

You get a whopping four different heads, which is pretty impressive. These include smiling, pissed off, playful wink, and dynamic wind blown hair with a shouty mouth. All of these are wonderfully expressive and work for some pretty fun poses. I think my favorite are the last two. The wind blown look to the hair is great. My only nitpick on any of these is the seam running across just above her hairline. It’s not really a big deal, but since there’s no face plates to swap, I think they could have done a little better with that.

If you’ve played around with any of Storm’s figures, you should know what to expect from the articulation here. Mary is very agile and limber, just as she should be. The elbows and knees are fabulous with double joints that give you all the range of motion you can ask for. Hips allow for plenty of movement, there’s a ball joint under the chest, and you get rotating hinges in the ankles and hinges just behind the toes of the boots. Lateral crunches in the shoulders enhance those rotating hinges, there are swivels in the biceps and pegged hinges in the wrists to allow you to swap hands. How many hands? Five pairs total! You get a pair of finger pointing hands, fists, relaxed hands, slightly more relaxed hands, and grapple hands. Not bad!

Mary comes with one effect part and it’s a giant energy circle from slamming her opponents into the ground. Alas, I only have Mary right now, so I’ll have to wait to get some real use out of it. But it’s a great looking piece with a translucent effect starting relatively clear at the ground and working up to a fiery red-orange along the tops of the flames.

The illustrated backgrounds Storm includes with these figures are also a nice bonus and they stand pretty well if you want to use them as a display behind your figure. Mary comes with the US Train Yard Stage which is wonderfully recreated here right down to the pixelated edges on the art.

Storm’s figures sure ain’t cheap, and Mary goes for about $105, which is no doubt a lot of money for a 7-inch scale figure. Heck, it’s even a lot by this line’s standards as both Terry and Iori reissued at under $100 each. But it’s hard to argue with quality and Storm never ceases to deliver on it in spades. Mary is a ridiculously fun figure to play with, thanks to the smooth jointing system, near perfect balance, and the crazy range of motion you can get out of her. And the passel of extra heads and hands certainly adds to that value. She’s hard to put down and she’s been standing on my desk ready for action since I opened her. It’s great to see KOF figures on the market and I can’t wait to expand my character roster.

Aug 9 2023

Star Wars Black Series (Knights of the Old Republic) Bastila Shan by Hasbro

Somewhere along the way, Hasbro’s Black Series has lost me. Sure, some of it has to do with Disney curb-stomping the brand into the gutter these last few years, but I’m kind of tired of so many repacks and repaints when there are still so many of the old Kenner figures that still need to be done. The 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi should have given us so many figures, and instead we got a couple new ones and a bunch of old stuff repacked on vintage style cards. Case in point, I haven’t looked at a SWB figure here in eight months! Sure, in some cases I get backlogged, but in this case, I just haven’t been buying any of the figures. But, I did pre-order Bastila Shan and she showed up, so let’s do some Black Series today!

I’ve expressed my undying love for Knights of the Old Republic several times here on FFZ, and even the mere act of checking out this figure has me thinking about it being time for yet another replay. And I will forever be bitter that Hasbro didn’t get to do a big marketing push alongside the game. I mean, here we are twenty years later and we still have only seen a few characters released as figures. It’s a crime, so the least I could do was support this release of Bastila Shan like I did back when Darth Revan was released. Anyway, Shan comes in the fully enclosed plastic-free packaging with the GAMING GREATS logo on the front. You get some character art on the side, and everything here is collector friendly.

Straightaway, this release is such a huge improvement over the 3 3/4-inch Bastila we got way back when. It’s not so much just the new opportunities that come with the jump up in scale, but just the coloring and accuracy of her costume as well. There’s a great sense of layering here with the tan bodysuit being the figure base and the burgundy tunic being cast in soft plastic and worn over the body. Even the top edges of the boots convey a very nice sense of depth, like the figure is actually wearing them. The flaps that drop from her waist on the front and sides are made of pretty pliable plastic and I’m pleased to say that they tend to work pretty well with the articulation. A lot of the coloring here looks like it’s done through the plastic, but the paint lines are nice and sharp too. AND YES, THAT’S A GODDAMN CAT HAIR ON HER BOOT IN THE SECOND PICTURE WHICH I DIDN’T NOTICE UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE!!!

The head sculpt is solid, but maybe not exceptional. The facial details are printed on and look fine in hand, while breaking down a bit as you punch in with the camera. The hair sculpting is excellent, but I just don’t see a whole lot of likeness there for the character in the game. I gather that Shan has been in a lot of other media since the game, so maybe this portrait is based more on one of those? Either way, it’s certainly not bad. Maybe a little less shadowing under the eyes would have helped.

The articulation here is mostly great, with the one throwback being the arms. We get the usual rotating hinges in the elbows instead of double-hinges and bicep swivels. Yup, Hasbro loves doing this with the ladies and I have no idea why. Normally, I’ve come to except it, but it hurts a bit more here when trying to get her to wield her lightsaber with both hands. Other than that, you get some great range of motion in the hips, there are double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. The ball joint in the waist has some decent range, and you get a ball joint in the neck. She’s fun to play with, but I’ll be happy if the rotating hinges in the elbows get retired.

