Pinky Cos: Street Fighter Chun Li & Sakura

Product Information/Specifications

Introduction

I preordered this Pinky Cos: Street Fighter Chun Li & Sakura back when they were first announced from an online shop from Japan that is now gone.  I was waiting for them to be released in July 2005, but it got pushed back.  I waited for a long time until they finally came out on November 2005, about a quarter of a year.  Waiting for that long, I expected something good out of them.  But, was it worth the wait?

The Pinky Cos: Street Fighter Chun Li & Sakura was sold out during its release week.  It was later reissued again later.

The Review

Chun Li & Sakura Pinkys out of the blister card

This Pinky Cos set doesn't have much to offer.  For accessories, it has a pair of Chun Li's spiked wristbands, Sakura's neck scarf, Sakura's back part of her headband, & a pair of bases with the "Street Fighter" logo on them.

Chun Li & Sakura Pinkys from different sides

These are your basic static poses.  It looks like Chun Li & Sakura are getting prepared for their match.  For some reason though, they bend backwards.  As you can see in the pics, Chun Li is really bending.  After taking the pics, I realized the problem.  The factory didn't put her head into her body fully.  You really need to jam her head down good.  She's still bending back, but not as much as before

The spiked wristbands require some stretching when you put them on.  There is a cut to allow the wristbands to stretch.  You need to force them in a little.  The rest are just fine.

Round one....  FIGHT!

The bases are plain & "cheap" for any special Pinky pairs I've even seen.  It's basically the Street Fighter logo written in different colours.  It would have been nice to make some designs on them to fit Chun Li & Sakura's characters or make the bases coloured instead of clear.

For you Pinky customizers out there, here's what you can do with these Pinkys.  Chun Li's bao baos are removable as well as Sakura's blue neck collar.  Chun Li's hair is quite interesting.  It's made of three parts: the front, left, & right parts.  This is the first time I've seen a Pinky with left & right hair parts.  I'm not sure why it was done like that & I don't know if you can use them for other Pinkys without some modifications involved.  As for the bodies, the holes on the hands aren't facing down as you can see.  They are on the front sides.  This probably limits it uses of other Pinky accessories available on the market at its time of release since not many items are made to be put sideways.

There isn't really a lot to talk about on the detailing, especially Sakura's outfit.  It's mainly the trimmings & panel lines.  The white trimmings on Sakura's neck collar & shirt has some paint bleeding which causes them to be uneven.  Some parts are higher than others.  Strangely enough, the lines have the same thickness.

The gold trimmings on Chun Li's clothing suffers the same thing as Sakura's.  But for some reason, the workmanship is much better here for something that requires more work.  Bleeds can be found on various places, but the lines are surprisingly even & have the same thickness.

As for the colour toning, it's a good balance & the choices of colours really make these Pinkys stand out boldly.

Out of the two faces, I like Chun Li the most.  Chun Li looks cute with her Chinese style eyes & mad face.  Sakura looked a bit weird.  However, it did have that resemblance of her.

In terms of the paint job, it's very good.  No bleeds or unevenness here whatsoever.  Solid job.

Overall Conclusion

The Chun Li & Sakura Pinkys aren't what I thought out it would be.  It didn't make me feel excited when I held them for the first time.  It felt there's something missing in them in terms of the accessories available.  I had them displayed on my table & in a display case before selling them away.

For the Pinky Cos: Street Fighter Chun Li & Sakura, I give them a seven out of time.  I felt this wasn't worth the hype.  It's got very limited accessories & the bases were just cheap.  Also, the poses aren't exciting or good as I thought it would be.  Their hands won't do much good in putting other Pinky accessories on them.  The best part about them is probably the use of Chun Li's bao baos for customization.  However, I'm not into that field.

If you are a Street Fighter or Pinky fan, you would probably get this.  Personally, I won't recommend getting them unless you want to use them for parts & customization purposes.  Currently, these Pinkys aren't hard to find.  I've seen them available on web stores, physical stores, & online auctions.  VANCE probably reissued more than enough out in the market for the people that missed out on the first run.  I've seen them sell at the Japanese retail price, but some times more or less.  The difference isn't too great.  Now, stores that still have them are selling them for less

Photos were taken using Sony DSC-F828 digital still camera.

Last updated on May 21, 2008