If Mai Shiranui was the earliest adopter of the Jiggle, then Taki from Soul Edge/Calibur was the first (and I think the only) adopter of its natural evolution, the Nipple. Of course, to have this make logical sense, she's dressed in the tightest body suit ever with some armour in mission critical areas... like her shoulders.
Like KoF, the representation of this franchise in action figure form has been very much non existent... I guess kind of like Tekken until Storm took it on. I remember years and years ago we had some semi articulated figures from Epoch and thats about all I can remember. At any rate, Storm made a Taki and I'm actually quite shocked that she arrived before the years end - at this point I've received 3 Storm preorders, all in the past month, with the potential for one more before the end of 2023.
Like MItsurugi, the only other Soul Calibur release up to this point, Taki is very much just the figures and her weapons. I mean, this makes sense if you've ever played the game - not too much in terms of fireballs or energy effects other than fancy flashes of light. She also comes with her mask, which unlike Vega's, serves questionable defensive purposes. Selection of hands is pretty good, actually giving you posing hands, though the weapon gripping hand (not the holding one) should have been reworked or something to make the poses where the weapon is still sheathed more natural looking.
Overall, I feel this figure captured both the skin tight outfit and armoured parts of Taki nicely, Sculptors also did a pretty good job at capturing the general musculature of the character while of course dealing with the reality of having visible joints. The strangest thing for me, however, is that they were like 99% there, but decided to not follow through with getting her chest right. As it stands, not only are her breasts too small, but they're also not pointing the right way, as evidenced by her nipples.
Both scabbards are functional, and like everything else, features some nice detailing. I just wish they weren't fixed and could rotate, as getting the hands into the right position for cool poses can be challenging. Having said that, they are mounted onto soft rubber, which has some give, but I personally wouldn't want to do anything that put unnecessary stress on the material.
As always, scale within the Storm universe isn't consistent, or maybe it all is and that the Street Fighter character are small.
I think based on game art, she's supposed to have a bigger chest than Mai, though not bigger hips. In the case of the figure, Taki's chest doesn't even come anywhere close to beating Mai, as impressive as it might seem already. Hips are about the same.
Having said that, they're both winners when compared to Juri in the chest department, though strangely Juri beats the two of them in the hip and thigh category.
The faces and hair are like other Storm figures - close but lots of artistic liberties taken. The facial features make this look more like a stunt double of Taki rather than her, though at least it looks like a stunt double that is related to her, rather than completely out there like with Mai. Also unlike Mai, the facial shape was at least done well enough that she doesn't look like a turtle with her mouth shut. Furthermore, profile view of the head indicates that this head of of the proper size and has a proper jawline. The head also sits further down on the neck.
Those last two features don't particularly make this head/neck stick out, but rather it just emphasizes just how disappointing Mai is. What's interesting is that on Blue Mary, the only other KoF female released thus far, she seems to have the same issues, so it's almost like someone just blindly copied from this figure without actually sitting back and looking at the result.
Otherwise, the hair is sculpted nicely and does the job appropriately, along with her hair ornament. The mask is a friction piece made of soft rubber, and relies on friction to stay on the face, hanging on to her nose.
Posing Taki is fun. Due to her lack of bulk, like Juri, Taki can be put into a wide variety of battle poses. Her weapons are small enough that you're not going to have any support issues. Taki also features the more typical non fused abdomen along with a neck that allows for both tilting forward AND backwards. There's no issues with head articulation being limited by the hair, but the bulk of the shoulders does somewhat interfere with the operation of the butterfly joints.
One thing that it seems that Taki, or at least MY Taki, has over Juri is balance. Maybe it's a quality thing, but I think that because of a more useful center of gravity, longer feet, and generally heavier weight, this figure tends to be more cooperative when it comes to posing in more dynamic situations.
Paint Applications are the typical norm for Storm. Generally clean with some.. I dunno.... sporadic discount paint work. On Mai, it was the white bits on her fans and outfits. On Taki, its the occasional incomplete silver paint application (not the weathering related ones). The overall figure, however, is cleaner than Mai, despite being actually have more paint work on it. Like with Juri, I'm pleasantly surprised with how well the decals and paint have worked out for the face and by extension the other fleshy bits, though she should be a bit more tan.
Build Quality is another solid effort for Storm. With no effects parts or anything like that, it's just a matter of getting the two Tanto to work with the hands and then every one will be happy. Yea, the weapons grip in the hands nicely. Not too tight, but also, not loos either. Joints do their jobs, as poses are clearly held. There are no instances of of poorly made parts or rough finishes. Things are as solid as they can be.
On her own, Taki is a very solid and more importantly, fun action figure. With the exception of effects parts (not applicable, I guess) and a stand, this is what every Storm figure should strive to be. Of the three recent acquisitions, Taki is by far my favourite with Juri coming in a very strong second. I was actually expecting my favourite to be Mai but somehow, she's disappointed me the most, and not because of my high standards, but rather, she falls under even the most fundamental benchmarks for being a successful product from this company.
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