KAZUYA MISHIMA

When Harada visited the SquareEnix many years ago it was evident they were not going to make a game together but something else, a merchadise colaboration, action fiures from the Play Arts Kai line and the posibilitys were really exciting. A year later they were released the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 line with two initial figures, Kazuya Mishima and Jun Kazama.

This figures were kind of rare back then since i didnt see them pretty often and now i seen many looking for them since they are seeling at very high price. Thats the magic of the Play Arts Kai line and theyr awesome looking big box full of HD graphics.

Kazuya was a really impresive piece, he is from the medium size PAKs and fits with the Street Fighter IV figures perfectly. He is tall and actually really heavy and can stand on his own perfectly despite having a PAK base....ugggg those base....consist on an hexagonal plataform with an arm and a clap that fits on the figure waist. The base take a lot of space thanks to its awkard shape and is not always usefull.

This guy is fully articulated on the neck, abs, waist, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, legs, knes and ankles and thats it strongest point. All ball jointed articulations works really really good and thanks to his simplistic design, theres nthing to stop his movement. Really, is a lot of fun to pose him and it seems he have unlimited posibilitys thanks to his nature as a figther.

The only part with a little bit of problems are his ankles thanks to his pants but theres still a very good range of movement. His is made with soft plastic as well as his belt soo it dosnt block his leg movement. The rest of the figure is made with hard plastic.

His dace expression is really perfect, evil and stoic and the details are great like his lips and the scar and this level of sculpt continue to his entire body full of veins and scars. Tough i find his chin a little to thin actually, is easy to see Kaxuya in here but the face sculpt is not entirely realistic thanks to his face shape (and the hair dosnt help). The strongest point is deffinetly the eyes, they are pretty impresive.

The pants have a good sculpt as well with the classic embrodiment with flames on the sides and this details is sculpted inside the knes too soo you can bend his knes and dont cut the flames design.

The paint tough i am not very sure. The details like the flames, gloves, belt, are certainly perfect, but the pants have a lot of grey washes and tones to artificially create shadows and the end look is kinda weird. Same for his skin, they give it a lot od darker tones and brushes to highlight the shape of the muscles and scars but it dosnt looks very natural to me. The only place were this shadows work perfectly are his eyes since it gives them a pretty deep and menacing look.

I dont know why Square wanted soo much to articicially create shadows. This is not the worst example (that being Kratos or Nathan Drake) but it deffinetly makes the figure to look dated compared with the Storm Collectible figure. That why i was this figure "was" impresive, but now thanks to the hard platic material and weird painting it looks unnatural.

And the accesoryes, sadly this is the most lacking part compared with all other Play Arts Kai. Poor Kaxuya aside of his base only have an extra pair of open hands for fight stances. This was really dissapointing considering the price. He dont use weapons but Square could have give him attack effects and extra face expressions like the Street Fighter guys but they were not very interested on Tekken after all.

Despite not being perfect this is one of the best action figures of Tekken to date and both looks and play fantastic. Also is hard to resists when they give such a comic book super hero buid to the already hunky Kazuya.

KAZUYA MISHIMA

Whem i learn Storm Collectibles was doing Tekken 7 figures i was really hyped about it. Not only theyr figures are fantastic, but it would be the first action figure line since the 90s based on this characters (not counting the failed line of Play Arts Kai) and when i saw the ptotorypes of Heihach and Kazuya i was specially interested on Kazuya of course.

Kazuya was my very first Tekken Husbando since Tekken 2 and he has been constantlly interesting for me, unlike his son Jin, the older he got, the more evil he turns and that makes him incrediblly sexy.

I actually picked Heihachi only to pair him with Kazuya and that was....a year ago, when Tekken 7 was already a year old. My hype for Tekken has come and go and my hype for this figures has come and go many times as well, having an entire year in between releases is trully dissapointing.

And many people wasnt veyr happy with Kazuya either but i can say he is really awesome beside a couple of details. He is taller than Heihachi if only by an inch, and he is bulkyer as well. I tough Heihachi was muscly but Kazuya have a hunkyer shape.