Her lightsaber is her only accessory and it comes with two yellow blades that can be pegged in and removed. The hilt is pretty big as far as lightsabers go, and you get some nice silver paint on the ends and black for the grip in the middle. I really hate how gimmicky and ridiculous the lightsaber designs have become, from the spinning blades to whatever the hell grimdark Rey had in whatever movie that was. Still, I kind of have a soft spot for this one, since it reminds me of how badly I wanted a Double Brand in Phantasy Star Online.

I like this figure a lot. No one thing about it is particularly amazing, but it all comes together into what is a very solid Bastila Shan figure, and that’s what I’m here for. And maybe that sums up a lot of my feelings for the Black Series lately. It’s almost always totally competent, with the occasional flourish here and there, and that’s fine when it’s turning out characters I want. But as Hasbro continues to milk previously released figures with Carbonized and Christmas repaints, I’m left waiting for characters we should have had ages ago. Where were my Skiff Guards for the RotJ 40th Anniversary? Where are the rest of my Ewoks? Where’s my Crix Madine? That’s fine… my wallet is happy for the reprieve.

Aug 2 2023

Metal Slug 3: Marco Rossi by Tunshi Studio

Much of the last half of the 90’s for me was being teased by pictures of the Metal Slug series in gaming magazines and knowing that I’d never be able to play it. Scratch that, I actually did get to play the first Metal Slug in an electronics store that had a NEO GEO AES demo unit on display. I played that and Cyber-Lip and then found how much they cost and that ended that pipe dream. About five years later my dreams came true, and by that I mean I got Metal Slug X for the PlayStation. It was a stripped down, tweaked and modded version of Metal Slug 2, but I didn’t give two shits because I was finally playing a Metal Slug game at home. Yeah, you kids with your emulators and digital downloads have no idea what it was like in the Gaming Dark Ages. Fast forward to now and I have close to a dozen legit ways to play the entire Metal Slug series in my Game Room. What could possibly be more incredible than that? How about Metal Slug action figures! Enter Tunshi Studio, a company I never heard of. They revealed a series of 1:12 scale figures based on Metal Slug 3 and despite them being pricey releases from an untested company, I pre-ordered the first two: Marco Rossi and a Rebel Soldier. I was originally going to look at both figures today, but by the time I got through all the stuff included with Marco, I decided to spit them up.

Here’s the packaging and it is one inspired presentation! The box is made to look like the compartment on the Soldier Select screen with Marco looking through the window. It’s made of very heavy cardboard stock and has a magnet that secures the tri-fold front flap. Inside, the figure comes in a nested clear plastic tray with a little compartment up top for an instruction booklet that includes a rundown on the articulation under the softgoods outfit. YES SOFTGOODS! I actually swapped the heads before taking this packaged shot, so let me swap them back and we’ll take a look at Marco as he comes out of the box!

And, hot damn! This guy looks amazing! The super articulated body reminds me of the bodies that Storm Collectibles are putting out, and that is very much intended as a compliment. These joints are easy to work with, move fluidly, and include double hinges in the elbows and knees. The figure is dressed in a pair of baggy green trouser fatigues, a white sleeveless t-shirt and an orange vest with double pockets on each side. He’s got a belt, wrist bracers, and some absolutely phenomenal sculpted boots. Normally I would not have believed softgoods were a smart move for figures in this scale and license, but boy does it work beautifully here. The tailoring is pretty clean, but there are a few loose threads I may trim. I like that the pants are baggy so as not to inhibit his articulation.

You get two head sculpts, with the first being a somewhat neutral expression. I think the sculptors did a great job translating the rather unique 2D art stylings of the game to 3D plastic. Marco has a determined, downturned mouth, a pointy nose and eyes that look like they have seen some serious shit. And believe me… they have! The sideburns look great, he’s got a dirty white headband, and that ridiculous lock of hair that zig-zags its way over his forehead. There’s some nice shading on the skin and the yellow hair is bright and snappy.

With that having been said, this second head is the one I’ll be going with most of the time. The mouth is wide open showing off his teeth in an exclamation of joy at the sight of everything exploding around him. Marco looks like he enjoys his work and revels taking on this new threat in the game’s third installment.. Spoilers… it’s aliens… again.

In addition to the two heads, you get a passel of hands. These include fists, a pair of accessory holding hands, a left thumbs up hand, and a right trigger finger hand. All of these are super easy to swap out.

Marco also comes with a softgoods backpack as part of his outfit. This attaches using legit shoulder straps and looks great on him. It’s a fantastic bonus that really adds a lot of value to the figure.

If you guessed this figure comes with guns, you’d be right! You actually get two, which may seem light considering the number of weapons in the game, but most of the weapon upgrades you pick up just convert your rifle into firing something new. Also, I think Tunshi spread them out a bit as incentive to buy more figures. First off, Marco comes with his semi-automatic pistol, which is his default weapon in the game offering unlimited ammo. It’s cast in black plastic and has some excellent detail in the sculpt. There is no articulation or removable magazine.

Next up is HEAVY MACHINE GUN with the multi-purpose under-the-barrel tube. This is another great sculpt with some sharp detail. The pump actually slides and the stock and pump are both cast in brown plastic and you get a little more brown on the grip. Marco comes with a wide grip left hand so he can cradle the pump in it.

You also get a HEAVY MACHINE GUN effect piece that plugs into the barrel and looks really damn cool! I should note that the HEAVY MACHINE GUN is a power-up in the game, activated when you pick up the container marked H, and as you can see you get the power up icon as well. This is actually a blank with a magnetic H included for each side. It definitely gives it a more premium feel than just printing or a sticker.

