LAU CHAN

Virtua Fighter 4 was known as the best fighting game when it was released, but sadly after the 5th game the series was ended by Sega and now rest along side Darkstalkers, Bloody Rar and Rival Schools. But the 4th game was soo strong at the begining of the century, even a game magazine did action figures of it; Gamepro.

Almost 20 years later i was finally able to get two of the 3 figures, the very first one Akira Yuki and the second one, Lau Chan, representing the side of evil (or should i say, violence?). Bothfigures came on very sturdy blister and i forgot to mention it, the cardboard can be open as a back and inside it have a review of the game. This is such a cool and unique touch only this Gamepro figures had!

Lau Chan is bigger than the standar size of figures from back then and he can....stand on his own!!! Even with the weird shape of his legs he can stand perfectly!!! Now thats weird!! He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, wrists, legs and knees and thats ir, and just like Akira, he is mostly a statue that can achive only a couple of good looking poses.

Its a shame actiony characters like this canot move too much, but that was the way figures worked back then. The yellow parts of his outfit is made with soft plastic and overall the sculot is really really good. The devilish expresion on his eyes, the wrinkles on his forehead, even his mouth have teeth and a tongue and the designs on his outfit are also sculpted.

The paint is also good or should i say OK? Its clean and detailed, specially on his eyes and mouth, but just like with Akira, it dosnt have any shades or shadows soo it looks maybe too much clean and "plastic". Yet i find him better looking than Akira, maybe because he have a stronger face expresion and his outfirt have more intrincated details, he is a little more realistic looking.

I have to say this is a susprise since i love Akira but not Lau Chan, i would have prefered a figure of his daugther, Pai Chan, but he is really good looking for such an obscure character and looks great face to face against Akira.

He comes with the same ugly base Akira had and a card with artwork and tips and tricks. The base looks much more uglyer this time given how good looking he is.

Despite the retro look of this figures, i wish Joyride and Gamepro had released more of them, at least Pai, Sarah, Kagemaru or Durall, but at least they released my husbando: Jacky Bryant. Pretty much the only figure i am missing and i have doubts i find him by now but if i find this two i guess anything can happen.