Tag Archives: street fighter 2

June 24, 2026

Jada Toys Ultra Street Fighter II Blanka (Player 2 Version)

By Joe
Player 2 has entered the game.

I have been admiring Jada Toys and their action figure line based on the video game Ultra Street Fighter II from afar. As I mentioned in my reviews of the Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 figures, I am just a casual Street Fighter fan. I never owned Street Fighter 2, but I still managed to play it a lot because it was ubiquitous. I did own the first Street Fighter Alpha so I have more nostalgia tied into that series, but going back to the original sequel my favorite character was one that didn’t appear in Alpha: Blanka. Blanka was just cool to me. He was this monstrous creature in a roster of characters that looked far more conventional. I also wasn’t that great at the game so when I learned that he had a super move that just required me to hit one button repeatedly (his electric attack) that made me like him even more. Much of my Street Fighter 2 playtime came at the home of my nana and grandpa as my cousin would bring his Super Nintendo and a copy of the game over. Since I was one of the younger cousins, I was almost always player two which meant I would play as a blue Blanka often. That would come to be my preferred colorway for the character over his standard green (never mind that Blanka translates to white in Spanish, though he’s from Brazil where most speak Portuguese. It’s all so confusing,) and that’s true to this day. As a result, I opted to pass on the Jada figures even while they received glowing reviews from fellow collectors, but I promised myself that if Jada ever did a version of its Blanka in blue and yellow then I’d get it. Promise kept.

Different lines, but the sizing seems to work all right.

Big Bad Toy Store was given this exclusive player two variant of Blanka to sell on its store for $35. Blanka, classified as a deluxe release by Jada, does run a little more expensive than their other Street Fighter figures, but $35 is still a pretty good price in today’s market (this figure is a lot better than one we’re looking at next week which set me back $40). The packaging is big and flashy as it resembles an arcade cabinet with game artwork on the sides and photography on the back featuring the character. There’s also an expansive cross-sell featuring the character select artwork from the game which really captures how big the line is at this point. As nice as it is, I do have to say that getting into this box is a bit of a pain in the ass. There’s different layers of plastic inside and they’re held in place by those god-awful translucent tie-downs that NECA loves so much. This isn’t the sort of packaging that will easily go back together if you want to re-box the figure, though that really shouldn’t be a concern for Jada. There is a backdrop inside the box that refers to Blanka’s stage in the game, but it’s probably too small to be of much use outside of the box. Still, if you are one of those weirdos that doesn’t like to play with their toys, (I kid, I love you too) this will display nicely and there’s a window on top of the box which helps light to filter in and really show off the figure inside.

There isn’t a ton of paint on this guy, but what is there is pretty clean.

For those who do bust Blanka out of the box, they’ll find a big, blue, boy who stands at about 6.75″ to where I assume his head would end. To the top of his blazing yellow hair he’s about 7.25″. Some of that is irrelevant since Blanka, like last week’s fellow blue boy Beast, is almost always crouched to some degree when moving about in the game and I assume most will pose him as such. I don’t have any other figures from this line, but comparing him to the Storm Arena figures and he looks to be well sized. The sculpts for this line run soft compared with Storm Arena which is partly why I’ve preferred the look of their figures to what Jada was doing, but I do think this does a solid job of capturing the artwork associated with Ultra Street Fighter II. Not the sprites, but the artwork. The default portrait, for example, is definitely modeled on his portrait in the character select screen with the frowny grin that’s wider on his right side. It’s captured well and I like the cleanliness of the edges and the paint. Where the softness comes in is with the musculature. He’s ripped compared to a normal human, but not to the same degree as other figure lines. The biceps show this best as they just wrap around the base of the shoulder without really separating from them. It’s better than the Marvel Legends tiny shoulder syndrome, but I’d have liked to see more definition in that particular area.

“So, what made you blue?”