Marco’s secondary attack in the game is his stock of grenades and you get a lovely potato-masher style stick grenade to toss at those enemy bosses. Luckily he gets more than just one in the game.

The final weapon in Marco’s arsenal is a combat knife, which is his default attack when he gets close enough to an enemy to shed blood. Or white sweat if you’re playing the US version. Once again, this is a beautifully detailed piece with a painted silver blade and a serrated back edge.

Moving into some basic equipment, Marco comes with a walkie-talkie and a field canteen. Both of these work well with the left open grip hand.

You also get a whole pile of other extras and a box to keep them in. The biggest item here is the rocket for the RAWKET LAWNCHAIR upgrade. I think Tunshi missed an opportunity here because the blast effect part isn’t compatible with the tube under the gun and it isn’t removable, so it’s hard to really incoporate this piece into the display. Other bits include a magazine, an ammo belt, a medal, a lump of shit (no really!), and eleven metal cartridges.

And finally, you get a really nice display stand with a bendy support post and a waist clip. The base has a sculpted wood planking cover that can be slid in and out and there are clips so it can be attached to the bases of other figures for one continuous display.

At $145, Marco was certainly not cheap, but I can definitely see where the money went. The body is excellent, the softgoods look great, and there are just a ton of goodies in this box for play and display. Plus, when considering price, I think you probably have to factor in the limited appeal of this niche market. Metal Slug has definitely reached a wider audience in the last ten years or so, but it’s way past its heyday, so I have to imagine that the production on these figures isn’t huge. The first assortment included Tarma Roving, who’s outfit is mostly a palate swap, a Rebel Soldier and a Rebel Soldier two-pack with some exclusive accessories. I’ll be checking out the Rebel Soldier in a week or so. I haven’t picked up Tarma yet, but I probably will. I might even go for the Soldier two-pack, since it has some exclusive extras. I do have the two ladies, Fio and Eri, on pre-order.

Jun 23 2023

Ultra Street Fighter II: Ryu by Jada Toys

I would never consider myself an expert at Capcom’s Street Fighter series, it’s still been an enduring thread running through most of my video game playing years. I dabbled in it back in its early days, I tried to get good when it came home to the Genesis and SNES, but it probably wasn’t until Street Fighter III on the Dreamcast that I really started to dig in. Of course, there have been many lines of mech for Street Fighter over the years, but I think SOTA Toys line of figures tends to be looked back on the fondest. Storm Collectibles has a line going, but at around $100 each, I had to shy away from those, in favor of their Golden Axe figures. But now, Jada Toys is producing figures at a much more appealing price point and the first one of these has landed. Let’s have a look at Ryu!

My first indication that Jada knew what they were doing is seen in the package design, which is so fun and stylish! You get a little arcade cab-style box with the dual joystick set ups and the health bars on the top for two players. Ryu can be seen in the “screen” which is a clear window set against a pixelated background from the game. The box is collector friendly and gives you a great look at the figure and all his accessories. I’ll definitely be displaying these in the packages!

Out of the box, Ryu feels rather unique in hand. Maybe it’s because I spend so much time with either Hasbro or McFarlane these days, but I really enjoyed exploring what this figure had to offer when I first started messing about with him. Ryu’s classic character design comes through in the sculpt, and there are some nice flourishes like the cloth material texturing that runs through every bit of his costume. I expected the belt and below the costume to be all one piece, but as it happens the entire top is worn by the figure and actually belted, so that’s pretty cool. The costume is sculpted as part of the legs, but the way the ragged cuffs hang down over the ankles makes it look like the figure is searing pants as well, and that makes for a great effect. You also get some texturing on the belt and some Japanese symbols in gold. This figure takes every opportunity to flourish with what is a pretty simple costume design.

The sculpted musculature under the costume is well defined. You get some visible veins in the arms, and the hands and feet both have some pretty sharp sculpts in the fingers and toes. Even the red gloves have some excellent texturing and the red adds a nice pop to the figure’s colors, even though they probably shouldn’t be red. The bare skin is all achieved through colored plastic, and there’s a bit of a plastic sheen to him, but I don’t find it all that distracting.

Ryu comes with two heads: A rather determined looking pre-fight expression and a holy-shit-imma-gonna-kick-yo-ass expression, and I think both of these look great. The faces on both are painted so they have a bit more of a matte finish to them than the rest of the body, but again I don’t find it all that obvious or distracting. The painted skin and the printed eyes all look fine with the figure in hand, but as you punch in closer it tends to look like pancake makeup. The sculpted hair hangs down over the red bandanna to add some depth to the portrait, and I also love how his eyebrows overlap the bandanna as well. The bandanna ties hang down on the first head and blow off to the side on the second.

Obviously, articulation is going to be important on a Street Fighter figure, and I’m happy to say that Jada really brought a lot of it to the table here. I don’t have any first hand experience with SOTA’s offerings, so I can’t make comparisons. Storm’s will certainly offer more, but that’s to be expected with bigger figures at a much higher budget. The arms have both rotating hinges in the shoulders as well as butterfly joints. The elbows are double-hinged, there are bicep swivels, and you get hinged pegs for the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double-hinged knees, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint at the waist and another under the chest, and the the neck has a ball joint at the base and again up in the head. Many of the joints have a ratcheting effect, which makes them pretty strong and an absolute pleasure to work with!

