DSC_1273
Over the years, I've had the chance to handle many figures from many different lines, but for whatever reason it is only as of the last 5 years or so that we've seemed to hit a good stride when it came to action figure in Street Fighter line. It was either decent sculpts with crap articulation, or decent articulation with sculpts you generally want to forget (I'm looking at you, SOTA). While the current hotness are the Storm and S.H. Figuarts offerings, during the SF4 era there were two other players - Play Arts Kai, and the NECA Player Selects series. I have the Sakura Play Arts which, to the surprise of nobody, wasn't bad, but not exactly worth MSRP, but I never purchased any of the NECA offerings.
Well, here to set things right is my recent acquisition, the Titan of Thicc herself, Chun Li.
In case it wasn't obvious, NECA figures pretty much sit within the "best value" category. They typically have MSRPs of approximately $20 - $25 USD (unless they're the deluxe sets with many extra accessories), and are all about 6 inch or roughly 1/12 scale. The toys are hit and miss, but what you do get is a variety of figures in that size class for some imaginative pairings. So, having said all that, these figures were never really meant to compete in the market that the Storm and Figuarts release were, but comparisons with are inevitable, particularly the Storm releases.
NECA Chun Li comes with the figure, a pair of open palm hands, and a single right hand for her victory pose.
While she's about the same height as the Storm figure, the side by side photos show that the proportions are different between the figures. Due to the stockiness of the legs (especially the lower legs) and the NECAs hip joint location/inability to close her legs any further, the NECA figure looks chunkier than it could have been otherwise. Each of these figures was definitely going for a different aesthetic, which we will expand into further into this review, so naturally there are some differences, but all in all, the figures are all recognizable as Chun Li.
From an articulation perspective, the NECA is pretty solid. You get toe, ankle on separate joints for pivoting and twisting, mid calf rotation, double jointed knees, hips, waist, ab crunch, rotating and swiveling shoulders, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, rotating wrists and a ball jointed head. The quality of actual joints aren't always the greatest, but there is some good potential for various poses. Unfortunately, due to where the double jointed pieces are pinned to the body, bends of anything greater than 90 degrees can look awkward (elbows) to downright bad (knees) - the knees look particularly bad due to the stocky nature of the legs. To be fair, it's not exactly flawless on the Storm either, and the Figuarts uses a single jointed knee with a groove cut out from the back of the thighs to facilitate the sharp look while her legs are bent. So overall, articulation is probably above average for what you'd expect from a figure at this price range, but is limited compared to what higher price ranged figures can do.
The overall sculpting is actually pretty accurate to the game models. Both the Storm and Figuarts figures are based on her SFV appearance, which is slimmer than her (SF4 look), which is something that can be said for all the returning characters, really. Detailing of her upper body and Qi Pao are decently done, but one of these those love/hate things I have with the NECA figure is her legs. Yes, they are a bit stocky and make her look ultra thicc, but at the same time that's Chun Li. It's not as ridiculous as it was in her SF3 days, but muscular legs is appropriate for this character, and after the lanky SOTA releases, this was certainly a breath of fresh air - on a side note, it's my hope that one day, either Figuarts or Storm revisits the SF3 designs.
Build quality is generally alright, with the real winners and losers of the QC lottery based on how well your joints turned out. Otherwise, it's a sturdy figure that can take some play action without having to worry about fragility. Her upper and lower body can disconnect if pulled too much, but from what I can tell you can just put it back together.
Paint.. oh man.. paint is kind of where if I had to draw the line, this is would be it. But, maybe not so much for the reasons you would think. Lets get the obvious out of the way - at $25 USD, there's no way from a paint app perspective this figure should be able to compete with figures that are double and triple its MSRP. So, there are no surprises when I say to you.. the paint work pales in comparison to the other two. Having said that, lets go back to a bit of a more balanced analysis. The colours are brighter than on the other two which, again, makes sense given the source material, though the flesh tone is a bit too strong on the yellow. The texture of the paint on detailed North American figures is generally.. lumpy. There's no other way of saying it, especially on brighter colours such as flesh tones. which can result in loss of detailing. The white paint fortunately did not destroy the detailing of her hair bun covers, but you can see how the paint apps on the palms of her hands aren't the greatest. Paint on her legs though, is very well done.
Her face is probably the biggest strike against this figure. There is some glue residue but that's microscope level of interrogation before you really notice, and paint apps on the whole aren't too shabby, given the above description. But the expression on her face... I know Hot Toys gets lots of flack for their vapid expressions, especially on the love of my life, Black Widow, but Chun Li here has what is probably best described as the death glare from Luigi in Mario Kart. At some angles it's OK, but head on.. Chun Li looks like she'll devour your soul after kicking your ass.. very Shang Tsung of her, if I do say so myself.
So overall, not too bad, all things considered. Everything being not as good and polished as the Storm and Figuarts releases, no surprises there. The figures aren't supposed to be comparable from that perspective. But that face.. man oh man.. what were they thinking?? Who approved this??? I suppose if I can find them at a cheap price, I might try to track down the others in the line,especially the ones there are no other figures for, such as C. Viper. As always, time will tell.
