Action Figure Review: M. Bison from Ultra Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers by Jada Toys

 

   Today I'm checking out the third figure from the second series of Jada Toys' Ultra Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers figures: M. Bison! Originally known as Vega in Japan (a fact I didn't know until I was in Middle or High School and bought a copy of Street Fighter 2: The New Champions that had the bosses with their original Japanese names), M. Bison is the major villain of the Street Fighter universe and has recently returned to the series in Street Fighter 6. This figure is based on the classic depictions of the character, though. Well, at least the classic video game depictions, as Raúl Juliá's portrayal of Bison in the 1994 film is the true classic depiction of Bison and definitely the best part of film (with Ming-Na Wen as Chun-Li being the second best part of the film). This figure captures the buffer video game version, though, and does a fine job of it. Ready to check out M. Bison from Jada Toys? Then join me after the break...

The Facts:

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: 4 swappable hands, 2 swappable portraits, cape with shoulder pads attached, 2 blank shoulder pads, and a Psycho Fist effect.

Non-Scalper Price: $25 dollars

The Positives:

* Thus far Jada Toys is really dealing out some excellent and unique sculpts. Sure, there are characters who share somebody elements and physiques and some characters who have palette swaps, but for characters with unique looks Jada Toys isn't cutting any corners. Take M. Bison, a pretty brawny guy wearing a dictator-like military uniform (inspired by other Japanese characters like Yasunori Katō from Teito Monogatari and General Washizaki from Riki-Oh. He definitely has a very martial feel to him with those massive shoulder pads and the blood red outfit with a lightning bolt belt. The texture of Bison's suit is pretty cool and definitely makes it stand apart from the smooth, silvery armored pieces on his shoulders, wrists, and boots. 

* I really like the stylized look of these figures. Lots of collectors seem to be merging these with their Marvel Legends for some Marvel Vs. Capcom crossover and that seems like a great use of these. 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 nicely rendered, too. Everything looks good and there's even a bit of shading. 

* The second portrait is quite expressive with a nasty scowl on Bison's face. This guy could certainly be tough, especially when I was originally playing these games as a kid. Heck, I'll be honest; I've just never been all that good at Street Fighter. I love it dearly, but I've never been that great it. It was satisfying on the few occasions when I saw Bison's defeated face. As I said in my review of Dhalsim, I really would love a set of "defeated" portraits from Jada, maybe as an exclusive on their Next level site. 

* The shoulder pads on Bison are pretty cool. They actually rotate around the shoulders, so they kind of hinged up and down for posing him. I've seen this before on a few figures, so while it's not "new" it's still a nice approach. The shoulder pad tops are also separate pieces that fit on over the bottom of the shoulder pads. Why do they swap out?

* Bison's cape is attached to a second pair of shoulder pads. 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. 

* The cape has a plastic like texture to it, almost like a thick vinyl. It's pretty sturdy and seems to mimic leather. It's also fully wired, so you can pose it dramatically blowing in the breeze right before Bison begins a new match. 

* Bison doesn't have a "boot swivel" joint, but he does have some serious boots. Seriously, these are pretty cool looking. Is it really fair that he's wearing armored boots when other competitors are just running around in their bare feet? Then again, Vega gets a mask and claw and Guile throws sonic booms, so the World Warrior tournament is pretty bonkers. 

* I've had no issues with the articulation in this line and M. Bison is another star for me. 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, too. With the swivel hinge ankles and the swivel thighs I didn't notice the lack of boot swivels on him all too much. 

* Bison has two swappable pair of hands for dealing out the wrath of Shadaloo. He's got some fists for some punching and some grappling claws for using his best Lerdrit grappling moves.

* As the foremost expert in using Psycho Power, M. Bison fittingly comes with an energy effect that fits over his fist, allowing for a Psycho Punch or Psycho Knife. It's pretty cool looking. How cool would a Bison figure that came with the effects for the Psycho Crusher? That'd be awesome.

The Negatives:


* So... I actually have some negatives this time around, the first of which are Bison's boots. They look great from the front but the red knees extending down into the black boots look off. It's just kind of an odd choice.

* I'm also a little baffled by Bison's cape. I had the panels off at one point and noticed that the cape comes loose from them. That makes sense, but the pegs don't seem like they're meant to attach and detach. Honestly, they look like they're kind of glued in, but maybe the glue came loose? I don't want to call them broken, but I think there had to have been a better way to attach the cape to the shoulder pads.

   I really like Bison and even with his little oddities or flaws, he's pretty impressive. He's just a big chunky guy with great articulation and a pretty nice cape that's much more impressive than what you see on most 1/12th scale figures that are under $50 dollars. Extra hands, extra heads, and energy effects with every figure in the line so far have really set a precedent of excellence and so far Jada Toys seems on track to keep it going. M. Bison's a Great and a 1/2 figure and an absolute Street Fighter A-Lister. He needs some help in the line, though, as he's a bit outnumbered, though maybe not outmatched.

If you're looking for more of M. Bison I've also reviewed 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 figures check out the following:
Chun-Li
Dhalsim
Ken