It seems in the last 5 years or so, we've finally starting consistently getting decent Street Fighter figures. The NECA line was crude, but it was certainly better than the SOTA line. More currently, in the last year or so, a new player has emerged - Jada Toys. I've not noticed anything from them personally, but it seems they've done a bunch of die cast vehicles, including some with tiny Street Fighter drivers, which appears to be the reference for their sculpts.
The 6 in. figure line started with Ryu, though it only took to Wave 2 to finally arrive at a character I cared to buy, Chun Li. Being in Canada, there's the usual delays but lo and behold, she finally arrived. Naturally, I dug in as soon as I could for an in depth look.
Retailing for about $25 USD, each of these figures comes in a box decorated (and generally shaped like) a classic Street Fighter arcade machine. It's at the end of the day still basically just a rectangular box, but it's a nice touch. From what I've seen the figures generally have the same contents (except for the convention exclusive ones), namely the figure, an alternate head, a set of alternate hands, and one effect with a stand - not sure what will happen when effects that require no stand are included. Surprisingly, it seems that the liner is also character specific and can be used as a backdrop for photoshoots and display.
As always, the price point will dictate the expectations, so at this point they're set at "Marvel Legends".
The general sculpting of the figure is pretty good. I'm looking at my old SOTA Chun Li here and there's just no comparison the sickly, waifish physique. This one looks healthy and muscular, capable of crushing the fender of a Camry with her thighs. Outfit details are good, not super detailed (not expected at this price) but things are crisp and clean. It's hard to make out on these photos, but the blues of the outfit actually feature a neat texture on it. Now, I'm not sure if they put this texture on purposefully, or if they simply put it on the harder plastic to match the texture on the softer plastic parts, but the end result is that it looks neat, and makes her outfit appear more of a battlesuit rather than simply being of cloth.
The sculpts are... interesting. So, basically they're based on the sculptors take on Chun Li, rather than their attempt at recreating any of the official portraits. I mean, maybe it was a licensing thing, but it certainly wasn't due to a lack of reference art. But whatever, cool, it's what they submitted and sure it can be identified as Chun Li.
My question, however, is why has pretty much every American figure manufacturer kind of given her the most generic SE Asian female face ever. The NECA one was slightly better but suffered from a major case of the uglies. Having said all that, sadly, these are probably some of the best non Import Chun Li sculpts that I've come across, both in appearance and production quality. It's not that American sculptors can't do attractive female sculpts, even at this price point. There's plenty examples of that in the McFarlane and Marvel Legends lines. It's almost like they reach a point of "It's Good Enough" and then quit.
I must commend Jada on the articulation bit. The body is very much on par with Marvel Legends figures, which themselves aren't terrible, though the butterfly shoulders are not standard as of yet, along with the independent abdomen section being a separate part (which allows for actual articulation of that section. Double jointed knees and elbows are present. But the one thing that makes this body stand out is the articulated neck. Yes, the neck can in fact tilt independent of the chest section, something that really does add to the potential for posing , particularly poses where the torso is angled towards the ground.
Having said that, for Chun Li, the range of motion on the legs isn't quite enough to full capture her arsenal of kicks. Shoulders are also not quite sophisticated. But for the most part, things are pretty good.
Paint Application wise, the figure came out looking very crisp. Of course, part of that is the fact that pain work is kept to a minimum (kudos for matching the colours that well), but for the most part whatever work is there is crisp. The minimalistic approach isn't as luxurious looking, but at the same time, it's not as sloppy due to fewer chances to offend. There are, as expected, some masking errors, but like with Marvel Legends stuff, things aren't terrible at all.
Build Quality is another aspect that his figure excels at. From the perspective of being held together, things are good. As always, a hot water bath at the start helps to prevent future breakage. Parts also fit together quite well, and while there were a few artifacts here and there, overall there aren't any unexpected or overly ugly gaps. What makes me most happy is how clean the parts were sanded down. This is something that the NECA and SOTA figures were terrible at, made so much worse with the terrible paint work. The Lightning Kick effect is of the softer translucent plastic that Hasbro uses for its effects. Again, production values are good, resulting in a crisp looking parts... even if those parts don't always want to maintain their form due to softness.
Stupid safety laws.
Chun Li, and by extension, presumably Jada on the whole, appears to be focused on just keeping it simple, and not sucking at it. Because of their focus on the fundamentals, this figure has ended up being better than I ever would have expected. Yeah, there's some high end features lacking here, but at least this very competent figure doesn't end up looking like something from the dollar store. The Jada line is looking to be a fantastic opportunity for some variety on the 6 in. shelves, and I feel they will make a nice complement to your existing Storm or Figuarts lines, or in the case of the latter, maybe fill in some of those long lived gaps in the roster.
For Full Gallery, please visit:
Comentarios