I’ve got to say that the balance on this figure is absolutely amazing. He can balance on one leg pretty easily without assistance.

You get two pairs of hands with Ryu: One set of fists, and one pair for palm strikes or performing a Hadouken. You also get the Hadouken effect part and a stand for it. The effect part is absolutely gorgeous with a iridescent swirl of blue energy inside it and you can even see Ryu’s hands in it as he projects it. The stand plugs into the bottom and it’s hinged in two places.

At $25, Ryu feels like a pretty solid value when compared to what other companies are offering, and this figure just does so much stuff right. The articulation is well thought out and well implemented. The use of colored plastic over paint makes him look clean and vibrant, and everything here just screams quality and polish. I was originally going to just cherry pick this line, but with Ryu now in hand, I think I’m going all in!

May 8 2023

Popup Parade (Street Fighter) Chun-Li and Cammy by Max Factory

It’s been a while since I hung up my hat on collecting prize figures. I don’t really watch a lot of anime anymore and I had to start trimming out some areas to keep my collection from getting even more out of hand. With that having been said, the not-so-local comic shop did a “buy one and get one at half-off” deal on their Pop-Up Parade figures, and much to my surprise it included some new releases, so I fell off the wagon. Today I’m going to check out a couple of ladies from Street Fighter, Chun-Li and Cammy.

I think Popup Parade is meant to bridge the gap between prize figures and scaled figures, at least in terms of quality. But despite the high pedigree of Max Factory, to me these will always just be middle of the road prize figures. I owned Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo versions of both Cammy and Chun-Li, but the last time I moved, I was keen on culling a lot of my collection and I wound up selling off my entire Koto Street Fighter Collection. I can’t say as I regret it, as I got decent money for them, but when I saw these I decided I wanted some of these gals on a shelf in my Game Cave again, so here we are! The figures are roughly 7-inch scale and come in plastic packaging that really lets the figures do all the talking. There’s absolutely no character art anywhere to be found and even the character names are pretty low key. The figures display really well in their packages, although Cammy comes with her braids detached. Let’s start with her!

Sure, I love playing Cammy in the Street Fighter series, but she’s also star of one of my all-time favorite Dreamcast games, Cannon Spike, so not having her represented in my collection was criminal. The pose they chose for her here is pretty subdued, but I think it captures some of her best um, assets. The statue is best displayed with her body facing about two o’clock, her head partially turned and gazing over her right shoulder, and those ass cheeks on full display. It’s good to see her in her OG Street Fighter II costume, sans camo on the legs and with the additional tactical web gear and a leg pouch.

The colors on this piece look great, with bright matte green for her one-piece, glossy red for her gauntlets and matte black for her kicks and gear. You can even see a bit of her red socks peeping out the tops of her boots and a touch of silver paint on the buckle for her cross-strap. The skin tone is where a lot of these prize figures tend to falter, with it being waxy, but it’s nice and smooth here and not bad at all. The base is a simple black disk, which the foot pegs insert into.

The portrait is excellent, looking like it’s been grabbed straight from a character select screen. The eyes are printed perfectly and the I particularly love the way they blended the hair sculpt with the rest of the head. She has a scar on her left cheek and her long braids snake down past each of her shoulders. Her beret is a separate sculpt and worn on top of the head.

I love pretty much everything here. The sculpt is solid and the colors are beautiful. The paint lines could have been a little sharper, especially around the edges of the fingerless gloves, but overall I’m pretty happy with the way this one came out. Let’s move on to Chun-Li!

Chun-Li has a much more kinetic pose with her left leg drawn up and her hands at the ready, she’s definitely preparing to go a round or two. This figure sports a far more complex sculpt than Cammy, but that’s down to the costume design. There’s just a lot more going on here, which gave the sculptors a lot more to work with, and I think they did a beautiful job! I particularly love the way the tail end of her qipao kicks up in the wind. Some of the fringe on her dress is sculpted and while the sculpt on her boots is a little soft, it’s still got a lot of detail. You also get some nice muscle work, particularly in her famous thighs. I also really dig the sculpt on her poufed out shoulders.

Once again, the coloring here his superb. The electric blue of her qipao contrasts nicely with the gold leaf paint on the trim. There’s some shading in her stockings and some sharp silver paint on her spiked wrist cuffs. As for the quality, most of the paint here is sharp and clean, so I’ve got no complaints.

As with Cammy, the portrait here is very well done, and quite complex when you include the hair and the hair ties. The eyes are printed perfectly and she has an ever so slight smirk to her simple line of a mouth. She even has a pair of pearl earrings.

Chun-Li is easily the more interesting figure to look at, just because there’s more to take in, and as such it feels like maybe you’re getting a little more bang for your buck here. A such, I think she edges out Cammy as my favorite of the two, which surprised even me, because I tend to like Cammy more overall.

The figures retail at about $35, which puts them at the upper range of most prize figures. The quality is certainly there, so long as you aren’t expecting anything approaching a proper scaled figure. However, I think there are definitely better values out there when it comes to these types of figures, and I’d argue that companies like Banpresto are delivering a bit more for the money. I’m reminded of some of their recent One Piece figures that are slightly bigger have possibly more complex sculpts, and retail for about $10 less. Still, if you want a nice version of Cammy or Chun-Li for your shelf, these will certainly fit the bill nicely.

