(Femme-Bot Friday #71)
So, having dealt with the Street Fighter II X TransFormers Convoy/Megatron set in one hit, I find myself having to split the second set to properly accommodate the main reason I was interested in either set: Generations/TF Legends Arcee repainted as Chun Li.It's a bit puzzling that the two sets were made out of toys in different size classes (Arcee and Hot Rodimus being Deluxes), but I guess they felt either that both Ryu and Vega/M. Bison warranted partnering with the Voyager class leaders of the two Cybertronian factions, or at least that Ryu should be partnered with a robot of the same size class, even though he'd generally depicted as being much smaller than Vega/M. Bison in the games.
Still, is that any more strange than including a figure from an older, entirely unrelated line, when three out of the four crossover figures are from Titans Return?
Packaging:
The style of the packaging matches that of the Voyager class set, just on a (slightly) smaller scale - the way these are packaged means that the boxes aren't that different in size. I'm assuming the story panel on the left side of the back is much the same as that on the other set, but obviously the character breakdowns, product shots and special move descriptions are unique.
The inner box features another screenshot from the game, in which Ken has just delivered his Dragon Punch, and Chun Li has been knocked into the air. I'm assuming the boat in the background makes this Ken's stage, but I'm not familiar enough with SFII to be sure.
Vehicle Mode:
Given that her paint job and colour distribution are both completely biased toward Chun Li, I'm surprised by how good Arcee looks. The robot's legs, now in the dark tan of Chun Li's tights, do stand out awkwardly on the sides of the vehicle, but that's not an unusual feature on TransFormers toys... and I'm more disappointed that the sides of the car at the back weren't painted dark tan to match, and make the vehicle look a touch more coherent.
I absolutely love the combination of blue plastic and yellow paint - it's almost approaching TF Prime Arcee's colourscheme on a G1-style toy... but I can't help thinking the tertiary should have been gold, or at least a metallic yellow. Plus, the tampographed portions of the paintjob - the swirly designed on the bonnet, around the Autobot insignia, just behind the front grille connecting to the frames of the headlights, on the wheel well coverings for the front wheels, and edgeing in at the back, along the bottom edge of the car shell - are not as dense as they should have been. My digital camera has emphasised the effect and made these designs look patchy and quite washed out - they certainly don't look as bad in person. I suspect the frames of the headlights came out better due to a white undercoat. Most of the paintwork is crisp, but there is some feathering of the blue paint around the cockpit and on the sides of the rear, and it doesn't quite reach the sculpted panel lines where it's supposed to meet up with the white panel at the rear of the car. It's also disappointing - yet not surprising, given the look of the Voyager class set - that her tail lights are still unpainted.
The wheels were molded in opaque yellow, but the windscreen and weapons use a translucent yellow with a curious pearly shimmer which, unfortunately, makes me think of frozen urine... Not the best choice of colour as it suits neither the mold nor the characters. All the product shots on the box make these parts appear a touch more orange or gold-ish.
This version of Arcee is packaged with all her original weapons from the Generations/TF Legends release, with the two pistols getting stowed on the underside - the smaller one required to keep the arms in place and, thankfully, being easier to attach and remove on this version - while the swords just have to plug into the rear or the sides of the car, looking pretty awkward either way.
I have to admit that, overall, this vehicle mode reminds me of those cheesy Matchbox cars that are designed and painted to resemble characters from movie franchises... It works, but part of me thinks it shouldn't.
Robot Mode:
Given that the Titans Return line didn't exactly have an overabundance of Femme-Bots, and that none of them would really have worked as Chun Li, it's no surprise that Takara Tomy mined their back catalogue for an appropriate figure... and, honestly, the Generations/TF Legends Arcee mold looks fantastic in Chun Li cosplay. Naturally, due to the limitations of the mold, it's not a perfect match, and she loses the front part of her modified qipao, while the vehicle shell can potentially be left unfolded at the back as a representation of the rear part. The only downside is that it's white plastic, painted blue on the outer face, so it's not a colour match to Chun Li's qipao. It also doesn't have the yellow trim, but that's a minor nit pick. In a way, though, Takara Tomy may have done better to present Chun Li in her Street Fighter Alpha/Zero costume, since that doesn't have any loose, flappy bits. I guess that would have been crossing one too many continuities...
