HEIHACHI MISHIMA

When Strom Collectibles started release Street Fighter action figures i was tempted to get them, tough they looked kinda off to me and the high price wasnt attractive at all, plus, theres dozens of Street Fighter figures out there.

But when i saw them getting the Tekken 7 license, i knew i had to get those. The first character wasnt too much of my liking tough: Heihachi Mishima, but i was extremelly hyped to get his husbando son, Kazuya.

I few weeks ago tough, in a store with many of Strom figures i saw Heihachi…. i wasnt planing on getting him but i didnt wanted to regret it later since the price wasnt too far from a Figuarts.

This is my first Storm Collectible figure and i must say i am EXXXXXXTTTRREEEMELLY happy and pleased with it, the quality overall was a huge surprise.

First of all, he cant face Rashid or any other Street Fighter Figuarts since he is much bigger. Something i always hated was the tiny little scale of the Figmas and Figuarts and gladlly, Storm Collectibles give to theyr figures a much bigger scanel. He is big enough to have a strong presence on the shelve yet he is not as big as a Play Arts Kai soo he can fit on any small place.

The quality of the sculpt and material is pure crazynes!!! Each wrinkle on his forehead or around his eyes are sculpted in the same place shown on the CG model, every vein on his chest and arm, every scanr or mark and the paint job is uncanny. Theres not a single splotch or stain or heavy washing…. the skin color on his head is disturbinglly realisctic.

His costume is incrediblly realistic as well, looks ancient and whore off, dirty and made with a pretty thick and rough material. Yet his entire costume is made with pretty soft and flexible plastic that allows it to be removed. He can be bare chested!!!

Heihachi Mishima is not one of my Tekken husbandos, yet i must say he looks incrediblly sexy shirtless thanks to the amazing sculpted musculature and the soft material of the skin on top of his articulations. His neck, pecs and back are soo squishy…. its almost like a mini Hot Toys…

The only thing that broke the fantasy are the articulations since his torso and arms are visiblly divided but i can forgive it for the incrediblly movibility he have.

Head, chest, shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, legs, ankles, knees, even half of his feet are articulated and the clothes or his design dosnt block any of this articulations. He can move freely on any direction soo he is A LOT OF FUN to play with. Just like Rashid, i didnt ran out of poses for him.

He comes with two extra heads, one smiling and one shouting. The smiling head is odd…. i cant remember Heihachi smiling ever, he sure laughs like a maniac but a smile like this is not common and the screaming head is pretty fierce and fit him perfectly. Is trully amazing how every single teeth is sculpted and painted with the ost strict perfection, even his gums and tongue are painted and textured.

The heads can be replaced easy as well as the hands, since the suckets have a lot of room to move around. The open hads and clawed hands looks great, tough he have an extra pair with totally open hands that i didnt find any use for them soo i wasnt able to take photos. The hands are made with soft squichy material, soo they are as realistoc and high quality as Hot Toys.

He also have an electric effect for his first and a winf effect for his arm or leg. Both can be placed pretty easy tough i wish the material was more transluscent.

As a surprise extra, he also have a background printed in cardboard with his stage of Tekken 7. The stage looks very monochrome on the photos, but in real life looks terrific behind him.

He can stand perfectly on his own tough, since he is not Street Fighter, Storm didnt give him a base. This is unfortunate since i cant pose him jumping or kicking but it was pretty obvious from the srart that Tekken was going to get the short end of the deal against Street Fighter.

If i had to complaing about something that would be some of his articulations are a little lose, specially on his legs and i am afraid to broke him, because the inner working of the articulations are extremelly complex and different to any other figure. I hope the material resist extreme posing.

Aside of that tehres nothing, nothing at all to complaing about. This is one amazing solid action figure. Is actually the best action figure of Tekken to date, being better looking than the Play Arts Kai, and he is vastly supperior to Figuarts or Figma as well. Now i regret not getting the Street Fighter figures, i can see now that the price i tough was very high, is actually pretty small compared to the high quality of this.

I am deffinetly going to get anything they release of Tekken, i just HOPE Storm dont leave the license alone and release a good collection for us, Tekken fans, we been waiting for since 1998.

HOT RYU

While i wasnt interested on Heihachi Mishima from Storm Collectibles at first, i was pretty sure i HAD to have Hot Ryu. The original Ryu leaved me with a lot of doubts, there is something on his face that dosnt fits into the character too much, maybe are his eyes… but it was too different looking to the magnifiscent Ryu model from Street Fighter V.

Hot Ryu was a no brainer tough, since hes much more sexy, he is also a design we never seen before. Ryu has looked the same in the last 30 years, soo a figure with a new design is a very welcome addition to the collection. Also, for the quality he have, hes not very expensive yet even tough this figures have a sticker on the box that reads “EXCLUSIVE FOR COMIC CON 2017″.

