Hey everyone. I am a bit late posting this compared to when I actually got the figure, but work has been chaotic lately and I just haven't had the mental energy to do it. But I feel like I can do a review today, though I am limited on time still, so we'll give it a shot!
If you want to check out the product announcement thread, it is here.
Similar to my review of the Tunshi Studio Mai Shiranui figure, this review will score each category, with the most weight being given to quality of product and overall value.
Quick disclaimer, but all photos are from my phone and I will add more as I take them. Sorry that they are sideways??? I don't know why?
OVERVIEW: FIRST IMPRESSIONS (SCORE: 10/10)
Yes, 10/10. I paid $290 for this figure and my first thought while opening him was "this was worth every single cent."
The box he comes in is absolutely huge and heavily detailed with Ryu-centric things. The box cover comes off and provides you with a very surprising and good looking backdrop to pose him in front of. The packaging is layered as expected, and holds everything wonderfully. The first impression of him is "this dude is a monster" followed by giggling and excitement for just how awesome the unboxing is. Honestly, if this is what I can expect from Iconiq and their Street Fighter line, I will be throwing my money at them every single announcement.
ACCESSORIES (SCORE: 9.5/10)
Despite the above, I have three minor gripes about the accessories.
First, the Hadoken energy ball and stand. While the energy ball/blast is outright huge and well detailed (I will add pics later as I forgot to grab some), getting it on the clear acrylic stand is a bit of a pain. It is a very tight fit to say the least. Once on though, it looks good and will work well with some lighting effects.
Second, as with my gripe about Mai's cost to paint job quality, I have the same, but only on a single set of hands. Ironically, it is the Hadoken hands, and all it is is a bit more red paint covering his pointer finger than needed. Seems silly, especially because a normal person wouldn't notice this, but I am not normal, and this costs near $300.
Third, the punching bag could have been given a little weight. Sure I get shipping, but at $300, do we really care at this point? Give it a little heft, it won't hurt.
Those are my only complaints though! As for accessories, you get the aforementioned Hadoken energy ball/blast and stand, a display stand that is as hefty as they come (and it is needed), a pair of feet so he can look like he's pushing off the ground, hands for days, a punching bag, and an additional action head sculpt.
All told he comes with 6 pairs of hands: Fist (how he was shipped), 3 separate and different open grip hands (one pair neutral, the other two styled), a modified pair of fists and the Hadoken hands. They are beautifully painted (with the minor exception above). These things are HUGE. The fist alone is nearly the size of a male head sculpt. The neutral open grip hand is massive (note that I'm 6'3" and can palm a basketball). The feet are huge as well. To put it another way, one of my initial thoughts was "you could make a pretty great Andrea the Giant or Hulk out of this...".
OUTFIT (SCORE: 10/10)
Not only is the outfit instantly recognizable as Ryu's normal clothing, but it is exceptionally tailored. The whole thing fits him perfectly, and is weathered and frayed beautifully. The whole thing is wired as well, so posing the cloth is super easy. The characters on his belt are sewn in, not printed, and are clear as day. His headband is sculpted around the head, and wired as well, making posing super accurate and fun to do. Super simple outfit, but amazingly done.
HEAD SCULPT (SCORE: 9.75/10)
This version of Ryu is from Street Fighter V, which was very anime style in how they went about the character design. Overall, they absolutely nailed it. The promo pics and the real, neutral HS are nearly identical. The hair, while sculpted, is spiky and sharp and very well painted (dry brushed even). Skin tone matches the body wonderfully, and the facial features are strong and serious as is Ryu.
The secondary sculpt, where he is yelling, is also very well done. It looks kinda weird, but not in a "they failed the sculpt" way, but in the way it looks weird in Street Fighter V. If you've played it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, look it up and it'll make sense.
The only complaint is that the hair is spiky at the neck, which could spell trouble for the neck if not careful.
BODY SCULPT AND ARTICULATION (SCORE: 9.5/10)
This will be subjective, regardless of who you are, fair warning.
The sculpt is for sure a custom design. The whole thing screams "MASSIVE." The M34, the bulkiest body I own, looks tiny by comparison. There is a clear weight difference too. Despite being the same height, you could nearly fit one of the TBL male bodies in him like Han fit Luke in the Tauntaun. Aesthetically speaking, he looks like the guy who could take another guy and throw them like a toy. You could print out a WIDE LOAD sticker and put it across his shoulders and it probably wouldn't be wide enough. I make all these cliche's to say that it is a truly huge body.