May 3 2023

Super Mario Bros Movie: Peach, Toad, and Bowser by Jakks Pacific

As I mentioned on Monday, this week is all about wrapping up loose ends, so today I’m having a look at the rest of Jakks’ Super Mario Bros Movie figures. And how about that movie, eh? It sure has been taking in a few bucks here and there. Last time, I had a look at those Super Mario Bros themselves, and today we’ll round out this assortment with Peach, Toad and Bowser!

The figures come in window boxes that let you see the figures themselves, which isn’t something to be taken for granted these days. The boxes are black and not terribly flashy, although you do get some nice color in the movie logo. These are all collector friendly, but I probably won’t be saving these boxes as I have a spot to display these figures in my Game Cave. Let’s start with Toad.

Toad is just as adorable as you might imagine and Jakks really did a nice job on this figure! He’s the smallest of the bunch with his mushroom capped noggin being just a smidge bigger than his entire body, but he still feels quite substantial. Toad sports his blue and orange vest, which is part of the body sculpt, and some big and puffy pants with a sculpted waist tie in the front and brown shoes peeking out at the bottom. His face is a simple design of two oblong black eyes and a rather softly sculpted smiley slit for a mouth. All that’s great, but the sculpt and paint really shine around back with his stocked backpack full of gear. It includes a coiled rope, drinking cup, and lantern. All of these are part of the sculpt and look great. There’s also a big slot in the middle for his frying pan. So, sad story here. When I went to bed last night the cats were playing floor hockey with his frying pan. I didn’t think anything of it, but today when I went to retrieve it, the damn thing had disappeared. It’s too big for them to eat, so it’s got to be somewhere, but if you want to see it, you’ll have to just look at the packaged shot. My guess is that the Universe could not bear me showing off two frying pan accessories in one week. If it turns up, I’ll add some pictures later on.

As small as Toad is, I’m amazed that Jakks actually gave him leg articulation. Not only do his feet swivel left and right, but he can actually sit down! Of course, that backpack makes him pretty back heavy, but I have been able to tweak him to stand with it, it’s just not easy. Toad also sports a ball joint in his neck, which allows for a little up and down movement. His arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders but just single hinges in the elbows. I just love how great this little guy came out. He’s so colorful and fun to play around with. Let’s move on to Peach!

I was expecting Peach to be a teepee of a figure and that’s sure what we got! From the waist down she’s just a plastic cone with tiny feet sculpted under it. But she does make for a really pretty sculpt. Her outfit is cast in two-tone pink with big ruffles on her shoulders, a blue and gold broach on her chest, and a red jeweled crown nested atop her head. The blonde hair is sculpted perfectly, and her face features those cool “realistic eyes” that we saw on the Mario Bros themselves, which feature clear plastic lenses over painted eyes.

With bubkis articulation in the legs, Peach does get a ball joint in the waist and neck, rotating hinges in her shoulders, and single hinges in her elbows. Unfortunately those balloon shoulders really inhibit much lateral movement to the point where they might as well just be rotating. All these hits to Peach’s articulation don’t really bother me too much, but in light of how agile she was in the movie, it’s fair to say this figure doesn’t really reflect that. I would have liked to see Jakks release her in her jumpsuit with better articulation, but I have a feeling this line will be one assortment and done. Oh yeah… Peach also comes with an umbrella accessory, which the cats were not at all interested in. Anyway, as limited as her play potential is, I still like her a lot.

And that brings us to the big brute, Bowser. Bowser really stole the movie for me. Sure, I was pretty liquored up, but a couple of his scenes almost had me pissing myself laughing. Anyway, this is a big and beautiful figure with some really nice texturing on most of the skin, and some cartoony bulbous aspects to the design that reflect both the movie and video games very well. He has a lot of useful articulation too, with rotating hinges all over the place, swivels in his ankles, and even two swivels in his stubby tail. Granted, he’s best displayed in his sumo-squat position, but there’s still a ton of play value here when it comes to poseability.

The coloring on this guy is also fantastic with the yellow and green blending together in certain places. The green is most pronounced on his shell, along with some brown rings around his spikes. The shock of red hair and eyebrows adds even more pop to the deco. The only thing here that grounds him are the black bands around his wrists and biceps, and even those have some silver studs to make them shine.

There’s no articulation in the mouth, but Jakks makes up for that with his electronic feature. His shell comes off to reveal a battery compartment. Pop in three AAA batteries, add a few drops of water to the concealed hole in the back of his head, and press the button hidden under one of his spikes and his mouth glows red and he blows smoke! It looks awesome, but you have to keep pressing the spike to keep the smoke flowing. Still, this is an amazing little feature and a nice surprise, as I had absolutely no idea about when I bought the figure.

Peach and Toad retail at $20, which is the same as Mario and Luigi. It’s a lot of pretty plastic, but with less articulation, it feels like these should have sold for about $15 each. Luckily, I picked them up when Target had them on sale for about that. They are both great looking figures, but they don’t have the same fun factor as the Mario Bros do. It’s even crazier when you consider that I got Bowser for only $30. He’s much bigger, has much more complicated articulation and has the electronic feature too, easily making him the best buy out of the bunch. But aside from quibbling over a few bucks, I think this assortment turned out fantastic, and I’m still hoping to get back to the theater to see this movie one more time! It would be great to see another wave out of the movie, with a different version of Peach and some of the Kongs, and with how well it’s doing, I suppose that’s possible.