Hot Ryu is a little bit - almost hard t notice - shorter than Heihachi Mishima but both sports the same scale: much bigger than Figma of Figuarts but smaller than Play Arts Kai, and he can stand perfectly on his own with those giant feet of him.

The sculpt is fantastic, sharp and perfectly defined, with a clean look on his beard and eyes and the perfect anatomy to boast, the eyes looks weet and perfectly defined while his teeth and tongue are sculpted and painted independently, with no mistake of the paint to be seen.

His skin tone is ligter than Heihachi´s and dosnt have too much texture, soo his flesh dosnt looks realistic but instead looks clean and cartoony, wich i guess is good since this is not a Tekken character. This dosnt mean he is not detailed, since all the scars on his chest and back are both sculpted and softly painted as well as other small details, like the bandages on his arm and the fat toe on one of his feet.

His pants looks extremelly dirty and ancient and pretty small on the hips area, soo they start to cover just above his bulgue should be. I didnt notice about this untill i got this figure but this design is extremelly generous on his much flesh it shows.

Tough i find his body shape a little to squareish. In the game he have an incrediblly exuberant and curvy body with a tiny waist and huge shoulders and pecs, but in here he is more realistic looking. Maybe they could not achive his fantastic shape due to the intrusive articulations?

Also, i find his legs a little short…. comparing him with Heihachi, he looks short mostly because of th size of his legs. I find strange they sculpted him this way specially noticing how perfectly esthetic looks Heihachi and i am sure Chn Li dosnt have this issue.

He is extremelly articulated: the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, hips, legs, knees, anklees and half of the feet, even the bandages on his wrists and arm are both articulated. And while Heihachi´s shoulder articulations were pretty stiff, Ryu´s movement is fantastic. Tough somehow, his legs cannot move too much. Maybe they are too thick, but the range of movement is pretty short wich is a shame, since he cant achive the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku pose.

His accesoryes consist on two extra expresion plates, once growling and another screaming and both looks fantastic and can me exchanged in a pretty easy way. He also have a full collection of extra hands that represent him opening his hands step by step. I didnt take picture of the hands since they are extremelly similar to each other and didnt find a good pose to display them. They are all made in softish plastic that makes them feel like real flesh but the green bandages on them looks as dirty and real as it should.

He also have a pair of “electric” rechargue special effects for his arms. This two electric nets are cats in transparent yellow plastic and put them in place is really tricky, since thebandages of the wrists should be removed and placed inside the electric barriers before placing the hands, but once installed they looks pretty cool.

His other accesory is a special effect emulating the birth of the Hadouken: a transparent blue sphere with blue flames around that can be placed between his hands. This is the charging fire ball but…. he cant short it!!! Theres no “complete” Hadouken in the box!!! That one comes with the normal Ryu… soo this Hot Ryu is condemned to always be charguing his special power and never release it, a sad example of blue balls…

Since he is Street Fighter and Storm loves it much more than Tekken, he also hace with an extra item that Heihachi dosnt have: a pretty spectacular stand base. This base is thick and heavy with a “V” shape and the Street Fighter V logo impresed in front and a tall transluscent rod with a clamp.

I always tough the Figma base was the best base for any kind of action figure but now its on second place since this base takes the lead. The rod can be extended up and down to adjust a spectacular fliying pose and the clamp can move 360° on all sides and since its made with one single piece, no aticulations or asembly, this thing is EXTREMELLY strong and can support Ryus weight perfectly. Also, unlike those shitty Figuarts bases, this one have the clamp joined with the rest of the base with springs, soo the clamp close on Ryu´s waist with full power.

And all this without making a hole on the back of the figure like Figma, soo the figure can be displayed with or without base. This is much much better than even the Hot Toys stand, looks fantastic and save a lot of space too, the Play Arts Kai bases looks riddiculous cmpared to this.

The final accesory is a background print like wallpaper showing the mountain landscape by night. I wish they give him something more colorfull, but since this is Ryu training on the mountain i guess it makes sence, also the starry night sky with the moon is beautyfull.

I admit i find his legs strangellly short but aside of that small detail, i cant think of anything to complaing about this figure, this guy is as solid and looks soo good in person as Heihachi and i cant stop pose him since he have an unlimited replayability thanks to the fantastic articulations. Now i see why theres soo many Figuarts on stores rigth now, they looks soo cheap and unnecesary with this figures in the market.

