Storm Collectibles Mortal Kombat Liu Kang figure review

Storm Collectibles was a little slow in getting more of the non-ninja characters into its Mortal Kombat line, but they’re starting to make some strides with Raiden and Kung Lao. Now we finally get one of the major heroes of the series with Liu Kang. This officially starts the countdown for Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage and Jax. Liu Kang was an essential character and one I’ve been looking forward to since the inception of the line.

Let’s see if I’m thrilled with this purchase or if this latest Mortal Kombat entry burned me.

Packaging:  Of all the Storm Collectible packaging setups, the Mortal Kombat presentation is my favorite. I love the big character portrait that goes from the from to the left side.

Naturally it’s much larger than the usual MK box since Liu Kang includes his dragon Fatality form. The right side features Liu Kang and the dragon.

I appreciate that the Mortal Kombat bios have English text, which are written like the inductions to characters in a legendary saga. This one establishes Liu Kang’s training en route to his fateful battle in the tournament with Shang Tsung.

Likeness:  Liu Kang is based on his Mortal Kombat 3 appearance. This is my favorite look for him as he’s got the longer hair, the headband, studded gauntlets and long flowing pants. It looks like an attire Bruce Lee would rock if he were in a movie/game about gladiator death matches in the 90s.

Liu Kang is pretty shredded too. As a Shaolin Monk he’s probably not having pizza every Friday night.

The figure has a nice physique all around and doesn’t suffer from small head syndrome like the earlier Storm Collectibles versions of the ninjas.

Scale:  Storm Collectibles scaled the Mortal Kombat line much shorter than other lines so any MK vs. Street Fighter or vs. Tekken won’t look like a fair fight.

Liu Kang is the shortest of the bunch so far. That’s not the worse thing since he’s pretty solid and some height discrepancy with the figures in the line is a good thing.

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Paint:  Storm Collectibles has earned a solid reputation with me for being reliable with the paint jobs. figure so far that’s had a remotely troublesome paint job. The detail work is typically very precise so even with something that can be trickier for other lines like teeth is no problem.

Kung Lao’s skin tone is nice and even throughout. The character on his chest protector is well done although maybe some of the edges could use another dash of red paint.

His silver bracelets have a metallic sheen to them and the hat’s brim is (ahem) flawless.

Articulation:  Storm Collectibles set up its articulation scheme to account for all the standard poses from the fighting games. This holds true with the Mortal Kombat line and Liu Kang is another outstanding example of this crisp, fluid articulation.

Liu Kang’s hip joints allow for a full split legged kick, his bicycle kick and energy channeling one-legged stance with no problem.

He’s got outstanding range with back and forth and side to side movement.

As usual, Storm Collectibles engineering is laid out in a way that you’re not really going to break the figure or snap off a leg or arm when posing so you can achieve most of those game poses with a little patience and repositioning.

There’s always an immense satisfaction in pulling off a fighting stance of signature move from the game with the figures and that’s no different with Kung Lao. With his flying lunges and projectile throwing fighting style, he makes for a nicely dynamic figure.

Liu Kang has:

• neck
• shoulders (butterfly)
• elbows
• wrist
• torso
• waist
• shoulders
• knees
• ankles
• feet

Accessories: Liu Kang is loaded on this front particularly if you’re including the dragon.

As always, there’s additional portraits. Liu Kang gets two extra ones. The first is his somewhat cocky expression.

It’s done in a way that teases he’s about to lay the serious smack down on an opponent while avoiding the potential kissy face look.

The second is a full-on yelling one where Liu Kang is right in the middle of battle. Both are great alternate options.

And there’s a bunch of swappable hands — fists, gripping, palm strikes, clutching and partially open — for all your display options.

He also has his dragon energy blast effect. It’s done in a translucent orange and plugs into the included clear stand so you don’t have to wonder how to pose it.

Now for the dragon. This is Liu Kang’s fatality move so it’s cool to see it represented like the other MK figures. The dragon is massive. It has a bunch of segmented portions.

This was likely to make it easier to construct and fit within the packaging moreso than engineered for great articulation. It’s not like the dragon really does much to warrant superior articulation. At most in this form, Liu Kang takes a couple of steps an engulfs his victim.

At least the dragon has great sculpting. That turned out really nice with all of the scales and detailed work with his eyes and teeth. The mouth opens though not quite wide enough to swallow another figure whole, which would have been awesome. You can get the Dragon’s mouth wide enough to swallow a figure’s head, however.

Paint wise, the dragon looks just as impressive right down to the caked on dried blood on the teeth. That is a wild and terrific touch.

Worth It?  Kung Lao for $80 and Liu Kang is $100 more. That’s a tough price point since depending on your display space you might not even have room for the dragon. And he’s a huge contributor to the cost.

The dragon’s inclusion certainly accounts for the extra cost though so in the end you’re probably not getting ripped off. It would have been nice if Storm Collectibles took a page out of Hot Toys’ book and allowed for the option to get the dragon packed with Liu Kang as a deluxe set along with a solo Liu Kang.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Liu Kang was an essential figure for the Mortal Kombat line and he’s easily one of my favorite in the series. Storm Collectibles did an excellent job executing his figure.

Where to Get It:  As always with Storm Collectibles figures, grab it while you can before the price goes soaring. You can get Liu Kang now from Amazon.

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