RASETSUMARU

 Its been two years since Storm Collectibles released Haohmaru from Samurai Shodown and one years since the release of Nakoruru. The expectation has been big, in wait for Genjuro, Charlotte, Galford, Amakusa....and at last, we got Rasetsumaru. Deffinetly unexpected, specially since the box exchanged the 2019 game mottif for the Samurai Shodown 6 title. Figures based on Samurai Shodown 2, yes i can see that being awesome, Samurai Shodown 4? Sure that would be rad....but 6?

Thats just a small detail in the end, since i am very happy we re still gettin Samurai Shodown figures, even if theres a whole year in between release, this is the very first time we get a Rasetsumaru figure, the demonic version of Haohmaru. And obviosully Rasetsumaru have exactly the same scale as Haohmaru but he have issues standing. Its weird but he cna stand perfectly with no hair, but once the big mane is on his head, he lose all balance and make him stand is pretty tricky.

Of course, i am talking of a standing normal pose, since Rasetsumaru is always standing in a very animalistic and hunched back way, he can stand perfectly this way and makes me wonder if it was intentional from Storm. He is articulated on the head, abs, waist, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, legs, knees, ankles and half feet as well as the pony tail. All of them are ball joints or double joints  except the hair that is only a basic one direction articulation.

Everything moves perfectly, even the half feet articulation isnt stuck like Sol´s and given the simple design of this guy theres not much that block the movement......aside of the hair, his hair get TOO MUCH in the way of his arms but the same happends with Haohmaru soo i guess theres no way to fix that. The top part of his outfit as well as the chest area are made of pretty soft plastic soo that helps a lot to achive some action poses with the sword.

To my susprise, this is not an alternate paint of Haohmaru, this is a totally different sculpt, at least in some part. The entire body is recycled but with a few alterations: he have a cut on his chest since each time the player select him, Rasetsumaru cut his chest area in a pretty feral way. The sides of his jacket also have cuts in the same area and the end part is torn appart and full of holes. Same for the end part of his pants, they are much more damaged thatn Haohmaru´s and Rasetsumaru dont have sandals at all.

Despite this niftty details is pretty evident is basically the same sculpt but i guess is OK in this character. The ehad tough is very different. His nose is thicker than Hohmaru´s and his jawline is more square as well. His eye shape is different and his eyebrows are much bigger and spiky. His sideburns have black spykes and his forelock is longer than Haohmaru´s and have a pretty wild and almost tentacle shape.

The long pony tail is also totally different to Haohmaru´s since the locks are much longer and looks like they defy gravity, moving to all sides like tentacles. In the in game sprite the hair is much longer than this but i guess that would be ask too much since this guy can barelly stand with this amount of hair. I have to say tough the hair is really spectacular and while theres only one single version of the har, moving it side to side really give this figure a lot of dramatic flow that matches perfectly battle poses.

To my surprise, the hair is not entirelly black but have pretty dark hues of blues that help high ligth the cut of the sculpt on every strand. The detailing on his face is really really good, with the black line of his mouth perfectly painted as well as the black markings under his eye that reminds me Mon-Star from the Silverhawks. All this details are imposible to see on the in game sprite and his eyes have that shiny red that makes them looks like jewells.

His skin is totally purple with some dark hues and airbrush here and there to give deep to those magnifiscent muscles, but the rest of the paint is really plain. I mean his entire clothing is just....greay, with some black lines and the bandages on his arms, his belt and the bandages on his feet are intense red. Theres no airbrushing or texture here, just plain red and grey and looks kinda.....cartoony. The red stand out too much soo the mix of purple, grey and vibrant red is....well, weird. It actually looks like a secodary color paletter that dosnt match too well.

Aside of the closed firsts he also have a pair of hands to hold on his sword, a pair of open hands and a pair of claw like hands. All can be exchanged pretty easy and are made with a rubbery material.

Aside of the normal stoic head he have 3 extra heads!! All of them with the big forelocks!! One of the heads have the marked eye more open than the other one and his teeth shown on an expression of fury and power. I like this head much more than the normal one since the expression of raw power is pretty well achived and the shiny red like jewell eyes looks really spectacular. The on each teeth si really really good.

The third head have Rasetsumaru in a maniacal laugh. The muscles of his jaws looks really good as well as the small sculpted teeth and tongue inside, the paint is totally perfect an this head suits perfect for a winning pose or a half battle pose when he lauchs towards his opontnet.

And laslty the last head is my favorite since show Rasetsumaru smiling in a perfect way with his tongue stincking out. Again the muscle structure around his mouth and chesk is really really good, unlike Sol´s boring lack of face features, Rasetsumaru looks soo expresive here. The teeth with the fangs looks good but the tongue is made with rubberish plastic and the pink color really makes it stand out!! Perfect to lick his oponents bloody remains on his katana.

Then theres the katana: Yoto Torikabuto. Is bascilaly Haohmaru´s sword but in a different color, with the nadle having a blurish tone instead of black and the blade having a metalic red mixing with silver, since Rasetsumaru never clean his katana soo its all bloody. The sword is actually pretty cool looking, specially with the silver painting.

The box of this figure is HUGE and this is the reason: the Cyclon Slash effect. A whirlwind made with transluscent yellow plastic with some reds and oranges airbush and two blue rings circling around it. The effect is shorter than Rasetsumaru but is really wide and take a lot of space. But still is really really good looking, specially with the blue sections circling around and this is the effect i always wanted for Haohmaru. I am glad Storm finally release it.

Laslt theres Raseustumaru´s background, a scene of the Caribean Sea. The quality of the print and material is really good and shows up the magnifiscent job SNK Playmore did with the sprite, the scene is very sich in details  and even looks 3D with a certain distance. The scene with the sea and the shops and the big clowdy sky is really breathtaking but.....BUT.....everything is purple and pink and since Rasetsumaru is purple and grey, he camouflages himself pretty well and melts with the background. The stage is amazing but i wish they give him something with different colors for the figure to stand out.

Honestly i find this figure much more fun and expresive than Sol Badguy and even more realistic as well, tough in the end his color scheme is extremelly awkard to look at but Storm did an amazing job with this character considering his design. Rasetsumaru was born in the lowest moment of SNK and Samuria Shodown, they really needed characters to fill the roster of the games but didnt have the budget or time for it, soo they started to make "evil versions" of many Samsho characters.

It was sad, actually i dont have very good memories of Samurai Shodown V and VI soo i really hestitate to buy Rasetsumaru since i hate his concept to beging with. But Storm did a great job giving him lots of expression and personality to set him apart from Haohmaru. I just wish they dont stop here with this licence.