What obviously jumps out about this figure is the deco. This powder blue skin with bright yellow hair and trunks just pops. I love the blue and yellow combo, maybe it’s why I’ve always liked a lot of the X-Men costumes from the same era, and this looks great to my eye. The blue body is mostly colored plastic, but it has this tendency to eat light. It’s not shiny and it doesn’t have that “plastic” look some figures possess. There does appear to be some shading on the muscle groups in places which helps give it a nicer texture. The painted portions include the yellow patches of fur on the torso, forearms, and shins. It’s applied cleanly and the yellow is applied heavy enough to overcome the blue underneath. I have a tiny bit of chipping on the shins, but I think that’s from the bronze shackles around his ankles which are floating. I probably need to be more careful when posing his feet. The hair and trunks are molded yellow plastic with the trunks having white trim at the top and bottoms which is nicely applied. We do have some slight color mismatching though as the painted yellow is noticeably darker than the hair and trunks. The upper torso is also a stronger plastic and is a slightly different shade of blue from the arms and abs. It’s not egregious and I’ve seen worse on more expensive figures than this, but it is noticeable under certain lighting conditions. The previously mentioned shackles also appear to be painted which is probably why they have a nice metallic finish.

I think this was his fierce strike? It does draw attention to the fact that his arms probably aren’t as long as the sprite’s.

The figure looks good and my only nitpicks with it really are more stylistic than anything. If you dig the source artwork then you’ll probably dig this interpretation of Blanka. I will say, the in-hand feel of this figure is not as premium as Storm Arena. I don’t know how interested people are in hearing comparisons between the two, but since they are my only reference point for Street Fighter figures (unless you want to count the 90s Hasbro offerings) it’s a comparison that’s begging to be made. Blanka has a very similar feel to the Jada Frosty the Snowman I reviewed back in December of 2025. There’s a heft and a chunk factor, but not really that smoothness I often find with more premium offerings. Of course, he’s $35 so it’s not like we’re talking about MAFEX or Mezco here, but those Storm figures are in the same price range and come with about the same amount of stuff. Blanka feels more like a toy to me which is good in some respects as he definitely feels durable. The plastic is very hard in most places and offers little give. There’s not a smoothness to the joints and even compared to a Marvel Legends it still possesses some of that toy feel. It feels similar to a McFarlane figure, which again is not a bad thing on its own, but it’s just my impression. I’m not sure how I expected the figure to feel in-hand, but it took me a little by surprise.

Simple, but effective.

The accessories in the box are pretty typical from what I’ve see of this line. We get an alternate head, an alternate set of hands, and an effect apart from the game. The alternate head features Blanka with a yelling expression. The hair is slightly different and a bit more wild befitting the expression. It’s a good look and I honestly don’t know which I prefer. He comes with a pair of fists by default, but also has a set of clawing hands which is appropriate for the character. For an effect part, we actually get two lightning effects designed to be placed on a surface around a crouching Blanka to mimic his lightning attack from the game. They’re not the same sculpt with one being a little taller than the other, but both are done with soft, translucent, plastic that starts off yellow and finishes clear. It looks great and makes the most sense as an effect part for Blanka though if you wanted a stand in the box I wouldn’t blame you.

The lightning move was the easiest to pull-off in the game, but the head bite was my favorite.

What I was most looking forward to with this figure was just having this colorway in my hands, but not far behind that was checking out the articulation. For a company that has only been in the action figure business a short while, Jada really knows what it’s doing where articulation is concerned. They seem unafraid to take risks and I get the sense that their figures are designed by people who like handling action figures. Take the head, for instance. I haven’t even mentioned it up until now, but the plastic used for Blanka’s hair is very soft and very pliable. It’s basically in two parts: the front which frames the face, and then a center part that’s basically hollow. It looks good, but best of all, it doesn’t impede the figure’s ability to look up nor does it add substantial weight. I don’t know how this would work with something like Dragon Ball Z, but with this figure it works very well. As for joints, just get a load of this roll-out: double ball peg head, neck joint, butterfly, shoulder hinge, bicep, double elbows, wrist hinge and swivel, ball-jointed diaphrahm, ball-jointed waist, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double knees, shin swivel, ankle hinge and rocker. And it’s not just what is articulated, but the manner in which Jada does it. The diaphragm has great range weather it’s tilting or rotating. There’s plenty of clearance between it and the abdomen so there’s no paint rub on Blanka’s patch of stomach fur. The waist ball has a little cut-out in the front to help it rock forward that you would only know is there if you popped the figure apart. The thigh swivel is under the shorts so it’s not visible and the shin swivel is hidden by the ankle shackles. The fur on the front of the shin even starts above the cut but hangs over the joint and thus isn’t split when the joint is utilized. It’s a small attention to detail, but how often do we see Hasbro say “Screw it,” and just put a cut through some part of a figure’s sculpt? Doing so renders the joint almost unusable for many because it looks so bad, but Jada took care not to create such issues.