Apr 19 2023

Super Mario Bros Movie: Mario and Luigi by Jakks Pacific

People who know me know I’m a SEGA guy. I had a Master System before an NES and a Genesis before an SNES. And despite some epic schoolyard brawls over which was better, I eventually learned that it’s only a rivalry if you’re a shareholder in one of the companies. Oh yeah… also, SEGA obviously lost the battle anyway. Suffice it to say that I’m still a big fan of many Mario games, and I was excited to see the movie, which turned out to be absolutely delightful. I laughed a lot and had fun picking out all the little hidden nods. Jakks Pacific gave us some toys from the movie, which had a big presence at Target, and I eventually snapped up Mario, Luigi, Toad, Peach, and Bowser. Today I’m having a look at the Mario Bros themselves!

Obviously, this is not Jakks first outing for Mario. They’ve had an extensive run of toys based on the games for a while now, and I even reviewed their 4-inch Mario and Luigi figures all the way back in 2015. These new offerings weigh in at 5-inches, making them not only bigger than the regular line, but the Figma release as well. The figures come in window boxes to show off the goods and you get a big picture of Mario on front, regardless of what character is inside. With the black backdrops, these aren’t the most striking package designs out there, but they do let the figure do the talking, and in this case that ain’t a bad thing. Let’s start with Mario!

So, first off, I love that the movie did not mess with the look of the characters at all. These aren’t updated or modernized or any of that nonsense. These could have been based on one of the recent games and I wouldn’t know any difference. The proportions are really nice, with Mario having a short and chunky build and a gloriously big head. A lot of the coloring on this figure is in the plastic, which makes for some bright and shiny colors that really pop and not a lot of room for paint flubs. And what paint is here is pretty sharp and clean. I especially like the shiny gold paint used on the clips for his overalls. Sculpted detail is kept to a minimum to convey the cartoony look, but you do get some stitching around the overalls and laces in the shoes.

Oddly enough, one of the call out features on the boxes are the “realistic eyes” which leads me to believe the person who wrote that has never seen real human eyeballs. I’m kidding, and clearly its referring to the way the eyes are designed with actual clear plastic lenses and the eyeball painted behind it. It gives a bit of an illusion that the figure’s eyes are moving to always look at you. It’s not really that spectacular an effect, but the eyes do look great and I think it’s cool that they tried something creative like that. The rest of the head sculpt is spot-on Mario with a bulbous nose and big broom of a mustache. The hat actually looks like it’s a separate sculpt and attached to the head. Que Bella!

When you get down to it, the articulation here really isn’t all that different than the older 4-inch figures, and that’s not a bad thing. The knees are still single hinges, the hips are ball jointed and you get rotating hinges in the shoulders. The big difference here is the rotating hinges in the elbows, which offers a bit more display options. Mario is still a chunky little dude, so the range of motion is limited, but he can still run, jump, and do the usual Mario things. All the joints feel great, and overall the figure has a great in-hand feel that begs to be played with.

Mario comes with one accessory and that’s his plunger. It’s simple, his right hand is sculpted to hold it, and here’s where my only nitpick with the figure lies. I usually talk about price at the end, but let’s do it here. These figures debuted at $20 and that’s a spicy meatball! They really needed some more extras to justify that price. A simple power-up block, a super star, a little static Goomba… anything would have helped. Heck, even Jakks’ smaller and cheaper 4-inch line each came with a cardboard power up box with a little mystery bonus accessory in there. OK, let’s move on to Luigi!

I don’t want to snub Green-Mario, but pretty much everything I said for Mario holds true here and I don’t have much else to say other than the figure looks fantastic. Luigi is taller and a little less chunky, and his overalls are darker blue, but that just makes the bright green pop all the more. Because of his longer legs and arms, it’s a little easier to get Luigi into those running poses, but the points of articulation are all the same.

Luigi’s accessory is a flashlight, which he carries in the movie and while it’s not the same style as in the games, it’s still appropriate if you’re a fan of his Haunted Mansion series. I really liked that a number of his solo scenes in the movie paid homage to those games. The flashlight is a bit more substantial than Mario’s plunger, but again, just getting the one accessory hurts the value a lot. In the movie he carried a tool bag for a while and maybe they could have given one figure the bag and the other the stuff to put in it.

I picked up Mario as soon as I saw him and while I loved the figure, the price point seemed too high to go in on the rest of the lot. But shortly after these got released, Target put them on sale for $13.99 each and that’s when I grabbed the remaining three figures. I guess they started to sell really well, because shortly after they went back to $20 and they seem to be holding there at most retailers now. I think $15 would have been the magic number. But quibbling about pricing aside, these really are excellent figures. The simple sculpts capture the character’s perfectly, the colors look great, and they are fun to play around with. Next week, I’ll finish up this assortment with a look at Toad, Peach, and Bowser!

Oct 24 2022

Marvel Legends (Armadillo Wave): Miles Morales and Armadillo Build-A-Figure by Hasbro

It’s another Marvel Monday and I am at the tail end of opening the Spider-Man themed Armadillo Wave! So, let’s put this wave to bed today with a look at the last packaged figure, Miles Morales, and then we’ll cobble together the Armadillo BAF and check him out!

