Saturday, March 22, 2014

Play Arts Kai Chunli Part 1

Finally, another Chunli after four years

How should I follow up with my reviews after the wrap on one of the most interesting model kits in my collection, Keropla God Keron? With an action figure of one of my favorite game characters of course. ^^


Well, there are of course plenty of other stuff I can talk about, but I feel like reviewing this action figure anyway. ^^

Released by Square Enix in November 2011, this is Play Arts Kai Chunli. ^^ This is the third action figure of Chunli in my collection, after Kaiyodo's Revoltech S.F.O. mini action figure, and the much bigger 12-inch RAH version from Medicom Toy. ^^ Despite getting this figure in late December 2011 - just around a month after her release, I just found out before writing this posting, that I had managed to keep her sealed in her box for more than two years before deciding to do this review. ^^; Then again, since the last Chunli action figure review, on the RAH version was done almost four years ago, it's good to have the character back on my blog again. ^^


While Cammy was the first Play Arts Kai action figure from this Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition series that I reviewed, she actually came out as the second wave release, after Chunli and Ryu. There was a four-month gap between the first and second wave releases, so it would be interesting to see if there's any change in the figures' "technical" designs, mainly their articulation. Being the subsequent release after Chunli, Cammy should represent an improvement over the former in said technical area if Chunli does have certain serious flaws, in which case I certainly hope not. ^^ The good thing is, after the review on Cammy, I have some ideas about what to expect from Chunli, the goods, and unfortunately the bads too. ^^; For starters, those large, gappy hip joint areas are going to continue to irk me when I unbox the figure I believe. ^^;

Then again, those flaws are not enough to distract me from liking the figure. It's a fairly large action figure of Chunli, with amazing detail treatment that is consistent with the entire Play Arts Kai series from Square Enix. She may not as complicated in terms of sculpt and paint details as Serah Farron or Lightning from the Final Fantasy XIII-2 series, her face sculpt, detailing of her costume, and other paint applications seem to be just as impressive as Cammy, even when she's viewed just from outside her container, so that's certainly good. ^^ In fact, the large size, and detail treatment are the more important features that prompted me in getting this Play Arts Kai figure, even though posability is an important element attributed to her.

Since it's Chunli, a character I like very much since many, many years before getting this particular figure, there's not much I need (have) to say before opening the box. ^^




The figure herself, and all of the accessories included can be seen through the front window.


Labels showing Play Art Kai and Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition.









Closer look at the figure and accessories through the front window.




Simple design, typical of the Play Art Kai series on all sides of the box.





Introduction of the figure on the back of the box.


Preview of Ryu from the same release series.


Box opens.


Front view of the package content.









Closeups on the content.


Package content without the top cover.












Closeups on the content.


The plastic tray's grip on the figure and her accessories is so tight they don't fall out in an upside down position. ^^


Rear view of the package content.










Closer look at the content.


A simple backdrop with blue flame.


The flame effect is fuzzy enough to make one feel dizzy after looking at it for a long time. ^^;


The large character of "Kai" at the bottom of the backdrop.



An instruction sheet is included to show how the option head, option hand units and attack effect parts should be configured for the figure.



Straight out of box display of Play Arts Kai Chunli.

More images of Play Arts Kai Chunli coming up in the next posting. ^^

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