He can kind of do the rolling attack though finding a stand that can support him was a bit of a challenge.

That’s not to say there isn’t any room for improvement. The neck joint on mine doesn’t seem to want to do anything. I checked out some videos to see what it’s supposed to do and it looks like it should click forward and back, but mine is binding. There’s also a lot of plastic cut out of the inside of the elbow joint so it’s not the prettiest double elbow you’re likely to see. The range is great as this big-armed monster can bend past 90 degrees, but some might not like the trade-off. Apart from that though, it largely works really well. The figure, even with a semi-functional neck joint, can look up well enough to get into a crouch and it’s even capable of a decent rolling attack look. The range in the torso and hips is terrific and about the only joint that’s semi-compromised when it comes to range is the butterfly joint. I assume that was an aesthetic choice to not cut more into the pectorals and it’s one I’m personally fine with. It also means his shoulders sit where they should which preserves the silhouette. I hope Jada gave its designers a nice bonus last year and that other companies are buying these things with the intent to copy them because more companies should make figures that articulate like this.

I’d say set it and forget it, but he’s too fun to pose to leave on the shelf for too long.

That’s a lot of praise to end the last paragraph on and it’s justified praise. Everything I’ve heard about this line is captured well in this Blanka figure. The figure looks good, the construction is solid, and the articulation is fantastic. And it all comes at a pretty decent price especially considering that this is an exclusive variant. If you’re just interested in picking up a good action figure you’re unlikely to find one that’s appreciably better than this Blanka. While I prefer the aesthetic Storm Arena has settled on for its Street Fighter line, that doesn’t diminish what Jada is doing. If I was a bigger fan of Ultra Street Fighter II then I’d be more than happy to collect this line. As it stands, I may still cave and grab Vega if I ever see him in the wild and I look forward to seeing where Jada goes from here. It may only be June, but I’m pretty sure this Blanka will be part of my own personal top ten when all is said and done this year.

We have a few other Street Fighter figure reviews if you’re interested, and also more blue:

Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Sagat

As my collection grows, I try to be more regimented in my purchasing decisions. I have toy lines that I’m more or less all-in on and I rarely question myself with those. They have the most room budgeted in my house and in my actual budget. And then there’s the stuff I’m less invested in.…

Keep reading
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Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

One of my most anticipated releases of 2025 came out of no where. I was a kid during the early 90s and into video games so I know a thing or two about Street Fighter. Street Fighter II was everywhere and is pretty much the reason why the one-on-one fighting game became a huge genre…

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Marvel Legends Gamerverse Captain America vs Venom

We’re going to be doing a lot of 2025 catch-up here as Christmas always slows things down. Toy producers also like to push product for the holidays so I seem to always end up with a backlog at the end of the year. Especially when stores are doing generous sales and convincing me to buy…

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May 20, 2026

Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Sagat

By Joe

As my collection grows, I try to be more regimented in my purchasing decisions. I have toy lines that I’m more or less all-in on and I rarely question myself with those. They have the most room budgeted in my house and in my actual budget. And then there’s the stuff I’m less invested in. As a kid, I spread my wings from time to time and was lured in by a flashy commercial or maybe I just liked what someone else had and as an adult I’ve gone through similar periods when it comes to toy collecting. I try to avoid that now, but every so often a toy comes along that looks so damn good that I just give in. Sometimes I end up regretting it, and other times I do not. It can be hard to tell in the moment which I’ll truly regret as I might like the product well enough when I open it up and mess around with it, but over time I might see the space it occupies on a shelf as something better spent elsewhere. In the case of today’s post, I don’t think I’ll have such qualms in the future.

Whether you place him with other Storm Arena figures or characters from other lines, Sagat is going to have some size to him.

