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.
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