[And you thought my reviews were long? Dr. Nightmare steps in as a guest reviewer (one you'll be seeing a lot more of in the future I hope), and takes a look at SOTA Toys' last attempt to weather the NECA Street Fighter storm (reviewed here). See whether Street Fighter Revolution Dhalsim puts up a fight in the tough toy competition. -TAO]
Name: Dhalsim
Line: Street Fighter Revolution
Manufacturer: SOTA Toys
Released: Late 2008
Price: Retail: $16.99-$17.99, Online: $16.99-$19.99
Scale: 7.00 in. (figure is 6.5 in. tall)
Accessories: Skull Necklace, 2 extra arms (enlongated), 2 extra hands (fists and open hands), Street Fighter VS Trading Card (Adon)
Dhalsim stands almost exactly 6.5 inches tall, which is out of scale with older SOTA SF figures (he's supposed to be under 6 feet tall), but you won't even notice it, especially when he's posed and the height goes down. Most of the muscles look okay, some areas (like around the ribs) look unfinished, as if they needed a final round of smoothing to get them perfect. I've read people have this issue with E.Honda as well, bummer! I can't tell yet if the skin looks crusty in some places because the sculpt is rough or because the paint is too thick, it's a nagging wonder, but I'm not going to scrape the paint to find out!
For 7-foot-long interchangeable arms, these look completely natural! Like, if you stretched someone's arms to the floor, this is exactly what they would look like. The only problem with this feature is that SOTA forgot to make the heads of the pegs a little smaller, so that we could actually pull the arms off without tearing the peg! They're a little too big to safely remove the arms without damage, so you're going to have to heat them to switch. Of course, you could just widen the holes in the arms to fix the problem, but most people don't want to grind away at their figures. The hands switch well on their own, you get a pair of fists and a pair of open hands. There's no extra head, because, well, when was the last time Dhalsim changed expressions? The likeness is spot-on though.
The most interesting thing about this figure, and of many of SOTA's SF figures, is that it's almost entirely made of soft plastic. The kind that gets flexible when you heat it up. Even his crotch is made of it! This means that Dhalsim is entirely, and very easily, disassembled! So what, that's a bad thing, right? No! This means that any stuck joints are easily fixable too! There is absolutely no reason why you can't get this figure into tip-top shape, saving you the time and money of a replacement, in 2 minutes. I timed it, because mine had a ton of stuck joints, D'OH!
Sculpt Score: 7 / 10
There's a major problem with the paint apps here, mainly the head, he's missing an eye! The right eye is way off-mark, it's just a smudge on the eyebrow. Yeah, we could just paint it ourselves, but white is annoying to paint with, especially in tiny areas. NOT COOL! The red stripes on the top of the head are faded at the tips, but thankfully, the rest of the figure is neatly painted.
Oh, wait, NO IT'S NOT!
The yellow clothing is smoothly-painted, and I appreciate what it takes to do that, but the orange wash is very sloppy. It looks like puddles and marker-stains in the cracks. It looks great on the wrists though, there the painter was actually trying (and it's easier to apply a wash there effectively than on the smooth trunks). The skin is nicely shaded with an air-brush, the nipples are noticeable. The toenails are gray, which is weird because I've never seen gray toenails! I've never seen people stretch their arms across a room either though so maybe I should move on.
The dead-baby skulls are flawlessly painted.
It sounds like a lot of complaining, but overall, the paint is still mostly acceptable, assuming it's the figure's sculpt that is making it look crusty in some places.
Paint Score: 8 / 10
The articulation and range of motion is unmatched, and all these odd-ball joints look great on Dhalsim (I wish the rods in the joints were less noticeable though). The shoulders are regular Marvel Legends-style and they connect to the torso with ball-sockets; This lets the arms be posed more naturally. The upper-body is on a ball-socket as well, which is then connected to a hinge, which is then connected to the crotch with a swivel, and again, it all looks just fine and dandy with Dhalsim's lanky body-type. I am loving these ankle-joints! SOTA managed to replace rocking ankles and a swivel in the shins with one discreet joint! All they did was make the ankles swivel at an angle and magically you get the function of two joints! Though I think they could have gone even further and just made the ankles pure ball-sockets, that would replace 3 joints! but then maybe the feet would pop-off often?
