Last year Sega released a remake of that very last game of the series, but in the last 15 years Virtua Fighter has been mostly a pretty distant shadow surrounded by Bloody Roar or Rival Schools, soo was actually shocked to see Storm Collectibles actually get the licence to create action figures based on the remake. Unexpected but pretty good news and i didnt doubt a second to pre-order the very first figure: Akira Yuki.
Akira is shorter than Paul and King but taller than Ryu and Haohmaru from Storm, but not that much soo he is a middle sized man (180cm says the box actually) and he cna stand perfectly on his own. Actually, he have an amazing balance and is even able to stand in one single foot!!! This may seem like something random but no other Storm Collectibles figure can do that with no base...actually not many figures of any scale can do it either.
He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, abs, waist, legs, knes, ankles and middle feet. All ball joints and doule joints on the elbows and knes soo each articulation have a big range of movement. Like always, the chest piece as well as the hips are made with soft plastic as well as the top of his dogi soo thers literally nothing to stop his movement.
Special note here are the feet, since his bagy pants cover a lot of the side of his feet, just like Kazuya Mishima´s pants, but while Kazuya´s pants are made with hard plastic (soo blocking all his ankle movement), Akira´s pants have a small section at the end of his pants made with soft plastic, soo the ankles can move by the sides with all freedom. The weird thing is that this extra section is actually present as well on the character model of the game, soo it game accurate!!
The sculpt is really good, just like evetyhing Storm Collectibles make. Akira´s build is muscular but much more lean than characters like Ryu or Demitri (more realistic i guess??) his torso is particulary good looking and can be seen by removing his dogi in a pretty easy way.
The texture on his dogi is really nice too, and looks and feel like thick fabric despite being two different materials (hard plastic on the legs ans soft plastic on the top) and the pants are extra baggy and all wrinkles give it a heavy look. His face is really good looking with his characteristic "Guile" hair stylem with the flap of hairs at the sides, strong jaw and pointy eye brows tough i am afraid dust can be very nasty with that pointy hair of him.
His bandana is really long but it can be removed in the back side and its made with soft plastic soo technically is also articulated. My favorite part is his belt, with kanjis in front and 3 white lines and the paint helps a lot with the dark paint and the bringht orange of the kanjis. I simpresive how such delicate and tiny symbols are soo perfectly painted at this scale.
His dogi is white...and thats it, with some soft grey brushes to give it volume and shadows but nothing too instrusive. His torso is cast on flesh color soo theres no paint on it except on his nipples and like always, thats gives him a pretty natural and whole look.
The hair is just plain black tough the application is perfect, just like his eyes. The eyes are beautifull and brown, with a steel look full of determination and strenght and i love the small scar on his cheek. Tough i really dont like the mouth....the painted his lips purple for some reason and this attract all attention to them but also makes them look smaller than they actually are and change his face structure a little bit. I dont understand why they did such a thing since Storm has always did a great job painting really natural looking lips in this scale.
Tough he comes with two extra heads. One with an open mouth and another shouting with a fierce expression. Both looks very similar but you can see the differences with a close inpection and they can be exchanged pretty easy. Also each head comes with theyr own bandana, soo you dont need to keep using the same one. Is extraordinary how the paint application is the same in all 3 heads, the eyes looks the same as well as the small scar on his cheek, but the mouth is completelly fixed here since theres no putple lips no more!! The teeth and tongue inside the mouths are sculpted and perfectly painted with a soft pink and overall, this two extra heads looks much more like the Akira of the game deffinetly.
He also comes with four extra pair of hands that can be exchanged pretty easy. Aside of the closed fist he have another pair with flexed fingers to hit with the side of his hand, he also have completelly open palms and two relaxed pairs. Yes two....this two relaxed hands are 90% the same and i fail to see the difference here, the pinky fingers are a little bit flexed but really, i fail to justofy the inclusion of a pair of hands that looks almots the same.
There is an effect and that really surprise me since Virtua Fighter is the only fight game that use totally realistic movements, theres no electrich rays, or fireballs or sparks of any kind of the game but still, Storm Collectibles managed to add an effect to Akira, a circular crown-shaped hit effect cast in yellow transluscent plastic with orange in the middle. Give how soft are Akira´s hands, this needs to be pushed down into his fist and there it is, a hit effect for a strung punch.
Is small and easy to use but it works good and is really appreciated Storm added it at this point. The last accesory is the printed background that show Akira´s scenario: and old temple with a golden buda in the center. The scenario is pretty dark tough but i guess that contrast a lot with Akira´s white body to make him stand out.
At first i was unsure if ot was wise to buy such an expensive figure from such a simple looking character. Akira is not the most flashy character of Virtua Fighter, quiet the opposite, he is as spartan as Ryu and while visually he dosnt stand out, his character shines with his movements: Unlike Ryu or any other main character of a fight game, Akira is extremelly difficult to use. His attacks have quirurgic precission and he is imposible to move, like a mountain. And while other characters needs a lot of punches and kicks to win, he just need two punches to defeat anyone soo he is extremelly overpowered.
He is the classic representation of the karate warrior in a very realistic way and that makes him different to any other fight game character. Also, i had a lot of fun taking this photos since his articulations works fantastic and express perfectly all the simple beauty of his powerfull movements.
At this point i been wondering a lot if i am the only one who likes Virtua Fighter and i can see not a lot of people interest on this figure at all, but Storm did a great job with this part of Sega´s soul and i am really excited to see Jacky Bryant and Wolf Hawkfield next. Sadlly, and knowing Storm Collectibles, we will have to wait for many years to see those two on stores.
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