Storm Collectibles is working on several licensed, including Mortal Kombat. I was hoping to get into the series sooner, as prototypes of Kitana were teased I think 2 years ago, but nothing was ever solicited. Then, out of nowhere (or at least for me as I don't pay attention), I see a preorder pop up for none other than Sheeva.
Naturally I had to get me some of that.
So for the uninitiated, this is Sheeva.. or at least Classic Sheeva, as I've noticed she's become more human looking in her more recent iterations. A member of the half Dragon Shokan race, she's a playable character introduced in MK3 after having her kin Goro and Kintaro be sub bosses in MK and MK2 respectively.
Shokan are taller than the typical Human, and used to appear more Dragon than Human. No hiding the four arms, though.
I guess you can say that the set is well packed:
1 x Main Figure
2 x Heads (Neutral, Gritted Teeth)
5 x Sets of Hands of 4 Each
1 x Projectile/Stand
I would have thought that these figures came with a blood splatter, or something Fatality related. Otherwise, things appear to be within acceptable bounds, as Sheeva is pretty much an in-your-face fighter and pummels you to death with her arms.
I have to say right out the box, Sheeva is a stunner. She has an excellent sculpt. She's got muscles all over the body and her face doesn't look like some strange artist interpretation that happens with other characters like Mai Shiranui. Proportions are off compared to the MK3 version, but I suspect she got more swole as the games went on and graphics capabilities improved - off or not, the final ones used for this figure look great.
Then there's her sheer size. Sheeva isn't quite as tall as your typical 1/6 female figure, but in comparison to all other Single Ladies in the Storm lineup, she's freaking Andre the Giant.
The Projectile itself is fairly non descript, which is fine because it's not particularly iconic looking in any of the games. But what IS annoying is the fact that there's basically no way to get the height of stand right such that the Projectile is at the proper height for display.
As mentioned above, the head sculpts are fantastic. Perhaps a little bit more square jawed than the MK3 version, but again I haven't tracked the evaluation of her model through the years that well and it works with this body. At the very least, if there are any changes it would be with the definition of her facial structure as opposed to the features themselves. I should also mention that it doesn't seem to be undersized.
Sheeva has that perfect combination of size and more importantly, lack of bulk. that allows one to fully access all the Articulation this figure can offer. All your favourite points of articulation are back, including double jointed knees and elbows, as well as a fully articulated neck.. THANK THE LORD. Her second set of arms is just as fully articulated as the main set. There are some bulk related limitations of course, but I found that the biggest interference to articulation would be her hair.
You wouldn't think that but yeah, the hair completely interferes with any head tilt operations rendering her ability to look up rather limited.
Paint Applications are clean and generally crisp, with the occasional masking error observed. Flesh tone is matched across the body in terms of colour and application technique - no random brush marks observed. Detailing such as on the horns and the facial details are well painted. Overall, comparatively simple but well executed.
Finally, Build Quality. The only issue I have is with the height of the Projectile stand. Truly, everything else performs and handles my roughness very well. The only other parts to attach and reattach are the hands, which have larger than standard peg sizes, so there are no concerns regarding damaging anything there. No loose dangly bits to worry about damaging.
Sheeva is an awesome Storm release and a great figure overall. Naturally if you're dropping the MSRP, it means you're a Sheeva fan, but I feel fans for well articulated figures that have a very distinct shelf appeal should look into her as well. Just a few minor quibbles away from perfection.
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