Back on Black Friday 2022, the Bandai Namco store had many goodies on clearance. One was the Where's Waldo/Wally set I looked at before this. Another, which I couldn't resist, was the Storm Collectibles Ultra SF2 Zangief figure, which was about $50 USD at the time. This wasn't the only Storm Collectibles figure, but I noticed the majority of the ones on sale were the Event Exclusive colours, which kind of says to be that people are still kind of hung up on having P1 colours for all their figures.
Me? I just want the toy.
At $50, this was a really good buy as Zangief is one of the larger characters. Even so, I would have likely passed on it, except for the fact that my SFV Zangief came with a busted torso joint so this was a good opportunity to have a functioning Zangief again.
Content wise, we've got:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 4 x Head Sculpts (Neutral, Yelling, Smiling, Lose)
- 10 x Posing Hands
- 2 x Banishing Fist Glowing Palms
- 1 x Banishing Fist Effect
- 1 x Stand for Banishing Fist Effect... I think. Couldn't find a hole in the actual effect.
The hands appear to be the same as the previous release.
I was too lazy to take my SFV figure out for some comparison photos, but take it from me that the two aren't just the same figure with different heads. They actually look quite different, thought he overall silhouette is about the same.
The head sculpts are also a very different style than the SFV version. This make senses, as the art direction is different, but the unfortunate thing is that the head also seems smaller than before. Or maybe its the way I've positioned the shoulders.
Zangief isn't really missing any joints. All the majors are there, so the potential for posing is there. As mentioned, he's got that functional neck joint which really helps with poses where he hunches his back. Double jointed elbows and knees are present. Due to the bulk of his legs, the lower body posing capabilities are functional, but they certainly wouldn't be what I would call great. I will say that his ankles are fantastic - very strong, as are his toe joints. There's actually a very good chance you can pose the figure standing up on its toes.
Paint on Storm figures is usually very competent, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. It's not terrible, but clearly these are not Figma level paint applications. They're all just.. alright, you know? Some parts of the figure are better off than others, with the most important part, the head sculpt, being generally good overall. As I said earlier - generally competent.
Finally, there's Build Quality. Nothing to report, which is a good thing as that means the thing will actually pose and hold positions, not fall apart and need to be secured with saran wrap. Limbs stay in place. Finish on the various parts are good - again, not stellar, but very competent and consistent overall.
As Storm is pretty much the leader in your Street Fighter figure needs (strange as I would thought S.H. Figuarts would have been), if you want a Zangief figure, you're pretty much getting this one... unless you're rich and can pay aftermarket for the SFV version. The funny thing is, however, that neither company even has close to a complete roster. You'd think that someone would jump on that, seeing how it's pretty much like printing money.
IP aside, the figure itself is solid, and offers quite a few posing options for something of this size, though Storm seems to like maintaining shape of limbs over adding an extra joint or two for more articulation.
Bring home some Muscle Power, today!
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