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Ryu and Ken (Street Fighter)

Height: 16cm to tops of heads.

Articulation: joints in all: swivel neck; 3 joints in each arm- swivel shoulder, swivel bicep, hinged elbow; 3 joints in each leg- ball-jointed hips, hinged knee, swivel ankle.

Accessories: None.

Colors(Ryu): Molded olive green and black(belt). Painted black, fleshtone, white(eyes), brown, and black ink.

Colors(Ken): Molded dark blue and black. Painted fleshtone, yellow, white, brown, and black ink.

Release Data: Released last quarter 2004 for an MSRP of $5.99. This item is still widely available as of this writing (March 25th, 2005)

Gallery: 9 images.

Author: RAC

The Figure

Street Fighter is totally a `90s thing. Though the first game of the series was released in 1987, it wasn't until 1991 with the first of many sequels, Street Fighter II, that the series made a serious impression on video game players at large. Even now its influences can be felt, as one-on-one fighting games flourish to this day, just about all inspired in one way or another by SF2 and its many expansions.

The first SF toy line came in 1993, when Hasbro released a number of figures as part of their long-running GI Joe brand. While the 12" figures were passable, if not terribly poseable, the 3-3/4" line had, in my opinion, very little to do with Street Fighter outside of the name. And, in most cases, awfully vague resemblances to the characters I was playing on my Super NES.

I can't think of any good reason a 1/6 scale M.Bison should have an automatic rifle with missile launcher, either. Except that every 12" figure that Hasbro made during that period had one too.

Today, JazWares Inc. has taken on a number of Capcom properties, including Street Fighter. While they're relative newcomers to action figure production, they sure got more right than Hasbro in terms of looks- though there's still some room for improvement in other areas.

These figures are the "Player 2" versions- that is to say, they're recolors. They don't look bad at all, though, and I always preferred playing Ken in blue, myself. Since, as in the game, Ryu and Ken share a body with only differing heads, I'm reviewing them jointly.

The Head

Ryu is rather stern-looking, and the head sculpt does have a certain resemblance to the original portrait used in the first version of Street Fighter II. Something about the face seems off, though- the eyes just don't seem right. The tails to his trademark headband are molded separately from the rest of the head, and are extra long, for dramatic effect I suppose.

Ken's head is about the same as Ryu's in terms of sculpting quality. He's certainly less scowlly than Ryu, and his face is smoother overall. Again, there's just something about his face that seems slightly off- this is definitely a new take on the characters' faces, and I guess I just prefer the original illustrations.

Both heads are mounted on a mushroom-shaped peg which functions as being sort of halfway between a ball and a swivel joint. It gives a mild amount of tilt, but not much, and I'm not even sure if it was intentional.

The Arms

Three joints here, and while they're not bad, they just don't have the range to recreate any of Ryu and Ken's attacks. An added ball-joint or hinge in the shoulder would've helped immensely, and while the elbow hinge interferes with the sculpting minimally, it would have needed more range to be effective. Plastic pins are visible at the elbows, which kind of blows their otherwise minimal profile.

The Torso

A fair sculpt, though the muscles are a bit overdone, far as I'm concerned. The gi is nicely frayed as it should be, and the belt and lower flaps are molded in soft plastic so as not to interfere with the legs as much. It's some help, but it's still somewhat restrictive. There are two screws in the back, but they don't detract from the look terribly much.

The Legs and Feet

The hips are ball-jointed and have a pretty fair range, though if you move them too far they'll pop off the ball joints, which are made of extremely glossy plastic. The knees get about 45 degrees of flex- again, not enough to replicate any SF2 poses you might want, but enough to allow a few stable stances. Like the elbows, plastic pins are visible on the sides. The knees are also a bit too low on the leg, in my opinion. The ankle swivels are very sensibly and naturally placed, and help the knees to stabilize the figure in a wider stance.

Paint and Decoration

Ryu and Ken's paint jobs are pretty nice. One thing that is especially noteworthy is that all colors on both figures are either painted or molded, with no attempts to match a plastic's natural color to a painted one. This is a really nice touch, and something that larger companies fail to do on a regular basis. Their clothes have also been given a black wash, which is much easier to tell on Ryu, than on Ken's dark blue clothing. There is a tiny amount of painted skin bleeding over onto the colors of the gi, but it's only evident from certain angles. Also, each figure's neck is the color of their clothes near the back- it's a small area, but it is noticeable at some angles.

Articulation gets 6/10

Sculpt and Deco get 7/10

Closing Remarks:

And that's pretty much what you get- no attempt has been made to give Ryu or Ken accessories that don't belong, and I appreciate that greatly. Unlike their Mega Man line, where there's a variety of small sidekick characters from various games to include, there's nothing much you can add to a Street Fighter figure. A clear plastic fireball would've been neat, I suppose, but it would've drawn attention to the fact that Ryu and Ken can't assume the correct pose to throw it.

Form is pretty clearly valued over function here- the joints have all been placed to minimize their appearance, outside of the plastic pins. Personally, I would have preferred a bit more articulation. But for the MSRP of $5.99, they're not bad at all and I don't regret buying them. They're Good figures, and my hope is that any future Street Fighter figures will be an improvement on this solid beginning.

-RAC, Revenge of the `90s Week