As for articulation, it is a good thing it was TBL who made this. He has all the range of motion his smaller compatriot the M34 has. He is rock solid and smooth as silk when posing. Honestly, it is impressive what they managed with his arms and legs and shoulders considering the mass.
As per my standard, here are his measurements and some amusing notes:
- [ ] Height: approx 300mm top scalp/305mm top hair
- [ ] Chest: 235mm
- [ ] Arms: 95mm no flex (that is his bicep, not flexed. Dude is jacked)
- [ ] Wing span: 330mm (Understand in 1:1 Ryu is around 5'10"/5'11". So having a 6'5" or so wingspan is something else.
- [ ] Waist: 153mm
- [ ] Hips: 196mm
- [ ] Thighs: 126mm (and we joke about Chun Li)
- [ ] Calves: 104mm
- [ ] Hand width: 26.75mm
- [ ] Hand length: 48mm
FINAL SCORES
Value for the Money Score: 9.9/10. I give it a 9.9/10 for two simple reasons. 1) The faults are in every sense minimal and far, far less than with Mai (however minor they were). 2) It's hard to open that box and be unimpressed. Even if you aren't a huge fan of the series, or even the style of this rendition of Ryu, there is so much to like here.
Objective Overall Score: 8.5/10 Not everyone will be happy with this, but that's how it goes with any release. The style of Street Fighter V is not for everyone, which is understandable. Add to the fact that these will be very difficult to kit-bash with from a cost stand point, a fairly generic list of accessories (however in tune with the character), and the fairly limited nature of this figure, there will be plenty who say "nope" to this.
Subjective Overall Score: 9.5/10 Personally, this was worth every cent. I have a soft spot for Street Fighter and Ryu as many who grew up playing fighting games likely do. He is an iconic character, and one I am glad to have. He checked every box for quality to price for me. I will happily throw money at Iconiq when they announce Ken, and any other character in this lineup. The reason it gets a 9.5 and not 10 subjectively is because I am a perfectionist and $300 does hurt the wallet (even if it was already budgeted for).
My final thoughts are this: If I had to pick a company to make my favorite fighting game characters under official license, I would pick Iconiq. That is how much I love this release (if you read my posts of my customs, you can tell just how picky I am, so that is very high praise from me). If you can pick him up, do it!
If you want to check out the product announcement thread, it is here.
Similar to my review of the Tunshi Studio Mai Shiranui figure, this review will score each category, with the most weight being given to quality of product and overall value.
Quick disclaimer, but all photos are from my phone and I will add more as I take them. Sorry that they are sideways??? I don't know why?
OVERVIEW: FIRST IMPRESSIONS (SCORE: 10/10)
Yes, 10/10. I paid $290 for this figure and my first thought while opening him was "this was worth every single cent."
The box he comes in is absolutely huge and heavily detailed with Ryu-centric things. The box cover comes off and provides you with a very surprising and good looking backdrop to pose him in front of. The packaging is layered as expected, and holds everything wonderfully. The first impression of him is "this dude is a monster" followed by giggling and excitement for just how awesome the unboxing is. Honestly, if this is what I can expect from Iconiq and their Street Fighter line, I will be throwing my money at them every single announcement.
ACCESSORIES (SCORE: 9.5/10)
Despite the above, I have three minor gripes about the accessories.
First, the Hadoken energy ball and stand. While the energy ball/blast is outright huge and well detailed (I will add pics later as I forgot to grab some), getting it on the clear acrylic stand is a bit of a pain. It is a very tight fit to say the least. Once on though, it looks good and will work well with some lighting effects.
Second, as with my gripe about Mai's cost to paint job quality, I have the same, but only on a single set of hands. Ironically, it is the Hadoken hands, and all it is is a bit more red paint covering his pointer finger than needed. Seems silly, especially because a normal person wouldn't notice this, but I am not normal, and this costs near $300.
Third, the punching bag could have been given a little weight. Sure I get shipping, but at $300, do we really care at this point? Give it a little heft, it won't hurt.
Those are my only complaints though! As for accessories, you get the aforementioned Hadoken energy ball/blast and stand, a display stand that is as hefty as they come (and it is needed), a pair of feet so he can look like he's pushing off the ground, hands for days, a punching bag, and an additional action head sculpt.