Like Convoy and Megatron, the parts of Arcee that correspond to exposed flesh on Chun Li are painted skintone or molded in a similarly-coloured plastic, but it's far paler here than on the two Voyager class figures. Arcee amost always uses shades of pink, though, so it doesn't look quite so out of place here. She wasn't given any extra accessories to mimmick the videogame character's massive spiked bracelets but, instead, has simple black bands studded with silver dots painted around her wrists. The effect is a bit weak, and I'd have gladly sacrificed the swords for a decent pair of bracelets - one of the spikes on each could even have been substituted for a rectangular peg to facilitate attaching them to the back or sides of her vehicle mode for storage.
The swirling from the front of her bonnet is extended on the top of Arcee's chest to resemble the fastening on Chun Li's qipao, and an Autobot insignia is stamped on the middle of her chest. The design here is reasonbly well done, but I'd question the alignment, given that the seam at the very front of her bonnet - where the pink plastic ends and the white piece begins on the stock Arcee figure - is immediately below the edge of the design - I would have been tempted to line the yellow linework up on that seam. Furthermore, I'm a little surprised and disappointed that Arcee's sculpted collar hasn't got any yellow paint on it, since the gold trim on Chun Li's qipao extends onto her collar, and the recessed bars included in the sculpt could have accommodated the paint if they weren't able to follow the edges of the mold accurately enough. The other issue is that this curvy design emphasises how angular Arcee's body is, particularly with the bulk of it being flat and trapezoid with bevelled edges, and only subtle curvature on the almost horizontal top-of-robo-boob line. It's also, again, a real shame they went with yellow paint rather than gold, which would have looked fantastic on this figure. White paint on the vehicle mode's grille and on the belly plate behind it represents Chun Li's wide obi, but has only been applied on the front of the figure - the continuation of the sculpted detail round the back remains bare blue plastic. Her legs are molded in dark tan plastic, with the boots indicated by white paint on the lower legs and white plastic for the feet. The shape isn't a match for Chun Li's chunky boots, but I'm glad they kept the the sculpted panel lines on this figure.
This version of Arcee uses the same mold as TF Legends Arcee, so the hands are open, and there's a platform sculpted into the hands that prevents her weapons being fully inserted. The earlier version of the mold apparently had the thumb meeting the fingers, and was consequently quite prone to breaking when the weapons were inserted, so I'm glad Takara Tomy didn't use that version... However, by the time this set emerged, another variant - used for the SDCC 2015 Combiner Hunters set - had already emerged, and would have been the preferable version for this set, since the remolded hands were far more adaptable. This version can only hold her weapons by the very ends of their grips, meaning they all look decidedly odd. The swords look slightly better, on balance, but Chun Li is apparently described as an accomplished markswoman in the story of the crossover, making the guns equally, if not more appropriate. That said, while she is officially an officer of Interpol, I've found no evidence that any particular skill with firearms is canonical. Arcee's skills, meanwhile, are well documented.
The stock Arcee head mold is a fair match for Chun Li... but, since it's (supposedly) based on Princess Leia's side-mounted cinnamon bun hairstyle, the location of the white parts is further south than ideal for Chun Li's 'ox horns'. The main central panels of Arcee's helmet - with the exception of the lowest panel, right over her eyes - are painted black, to match the original spec for Chun Li's hair. The mold would normally allow for light-piped eyes, but I doubt the swirly yellow plastic is translucent enough for it to work here and, in any case, the eyes have been painted black. She's also been given red lipstick, which is very much more Arcee than Chun Li, though the paint application isn't as wide as on TF Legends Arcee, and gives her sculpted mouth a rather artificial expression.
Since I love the Generations/TF Legends Arcee mold, it's no surprise that I think this figure is fantastic, however bonkers the crossover idea might be. The fact that it's poseable enough to pull of her Spinning Bird Kick, Hyakuretsukyaku, Tenshokyaku and other, less iconic moves (albeit requiring some support due to the angles of the soles of her feet) is a massive bonus.
Honestly, this figure is the only real reason I bought either of the Street Fighter II X TransFormers sets and, while I do sometimes experience a bit of buyers' remorse (especially when looking at Ryu and Ken), picking up Arcee as Chun Li and putting her in a new pose generally cures it. Your mileage may vary, of course, and I'd never suggest the mold is even a perfect representation of Arcee, let alone Chun Li, but it's yet to be bettered in any main line of official TransFormers toys.
Grranted, the paint job is underwhelming and the way Chun Li's bracelets have been handled is especially poor, but this is easily my favourite of the crossover figures.
No comments:
Post a Comment