I am tempted to get the rest of the series but theres too many characters by now. Chun Li looks amazing tough i may wait for her sexy hot version with the black dress. I really really hope they release Cody, Blanka or Rashid, those would be perfect to pair Hot Ryu with.

RASHID

For quiet some time i been contemplating the idea of get Street Fighter action figures, i even got the Ryu Play Arts Kai, but theres just way too many figures of this characters and i cant decided wich to get since most series are unfinished, except for the S.O.T.A. series, and having multiple action figures series from multiple companys at the same time is kinda odd and anoying….

I was going to get the Storm Collectibles figures but since they didnt release my SFV husbando, i ended getting the S.H. Figuarts. This figures are actually very cheap and really easy to find since they appeare all the time on different stores, soo i got Rashid while Storm decides to give him some love.

I have to admit, the figure looked really cheap on its small and simplsitic box…. but somehow that feeling got lost once i opened him. Rashid is very small, the same size a Figma (wich anoys me a lot) and can stand on his own perfectly thanks to his huge feet.

He is EXTREMELLY well articulated and everything works great in this departmen, Bandai did an awesome job giving him simplistic articulations with a big range of movemebt n his neck, head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, chest, legs, knees, ankles and feet, even his back pack is articulated and can be moved by the sides or up and down. Why is his back pack movable? I really dont know…

The elbows are deffinetly my favorite part since they are sculpted independently on the joint between the arms, soo the elbow bone dont get in the way and looks really good and terriblly cute. All the clothing is made with soft plastic  and his skirt thing comes in 3 different layers, soo nothing gets on the way of the articulations at all.

Rashid face is brillantly sculpted and painted, his eyes are perfect and even you can see every single one of his teeth, wich is amazing given how small is this guy. I also read in some reviews his eye scaner dosnt get in his line of vision, but mine works great and the eye always is on the rigth place towards the green transluscent scaner.

The sun tanning on his arms looks pretty sexy and with different tones, tough his entire clothing is just plain white and his sandals are just grey. Maybe is because of the soft material used, maybe the color dont hold on it, but his clothing is actually extremelly simplistic.

Thats not neccesary a bad thing tough, he looks very anime/cartoony but this is a Street Fighter character, soo i guess he is supposed to look like that at certain point.

He have two gace expresions that are actually two extra heads: one smilling and another one shouting. Both looks great but the screaming one is my favorite since it have a lot pf personality, not only each teeth is sculpted and painted, but it looks like Rashid is having a great time.

He also have some extra open hands and a pair in an aerodynamic pose and each one of them is easy to exchange (like his head) but given the small size of his wrist articulation, i am actually afraid to broke them.

His other accesory is a “wind” special effect….two wind special effects that can be sticked together around his arm of legs like a clamp. This effects while fun in theory, they snap pretty tigthly and Rashid arms and legs are very thick, soo place them is a huge challengue and not as fun as it should. Also, the plastic is not very transluscent, soo it dosnt looks too much like wind.

He also have with, for my surprise, two printed backgrounds specially for him, his scenario on the game, the Skys of Honor; the wing of a plane with the skys and city of Dubai. The printing is very high quality and this give him a HUGE bost of good looks.

I am ashamed to say that i now want the other SFV characters just to get theyr backgrounds.

The most strange thing about this figure is the fact he have no base. He can stand on his own perfectly but he cant be displayed jumping or kicking since he have no base. I find it hard to belive that Bandai is doing this fighters figures with no base, yet theyr Ranma ½ figures have base…

Gladlly, i got some small bases to spare for him soo i was able to take good fighitng photos for him, but for those with no bases, be aware of it.

This figure is actually petty small and simplistic too look, but the convination of his background and articulations gives him a huge bost of fun. Really, i never ran out of poses for him…i just had to stop taking photos because this guy have such amazing potential for soo many poses is ridiculous.

Its odd how cheap looking this guys looks on theyr boxes but once outside, they are really nice looking figures that matches Figma. I am deffinetly gonna get Ryu just soo i can pose him in indescent scenes with Rashid and got his background but i am not sure if i should get the rest…

NYX ULRIC

When Square shown pictures of the Gladio Play Arts Kai i was sure i was gonna get him, tough later on i had to cancell the pre-order given i tough he was too expensive for wath it was and i had other stuff to spent money on back then. When they shown pictures of Nyx Ulric that was a totally different story.

He was more expensive than Gladiolus yet i had to get him, not only because he was my FF husbando, but because it was pretty rare they release a figure of him. I was sure Square was going to forget all about the character and store him in some kind of dark corner to never been seen again (like they actually did).

I had to support my husbando even if i spent all the money of my birthday on him!!!!

