Blanka (Street Fighter) - Action Figure Reviews

Series: Street Fighter, 2

Craftsmanship: 9.3 / 10

- Huge poseability and interchangeable heads and hands

- Good paint application

- Great translation from videogame to plastic

- Stands easily in a variety of poses

- To scale with the other SOTA Street Fighter figures

Playability: 9.0 / 10

- Small accessories can be lost

- Lots of fun with other Street Fighter and videogame action figures

Related Action Figures:

- Blanka (Street Fighter II, Resarus)

- M. Bison (Street Fighter)

- Ryu (Street Fighter)

- Sagat (Street Fighter)

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

Blanka (Street Fighter)

by SOTA Toys

In many ways SOTA’s version of Blanka puts all previous versions of the shaggy Street Fighter character to shame. I still have a special place in my heart for the version from Resaurus – it had limited articulation, but at the time it was very cool sculpt and he was solidly constructed. However, SOTA’s version is objectively a

Advertisement

much better figure.

Standing about 6” tall, with more that 20 points of articulation and painted with a steady hand, Blanka is an imposing animal presence.

Thanks to the combination of seam, ball, and hinge joints Blanka is extremely poseable. More importantly, he’s extremely poseable

Advertisement

and balanced. He can be manipulated into all sorts of poses without falling over. However, the number of poses could have been increased if he was packed with a stand of some kind and/or holes in feet so that he could be pegged into a base. As it is and considering the size of his upper body, particularly his head, the fact that he has such a wide range of available poses is a credit to the kind of engineering that went into Blanka. Keeping him looking fresh is very easy; especially when you take into account his interchangeable hands and head.

The sculpt and paint job do a great job capturing the more recent likenesses of Blanka’s videogame alter ego – taller, shaped less like a barrel and more “athletic.” The smaller details also have attention paid to them. The claws on the feet and hands are textured and painted (top and bottom), and the facial sculpts, highlighted by the eyes and individual teeth, are very good. There is good use of subtle shading to accent Blanka’s muscle and hair, which shows an attention to detail that could have been glossed over.

With other Street Fighter and videogame action figures, there are a lot of play options for Blanka. The character match-up possibilities run more rampant as more and more videogame properties are made into action figures. A tag match between Solid Snake, Master Chief and Alien Strogg, Blanka? Limitless diorama possibilities! Blanka’s also moderately tough, so you don’t have to shy away from actually playing with him. However, he comes packed with some small accessories – the aforementioned hands and heads, but also a pineapple, a human skull, and a slice of watermelon with a bite out it. Each are small enough to be lost without much effort. Blanka can’t actually do anything with these accessories because his hand sculpts just don’t allow him to hold them, but they’re suitable to the character.

I’d recommend plunking down money for Blanka – not only because he’s my favorite Street Fighter character but because it’s a well constructed action figure that sticks to the source material and still makes for a highly playable figure.

- Omni
(May 29, 2005)