Miles is a GamerVerse figure, and we’ve seen this style of packaging deco before. It has a spiffy white top to set it apart from the regular comic and MCU releases. I believe Miles here is from the follow-up or pseudo-sequel or something to do with the PS4 Spider-Man game. God, I sound so freaking old when talking about video games now. That’s probably because I’ve been spending more time on my Atari consoles than my PS4. And I STILL have not played the PS4 Spider-Man game, but it’s over there on the shelf, waiting to be unwrapped, installed, update my system, update the game, than download the patch, and by then I realize my controller isn’t charged and I go back to playing Dreamcast or NES or anything else that’s more plug-and-play and doesn’t require a 30 hour investment in time. But hey… let’s look open Miles!

Well, this is without a doubt, the best Spidey suit we got in this wave. That may seem like a back-handed compliment, but I really do like this design a lot and Hasbro did a nice job giving it the figure treatment. There’s some very cool texturing on the suit, as well as some sculpted panel lining which makes it feel like it would be right at home as an MCU version. Even the detail on the gloves is excellent! The crimson deco on the chest, back, and shoulders really pops against the black suit and all of it is incorporated into the sculpt. The texturing is bound to mess with the paint application a bit, but here we didn’t do too badly.

You get two head sculpts here, one masked and one unmasked. The masked head is very good with some fairly sharp webbing. There’s a little slop around the white eye lenses of the mask, but you have to punch in pretty close to see it.

The unmasked head is also solid, with just a few things holding it back. I really dig the facial features and I’d say this could work just as well as a comic figure as a video game figure. On the downside, I could have done without the mold line running across the top of the hair. I definitely prefer when Hasbro casts the hair separately and attaches it to the head as opposed to the head and hair being all one piece. Also, the head sits really weird on the neck, like it’s jutting forward too much. It looks a lot better when viewed from dead on and neither of these things are enough to really ruin the figure for me.

The articulation is identical to the previous two Spider-Man figures in this wave, so I won’t go through it all. But, are we going to talk hands again? You betcha! If you’ve checked out my other reviews of this assortment, you know it’s all been about the hands. And Miles FINALLY gives us the crawling hands with the splayed fingers that should have been included with the Integrated Suit Spidey. He also comes with fists and thwippy hands, as well as one more set…

Translucent glowy electro hands! I’m guessing these are supposed to convey his Venom Strike ability in the game? Again, I haven’t played the it, but it sure looks like these are representing a bio-electrical discharge of some sort. I freaking love these! They look really cool on the figure and make for a nice contrast against the black suit.

I didn’t have a lot of interest in Miles going in to this review, but he’s definitely one of the better figures in this assortment. The suit looks great and he’s fun to mess around with. He also gives me the last BAF part I need, so let’s move on to Armadillo.

Armadillo is built from a total of six pieces, scattered across the wave. Technically seven, if you count his removable back piece, but that came attached to the back and not separately. With seven figures in the assortment, you could have skipped the Integrated Suit Spidey and still got all the pieces. Personally, I would have rather skipped Black & Gold Suit Spidey, but I imagine Hasbro was well aware of that. Putting him together is the standard formula of popping the arms, legs, and head into the torso and everything was a pretty easy fit.

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Armadillo is a character. His back story and motivations are about as cliche as you can get. BUT, I sure do love the way he looks and I absolutely love this figure! He really is a perfect candidate for BAF treatment, as he’s big and burly, and his armored shell pieces look fantastic. The way his armor plates are sculpted give the figure a lot of depth, and these are are textred very nicely. He’s also sporting some vicious looking claws on his fingers and toes. You get all the usual articulation with these beefy BAFs, and while he may not have a great range of motion in those elbows, everything else is pretty good. Speaking of elbows, the right elbow on my figure is seized, which means this big boi is going to have to take a boil bath in a big pot!

And how about that head sculpt! Clearly, this is not the kind of Armadillo that gets bounced off your front bumper at 2am. I love the way the armadillo plates form a helmet leaving only his face exposed. The expression is pure nightmare fuel, with those soulless white eyes and the wall of gritting teeth. Every line and crease in his anger-stricken face is chiseled to perfection. And herein is one of the things that makes Marvel Legends so much fun. Hasbro can take a character I’m not even really vested in and still make me excited to own that character as an action figure.

Ultimately, I’m a bit lukewarm on this wave. I didn’t like any of the two Spidey Suits from No Way Home, and while the Black & Gold figure is pure garbage, the Integrated Suit figure isn’t that bad. Morlun was kind of OK and MCU Doctor Strange is probably the best version of MCU Strange we’ve had yet. Shriek is a great figure, but not the version I wanted, and while I would have rather had younger J. Jonah from the Raimi Spider-Man films, I’ll happily take this one instead. And in the end, I will say that collecting this wave was well worth it to get the Armadillo BAF, because he’s great and I got most of these figures on deep discount anyway. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but there we are! On the next few Marvel Mondays I’m going to be checking out some boxed sets and stand alones, before jumping into another Wave.

