Jada Toys Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers Ken review

Whenever I wanted to play a seriously aggressive style in Ultra Street Fighter II, Ken was my go-to fighter. I loved his flame-enhanced moves and the subtle changes from Ryu, my other main favorite. Thanks to SOTA Toys and Storm Collectibles, I’d amassed a respectable Street Fighter collection.

I had zero intention of getting the Jada Toys Street Fighter II line, but they started announcing characters the other companies hadn’t done so I gave them a shot with their take on Fei-Long and Chun-Li. I was immediately hooked and ready to start my third Street Fighter collection.

Finding the figures at retail has been tricky for me, but a mini-vacation Target stop was fruitful. I actually found Ken on the shelf. While Ryu still has to wait, I was fired up (sorry) to check out his BFF/fighting rival to get a general sense of how Jada delivered on them.

Let’s see if Ken makes Jada 3 for 3 or he leaves me heated up.

Packaging: I really appreciate the creativity with the packaging. It’s set up like an arcade cabinet complete with player 1 and player 2 joystick and buttons. On the bottom left corner, we have Ken’s artwork from the game and clever decreasing health bars for 1P and 2P. The artwork on the sides hasn’t been updated for newer releases so there’s no image of Ken among the mix of Cammy, Dee Jay, T. Hawk, Vega and Ryu.

As creative as the front is the rear packaging is boring with Ken posed in his victory stance. There’s no cross sell of the other figures in his wave. I think Ken is technically the lone figure in Wave 2?

The bottom features the game art featuring the 19 playable characters. It’s very impressive that Jada has already revealed all of the characters at this point.

Likeness: Ken looks really good. His hair flows pretty accurately to the game design save the more defined part at the center. He’s got a bright smile suggesting he’s thrilled about the chance to go into battle again. Unlike the Ryu figure (available now on Amazon), Ken’s gi features neatly tailored cut-off sleeves compared to the jagged ones on Ryu.

The gi is positioned game accurate so it flares out in a manner that partially showcases his defined chest. What’s the point of all that working out to cover it up, right? His gi also has a surprising amount of detail with textured pattern throughout.

Ken’s sparring gloves have a leather-like texture to them for an extra bit of authenticity. He doesn’t have the clodhopper-style feet he’d get in later installments as these are proportionate to his body.

Paint: Jada really goes above and beyond for the paintwork on the figures. His tan skin tone has a darker wash to help further bring out the musculature. It’s a really nice effect that helps provide an extra level of shading and realism to the figure.

His hair has a wash of yellow orange to break up the stark yellow. Paintwork around his eyes and mouth are clean though there are some areas where the sparring gloves are missing some paint apps.

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Scale:  Ken is about average height compared to his fellow World Warriors making him taller than Chun-Li and Fei Long. I’m looking forward to seeing how Ken matches up with characters like Sagat and Zangief.

Articulation: This is really where Ken shines. The articulation engineering is phenomenal throughout. It’s not so much that all of the expected joints are here so much as the range each one has.

This allows Ken to crouch into deep stances, get positioned firmly to support one leg stances and easily take flying kick poses.

Jada’s rocker torso has fantastic side to side movement. This helps provide some personality to the poses, which makes setting up poses far more fun than frustrating.

Posing Ken was just as — if not more so — satisfying to pose as a Storm Collectibles figure. It’s not a matter of if a pose is able to be done, but how deep you can position the figure to really nail it.

In a fun twist, you can “borrow” Fei Long’s flame effect to pull off a pretty decent Flaming Dragon Punch.

Ken has

• head
• neck
• shoulders (butterfly)
• elbow (double-jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• mid-torso
• torso
• hips (ball-jointed)
• thigh
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories:  Jada continues to surprise me with the accessory rollout with this line. All for under $30.

Ken gets swappable hands — to best channel his fiery Hadoken.

The Hadoken is a solid size with translucent oranges, reds and yellows. It actually has Ken’s hands in it to provide a little extra depth in it. That’s an unusual, but very cool effect.

To simulate the fireball’s path, Jada included a clear stand. This is a savvy inclusion and definitely adds to the fun in staging fight scenes. And it can easily be used for Ryu.

Ken also gets an alternate head sculpt. That works for when Ken is fired up and focused on finishing his opponent off.

Worth It?  I’m impressed that Jada could get this highly articulated line with a generous number of accessories out for $25.

Rating:  10 out of 10

I’ve become a big fan of this line and Ken is another home run in this wave. Bring on the rest of the World Warriors!

Where to Get It?  I never found these figures at retail, but you can get him from my affiliates Amazon or Entertainment Earth.

As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.