Street Fighter

Manufacturer
SOTA Toys
Year
2005
Materials
Plastic

Street Fighter - Series 1

By Ramen Junkie
23rd May 05

Toybiz really upped the ante on the action-figure market with their Marvel Legends line. High quality sculpts with loads of articulation. While they continue to create better and more seamless joints for their figures, many companies are following suit with super articulated figures of their own. SOTA Toys has given us that with their Street Fighter line of figures.

Other companies have made Street Fighter toys in the past, but these certainly take the cake as far as quality and playability. Probably one of the best features of these guys is that they fit in perfectly with the previously mentioned Marvel Legends put out by Toybiz. Now you can recreate all (or at least many) of your favorite showdowns from Capcom's Marvel vs Capcom games.

Series 1 consists of Ryu, Sagat, M.Bison, Chun-Li, and Sodom. This review covers the first 4 of those figures. Sodom is not a character I am particularly familiar with though I hear he makes a nice figure.

Let's start off with articulation. Each figure features many of the same joints as the others with hinges on the elbows, wrists, torso, ankles mid foot, and double hinged knees; cuts at the upper bicep, wrists, waits, upper leg, and mid foot; and universal joints at the hips, shoulders, and neck. Well it's something like that. Basically that translates into being able to pose these guys in any fighting stance you can think of.

Moving on to individual figures. First we have Ryu, the poster child of Street Fighter. The overall sculpt is decent, but he may come off as less muscular than some people might expect. His upper body movement (torso joint, waist joint) is also highly restricted by his rubber uniform top. His accessories include interchangeable hands (fireball open, clenched fists), a second yelling head, and his trusty duffel bag.

The only real downside I can see with Ryu is that he can't seem to make a proper “Hadoken stance”. Given that the Hadoken is the signature move the signature character, you'd think giving the toy this ability would be a pretty high priority.

Next up we have M.Bison, probably the most recognized villain of the series. Bison stands a head taller than Ryu and is considerably more bulked up in his build. Like Ryu, he includes a spare grimacing head, and a set of open hands (to replace his fist hands). Additionally Bison has a blue fireball that fits over his fists. He also includes one of the nicest action-figure capes I have ever seen. The material used is very lightweight and hangs perfectly. Many capes are too thicks or stiff and don't hang properly. It is also easily removable, yet still secure when in use. I am a HUGE fan of cloth on action-figures, especially when it's done this well. Pretty much the only real downside I can come up with for Bison is that his cheststomach seem slightly funky looking, it feels like it sticks out just a bit too much though probably not.

Third in out line up is Sagat. Though Sagat is not my favorite character, he certainly makes a perfect action-figure. He stands head and shoulders over the other fighters, his arm and leg bands are perfectly textured and detailed. He has veins sculpted into his musculature, he is simply a perfect representation of the character we know from the series. The best part is his scar. One thing that could have easily been screwed up as it falls directly across he figure's chest hinge joint. The sculpt of the scar continues up into the joint allowing it to look complete now matter how you position the toy. Like Ryu and Bison, Sagat includes an extra set of hands and an alternate yelling head.

Finally we have Chun-Li. One thing Toybiz hasn't quite gotten the hand of with it's Legends line is female figures. Somehow SOTA has managed to out do them in this category. In the original pre-release pictures, Chun-Li looked to have some freakishly long arms, this isn't the case on the actual toy. The proportions are just right all around. I do have a bit of a problem with her head sculpt, it seems a bit too blank for my tastes. She does include a very expressive alternate “laughing head” as well as a second set of hands. There is also some restriction to her shoulder joints due to her shirt's “poofs”, but she sports double hinges on her elbows to help make up for it.

I'm sure this review sounds like nothing but excessive praise, but this is a line many people are raving about and it's one certainly deserving of praise. The first wave of figures is nearly flawless, the second wave is at least as good and there are a third and fourth wave in the works that look to be even better. The main problem people might have with his line is finding the dang things. Hardly any stores carry them, if any, and on-line shops tend to sell out quickly. I paid around 8 dollars a piece for each of these figures (on special) plus shipping and that was a bargain. You're likely going to find them for closer to 12-14 dollars each now, though if you're a fan of the series and a fan of toys, they are certainly worth it.

NOTE Due to the nature of Street Fighter's color system, there are a very large number of color variants available of these figures as well. There is also a translucent “Psycho Bison” and New head Sculpt “Evil Ryu” two pack available.

-- Ramen Junkie 23rd May 05