I liked Street Fighter well enough as a kid. Street Fighter 2 was impossible to ignore and gave rise to an explosion of one on one fighting games in the 90s. That particular game saw the player select one of eight fighters and progress through a series of opponents culminating in a battle against the big bad guy M. Bison. For me though, he was a reprieve as the one character I always seemed to struggle against most was Sagat. Sagat was the villain of the original game, the one barely anyone played, and was demoted to the penultimate fight in Street Fighter 2. Not only was he difficult to topple, he was supremely annoying as he constantly called out his attacks by name. Being an ignorant kid at the time, I didn’t know precisely how to pronounce his name and I’m almost sure I used a slur to rhyme with it that was quite in fashion in the 90s. We’ve since become better educated about such things, but the fact remains that this guy gave me more trouble than any. When Street Fighter Alpha debuted on home consoles, it came with a bit of a glow-up for the returning fighters including Sagat. When rendered for 16 bit consoles, he was a bit slender and always stood hunched forward slightly with his hands up. In Alpha, he was a hulking brute and just as much of a pain to defeat as he always was. Now, he just more looked the part. He was also quite fun to play as with a very balanced move set and terrific reach. Picking Sagat wasn’t quite like using a cheat code, but I don’t think I had an easier time to plowing through the game with any other character – Akuma included.

There’s a lot of personality in this sculpt.

When it comes to media outside the video games, Street Fighter and I don’t have much of a relationship. And yet, when Storm Collectibles unveiled its Storm Arena line of 1:12 scale action figures I felt that pull. It helped that both Ken and Ryu came in at around $25 which feels like a steal in this day and age. And with both, I was able to talk myself into adding them to the small, but growing, Marvel vs Capcom display in my home as it’s the Alpha looks of the characters that were adopted for those legendary brawlers. When Storm showed off their Sagat, my immediate reaction was, “I want that!” The problem is, he’s actually never appeared in any of those Marvel crossover titles. It’s a bit of a surprise in hindsight since he is one of the titans of the franchise, but it’s true. I guess it’s because his play style is very similar to Ryu and Ken as it is and Capcom likely wanted to highlight some different fighters. And then once the roster went beyond Street Fighter to include all of Capcom well then it made no sense to add anyone else from those games. If I were to remain disciplined in my spending habits, I would have passed on Sagat for that reason, but I just couldn’t do it. The look of the figure combined with the still pretty low price point of $30 was too much to ignore.

Suck knee, Ryu!

Sagat is a big boy compared with Ryu and Ken checking in at around 7.5″ tall. As this line is based on Street Fighter Alpha 3 his proportions reflect the bulkier version of Sagat from those games with broad shoulders, a wide chest, exaggerated muscles, and long limbs. He’s a brick and he looks damn near perfect. His neck is massive and the size of his head is slightly undersized conforming to popular artistic design when creating what are essentially super humans. I love how Storm is able to integrate a butterfly joint into the figure without lowering the shoulders to comical levels. His shoulders are big and sit above the midpoint of his pectoral muscles. When viewed from the side, there’s real mass to the chest which is something expensive brands like Tamashii Nations sometimes struggle with. Paint is a bit sparse, but this isn’t a design calling for much. He’s mostly flesh tone and the soft overlay of the chest Storm likes to utilize is perfectly matched in shade to the other, harder, plastic parts. There’s some subtle shading on the muscles that works really well and the wraps at the forearms and shins have a nice wash applied. His scars and facial details are painted well and if there is one area that’s a touch imperfect it would be the yellow stripe on the side of his trunks. The blue plastic underneath pokes through ever so slightly which is a frequent issue with yellow paint. There is a variant figure in white trunks with red stripes and I would guess that one is slightly cleaner as a result. Still, I prefer the blue look and this guy is absolutely gorgeous and everything I want out of an action figure sculpt.

It’s supposed to go on his right leg, but I can’t get the damn thing to stay.

Accessories for Sagat are a touch sparse. For heads we have a neutral portrait and one where he’s showing some gritted teeth and looking pretty pissed off. For hands, we have a set of fists and and a set of clenching hands. I love the expressiveness of the clenching hands while the fists are obviously needed. Like other figures in the line, the hands are fairly soft and flexible which makes them very easy to remove and swap. Other companies need to start doing this. For an effect part, we get a flaming, lower leg attachment to simulate Sagat’s Tiger Raid super move. It splits into two pieces and it’s designed to be fit over the lower leg and snapped together. It’s not intuitive and I’ve struggled with it. I even looked up videos on YouTube and found one by D-Amazing who does it on camera and seems to have no issues. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. The effect looks fine, it’s translucent plastic and is a mix of red, yellow, and orange, to simulate flames, but it’s definitely not the first effect I think of with Sagat. I’d have much preferred his “Tiger” fireball, but I think that comes with the variant. He also has the same stand as the other figures with both a clear plastic insert and a black, metal, one. He’s a big boy so balancing him on this stand is not as easy as it is with Ken and Ryu. He probably would benefit from a wider base, especially when posing him for the Tiger Raid attack. The stand really can’t support him in airborne poses and, at best, it can help add a little stability with one-footed stances.