Oct 19 2022

Golden Axe: Gilius Thunderhead and Chickenleg Mount by Storm Collectibles

I can still remember how blown away I was when I got Storm Collectibles’ Ax Battler and the Red Dragon Mount figures in my hands. Never in a million years did I think I’d ever get action figures based on one of my favorite SEGA games, let alone anything so nice. And I sure as hell didn’t dare hope that they would spin it into an entire line of figures that just keeps on going. Not long ago pre-orders dropped for the Bad Brothers, and today for Heninger and Long Moan. So, it’s long overdue that I wrap up my look at the three playable characters of Golden Axe with the mighty Dwarf Gilius and his Chickenleg Mount!

Gilius has been with me for a little while now, but it’s been a struggle to find enough time to sit down and do him proper justice. To be fair, I rarely ever play as Gilius in the game. Instead I tend to alternate between the brute force of Ax Battler or the nimble magic of Tyris Flare. But I was still super excited to get his figure in hand. The packaging is the same style window box we saw with the other two characters, but the quality of the cardboard doesn’t seem as flimsy as that initial Ax Battler release. The window allows you a good look at Gilius, with Chickenleg on a plastic tray behind him. I removed Chickenleg’s back tray for the packaged shot to better show the character select graphic printed behind the tray. Let’s drop in a quarter and get started!

Here’s Gilius out of the box and ready for action! He may be a Dwarf, but he is still a very substantial figure. He’s also wearing more clothes than either of his peers, and that’s probably a good thing. The green tunic is cast in soft plastic and features a coarse texture and ragged cut edges along the arm holes and the skirt. It’s cinched around his waist with a black sculpted belt and a gold belt buckle. And if I squint a little bit, I can imagine the belt buckle is a “G” for Gilius… but not really. The outfit is rounded out by a pair of brown boots and white wrist wrappings. And while Gilius doesn’t show as much skin as Ax Battler or Tyris, you still get plenty of burly muscles on display in his bare arms and legs. This guy looks like a powerhouse!

Once again, you get two head sculpts to choose from, although I hope you like your Dwarves pissed off , because that’s the expression you get with both of them! Both are excellent sculpts, with the first one conveying an “I’m determined to kick every ass in this game with just one credit” expression and boy is it bone chilling! This is by far the best portrait of the three warriors and it just oozes character and personality. The contours of the face are wonderfully realized and the detail in the sculpted beard is just phenomenal. Gilius’ horned skull cap features some nice silver dry brushing to give the green paint a weathered look, and the horns are given a metallic silver sheen.

The second portrait really is more of the same, only this time his teeth are bared a little, which I think makes this the head to go for when posing him in the heat of battle. There is, unfortunately, a little dribble of silver paint on this head’s helmet, just above his right eyebrow. It’s not cataclysmic, but I will try to remove it.

The articulation shares most of the same points as the other two heroes. You get a wonderful range of motion in those double-hinged knees and elbows, swivels in the biceps, and the hinges in his feet. I’m not sure what’s buried under the soft plastic of the tunic, but most of the articulation in his torso seems to come from a ball joint in the waist. Despite his stout stature, Gilius is just as much fun to play around with as the other figures. You get a total of three sets of hands with the figure: A pair of fists, a pair of clutching hands, and a pair of weapon-holding hands.

Gilius comes with one accessory, and that’s his trusty Battleax! It’s a no-nonsense chopper and yet it still makes for a beautiful double-bladed weapon with a satin-silver finish, and some scrapes and nicks to the blade. The holding-hands do a great job of clutching it tightly, so he can wield it one-handed or with both and cut a swath through the legions of Skeleton Warriors that I have been amassing! OK, now let’s have a look at Chickenleg!

Of course, only his friends call him that! Technically this weirdo is a pink-purplish Cockatrice, or Biblical chicken-dragon if you prefer, and if you know your way around SEGA coin-ops you may have first met him in Altered Beast. While I love the Dragon Mounts, Chickenleg is the one I tend to associate with the game the most. That’s probably because back when I was a noob, I got to ride him the most as he appears early on in the first level. I also quickly learned the fine art of tail-slap-spamming to juggle The Bad Brothers to defeat.

And Storm surely did Chickenleg proud with this figure! The sculpt is just beautiful from the poultry-like bumps of his skin to the feathered flame-like tip of his tail. His beautiful beaked maw is stuck in a permanent open position, flashing his tongue, but he has plenty of articulation in his legs, starting at the body and working down to the single talons he has for toes. His tail swivels so it can be made to drag on the floor, or rear up for a downward slap. It helps to balance him, although he is capable of standing up on his feet without the tail support.

Naturally, Chickenleg comes with a saddle for Gilius, or any of the other players, to ride him. Chickenleg doesn’t have stirrups or reins like the Dragons, but he does have horns coming off his saddle, which can be held by the hero riding him. I didn’t have any problems with him falling off, and he looks great in the saddle!

And here are some shots of Ax Battler and Tyris riding Chickenleg too!

And Gilius can also mount either of the Dragons perfectly fine, so long as you don’t want his legs to reach the stirrups!

It’s funny, but while Gilius is the character I select the least often in the game, I think his figure may be my favorite of this trio. Sure, it’s tough to choose as they are all great, but I had a hell of a lot of fun playing around with Gilius and I think Storm outdid themselves with this sculpt! And even now that I’ve given each the spotlight and put them on the shelf along with all the skeletons and Death Adder and Death Adder Jr, it’s still hard for me to believe that these are real. Even if Storm stops the line now, I’d be more than content with this marvelous plastic pixel bounty, but as long as they keep going, I’ll continue to be All In!