As you may have read on AFi’s front page, Jazware’s is returning to the Street Fighter license. Street Fighter fans may recall a few years back Jazwares produced a line of 6" Street Fighter figures that were sold at Toys R Us. Most of the figures were based upon sculptures designed by SOTA.
Now in 2011 Jazwares is re-entering the fight with a new line of 3-3/4" scale Street Fighter figures, and I couldn’t be happier!
I’ve long been a fan of the franchise. I remember playing the original arcade game in the late 80s at my local arcade (Golfland on Blossom Hill Road in San Jose, CA) and dug it. But it wasn’t until Street Fighter II hit the scene a few years later that I really got into it.
Blanka, Guile and Ken were always my favorite characters from the franchise and still are. Whenever I play the game I play with one of those characters almost exclusively.
When Hasbro introduced Street Fighter action figures as a subline of GI Joe I was excited and disappointed at the same time. Sure, the characters were there but most were just kit-bashed off existing molds with a few new parts. A short time later when the infamous Jean Claude Van Damme movie hit theaters (1994..and, yes, I saw it in the theater) a few of the figures got redone with new parts. They weren’t the best, but I think I got all of them. I still have most of them, too.
SOTA’s line was great while it lasted. Marvel Legends was in it’s heydey and SOTA admitted to patterning their Street Fighter line after ML in terms of scale and articulation. They produced some fantastic figures. The line suffered later by changes within the company and the demise of several specialty retailers such as Media Play.
NECA took a shot at the license in the 7" scale, but as cool as some of the figures looked I was afraid that NECA wouldn’t get around to some of my favorite characters and passed altogether. It seems I was right. I was tempted to pick up Ken and Guile….but with no Blanka on the horizon the line would forever seem incomplete to me. Plus, I didn’t care for the scale.
So, Street Fighter and me go way back. I’ve played the games in the arcade and at home. I saw the movie and watched the anime. I read the comics (even the crappy Malibu one). I’m super excited about this upcoming line from Jazwares and can’t wait to see what they’ve got planned. From the press release we know there’s single packed figures, two-packs and "comic book battle packs". Hopefully we get a lot of characters. Jazwares has been doing right by me with their Sonic the Hedgehog line, so I’m optimistic.
And, it goes without saying that the 3-3/4" scale has me extremely excited! 2011 is shaping up to be a most excellent toy year.
(by the way, I’m also very enthused about the upcoming Mega Man line from Jazwares as well, but I’ll save that for another blog)
The U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program kicked off its 2010 campaign this week. With our nation’s poverty rate at its highest level since 1994, this is as important a time as ever to help deliver holiday cheer to millions of less fortunate children across America. Toys For Tots is one of my personal favorite charities, so I felt compelled to highlight the organization and its mission here.
