Action Figure Review: Juri from Revoltech: Amazing Yamaguchi: Street Fighter 6 by Kaiyodo

 

   Today I'm reviewing the first figure from Kayodo's Revoltech: Amazing Yamaguchi line that've I've ever owned. Well, at least so far as I can recall. I've never reviewed anything from Kaiyodo and I can't recall ever having purchased any Revoltech figures previously. If I have, it's been a long time and I just don't remember it. Today, though, I'm reviewing the first of two Revoltech: Amazing Yamaguchi figures I received recently: Juri from Street Fighter 6. While I really hope Jada Toys eventually gets to later games in the series and widens the cast of characters in their Street Fighter line, I'm not sure how optimistic I am that they'll eventually get to Street Fighter 4 and so on. Who knows? Maybe they'll surprise us? I like Juri Han (apparently she's now the third most popular Street Fighter character) and I was excited to add her to my collection. I picked up the Storm Collectibles Juri from Street Fighter V a couple years ago but she is way larger than the Jada figures. A cool figure but just too large. How's the Revoltech: Amazing Yamaguchi version? She's closer in size, though still smaller, kind of like figures from Figma or Tamashi Nations. She's rather pricey, too, though that's an issue with importing almost everything these days. Ready to check out Juri from Street Fighter 6? Then join me after the break...

The Facts:

Height: 5 3/4ths inches

Articulation: Toe hinges, double swivel/hinge ankles, balljointed calves, double hinged knees w/ upper swivel joint and hinged overlays, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, balljointed waist, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge upper shoulders w/ lateral butterfly hinges, balljointed lower shoulders, double swivel/hinge elbows, double swivel/hinge wrists, balljointed neck, and a barbell jointed head. 

Accessories: 4 swappable Juri faceplates, 1 Chun-Li faceplate, 8 swappable hands, 2 wrist bands, 3 piece display stand, cellphone, 2 energy effects, and an extra energy effect peg. 

Non-Scalper Price: $85 to $105 dollars

Comparison:

* For those interested here's a look at the Storm Collectibles Juri from Street Fighter V, the Revoltech: Amazing Yamaguchi Juri from Street Fighter 6, and the Jada Toys Chun Li (Deluxe Player 2 Exclusive). While this Juri fits in better with Jada's figures than Storm Collectibles' does, she's still a bit on the smaller side. She's more like a true 1/12th scale figure than an exaggerated 1/12th, i.e. Marvel Legends. 

The Positives:

* The Amazing Yamaguchi subset of Kaiyodo's Revoltech line features figures sculpted by Yamaguchi Katsuhisa, hence the name of the line. While the articulation of the Revoltech figures do sometimes have a bit of a segmented look, they still manage to look quite good on display. Juri is excellent and really captures her main appearance in the game quite nicely. Juri has a strong personality, relishes in inflicting pain, and definitely dresses to capture attention. Her outfit mixes a interesting, spider-like top with oversized pants that are reminiscent of Taekwondo pants. It gives her a unique silhouette. Her color scheme blends black and purple and bright pink with a bit of silver, so she definitely stands out in a crowd. That's an unusual color palette for a fighting game character. The sculpt is really sharp and most of the paint applications are neat and clean, even on the edges of things like her black "spider" leg top.  

* Juri comes with four swappable faceplates, all of which capture her own special blend of crazy, scary, and hot. Juri is definitely an interesting character and I'm nuts about her incredible cool hair. It looks fantastic and just adds to her overall vibe. Her hair covers her left eye, which conceals the Feng Shui Engine Alpha, a cybernetic eye that also augments her energy and power. The first faceplate for Juri shows a grin that's both charming and possibly threatening (she is not a hero by any means). The printing on all of the faceplates is neat and clean, even though they seem smaller than your average 1/12th scale figure.

* The second portrait has a different grin, perhaps one that's a bit taunting or teasing. Juri is also looking to the left, perhaps scoping out her next opponent or posing for a selfie.

* The third faceplate just comes off as smug. Rather than grinning, Juri's mouth is open and you can kind of tell she's moving her tongue around. Maybe she's in the middle of enjoying a lollipop, one of her favorite treats. Heck, maybe she's flirting, too. 

* Juri's fourth portrait is kind of comical. She looks.. maybe exasperated. Her cheeks are puffed out and she's kind of rolling her eyes. Juri has had enough of your crap today, Bison. 

* Here's a shot of Juri from the back so you can check out her cool spiked neck band (it's a separate piece, though you're not really meant to remove her head) and her spider horns hairstyle. 

* A fifth faceplate is included, but this one isn't for Juri: It's for Chun-Li. I don't have a Revoltech Chun-Li. If you do, however, you now have a grimacing or knocked out face. Want to pose Chun-Li KO'd in front of Juri? Kaiyodo can make it happen. 

* I mentioned Juri's incredibly cool pants earlier but here's a shot of them. The finish is really shiny on the black and pink parts, perhaps portraying them as either a pleather-like material or some sort of flexible sporting goods material. The sculpt and paint work on the little zippers running down the inside of the legs looks great. She's also sporting spiked ankle bands and pink padding on the tops of her feet. 

* Here's a close up shot of Juri's shirt. The white and pink part is more like a vest than a shirt and it... well, it doesn't cover much. It's a separate piece of the figure, though it isn't removable. The black lines, intended to evoke the look of a spider, are supposed to be some sort of black body tape that Juri wears. Everything is very clean and sharp and the spider lines have a nice, shiny appearance. 

