I have always loved two Street Fighter characters the most, Guile, and the subject of today's review, Akuma. Taking the standard design of Ryu and Ken, but adding a darker flair did the trick for me. Has NECA lived up to my super high expectations with this Round 2 Street Fighter IV figure? I think they've gotten awfully close, so read on to find out why!
Name: Akuma
Line: Street Fighter IV, Round 2
Manufacturer: NECA
Released: Summer 2009
Price: Retail: $13.99-$17.99, Online: $13.98-$19.99
Scale: 7.00 in. (figure in 7.25 in. tall to top of hair)
Accessories: Two extra hands
Sponsor Listings: Amazon-$13.98
Akuma is mostly identical to Ryu from the original wave of figures, only his head, sandals, forearms, hands, necklace, and shirt (okay, that's actually a lot of unique pieces) are different; muscles are extremely enormous and flexed with loads of details; clothes have natural wrinkles and fringed edges; various ropes look great and textured; subtle additions like grooves on his shoe-bottoms, texture on his shirt, and even skin-cracked heels; facial expression captures his rage with loads of crisp features; hair is a little soft, but looks good when taken as a whole; his pant legs are too filled out and smooth; hand poses all work in multiple positions; necklace and shirt are made of softer plastic to make them easy to manipulate and remove (with the necklace anyway, don't try to remove the shirt without glue handy, as it's not intended to come off).
Sculpt Score: 9 / 10
Akuma is one of the better painted SF IV figures, because there isn't much to mess up; colors all look great, I love the shade of his outfit; skin is full of brush effects to bring out highlights and sculpt details; his upper body clothing has a great natural brush effect, but when it's applied to his legs, it comes off too thick in some spots and nonexistant in others; ropes are colored perfectly and showcase great drybrushing; his hair looks a little too messy with a seemingly random and considerably ugly wash; face paint is gloppy, but it actually works to make Akuma look sort of weathered and angrier; some applications come up short, particularly spots where the ropes disappear into his closed fists; despite any small problems, I love the way these colors and effects all come together, as this is an enjoyable figure to look at.
Paint Score: 8 / 10
A plethora of useful points of articulation; so many possible fighting poses to represent what can be done in the game; none of the points are limited, even his ab crunch is fine with his shirt; most of the joints are ridiculously tight, which makes it a struggle to move them, but works well to get him to hold poses; oddly enough, his hips are pretty loose to counter the tightness of every other joint, so it can take a little time to get them to stick a pose; most joints look okay, but the backside of the double hinged knees includes a monster middle plate that looks pretty funky; the thigh swivel is also noticeable, though not something I consider a big problem.
Articulation Score: 9 / 10
Akuma is a ton of fun to mess around with because of the vast number of poses he can achieve and hold; all it takes is one other SF IV figure to have a full night of display set-up entertainment; he's based off a very recognizable Street Fighter character that makes a perfect enemy for favorites like Ken and Ryu; being a video game tie-in will make him even more enjoyable to fans of the game; comes with extra hands to add posing diversity and options; packaging has statistics that might entertain for a little while; nothing is too frustrating or limiting of either play or display.
Fun Score: 10 / 10
At $15, this Akuma figure is at a pretty competitive price point; he's well made, licensed from a famous video game franchise, and is a pretty good sized figure at 7 inches with some weight; time was clearly spent designing him; he uses some parts we've seen before, but includes a number of new ones too; comes with two extra hands but no other accessories to add the extra oomph of value (energy blasts!); nothing is broken or missing; the packaging protects the figure well and has some beautiful artwork and photography that might make the inserts worth keeping; plus, everyone just needs to have an Akuma figure in their collection somewhere!
Value Score: 9 / 10
90 / 100 - This is a Wonderful Toy
Akuma is another great addition to the Street Fighter IV line because of his strong sculpt, diverse articulation, and fair pricing.
-The Articulated On
This could be the figure given away in this month's Review Commentator Contest. Join the discussion by leaving a comment for a chance to win!
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