Capcom
Street Fighter
Pop Culture Shock
1/4 Scale Guile Statue
Jerry Macaluso (owner of Pop Culture Shock Collectibles) collaborates with sculptor John Cleary to bring to fruition Guile, a character from the greatest fighting game franchise of all time, Street Fighter.
Guile is the seventh character to be produced by Pop Culture Shock Collectibles (PCSC) in this 1/4 scale, mixed media format. The previous being; Akuma, Ryu, Vega, Cammy, Ken, and Zangief.
Lets start with the box and the packaging;
Unfortunately the colored product box was only placed in a single outer cardboard box instead of the normal two. Fortunately my product box, delivered by UPS, came in perfect condition so in this case there were no issues. However, a second outer cardboard would have been desirable.
Next, as usual, PCSC opted for the cheapest styrofoam possible to have this statue packaged in. To my knowledge this is done to save money on the overall cost of the statue, but is highly annoying when trying to unpack and repack the statue as the styrofoam gets all over everything including the statue itself. The choice in cheap styrofoam also ends up being risky because it easily breaks apart during transit and may contribute to damaged statues being delivered to the customer. In my case, the statue came out flawless.
Now for the statue itself;
The statue actually comes in five total pieces. More accurately it's three pieces with two accessories that belong on the statue. Black base, main statue, left detachable hand, comb accessory, and dog tag accessory.
The statue fit very easily into the base, but this comes at the expense of a HUGE design flaw. This statue is approximately 21" tall and when you combine the heavy weight, the height, and the fact that it is not very wide, it takes almost no effort to push the statue right out of the base. Even to pick this statue up you have to be extremely careful and have a steady grip on the base with one hand and a hard grip on the statue with the other hand. For anyone that is displaying this statue in anything other than an enclosed display case, it is recommended that it be placed high enough that a child or pet could not accidentally bump into it. A cat could walk into this thing and knock it over.
The specifics;
Guile happens to be my favorite character in Street Fighter and PCSC did not disappoint in how it portrayed the character. This statue looks absolutely amazing!
The boots alone command a lot of respect with the amount of detail that was put into them. I especially like the little nicks that were sculpted into the toe area. The paint application was done well and brings out the realism in the boots. I can't imagine getting a Flash Kick to the face with those bad boys.
The camouflage utility pants look and feel really good. High quality material seems to have been used here and the stitching was really well done by the factory. There are even real pockets on the side of the legs. However, the decision to use a polished metal belt buckle was a strange design choice. The quality is great, but it looks strange and is too thick compared to the rest of the outfit. This particular aspect of the mixed media will probably be a love it or hate it opinion with most collectors.
The tank top for Guile is equally impressive for the statue. However, one has to be careful when caring for the material. It is not poor quality, but the shirt could easily be torn if handled carelessly. It was purposely made thin to show off the abdominal muscles of the character, which look amazing as well.
The muscles on the rest of the statue look equally amazing to the abdominal area. The only gripe I have is there is absolutely no shading anywhere on this statue. The "skin" is a single tone color. Compared to the Akuma and Ken statue that PCSC did, there is a little to be desired in this area. Strangely, the face has shading. The lips, eyes, and forehead all seem to have been treated a little different than the rest of the body. The face itself is highly detailed and the lack of eyebrows was a good call on the creators part, as Guile never had any in the game either. Guile's face makes him look like somebody not to be messed with! The hair is classic Guile and done very accurately by the sculptor. Not too tall and not too short.
Guile's accessories are a nice addition to the statue. The dog tags, comb, and wrist watch all add a little bit of detail that really make this statue stand out. The comb especially brings out the pose and "character" of Guile beautifully. The real metal dog tag is a wonderful touch as well. Personally I would have preferred a plain highly polished dog tag to match the belt buckle, but this is easily rectified with a little customization. The wrist watch was cleverly used to hide the fact that Guile's left hand actually separates from the arm. This was done to minimize the risk of fingers breaking during transit. It is a nice addition to the look of the statue in my opinion.
Lastly we have the tattoos;
One of the most recognizable features of Guile are his two American Flag tattoos on his shoulders (God Bless America!). PCSC did a great job portraying this well. The colors are vibrant and pop out at the onlooker. These, to me, are the icing on the cake to this amazing statue. They look phenomenal!
When it's all said and done, there a few things that could have been done better on this statue, but that is true of most things in life, isn't it? The bottom line is, PCSC, Jerry Macaluso, and John Cleary not only did this character justice, but made the best Street Fighter statue to date. The size, the weight, the command presence the statue has makes it like nothing else out there.
The bar has been raised and other companies that attempt this character have a lot of work on their hands to top this piece. Great job Jerry and John!
Andrew