He’s got some great range in the shoulders thanks to good engineering and a soft torso overlay.

When it comes to articulation, Storm really has this thing on lockdown. I don’t know if they’re the best in the game (Jada and its own Sagat are damn fine), but they’re in the discussion. Sagat is pretty well loaded when it comes to joints: double ball peg head, neck, butterfly, shoulder ball peg, shoulder hinge, bicep, double elbows, wrist ball hinge, diaphragm ball joint, waist ball with a hinge, drop-down ball socket hips, thigh swivel, double knees, shin swivel, ankle hinge, ankle rocker, toe hinge. See anything missing? I don’t. And what’s great is there doesn’t seem to be any one joint where the engineering is lacking. You get tremendous range and nuance at the head and neck to get Sagat looking in all directions. The butterfly joint is terrific and Sagat can hit all of his most “Sagaty” poses. The aesthetics on all of the joints are great and I commend Storm for reacting to fan response of the initial product images which had the ab crunch visible on the prototype like it is with Ken and Ryu. Those figures have a gi to hide the joint behind, but Sagat did not, so they shortened it and it now sits behind the trunks. I’ve said before in other reviews that I’m not a fan of drop-down hips, but the way Storm does them works as well as can be. It’s a thick, heavy, hinge that’s not loose or flimsy and using it doesn’t create huge gaps between the thigh and hip. The one thing this figure can’t do as well as others is crunch forward. That’s not to say that it can’t, there’s just figures that can go a little further. I think this one goes plenty far enough, but I’ve seen enough people point it out that it felt like something that was worth mentioning.

The only downside is he’s so damn big that finding a good stand is tough.

Simply put, this Sagat from Storm Collectibles is hand candy. Even with him not appearing in the games, I have no problem putting this with my Marvel vs Capcom collection, but I don’t know if I want this figure to leave my desk. It is so fun to mess around with and pose which is something true of both Ken and Ryu from this line, but Sagat manages to do it even better. I love big, chunky, figures in this scale so I am predisposed to liking Sagat. He just looks so damn good in almost any pose that it’s almost not fair. This release puts other companies to shame. Look what Storm is doing for 30 bucks (BBTS has since raised the price to $35, but the point still stands) – there’s no reason other companies can’t be doing something similar. This is a marvel of engineering, sculpt, and design. My only criticism is with the effect part and the stand. The effect part just doesn’t work well. It obviously can since I linked to a very video that shows it in action, but I can’t get the damn thing to work. The stand is also too light to support the figure and suggests to me that Storm should revisit the one-size-fits-all approach it has with action figure display stands. I also would have loved a gripping hand so he could grab foes by the neck. The clenching hands can kind of pull this off, but a dedicated hand for such would have been welcomed. As I said though, these are nitpicks. For $30 you’re not going to get a better figure on the market. I’m not sure if you can even get one this good for $80. If you’re a Street Fighter collector then absolutely go out and get this one. If you’re more of a casual one like me, go out and get this one. If you don’t care one bit about Street Fighter but love good, quality, action figures, go out and get this one. It will blow you away.

For more Capcom related figures, take a look at these:

Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

One of my most anticipated releases of 2025 came out of no where. I was a kid during the early 90s and into video games so I know a thing or two about Street Fighter. Street Fighter II was everywhere and is pretty much the reason why the one-on-one fighting game became a huge genre…

Keep reading
by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Marvel Gamerverse Cyclops

A funny thing happened in 2025 where two companies revealed they were going to be making action figures based on the hit video game series Marvel vs Capcom only for neither company to actually mention the words Marvel vs Capcom. It would seem that neither Hasbro nor Bandai wanted to compensate the Capcom portion of…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Captain America vs Venom

We’re going to be doing a lot of 2025 catch-up here as Christmas always slows things down. Toy producers also like to push product for the holidays so I seem to always end up with a backlog at the end of the year. Especially when stores are doing generous sales and convincing me to buy…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in toys, Video Games