September 1, 2009
SFIV Chun-Li and a new HELLside comic!

EXCITEMENT — the first of the newly-formatted Scary-Crayon toy reviews is here! (Thanks to all… three? of you out there who actually commented on the test layout. 😛 ) But first, here’s a new Dusty Plastic HELLside comic starring our beloved Sarah Jane Smith… in a situation that wasn’t exactly intended for this particular Sarah. Making this comic made me kinda sad for television series loved and lost, but at least “The Sarah Jane Adventures” is getting a third season. Looking forward to it.

Anyway, here’s our review of NECA’s amazing Street Fighter IV Chun-Li action figure — complete with lots of special move poses and inserted sprite comparisons! Originally I was doing the article with the video game screencaps positioned next to the thumbnails (as I did in our CvS2 Mai and Chun-Li figure review), but since I found dealing with those images to be highly time consuming for a number of reasons I decided to go with this method instead and ditch the other images. I think this works a lot better anyway, but let me know what you think!

You may also have noticed that, with some recent reviews, I spent an insane amount of time trying to get the pixel widths of each row of images to match up — I didn’t do that here, and it bothers me a whole lot less than I thought it would. If you’re as obsessive as I often am about these kinds of things, I apologize for any hair-pulling it causes you. And speaking of obsessive, I really did take over 1000 photos of the toy. Some of those (a relatively small percentage, but still) were shots of Chun-Li with other figures — so, much like the appearances that followed the Grim Reaper review, expect to see Chun-Li show up in three or four upcoming Dusty Plastic HELLside comics. Hopefully at least one of them will be funny!

Finally, another plug — Infinite Hollywood has a brand new domain name and a new contest to boot! One of these days I’m gonna win the lottery, and then I’m gonna have a contest with all kinds of prizes. Prizes rule.

Aaaand that does it for this update. As Chun-Li would say, zai jian!

P.S. NECA, if you’re ever looking for employees to pose and photograph your toys, I seriously wasn’t kidding about wanting the job. 😉

-posted by Wes | 10:34 am | Comments (23)
23 Comments »
  • Ragey says:

    I’m loving the presentation on the review! I’ve personally never split my reviews into sections since I find it just makes my work more disjointed than it already is, but you’ve done a fantastic job with it! Naturally I love the sprite comparisons and given how great the photos are, I’d be curious to see the other 900 or so photos you didn’t include =P

    • Wes says:

      I’m glad you like it! Sectioning the reviews was admittedly for my benefit as much as readers’ — whereas I’m fully capable of rambling on about a figure forever and going in any number of directions, I found that organizing the reviews (especially after writing my first couple of guest reviews for Articulated Discussion) gave me a structure to work with and helped limit my tendency to ramble. I think I’ll even extend the section thing to my video game reviews, though I’m not sure what categories to use and whether I’ll give the games numerical scores.

      And oh man, those other 900+ photos! To give you an idea, I probably have 50 shots of the Spinning Bird Kick alone — I could even make a mini animation out of them, though I didn’t take enough for a full revolution. My camera battery only lasts like 50 minutes, and I went through at least four full runs… and I also spent a lot of time shooting Chun-Li with the camera plugged in. Insanity, I tell you.

  • Newt says:

    Thanks for the plug!

    Your vintage sprite comparisons are made of win. I still don’t like a lot of things about this figure, but those definitely show off the nice articulation.

    • Wes says:

      No problem, Newt! I’m looking forward to seeing the continued evolution of the site — and if you can shoot me an 88 x 31 pixel button, I’ll see what we can’t do about adding Infinite Hollywood to the links block in the sidebar. 🙂

      And I’m glad you like the sprite comparisons, but really — paint issues and other very minor quibbles aside — what is there not to like about this figure?!? She’s an articulated plastic vision, I tell you… and if I were in a 7-inch scale, I’d wrap myself around one of her massive thighs and never ever ever let go.

      Don’t judge me. 😐

  • Victor says:

    Just got the toy yesterday, I’m happy you also liked it. Those paint aplications are always the main issue with toys that are almost-perfect, most Transformers have this problem. Still, it’s the best Chun Li toy, ever!!

    • Wes says:

      Transformers, you think? I hardly ever have a problem with Transformers… mostly because they have so little paint on them. I know that bothers some people — and customizers make some pretty badass-looking Transformers by giving them more involved paint jobs — but it suits me just fine! I mean, if they did have more paint, I imagine they’d be chipping and flaking all over the place with all of those moving parts.

      Y’know, like Chun and her magical paint dust. 😐

  • Monty Python says:

    I mostly agree with the Chun Li review, but mine doesn’t have quite as many paint errors. She is a rather fun figure, which is important. A lot of toys lately look great, but they’re just not fun to play with. Which I still do. I enjoy putting them in various poses and just messing with them.

    And,when I’m really bored, I might send Batman and Spider-Man on some special mission together…

    • Wes says:

      Lucky you and your Chun-Li with fewer paint errors! Most of mine are forgivable, but damn that chipped knee bugs the hell out of me (well, that and the paint dust — that’s just unhealthy). Thing is, it would’ve been fine if they’d left it unpainted — apparently the plastic underneath is darker, and the airbrushing around that area is pretty dark anyway… it’s just not in the joint. Argh.

      Here’s hoping my gothic Chun-Li will have better paint.