* Here's a shot from the back so you can see more of Juri's incredible outfit. The pants really do look more like chaps in how they're designed since she is clearly wearing something like silver tights or leggings underneath the larger black pants legs. The back of her shirt has a zipper; I'm not sure why, but it does, and it reveals a really cool design that clearly shows the spider body for her spider design. Do you think this is a tattoo? I've seen others say that the spider arms around her body are body tape but this really makes me wonder if it's a tattoo, though not every costume of hers has them. It's a mystery. A cool mystery, though. 

* I like the designs of her gloves as well. They're padded for fighting (protecting her more than her opponents, surely) and have a shiny black and pink color scheme. Her fingernails are painted a shiny blue to match her toenails, her spiked bands, and the spider tattoo body. The spiked bands are separate pieces and can be removed from her wrists when you swap hands. There's a lot of detail here. 

* As I mentioned above, I believe this is my first Revoltech figure. I'm really impressed with the articulation. While the articulation doesn't flow with the sculpt quite as well as something like S.H. Figuarts in some instances, overall I think it merges pretty nicely. The range of motion on most joints is crazy, particularly the waist, legs, and shoulders. The elbows might be a little restrictive but the more I worked with them, the more movement I got out of them. I think Juri feels pretty sturdy and I didn't have any worries about breakage while messing around with her. Many of the joints are true balljoints with an impressive degree of articulation.

* The leg articulation is absolutely crazy. The knees have this insane feature where not only are the double jointed (with a swivel at the top hinge) but there are two panels that are also hinged so you can cover the knees, making the join less obvious when being posed. It's wild and I can't think of any other figures I've seen something on quite like that. Maybe it's a standard feature for Revoltech, but I can't see it working well on anyone with pants legs smaller than Juri Han's. Also, her balljointed hips, waist, and torso are insane. The kicking poses you can get her in can easily match what you see her do in the game or in promotional images. It's really wild and she definitely feels different from any other figures in my collection, so that's a huge plus. I'm impressed I managed to balance her in this pose, too. 

* Juri comes with eight swappable hands, seven of which are pretty standard hands. You get a pair of grappling hands, a right hand peace sign gesture, two flat striking palms, and two hands that can be used for gesturing or holding her cellphone for selfies. The hands swap easily; the pegs are smooth and the hands slide on and off. The articulation isn't on the hand itself but on the wrist peg. 

* The eight hand is a left hand holding a red lollipop. You see Juri with a lollipop pretty often so this is a neat extra that adds some attitude to the figure. It works really well with this faceplate, too. 

* Interestingly, Juri's hands come attached to this cool tree which keeps them all together and safely in one place. It's a neat feature and I wish more companies that provide multiple hands would use something like it. It's a solid plastic "tree" with pegs that can hold up to ten hands. Juri's hands are pretty unqiue, so you'd be less likely to mistake them for those of another figure, but it's still a nice extra. 

* Juri's smartphone is also included. It's a pinkish-purple color and has some "text" designs on the screen. The top of the phone case also has little designs that look like her unique hairdo. 

* A display stand is also included, something I wish S.H. Figuarts would provide with their releases. Revoltech, Figma, Mezco, and many other higher end releases always provide these; why doesn't Tamashi Nations? Anyways, this is a pretty nice stand. You can tighten the screws on the posing arm and it contains four hinged joints plus the swivel at the bottom of the arm where it attached to the base and a swivel where the hinged waist clip attached to the post. 

* I could be wrong but I believe that this energy effect is Juri's Sakkai Fuhazan, a ki blast of sorts that she emits while delivering powerful kicks. It's a mixture of black and grey with a bit of transparency to the plastic. It attaches to either of Juri's feet via a swivel/hinge peg, allowing you to move it around and pose it. You'll definitely need the stand to keep her upright while using this, but that's to be expected. 

* There's a second, longer effects piece that can attach to the previous piece or be used alone. There's also an additional peg in case you lose or break one, which is a nice  extra. You can come up with some pretty crazy combat displays utilizing these, the stand, and Juri Han's wild flexibility. 

The Negatives:

* While there are many things that really impress me with this figure, Juri definitely has a couple flaws. Sure, you might be thinking "I can fix her" but hear me out: First, the front piece of her hair that needs to be removed to change faceplates is just a pain to get back on and keep securely in place. Considering the quality of some of the engineering, it boggles my mind that such a simple piece just doesn't want to attach back properly and securely. 

* My second complaint is with Juri's waist. She has an incredible range of motion thanks to extended true balljoints for her waist and hips but there seems to be so much space here that most poses leave you a clear glimpse of the joints. Her crotch piece/ belts are clearly meant to cover things up but they just don't do that great of a job and it feels a bit flimsy. Considering the impressive engineering of her upper mid-torso, shoulders, butterfly joints, and her knees, I would expect something a bit better. 

   I love Juri's design, the articulation, and the presence of so many portraits and the display stand. This is a great looking version of the character and I'm sure many fans will be thrilled to have her on the shelf. It really is tough to fully talk about how impressive the articulation is. Still, at the incredibly high price, she feels like she's lacking in the extras department. The higher price and the impressive quality of most other parts of the figure make things like the difficult to attach bangs and her awkward belt and crotch piece just stand out a bit more. How's Juri overall? She's a Good and a 1/2 figure. I'd obviously be more thrilled with her at a lower price but I think I'd be more thrilled if the weird flaws on her were absent. 

This is the first figure of Juri Han that I've reviewed on the site.