Storm Collectibles Ultra Street Fighter 2 Blanka

I've been loving the Ultra Street Fighter 2 series of figures from Storm Collectibles, and this latest Blanka figure is no exception. In fact, I think overall this has to be their best release yet! There's just so much to like about this figure.

Click through below to watch my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel.

As always with the USF2 releases, this Blanka set comes packed to the brim with accessories. Of course it comes with his electric thunder, done very nicely in transluscent yellow plastic that captures the electricity very nicely. It also comes with 4 head sculpts in total, each of which are beautifully sculpted and painted. The expressions are very accurate to the game, and I absolutely love the loser expression that they always include with the USF2 figures.

The array of hands give you all the possible options to replicate his poses from the game. They also come nicely painted, with the reds at the base of the finger nails being a stand out detail. To round things off, the usual backdrop from the classic character stage is also included. 

The figure itself brings the best of everything that Storm has done before. The sculpting in the musculature is perfect, and the paint application brings it all to life. The shade of green is fantastic, and incredibly consistent across all parts of the figure.

The use of softer plastic or vinyl around the hips and groin area allow for the deep crouching poses. But I do worry that the area may tear if left stressed for long periods, so I would go for more static poses for long term display.

All head sculpts come with the same orange hair piece, that is made of a softer plastic. This way when posing with the head looking up, the hair is not so hard as to scratch the paint on the back or hinder the articulation. In fact, it's more the neck joint that hinders the figure looking even more upwards. That point of articulation is probably the only negative point that I would fault with the figure.

All other articulation points are the same as those from the previous best in Storm's range, such as Sagat, Balrog, and Fei Long. With the ankle rocking and stability in the joints, there's really no problem in getting him into a variety of poses that don't need stands to support.

The hardest pose is really the crouching, bent over pose to complement the electric thunder accessory. I had to do it at least once to capture a photo of his classic special move! The use of the additional ab crunch hinge helps getting him bent over more. But the ability to look more upwards would've sold the pose even more.

All in all, it's a fairly minor complaint against all the other positives of the figure. The sculpting, paint application, articulation, and general body proportions just perfectly fit into the series. His gorgeous orange and green bring some bright colour to the cast, and they just look sensational all displaye together. It's just pure 90s arcade nostalgia for me when I look at them on my shelf! Here's hoping Storm announce more USF2 figures for preorder very soon.

Storm Collectibles Street Fighter 6 Ryu

I've played Street Fighter since SF2 back in the early 90s, spending countless hours at the classic arcades. I even played some SFAlpha too, but cooled off the game until it came back with a vengeance in SF4. I didn't like SF5 at all, but then when SF5 came out, it felt like the perfect game.

It had the gameplay that I liked from SF4, with improved visuals. The new game mechanics were something that I learned and adapted to fairly well across a number of different characters too. As it turns out, I really do feel that it's the most complete and fun Street Fighter game since SF2.

As always, my go to characters is Ryu, and I love that they've balanced his gameplay to have really strong fundamentals, and he hits like a truck! Not the top tier in the game, but a character that you can learn and improve upon with time and practice.

I love the Storm Collectibles Ultra Street Fighter 2 series of figures for all the nostalgia they bring. And when I saw that they were also releasing Ryu from SF6, there was no way that I was going to pass on him! And I'm glad to say it's a fantastic figure release!

Click below to watch my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel.

The set comes with a nice array of accessories, including a beautiful backdrop from the game. The softgoods cloak is a nice touch, but I prefer to display the figure without it. The fireball is a given, and the vast array of hands and head sculpts give you all the pose options you want to replicate his moves from the game.

The paint application is the usual high quality from Storm. The sculpt is perfectly proportioned, and the paint details bring out all the nuances in the musculature. The skin tone is really nice, and even the scarring on his body is sharply done. The dirt wash in his pants also nicely highlight the spotted detailing and folds in the sculpt.

The head sculpt too is a gorgeous rendition from the game. I've grown to like his bearded look and his character ages in the game. Add the scarring and the sandels, and his nomadic warrior persona really comes to the fore.

Articulation has always been a strong point for me with Storm. They have found a nice balance between a beautifully proportioned sculpt, with movement that has a great range of motion that doesn't have to break up that sculpt.

I always love their butterfly shoulder joints with the floating inner piece that fills gaps. The elbow and knee joints have also been perfected to still look great when deeply bent. The soft upper torso is icing on the cake, where it allows great forward, back, and sideways tilting to get those natural martial arts poses.

The different head sculpts complement the figure perfectly. You can pick whichever one you want to display to match one of his iconic poses from the game. I for one love the screaming head sculpt, which conveys the strength of his character so well.

All in all, I think this is another fantastic release from Storm. I am usually only an USF2 series collector, but am so glad that I also ordered this SF6 Ryu. If anything, I actually wish they would re-release an USF2 Ryu and Ken with this SF6 Ryu body proportions. That would make them fit in with the latest figures in a much more consistent way.

But either way, I hope Storm continue to release quality figures like this. Yes, their price range is high, but I feel you get the quality to go with that. With how much enjoyment I get just looking at this Ryu and others in my display cabinet, I really don't have anything to compain about. Here's hoping for more Street Fighter goodness in the not too distant future!