I was planing to make him my last Play Arts Kai and soo far it has been like that, he is my last one and the most crazy epxnesive one i got, thats why i keep his box intact unlike my other Kai figures. Tough i take him out for sure once in a while to have a lot of fun with him.

Nyx Ulric is HUGE. One of the biggest Play Arts Kai, bigger than the FF XIII characters and the same scale as the MGSV figures. He is big and very heavy tough he can stand on his own perfectly thanks to the strong joints on his legs and his big military boots.

Mr. Ulric here have a trully fantastic sculpt, with a huge amounts of details and an amazing complexity. While i find Gladio sculpt kinda lazy (he is shirtless), Nyx is the opossite and features some amazing engravings on his uniform and the holster of his weapons. He have his plastic body with a plastic shirt with belts and his coat on top AND his shulder covering above all. Each layer of clothing is sculpted in an independent piece, wich gives him an awesome deept.

His face have the same details the MGSV figures have, with a soft transparency on the plastic and each one of the hairs on his eye brows and beard painted, the wrinkles on his lips, the tattoos, the bags under his eyes, the tiny scars on his forehead and cheeks, everything sculpted and highlighted softly with pretty discret painting.

Now here is the thing: in some points of view and some light sources, he looks exactly like Nyx, in some others, he dosnt. It took me a while to figure it out but i find the issue, his face is a little bit thiner as it should. his eyes are a little bit more close than they have too.

I dont know if this was a mistake in Square side or if they have some legal concerns about the portrayal of the character, ince Nyx is modeled after a real person - Johan Akan - but wathever is the reason, is unfortunate because this sculpt os 90% faithfull to the character. Just make his mouth and chin wider (more squareish) and it will be 100% Nyx/Johan.

The paintwork on the body is good, tough he is dressed in all black, theres some grey and blue tones here and there to give him volume and silver for the metalic parts of his outfit. The chain on his chest is metalic to gives him extra realism and the light purple on his arm and vibrant purple on the silk on his back gives him pure royal elegance.

He is also rich in textures, with soft feel on his coat and reptilian scales on his shoulders and also full of tiny details that appeare each time you see him, like his head phone or the tatto on his neck and his dreadlocks.

He is articulated on his head, neck, shoulders, middle arm, elbows, wrists, waist, legs, middle legs, knees, ankles, middle feet/boot and the purple fur on his arm is articulated as well (!!) and the purple silks on his back have 3 independent articulations as well. All of them works perfect and gives a lot of freedom for a lot of poses except for a couple of exceptions: his legs and his neck.

Since his coat is made with hard plastic, this limist a lot the range of movement on his legs and the collar of the same coat limit a lot the articulation on his head as well. Many parts of the figure are made with soft plastic (like the silks, the shoulder pads, the reptilian skin) but he is made mustly with hard plastic. This makes him feels very high quality and makes him heavy, but in this case it trully block his movement range a lot.

His accesoryes concist on extra hands, a pair to hold his weapons and a pair of open hands. The hands can be exchanged easy tough put the weapons on his hands is EXTREMELLY DIFFICULT!!! The hands are made with (again) hard plastic and they are almost closed around his weapons. Introduce the weapons between his fingers is a strugle and i fear the weapons can break any time.

Said weapons - a pair of kukris - have different sculpt and painting to show they are made in different places -Galahd and Insomnia - and boast intrincate sculpting and a pair of charms that hand from them in a metalic ring.

His other accesory is a complete hooded head with mask. The hood is clean and sharp but the most amazing thing is the mask with the horn. Is really complex and elegant and the best part is that it features a complete Nyx head underneath, soo you can see his beautyfull blue eyes shining under the mask, looking at you.

To assemble it, you need to remove Nyx head (easy) and the closed hood with the mask from his back (i love details like this!!!!) and put the masked head on….or soo it say the instructions, since the collar of his coat is made with hard plastic, is almost imposible to fit the head on the peg, soo it pretty much levitates over his shoulders.

The hooded head looks amazing and cool but it tends to fall easy and it moves even less than the unmasked head thanks to how restrictive is the hard plastic.

Nyx also comes with the standar Play Arts Kai base, wich is absolutelly useless since the guy can stand on his own and thanks to his weigth, the base is unable to support him on any kind of dynamic pose. I can say i wont miss this bases.

This guy is not perfect thanks to a technical issue (the hard material used on his coat) and a strange aesthetic choice (narrow his face a little bit) but i am actually pretty happy with him, since this is pretty much the only recognition Square has given to this poor guy after the movie release.

Sure he was expensive, but as the only collectible i have of FF XV and the last figure in this toy line, i say it was worthy and the fact he is a husbando makes him extra special. I know i take a lot of pictures of Mr. Ulric here but bear with me, i had a lot of fun playing with him.