Gouken
By Hervé St-Louis
September 27, 2006 - 00:26
 |
Likeness
Although Gouken’s beard is accurate to the character’s design, it limits the mobility of his head, which sits on top a large necklace made of beads. Traditionally, Gouken has a long beard and dresses in rags, similar to brother Akuma. The figure renders him the same way.
Sculpt
The sculpt’s body is almost a complete reused from Akuma. The torso, arms thighs and feet are the same as Akuma’s. Props such as the beads’ necklace he sports and his tunic are also the same as his brother’s. Differences are found in his head’s sculpt, of course, his fists and calves. The fists are naked, but are the same one as Akuma’s without the hand wraps. Tissues wrap Gouken’s forearms and calves. The detail in those parts is impressive.
 |
Paint
The paint job is not as extensive as other Street Fighter action figures. Gouken’s parts plastic were moulded in the same colour as his body parts. Therefore, Sota did not use paints to colour the figure very much. It gives a plain look to the figure when put next to the other Street Fighter figures which were completely painted. There is no extra shading on his chest and hands, unlike his brother. Only details such as his beard and the wraps around his hands have complex shading.
Scale
 |
Stability
Thanks to the cheaper plastic used by Sota Toys’ new factory, Gouken is not top heavy. His soles are flat and support his body weight perfectly. There might be some adjustments necessary to find the right way to pose him in a plain stance, but it will not be difficult. Posing Gouken in an action move is easier because his limbs are not as heavy.
Articulation
Gouken has 30 articulations. Some are looser than others but they are not difficult to use the first time because there is no paint on the joints.
Plastic
 |
Props
Gouken comes with either one of two variant fire bolts that can’t properly fit his fists. The Sota variant comes with a Shoryuken. The other figure comes with a Hadouken. It has nothing to hold onto. It thus becomes a useless prop. Gouken doesn’t feature extra fist or heads like other Street Fighter action figures. While I understand that he was an exclusive action figure for the 2006 San Diego Comic Book Convention, it’s cost more than other Street Fighter figures too. Sota should have packaged at least the two heads, there fore eliminating the need for a variant. Of course, that goes against the marketing objective of this figure!
Packaging
The packaging is similar to other Street Fighter action figures. The plastic is slightly thinner than that of other packages, but must still be opened with scissors. It’s strange that on the package there are game instructions for Gouken’s special moves, while he has never appeared in a video game.
Cost
 |
Availability
Less than 2000 Gouken action figures of each of the initial variants were produced by Sota Toys. The new variant with the yellow tunic is limited to 300 pieces. Initial news reports from Sota announced that 2000 pieces of each initial figures would be produced, but it seems that the actual quantity is less. While the Battle Cry version, is available for purchase directly from Sota Toys and the other at Toy Rocket’s site, Gouken variants were first offered at the 2006 San Diego Comic Book Convention. Each continues to sell left over stock on their Web sites.
According to Jerry Macaluso, President of Sota Toys “The way the Gouken figure was sold is a precursor to the way future Street Fighters will all be sold. We did offer the Gouken to distributors in other countries ( including Canada ) so the collectors there had it easily available to them. Unfortunately most didn’t take it. We did not offer it to Diamond as it was a Toy Rocket Exclusive in the USA. Reason for that is we needed a partner to absorb some of the financial risk and they stepped up to the plate with a good offer.”
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |