A week or two ago I reviewed the
Deluxe Player 2 Exclusive Dhalsim that was one of the two Jada Toys SDCC exclusives for the Ultra Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers line and now I'm reviewing the other exclusive: The Deluxe Player 2 Exclusive M. Bison. This is the third version of Bison Jada has released in this line, after the
original release and the
BBTS exclusive Player 2 M. Bison, and they've all had different colored outfits. This new variant comes with a lot of new extras though, including new portraits for both himself and the original Bison figure, the Psycho Crusher effects, and the blue fiery figure representing when other World Warriors get hit by Bison's Psycho attacks. There's a lot of new stuff here and this is definitely a fully loaded set! Ready to check out another version of the big boss of Shadaloo? Then join me after the break...
The Facts: M. Bison
Height: 6 1/4ths inches
Articulation: Swivel/ hinge ankles, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed hips, ball jointed waist, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders w/lateral pec hinges, hinged shoulder pads, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, balljointed neck, and a barbell jointed head.
Accessories: 6 swappable hands, 6 swappable portraits, cape with shoulder pads attached, 2 blank shoulder pads, Psycho Fist effect, 3 piece Psycho Crusher stand, and 2 piece Psycho Crusher effect.
The Facts: Flame Sprite
Height: 5 1/2 inches (Flaming and Fried)
Articulation: None
Accessories: 2 piece support stand.
Non-Scalper Price: $45
Comparison:
* Here's a shot of the three Jada Toys Bisons together. The Standard M. Bison is on the left (in red), this deluxe release is in the center (in green), and the BBTS exclusive Player 2 M. Bison is on the right (in teal). They're all the same sculpt with different color schemes, though the deluxe Player 2 version does come with a pair of new portraits (along with a set for the basic Bison, also).
Comparison:
* Here's a look at the flaming warrior included with Bison (on the left) next to the one that came with
Dhalsim (on the right). Same sculpt and same stand but the wildly different color scheme really makes this one stand out.
The Positives:
* For the full rundown on M. Bison,
check out my review of the original release. This guy is a repaint based on one of the alternate color schemes for Bison (who was originally named Vega for the Japanese market) that originally appeared in the Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. The Player 2 colors originally served to help players recognize their own fighter during mirror matches, so they mostly stand out nicely from the standard fighter colors. The green and orange are rather bright, but they look really good here. The orange is a bit shiny on Bison's armored bits, definitely conveying that this isn't just a soft material but something to offer him some protection. He's a megalomaniac, so he probably has a full wardrobe of differently colored outfits.
* The stylized look of these figures is great and they have their own unique aesthetic, though they can still blend in with the Marvel Legends Marvel Vs. Capcom figures. No, Hasbro isn't making the Capcom characters, but Jada isn't making Marvel characters. You've got to mix and match! The early 1990s videogame and anime feel is strong here and really nails Bison's demeanor with spooky white eyes and a massive chin. His dictator hat with the Shadaloo symbol is very clearly sculpted and stands out well.
* Bison comes with four different portraits, and the second portrait is also shared with the original release. This is angry Bison. He's really, really pissed at something and he's ready to crush somebody.
* This third portrait is one of the new ones and it depicts M. Bison looking very satisfied with himself. Very smug. Is this a smirk? Maybe. Is he mewing? Also a maybe.
* The fourth portrait has Bison look gleefully evil. I mean, he is absolutely delighted to be causing harm. This is a great portrait to use when equipping him with his Psycho Crusher effects as it just fits his mad, energy filled attack where he hurls himself at his opponents. Yeah, that sounds like the kind of thing Bison might like.
* Want that smug and satisfied portrait for your classic M. Bison? Well, here you go: Jada Toys threw in an extra with the matching skin tone and hat for that previous figure. Stuff like this really impresses me and Jada does it quite often with the exclusives in this series.
* Want that crazy evil grin as well? Well, here's a copy for the standard Bison, too.
* Like any noteworthy dictator, Bison is wearing some massive shoulder pads. They actually rotate around the shoulders, so they kind of rotate up and down for posing. I've seen this before on a few figures, so while it's not anything "new" it's still a solid way of approaching the shoulder pads to keep them large while helping them to not impede the articulation. The shoulder pad tops are also separate pieces that fit on over the bottom of the shoulder pads, allowing you to have Bison with or without his cape.
* Bison's cape is attached to the second pair of shoulder pads, so you can swap them out to change up his look. It's a soft goods cape that is attached to the second set of shoulder pads via two small gold pins. It's an interesting way to handle this and it looks pretty good on the figure. It's a thicker material, kind of like a thick vinyl, but it does hang and drape nicely across Bison's shoulders.
* Bison's cape is also wired, so you can pose it dramatically blowing in the breeze right before Bison begins a new match. Great effect!
* Bison is missing the "boot swivel" joint, but to make up for it does have some serious boots. Seriously, these are extremely cool looking, especially in bright orange. He and Man-At-Arms should have an "orange armor butt-kicking contest" and see who rocks orange armor the most.
* This guy is built the same as the previous two Bison figures, so no issues here. I love how the articulation feels on these figures. It's all very smooth with a great range of motion and poses look very natural. While Bison usually takes his cape off before a battle, he looks pretty dynamic with it on, so I tend to leave it in place. With the swivel hinge ankles and the swivel thighs I didn't notice the lack of boot swivels on him all too much.
* This time Bison comes with six swappable hands. The grappling hands and fists are reused sculpts but those thumbs up hands are brand new. Bison is number #1, baby!
* Bison comes with a Psycho Fist effect, this time in bright blue instead of purple. It fits over either fist and just looks menacing.
* Back when I reviewed the original M. Bison last September, I said "How cool would a Bison figure that came with the effects for the Psycho Crusher? That'd be awesome."
Well, we've got one. His Psycho Crusher is pretty elaborate with multiple pieces. First up is a three piece stand. What's it do? It holds Bison up in the air, like he's soaring forward. It looks a bit silly like this, but it's not finished yet...
* The Psycho Crusher effect is huge! There are two pieces here: A crackling web of energy that wraps around Bison and a headpiece effect that fits over his outstretched arms and fits over the energy web. It takes a second to get Bison on here and all wrapped up but it looks pretty cool when everything is in place. It's a pretty neat way to represent the Street Fighter II version of the move and much better than the
Flaming Torpedo Launcher that the G.I. Joe: M. Bison figure came with. That's the "Psycho Crusher" that we had back in the day.
* Like with the deluxe Player 2 Dhalsim, do you know what the coolest part of this figure really is? The included figure of the flaming warrior. There's no official name for this particular "character" or sprite, but it's instantly recognizable to Street Fighter II fans. This is the version when a player gets hit by M. Bison's Psycho attacks, so it's blue and mysterious. This is a really solid piece (not hollow) that fits on top of the included stand and just looks marvelous. It's a great representation of the sprite from the game and those black, blue, and white colors look fantastic
* This is a really neat figure. It's not articulated at all, so maybe it should just be considered an accessory. If so, then it's tied with the flaming warrior that came with Dhalsim as one of the best accessories of the year. The paint is really cool and while it's not as darkly colored as the flaming sprite from the game, it looks good in person. The white flaming edges appear flickering and choppy and while it doesn't look like it's flaming the same as the orange and yellow version, it's still quite neat.
* What might be the neatest thing about the flaming warrior is that the outer layer of the figure with the flames and such is transparent. Inside you can see what looks like a blue, withered, fleshy body. There's not really any discernible details that make this gruesome or anything, but it is an incredibly cool effect and kind of tough to describe well. It kind of reminds me of the corpses from the McFarlane X-Files figures from 1998 that were based on the "Fight the Future" movie.
The Negatives:
* I have a negative on Bison and it's the same as the other Bisons released: They've got some weird designs on the boots/ knee hinges. They look great from the front but the green knees extend down into the brownish boots. It looks off and is just kind of an odd choice.
This guy is absolutely loaded with goodies and is definitely one of the coolest releases in Jada's line to date. They really go all out on these deluxe releases. On the day I'm finalizing this review, Hasbro just bumped up the MSRP of their basic Marvel Legends figures to $28 dollars. Meanwhile, Jada offered this SDCC con exclusive figure just a month or two ago with six portraits (including two for a previous figure), three sets of hands, a massive special effects piece, and the flaming warrior static figure for $45 bucks. Even though that guy isn't articulated, I think it's impressive to see hat this guy comes with for less than the price of a Marvel Legends Maximum series figure or less than two basic Legends. Jada is delivering with this line and this is another Epic release. There is just so much cool stuff in here and I'm eager to not only see them complete this line but also to see how they handle the Street Fighter Fighter Alpha 3 releases.
If you're looking for more of M. Bison I've also reviewed the Jada Toys Ultra Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers standard
M. Bison and the Super7 M.U.S.C.L.E. Street Fighter II
Pack A which comes with M. Bison.
For more Ultra Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers reviews check out the following:
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