All told he comes with 6 pairs of hands: Fist (how he was shipped), 3 separate and different open grip hands (one pair neutral, the other two styled), a modified pair of fists and the Hadoken hands. They are beautifully painted (with the minor exception above). These things are HUGE. The fist alone is nearly the size of a male head sculpt. The neutral open grip hand is massive (note that I'm 6'3" and can palm a basketball). The feet are huge as well. To put it another way, one of my initial thoughts was "you could make a pretty great Andrea the Giant or Hulk out of this...".
OUTFIT (SCORE: 10/10)
Not only is the outfit instantly recognizable as Ryu's normal clothing, but it is exceptionally tailored. The whole thing fits him perfectly, and is weathered and frayed beautifully. The whole thing is wired as well, so posing the cloth is super easy. The characters on his belt are sewn in, not printed, and are clear as day. His headband is sculpted around the head, and wired as well, making posing super accurate and fun to do. Super simple outfit, but amazingly done.
HEAD SCULPT (SCORE: 9.75/10)
This version of Ryu is from Street Fighter V, which was very anime style in how they went about the character design. Overall, they absolutely nailed it. The promo pics and the real, neutral HS are nearly identical. The hair, while sculpted, is spiky and sharp and very well painted (dry brushed even). Skin tone matches the body wonderfully, and the facial features are strong and serious as is Ryu.
The secondary sculpt, where he is yelling, is also very well done. It looks kinda weird, but not in a "they failed the sculpt" way, but in the way it looks weird in Street Fighter V. If you've played it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, look it up and it'll make sense.
The only complaint is that the hair is spiky at the neck, which could spell trouble for the neck if not careful.
BODY SCULPT AND ARTICULATION (SCORE: 9.5/10)
This will be subjective, regardless of who you are, fair warning.
The sculpt is for sure a custom design. The whole thing screams "MASSIVE." The M34, the bulkiest body I own, looks tiny by comparison. There is a clear weight difference too. Despite being the same height, you could nearly fit one of the TBL male bodies in him like Han fit Luke in the Tauntaun. Aesthetically speaking, he looks like the guy who could take another guy and throw them like a toy. You could print out a WIDE LOAD sticker and put it across his shoulders and it probably wouldn't be wide enough. I make all these cliche's to say that it is a truly huge body.
As for articulation, it is a good thing it was TBL who made this. He has all the range of motion his smaller compatriot the M34 has. He is rock solid and smooth as silk when posing. Honestly, it is impressive what they managed with his arms and legs and shoulders considering the mass.
As per my standard, here are his measurements and some amusing notes:
- [ ] Height: approx 300mm top scalp/305mm top hair
- [ ] Chest: 235mm
- [ ] Arms: 95mm no flex (that is his bicep, not flexed. Dude is jacked)
- [ ] Wing span: 330mm (Understand in 1:1 Ryu is around 5'10"/5'11". So having a 6'5" or so wingspan is something else.
- [ ] Waist: 153mm
- [ ] Hips: 196mm
- [ ] Thighs: 126mm (and we joke about Chun Li)
- [ ] Calves: 104mm
- [ ] Hand width: 26.75mm
- [ ] Hand length: 48mm
FINAL SCORES
Value for the Money Score: 9.9/10. I give it a 9.9/10 for two simple reasons. 1) The faults are in every sense minimal and far, far less than with Mai (however minor they were). 2) It's hard to open that box and be unimpressed. Even if you aren't a huge fan of the series, or even the style of this rendition of Ryu, there is so much to like here.
Objective Overall Score: 8.5/10 Not everyone will be happy with this, but that's how it goes with any release. The style of Street Fighter V is not for everyone, which is understandable. Add to the fact that these will be very difficult to kit-bash with from a cost stand point, a fairly generic list of accessories (however in tune with the character), and the fairly limited nature of this figure, there will be plenty who say "nope" to this.
Subjective Overall Score: 9.5/10 Personally, this was worth every cent. I have a soft spot for Street Fighter and Ryu as many who grew up playing fighting games likely do. He is an iconic character, and one I am glad to have. He checked every box for quality to price for me. I will happily throw money at Iconiq when they announce Ken, and any other character in this lineup. The reason it gets a 9.5 and not 10 subjectively is because I am a perfectionist and $300 does hurt the wallet (even if it was already budgeted for).
My final thoughts are this: If I had to pick a company to make my favorite fighting game characters under official license, I would pick Iconiq. That is how much I love this release (if you read my posts of my customs, you can tell just how picky I am, so that is very high praise from me). If you can pick him up, do it!
I plan on better photos this weekend, which will compare those for sure.