And because everyone loves lists, here's a list of all the P's Of A:
-Neck: Ball-socket (though it needs a little modding to get the full range)
-Shoulders: Ball-socket and swivel-hinge
-Arms: Upper-arm swivel, elbows are double-hinged, wrists are swivel-hinged
-Torso: Upper-body on a double ball-socket, connected to a mid-section hinge, connected to crotch with a swivel (it's extremely loose)
-Hips: Swivel-hinge
-Legs: Mid-thigh swivel hidden with trousers, knees are double-hinged, ankles are hinged and swivel at an angle
There is no position you can't put this figure into, he can even wrap his ankles around his neck!
Back to the stuck joints, I can see how they can ruin the figure for the average customer. I had to disassemble many parts of the figure to unstick those joints. It's very easy to do though, and once you've got them all working, you'll see how fun Dhalsim is to play with
Articulation Score: 10 / 10
Dhalsim is all stick-like and spidery and has an interesting appearance that should catch anyone's attention. Kids who love Dhalsim (I've never met them but I'm sure they're out there) will have fun twisting him like a rubber-band and pretending he's spitting fire because SOTA hasn't figured-out a way to include fire in the packaging. Shame on you SOTA, how hard is it to include a lighter or a box of matches with this figure? Har, har...kids, don't tell your parents about this review.
The earrings and bangles (I hate myself for instantly knowing what they are! Oh, and wow, Susana Hoffs is pretty hot for an old chick! Uh, oops, back to the review!) are removable, but I don't think the earrings were supposed to be. I think they just forgot to glue them on at the factory. The bangles float freely along the arms, you can even place them as arm-bands and they'll stay there! They're all made of silver-colored plastic, but being removable means you can replace them with your own shiny metal rings to give Dhalsim some bling! Bling is always fun. The necklace is nifty, the skulls are strung together with twine. They look small, so I guess Dhalsim collects baby-skulls after they...die? He eats them? Creeeepyyyy! (The Internet says he's not a cannibal. He has them for sentimental value...yeah right!)
With how hard it is to find these Revolution figures at a decent price, if you do finally get one, then you're probably an adult and won't be playing with it too much anyway, but it is a pretty fun toy once you work-out all the kinks. Straight out of the box though, it's a pain in the arse, so it gets a lower score.
Fun Score: 6 / 10
Compared to the original SF line, the price here is a nip in the coin-purse. You're getting about the same amount of goodies for almost twice the price!
The huge packaging seems wasteful, but I'll admit, this is one of the few times I've considered, if only for a second, leaving the figures in the package to display; the boxes are just so slick! They have a soft matte finish and feel like the $20 you're going to pay for the figures inside. You also get a free Street Fighter Trading Card in each package! Are these randomly distributed? Pre-set? Rare? I don't know, but I got a holographic Cammy, my favorite character!
Still, almost $20 hurts for just one figure, but you have to consider the MASSIVE figures in this line (Zangief and E.Honda) and what it takes to make the money back on their production.
Value Score: 7 / 10
Summary
7 -
Mostly well-made, some rough spots hurt the score but it may just be bad paint.
8 -
Aside from the missing eye, very good application and shading with little fading on the details.
10 -
He can touch his eyeball with his toes!
6 -
If you're a SF fan, it's a great toy, otherwise, it's just an above-average figure.
7 - I think this toy is more in the $14-$15 range because of how skinny it is, but if you want to complete your Street Fighter collection, it's worth the retail price.
Overall Score: 76 / 100 - This is a Good Toy
Stuck joints and minor paint issues take a lot away, but with that resolved, this is a great figure.
-Dr. Nightmare (dr._nightmare@articulateddiscussion.com)
Dr. Nightmare pops his head up (and off) anywhere and
everywhere you can find toys, and frankly, it's getting annoying. From
his own imagination-filled blog, The Underground Junk Hole, to the customized halls of Figure Realm, he regularly contributes to the online action figure community. He's one heck of a customizer and thought-spiller to boot.
