And finally, it’s time to review our last Pop Culture Shock statue. If you’ve read my previous reviews, you’ll already know how this one came into our possession. For those that do not know this already; we bought this one together with Vega and Cammy, both exclusives also, from a fellow ex-collector. Yeah, also exclusives! That’s right. Now it’s the time for our M. Bison SideShow Collectibles Exclusive!
I didn’t want to get started on this line. I figured, if I’d buy this one, I needed to buy the other male Street Fighter I really like; Vega. Couldn’t do that right? But then, a fellow collector had to sell all his statues and he did have all three we liked. So yeah; we started with the Street Fighters as well…
For those unfamiliar with this guy, here’s a little quote to get to know him better:
M. Bison, known in Japan as Vega, is a video game character created by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, he is a recurring character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games, acting as the final boss and primary antagonist of the Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha series, and later a supporting villain in the Street Fighter IV series. He is also the final boss of the non-canonical Street Fighter EX series.
A would-be world dictator, and a pure incarnation of evil, M. Bison’s ambition is to control the world’s governments through his covert crime syndicate, Shadaloo (sometimes spelled as “Shadoloo”, “Shadowloo” or “Shadowlaw”). He serves as the host of Street Fighter II ‘s fighting tournament[1] and is the last opponent fought in the game. Several Street Fighter characters—including Guile, T. Hawk, Cammy, Rose and Chun-Li—have their personal vendettas against M. Bison and have entered the tournament in the hopes of facing him personally. M. Bison wields an inherently evil energy known as “Psycho Power”.
Now on to the statue.
I really, really like this one. I think he’s really menacing especially in this cool black color variant. I also like the cape with the exclusive more than the one on the regular. The regular has an all black cape while the exclusive has the red lining. It’s better.
There were a lot of complaints that the cloth used for his suit is too thin but frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. I just can’t see why they are bickering about that, it looks just fine. The only thing that isn’t done that well are the pins for his shoulder pads. One fits nicely but the other one sticks out a little. Need to fix that when we’re going to display him.
As you can see on two of my pictures, he doesn’t look so bad displayed without his cape but it just adds so much to his already cool look. Personally, I still don’t know how to display him. He’s got so much extra parts that making the decision really is hard… You got two heads (one made especially after many fan requests after his initial pre-order release) and three hands. That’s quite a lot of options. I think I’m going to rotate the pieces. Only the regular hand will probably stay in his box. Those two with that “Psycho Power” thingies look far more interesting. I really like that ice-cone hand. Wish Jerry did something like that with the exclusive head/skull of Scorpion from Mortal Kombat…
Like I said before, Jerry made an extra head after many fans requests. They didn’t like the grinning head as only option so Jerry decided to create a more serious one as an exclusive for his website. Eventually, he decided to include it with the statues themselves. Glad he did, even though I like the grinning one the best, otherwise I probably had missed it… Other changes made after the first sneaks were his skin color which people found too flat and too dark and he changed the Psycho Power color from blue to purple. Would love to get my hands on the original made blue hands… Would be awesome to be able to choose between the two.
Conclusion:
Personally, this is still one of my favorite statues. The sculpt, paint and mixed media are just so well done. If you don’t already have this statue, don’t hesitate! Especially now, since SideShow Collectibles is offering the exclusive for $323.99 instead of $359.99 which means a discount of 10%. It’s not that much of a difference but enough if you were on the fence for this one.
Pictures:
Item reviewed: Street Fighter M. Bison Ex
Type: mixed media (resin with cloth)
Manufacturer: Pop Culture Shock
Variations: regular edition (red outfit, all black cape)
Rarity: Easy to find since he’s still available on the SideShow Collectibles website. Currently even with discount (-10%)! 250 (ex) and 500 (reg) made worldwide
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