DSC_1273
Over the years, I've had the chance to handle many figures from many different lines, but for whatever reason it is only as of the last 5 years or so that we've seemed to hit a good stride when it came to action figure in Street Fighter line. It was either decent sculpts with crap articulation, or decent articulation with sculpts you generally want to forget (I'm looking at you, SOTA). While the current hotness are the Storm and S.H. Figuarts offerings, during the SF4 era there were two other players - Play Arts Kai, and the NECA Player Selects series. I have the Sakura Play Arts which, to the surprise of nobody, wasn't bad, but not exactly worth MSRP, but I never purchased any of the NECA offerings.
Well, here to set things right is my recent acquisition, the Titan of Thicc herself, Chun Li.
In case it wasn't obvious, NECA figures pretty much sit within the "best value" category. They typically have MSRPs of approximately $20 - $25 USD (unless they're the deluxe sets with many extra accessories), and are all about 6 inch or roughly 1/12 scale. The toys are hit and miss, but what you do get is a variety of figures in that size class for some imaginative pairings. So, having said all that, these figures were never really meant to compete in the market that the Storm and Figuarts release were, but comparisons with are inevitable, particularly the Storm releases.
NECA Chun Li comes with the figure, a pair of open palm hands, and a single right hand for her victory pose.
While she's about the same height as the Storm figure, the side by side photos show that the proportions are different between the figures. Due to the stockiness of the legs (especially the lower legs) and the NECAs hip joint location/inability to close her legs any further, the NECA figure looks chunkier than it could have been otherwise. Each of these figures was definitely going for a different aesthetic, which we will expand into further into this review, so naturally there are some differences, but all in all, the figures are all recognizable as Chun Li.
From an articulation perspective, the NECA is pretty solid. You get toe, ankle on separate joints for pivoting and twisting, mid calf rotation, double jointed knees, hips, waist, ab crunch, rotating and swiveling shoulders, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, rotating wrists and a ball jointed head. The quality of actual joints aren't always the greatest, but there is some good potential for various poses. Unfortunately, due to where the double jointed pieces are pinned to the body, bends of anything greater than 90 degrees can look awkward (elbows) to downright bad (knees) - the knees look particularly bad due to the stocky nature of the legs. To be fair, it's not exactly flawless on the Storm either, and the Figuarts uses a single jointed knee with a groove cut out from the back of the thighs to facilitate the sharp look while her legs are bent. So overall, articulation is probably above average for what you'd expect from a figure at this price range, but is limited compared to what higher price ranged figures can do.
The overall sculpting is actually pretty accurate to the game models. Both the Storm and Figuarts figures are based on her SFV appearance, which is slimmer than her (SF4 look), which is something that can be said for all the returning characters, really. Detailing of her upper body and Qi Pao are decently done, but one of these those love/hate things I have with the NECA figure is her legs. Yes, they are a bit stocky and make her look ultra thicc, but at the same time that's Chun Li. It's not as ridiculous as it was in her SF3 days, but muscular legs is appropriate for this character, and after the lanky SOTA releases, this was certainly a breath of fresh air - on a side note, it's my hope that one day, either Figuarts or Storm revisits the SF3 designs.
Build quality is generally alright, with the real winners and losers of the QC lottery based on how well your joints turned out. Otherwise, it's a sturdy figure that can take some play action without having to worry about fragility. Her upper and lower body can disconnect if pulled too much, but from what I can tell you can just put it back together.
Paint.. oh man.. paint is kind of where if I had to draw the line, this is would be it. But, maybe not so much for the reasons you would think. Lets get the obvious out of the way - at $25 USD, there's no way from a paint app perspective this figure should be able to compete with figures that are double and triple its MSRP. So, there are no surprises when I say to you.. the paint work pales in comparison to the other two. Having said that, lets go back to a bit of a more balanced analysis. The colours are brighter than on the other two which, again, makes sense given the source material, though the flesh tone is a bit too strong on the yellow. The texture of the paint on detailed North American figures is generally.. lumpy. There's no other way of saying it, especially on brighter colours such as flesh tones. which can result in loss of detailing. The white paint fortunately did not destroy the detailing of her hair bun covers, but you can see how the paint apps on the palms of her hands aren't the greatest. Paint on her legs though, is very well done.
Her face is probably the biggest strike against this figure. There is some glue residue but that's microscope level of interrogation before you really notice, and paint apps on the whole aren't too shabby, given the above description. But the expression on her face... I know Hot Toys gets lots of flack for their vapid expressions, especially on the love of my life, Black Widow, but Chun Li here has what is probably best described as the death glare from Luigi in Mario Kart. At some angles it's OK, but head on.. Chun Li looks like she'll devour your soul after kicking your ass.. very Shang Tsung of her, if I do say so myself.
So overall, not too bad, all things considered. Everything being not as good and polished as the Storm and Figuarts releases, no surprises there. The figures aren't supposed to be comparable from that perspective. But that face.. man oh man.. what were they thinking?? Who approved this??? I suppose if I can find them at a cheap price, I might try to track down the others in the line,especially the ones there are no other figures for, such as C. Viper. As always, time will tell.