Toy Review: SOTA Street Fighter Ibuki

 

Sota's street Fighter Ibuki is probably the first Sota Street Fighter figure that didn't debut in SF Alpha but in Street Fighter 3rd Strike.

According to Street Fighter Wiki: Ibuki lives in a village entirely composed of ninjas where she has been training since childhood. After doing the same routine everyday and attending a school for ninjas, she wishes to live like a normal schoolgirl.

Ibuki returns in Super Street Fighter IV

In Super Street Fighter IV, she sneaks away from her clan's summer training camp to compete in S.I.N's tournament, in order to meet cool and handsome guys. When the tournament is over, she realizes that she is going to be late for camp and attempts to sneak back in as if nothing had happened. However, she is caught by one of the camp's instructors. The rest is history.

Ibuki is not too shabby for the line. The slender ankles make the feet look even bigger in comparison. Her extra scarf makes her show her face which looks weird. It should cover the insides of her thighs and connect to the waist of the figure. Because of the proportionally unsound legs, its difficult for me to make her stand up. This however is compensated with numerous accessories and a figurine fox (or dog - whatever)named Don. The result is that it appears that the legs of her outfit have been surgically tucked into her legs.

Since she has no hindrance in other body parts Ibuki is also exceptional. She has 32 joints mainly on the toes, middle of the foot, ankle, shin, double knees, balljointed hips, waist, chest, hands, wrists, double elbows, biceps, balljointed shoulders. Without the scarf, Ibuki has joints on the neck and head. Most of the joints are exposed such as the arms but the knee joints are hidden when straightened and the ankles as well because of the ragged edges of her bandages. Because of her slender model like arms, I'm always on my toes because these can easily snap.

Her long back hair and bangs are rubbery and very anime-esque. But be careful of the bandage on her fair reminds me of my bigger Sota figure (Akuma) which is flimsy and has the tendency to break.

Accessories:

Ibuki has three extra pair of hands - two holding hands and a ninja posing hand.She also came with a Kunai knife perfect for throwing towards enemies. She doesn't have a second head but a replaceable scarf or bandana which reveals her face. This is for me, can be ineffective because of what I mentioned earlier - her awkward looking face.

Her last but not the least addition is her dog (or tanuki which means raccoon dog) named Don. Its not much as it looks like somethign that came from a cheap animal toy pack you can get in a thrift store. But Don's presence is prominent in Japanese folklore, where they're good companions and share the same chakra with their ninja masters - the shapeshifting ability and other mysterious ninja powers. If you can't understand what I'm saying refer to the Naruto series (i.e.Kiba and Akamaru).

Ibuki is a decent figure and enough to include her to our Bucket List of Street Fighter things.

Video Review