It takes Storm Collectibles seemingly ages to release any figures from their Ultra Street Fighter 2 series, so any eventual release is an absolute must-buy for me. They teases both Zangief and Balrog together perhaps almost 2 years ago now, and Zangief finally released earlier this year. There's still no sight of a Balrog prototype, let alone an actual release, so fans like me will just have to keep waiting.
But as always, the wait is typically worth it. This Zangief release is fantastic! Click the link below to watch my full review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Remember to subscribe to stay tuned for upcoming reviews! 😀
For those collecting the USF2 series, the contents will be familiar. I love the classic backdrop, which does seem to use a slightly sturdier card stock this time which avoids the creases. The special move accessories are also nicely done, in either the transluscent orange for his Double Lariat, or the green for his Banishing Flat.
I typically don't use those accessories in my display cabinet, but luckily they include a raft of swap out hands and head sculpts to give plenty of posing options. Unique to the USF2 series is the loser head sculpt, which I love. The various snarling and screaming sculpts also bring out the real character in Zangief too.
The figure itself is nicely made. Mine did not have too many paint blemishes, and the overall skin tone is pretty consistent across all aspects of the figure. The use of softer plastic in the torso is similar to the previous figures, and allows for great articulation in the shoulders too.
The waist and hip joints are a little squeaky, but not so tight that I thought something was going to be damaged. The softer plastic in the underwear does get caught a little at the leg join, but that can be futzed to either remove the folds or hide gaps.
All the other points of articulation work as well as they always have in this series. So there are plenty of options to get him into his iconic wrestling and super moves. Posed up with the other characters from the series (barring E.Honda who is from SF5), he complements the cast very well. The scale is great, being of the right bulkiness and a height just a bit shorter than Sagat. And that classic gaming style and paint app just gives me all that arcade gaming nostalgic goodness!
As I mentioned before, the USF2 series does great with the loser head sculpts. I realised I'd never actually posed all of them beaten up that way, so here they all are after a beating from Chun-Li! 😂
This series so far has been fantastic, and I really do hope Storm gives a bit of focus to at least get Chun-Li a variant in this series, as well as Balrog and M.Bison. In fact, it would be so great if they could just do the original core cast! But in the mean time, we'll all just have to wait and enjoy what we have so far.
I stumbled across these Pix Brix sets over on the Big Bad Toy Store website. I'm a big Street Fighter fan since growing up playing the original Street Fighter 2 back in the days of actual arcade centres. These sets really spoke to my nostalgia of many things 80s and 90s. Being a brick building fan of Lego, these were pretty much a must-have for me!
Now the Pix Brix design of each individual piece is quite different to Lego, despite the very similar aesthetic on the packaging art! The build styles and technique are quite different too. You may get a better feel for this in some of the close up shots in my video reviews below over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. Hope you can check them out, and scroll down further for more pics of the completed set.
It's great that each set comes with a character sheet with some decent artwork and character biography. The colour map to build each set is on the reverse side of each character sheet. I didn't recognise some of the artwork, but by all accounts they are orginal character art from the game.
Each set is 768 pieces, being 24 x 32 bricks in dimensions, taking the complete set to over 6000 pieces. At about USD$21 each, the price to piece count to pretty decent. Once completed and put together, the full size of the set really becomes apparent, and it simply looks fantastic.
Since they are brick built, the character portraits do look better when viewed from a small distance. But that's perfect for placing them on a book shelf, gaming desk, or in your display cabinet. I'm very much out of space these days, but will definitely need to find a spot to display this set.
For a bit more of a size comparison, here is the completed set with me on the couch! This set is perfect for Street Fighter fans, particularly those with fond memories of the original arcade game and core cast of characters. Highly recommended!
BigboystoysHK have done some great work with their Street Fighter series. I've got all the main characters from the series, and am glad that they're committed to completing the core characters from Street Fighter 2.
Their latest is now the first of the original boss characters with Vega. Again, they've designed the pose and light/sound features beautifully to capture that classic fighting move from the game. Click through below to watch my full video review over on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel!
Packaging is the usual fantastic style, with great artwork on the front. They've had consistently awesome artwork with this super-deformed style, and the covers do indeed look fantastic displayed together.
There is a bit of assembly to put the statue together, and it does get fiddly this time. The wrists have little posts that fit into holes in the lightup base. Out of the box, the base is a little too wide, so you do need to stretch out the arms slightly and push the base ends together to get the wrist pegs to fit into the holes nicely.
Just go slow and you shouldn't snap or break anything. I'd suggest putting one arm in first slightly, and then squeeze to place the other arm in. Then push down to firmly place both arms in. Once all set up, the set looks fantastic!
The background is Vega's classic game stage, and the pose captures his flying attach move perfectly. The sculpting and paint app are the usual high standard. The face mask is also removable, and attaches via a magnet near the top of the forehead.
It fits pretty well, and his unmasked face looks suitably "pretty" for the character. I prefer the mask on look which befits his attack move. The sound effect is the clip when he perfects the move, and the lightup effect is nicely time-sequenced with the sound.
Overall, if you're a fan of the original Street Fighter 2 game, you will love these statue sets as much as I do. I still need to figure out how to display all the characters together, and they do look amazing all displayed with each other. I can't wait to see how they do Sagat, Balrog, and M.Bison to finish off the original bosses!
Have loved this Street Fighter series by BigBoysToysHK since they started back with Ryu and Ken. The sculpting and paint detailing is as good as ever! Click through below for my full video review on the Kool Kollectibles YouTube channel. More pics are below too :)
Love the packaging art for each of these statue sets! The super-deformed style really suits the characters well.
Great sculpt and paint details. The light up features are nice too giving the spinning effect for his double lariat. I think Akuma and E.Honda are coming up next. Can't wait to complete the original set of World Warriors!