I love the texture on his skin, is really soft and almost velvethish and his pecs and neck are soft an squishy, wich makes him extra realistic and a pleasure to the touch (yes i am drooling over plastic pecs). Of course this is soo the chest piece dosnt stop his arm rotation.

His pants have a heavy fabric texture and are totally clean of shadows and washes and his belt is an independent sculpt, made with soft plastic. This is a great contrast over the crimson red gloves that shine like made with rubber. Is interesting to see how there is no painting highlighting shadows on his outfit or skin, wich makes him looks much more natural than the Play Arts Kai.

This guy actually puts the Play Arts Kai to shame since it have a much better sculpt, more natural textures and better aritculation (tough he is as expensive as the PAK).

His skin tone is darker than Heihachi or Hot Ryu, wich seems to be the problem for the people who dosnt like him. Maybe a lighter tone would do the tryck? Tough this dosnt mean the paint is bad, quiet the oposite, is really good on the many scars on his chest and arms and even the scar on his face and lips have the perfect tone to make them stand out without being awkard.

The shape of his head is pefectly sculpted and he does actually have one red pupil but is very difficult to see it unlike he have direct light. Maybe a little led light would be usefull here but sich device would make him more delicate and more expensive as well.

He is articulated on the head, neck, chest, waist, shoulders, biceps, elbows, double articulation on the wrists, legs, knes, ankles and the midle of the feet. All articulations works really good exept the ones on the ankles, togh they have the limits of the muscles and they feel a little bit delicate....like the double jointed wrists and the neck structure since its a rood coming out under the neck/chest soft piece, i have the feeling a direct hit could break this rod soo he needs to be handled with care.

And the only technical problem this guy have are his ankles, he can barelly move them thanks to his long pants. This could be easy fixed if only his pants where made with soft plastic but they are not, they use hard plastic for them i dont know why. Soo in the end is very difficult to make Kazuya stand on his own thanks to his inability to move his ankles.

Again, this could have been easy fixed WITH A DAMN BASE!!!! Not only it took them an entire year to release him, BUT THEY DIDNT GIVE HIM A BASE!! This is unforgibable for a character like this, a figther who is supposed to be posed kicking and jumping but Storm decided not to give him a base because.... he is not a Street Fighter character.

His accesoryes consist on a bunch of hands, a pair in claw position, a pair fully open and a pair for "two fingers". This last pair is the most interestinf for me since it reminds me Leo Chaolan ending in Tekken 5 and i dont remember Kazuya ever do this "two fingers" sign before. My dirty mind builds a lot of raunchy scenarios for this hands and i like it.

The hands are a little tricky to change tough since the wrists have double articulation and move a lot and the soft lower piece of the gloves dosnt help but being extra carefull with him is a must. Same for his extra heads, they fit into the rod under his neck soo a hard push could breake it.

The hends are a great detail since giving him extra face plates would ruin the sculpt, i am glad Storm opted for the entire head exchange just like with Heihachi. One of the heads and my favorite have a sexy half smile, more than perfect for him. The second head have a full grin showing his teeth. Now then i dont remember Kazuya ever smiling like this before, soo the result is a little odd. I really wish they give him a fierce roaring expression instead of this one.

His other accesory is a special effect made with blue transluscent plastic, a thunder that fit on his fist and moves backwards for the lenght of his body. Tough is difficult to make him stand with this thunder thingy, is really worth the effort since it looks damn good.

Finally, he comes with a background scenario of the final battle on the game, the volcano scenario. This image is a little to dark tough and i like much more the Heihachi scenario but is a great touch from Storm to give them this backgrounds considering they are not Street Fighters.

Overall, aside of the lack of base i am extremelly happy with Kazuya, this is probablly the best Kazuya action figure ever made and is a lot of fun and really really sexy. Sadlly, it open to the worst case scenario: It seems this will be the last Tekken figure from Storm Collectibles, if this rumor is rigth it means this line will aslo be a failed incomplete afair just like Play Arts Kai.