  • DrNightmare says:

    How DARE you slight Cammy like that! Cammy has a lifetime of training and brainwashing, enough to fight a HUNDRED thigh-tumored Chun-Lis! RAWR!

    😛

    • clark says:

      I was such a little perv playing in the arcades that I would choose Cammy just to see her backside victory pose. Sometimes I embarrass myself….but this is not really one of those times.

  • clark says:

    This is the review that finally talked me into spending the money on Chun-li. Thanks, Wes.

    • Wes says:

      No problem! You love her, right? Everyone must love that figure… *_*

      • clark says:

        You better believe I love her. I got so excited about her I have since picked up the SDCC Guile (or at least he is in the mail on his way to me), Akuma (who is great, with real balljoints for wrists) and even a Ninja Gaiden II figure (whose review will probably be posted in the next couple of weeks, but I’ll give you a quick preview: I mostly like like him).

        • Wes says:

          Akuma has balljoints for wrists and they work well? Hm! I thought they kinda sucked with Guile, but I love Chun’s swivel-hinged wrists. And SDCC Guile sounds like a good buy — I kinda wish I’d gotten him over the regular version, since at least then he’d be a little more unique.

          And when you say Ninja Gaiden II, you mean the NECA figure, right? Or have you discovered some retro figure I’ve never heard of?!

          Wait, I see — they called the newer game Ninja Gaiden II as well. I was super excited for a sec… I’d love to see a figure based on Ryu’s simpler design from the NES days. 🙂 Still looking forward to your review, though!

  • clark says:

    Akuma’s wrists work great, they are tight, sit flush in the socket, and have a good range of motion, not quite as much as Ryu’s but still pretty good. I don’t know what it is about him, but he is just a lot of fun. I know how much Tao liked him, but I wasn’t convinced, I only bought him because I had some christmas money in my pocket. I love little details on him, such as the sandles on his feet which made from a real soft rubber and glued into place. They are flush against his feet so you can’t tell that the foot and sandle aren’t just one mold.
    The only problem is finding one with a good paint job. The TRU I was at just happened to have loads of SF figures (eight pegs full of round two figures), so I had six or seven Akumas to pick through, and found one that had really good paint, one with pretty good paint, and the rest had poor paint.

    • Wes says:

      Aaaahhhhhh stop trying to sell me on him! I’ve passed on Akuma since I really like the sculpt and size of the CvS2 one (though the articulation needs work) and don’t so much like those things about the NECA version, but admittedly comments like that have got me starting to warm towards him. I think I’ll probably pick him up when the Survival Mode colors are released… and then maybe I’ll do a headswap with the CvS2 Akuma.

      • clark says:

        Sorry…didn’t mean to sound like a salesman. I like him a lot, but to be honest, I would give this one up before my Sota Shin Akuma (of course that figure has white hair and purple gi, how could I not love him?). I don’t know what his survival mode colors are, but I know that I will probably want the SM Ryu (maybe Ken too, although I’d rather have his red gi). Actually I bought Akuma because I wanted another SF figure and have just accepted that I’m not going to find Ken in the stores anymore.

        • Wes says:

          I wasn’t being serious — you didn’t need to apologize. 🙂 It’s good that you like the figure!

          I believe one of the survival outfits for Akuma is blood red, so that’s probably the one I’ll go for. I think one of Ken’s is white, but if they do yellow I’ll have to pick that up.

          I’m not sure about Ken, but I still see a lot of Viper lately. I’ve been tempted to grab her despite my general lack of love for anyone not in SFII, but I’m thinking I’ll like her better in the SM colors too!

          • clark says:

            Okay, this will be my last post on this particular subject, but I’m super excited! I went ahead and ordered Ken from TRU website, along with Transformers Bludgeon (all the kids apparently love him). I also ordered Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for the Wii today, and can’t wait as I love 2d fighters, especially with SF characters.
            I am still in love with the Chun-li figure. Something about me, I have the attention span of a 5 year old kid with ADHD on a sugar high when it comes to toys, meaning my interests change about every week, but I can’t stop playing and posing Chun-li…..I think my wife is getting jealous…

  • Reluctant Danger says:

    Thanks dude. I didn’t even know about this figure. I bought two within ten minutes of reading your assessment. I shall donate to your worthy cause.

    • Wes says:

      And thanks right back at you for the donation! I’m glad you found the review to be so helpful — do pop back and let us know what you think of the figure. That Chun-Li is definitely among my favorite toys of all time. 🙂

  • Raul says:

    Hello!
    I have a Chun Li and Cammy.
    I’m thinking about buying a Mai Shiranui figure, but only if she is the same size.

    I see you have a Pink Mai, but I’m not sure if she’s the same size than this red one:

    http://i1213.photobucket.com/a....._COMBO.jpg

    Could you please tell me if she is the same size to the Sota toys, or bigger?
    I have these girls already:
    http://th06.deviantart.net/fs7.....4pcfxr.jpg

    http://www.cammyfan.com/Cammy-.....-cammy.jpg

    Thank you!!!

    • Wes says:

      Hey! Sorry for the late response. The High Dream Mai in red is indeed the same mold as the pink SDCC one — but both are notably larger than the SOTA figures. If you scroll down in the NECA SFIV Chun-Li review, you can see a group shot of all of the Chuns, including the SOTA and High Dream figures. The High Dream Chun about the same size as Mai, so you can see how she compares to the SOTA Chun-Li (and, by extension, to Cammy) in terms of size.

      I hope that was helpful!

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