Have you ever looked a product offering, and right off the top of your head you just knew it wasn't going to do well? I mean, it could be a variety of factors, but ultimately you knew it was going to be doomed.
Such was the case with the The KIng of Collectors 24: Fatal Fury Special - Mai Shiranui statue.
So, I get the premise. Either due to love for the IP or desire to differentiate, the company decided to REAL old school and reference the classic Fatal Fury Special game with regards to art style and character poses. I played the game back in the day, SNES mind you, and it was fun with a secret guest character of Ryo Sakazaki so it was sort of a pre-KOF entry, as it were.
Anyway, the issue is when you use a classic, but incredibly conservative art style for a character that's know for flaunting it, such as Mai Shiranui, you're basically asking for trouble. That's pretty much all there is it, and sure enough this is probably the least talked about Mai Shiranui release I've ever encountered.
Which of course means you can find it on heavy discount quite easily.
Now admittedly I don't follow this product line that well, but I'm pretty sure I haven't heard anything since Mai was released and it's been probably a year now, so I think that should give one an idea of how well this statue did. Unfortunately, as mentioned, it was doomed to fail because this is possibly the most family friendly Mai release ever.
The MSRP of 17,930 Yen probably didn't help either, but I don't think it was cheaper for previous releases in the line. I managed to get mine, second hand mind you, for about $100 CAD shipped.
I feel that I should mention this isn't an old statue that didn't sell. Someone actually thought this combination of price and product would sell in 2023.
Content wise, pretty typical, namely the statue, a base, and in this case, a stage backdrop with decals you can use to replicate the info bar at the top of the screen. What's funny is that the box is beautifully done but is comically big, mostly dead space. It's not like it came with a backdrop stand or anything.
Now, it's worth noting that while this is the 1P version, they did do a 2P version, and I imagine Terry and Geese had the same deal, As mentioned before, the purpose of this statue series is to recreate the screens of the game. and from what I can tell both the 1P and 2P colours are facing the same way. On the back of the box I did see a Mai vs. Geese photo where Geese was facing the right way.. so maybe some statues are meant for the right side only, but basically that means that it would be incredibly awkward to have right facing statues have a match up.
Pretty much what you'd expect if you bought this piece. Classic battle stance. OG outfit with the twin tails and no orbs along with actual socks that accompany her Tabi. Hadn't quite grown into her curves (or swoleness) yet and a pretty eyeliner heavy face that is pretty much taken right out of the official art work.
From an overall perspective, I think the sculptors did a fine job at their assignment. Stance is there. Outfit drapes nicely, especially between the thighs. Eyes are positioned correctly presuming they're displayed with an opponent on the battle field.
The face is nicely done in that the use of lining to bring out the various features not only helps with clarity, but it's also true to the art style. The face though, was also an art style thing and was never destined to be commercially viable. The fact that this art style was only used for one game is interesting... perhaps this was a collaboration of some sort?
Sculpting of the hair is acceptable. It's not particularly exciting but again, source material and all. I just wish the details were crisper so that when they applied the paint it didn't start resembling the stuff that NECA puts out.
Overall sanding and finishes on the statue aren't bad. Pretty typical of your run of the mill Scale though for the MSRP I'd be pretty annoyed. Body work is acceptable as is the majority of the outfit, but it seems like the work on the tassels could have been improved slightly. Fingers aren't bad - perfectly acceptable and at the very least better than some of the Kotobukiya Bishoujo stuff I've seen.
Finer paint work is typically level of iffy though I should be grateful that at the very least they didn't miss any of the panel lines on her socks. I feel they made her flesh tone a bit too yellow and wished they'd references the promotional art rather than the in game sprites. Really not a fan of the random shading paint applications - if you're gonna do shading and you're doing the skin tone as in the game, you might as well do the shading as in the game as well.
Naturally any spots where normal people wouldn't check aren't as nicely done - that goes for the paint AND the sanding.
Finally, while it didn't turn perfectly, I have to give credit to the fact not only did they have to paint the tiny details on the arm guard, but those are all raised too, and not some decal.
Overall, not bad, but the MSRP and the artistic choices likely rendered this statue, and the entire line I guess, commercially unviable.
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