At New York Comic-Con 2018, Storm Collectibles and Bluefin released two new Ninja exclusives in Rain and Smoke. Then, last month they unleashed the Storm Collectibles Goro figure on US collectors. We’ve had these in hand for a bit, and have finally been able to set time to do a proper photo shoot. Bluefin sent the three figure along, and we have over 75 high resolution images to check out. After the jump, you can see my thoughts on the figures as well as the new gallery.
Mortal Kombat – Rain, Smoke, and Goro 1/12 Scale Figures by Storm Collectibles
Pros
- Goro has an outstanding sculpt and paint deco
- Great articulation and lots of swap out hands for Goro
- Smoke’s effects pieces are a nice touch
- Ninja’s are still excellent figures
- Rain and Smoke make great looking additions to the Ninja line up
Cons
- MK line is in need of some variety at this point
- New blood effects for the Ninjas would have been welcome
Overall
I’m not going to talk a whole lot about Smoke and Rain in this write up. By this point, I’ve written about the Ninja mold multiple times before, and not much has changed here. The swap out parts are the same on each of the releases, save for character specific additions. The new effects pieces are okay, but nothing that brings anything major to the line as a whole. Previous releases had pieces such as blood effects and fatality parts, which would have been great to see here. Smoke includes effects parts that can attach to his limbs and a smoke throw effect. Rain has a Lightning bolt effect piece and a water shooting effect hand. The mold is still excellent, and if you don’t have many of the Ninja’s, they still look great with nice paint work, lots of articulation, and plenty of swap out parts overall.
Goro is a fresh and welcome addition to the Mortal Kombat line. Goro was actually one of the very first figures announced back in 2015, and collectors can finally pick this guy up. After putting him through the paces in the shoot, I can say it was worth the wait. It’s no surprise that Goro towers over the Ninjas, and stands head and shoulders above even Shao Kahn. The figure stand roughly 11″ tall! The sculpt is top notch here, with great skin texture throughout. The figure includes two head sculpts, one with a fairly neutral expression, and one with an angry expression, and both look spot on. There are also two hair extensions included, and those can be swapped between the two portraits. A number of hands are included that can be swapped in and out as you see fit. Each style is available in sets of four, so each hand can be displayed with the same style if you so desire. Paint work is outstanding, with subtle transitions in the skin tones, sunspots, and clean paint lines. The figure isn’t overly saturated, and he has an nice lifelike appearance. Since the figure has a minimal costume design, getting the skin tone right was very important. I didn’t notice any paint bleed in hand. All-in-all, Goro is a killer looking figure.
The figure has an excellent amount of articulation, with some clever design choices that make sure the extra arms feel like natural additions, instead of a hindrance to the design. Like previous releases, Goro utilizes a soft overlay that hides the joint system under the torso, and creates an extra area of movement at his chest and extends the torso to the proper length. While his bare skin design keeps most of his articulation points visible, it doesn’t detract from the overall look. Each of the four arms is full articulated, with ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, and double jointed elbows. The joints themselves are quite strong, as I was able to have Goro hold Smoke up with a single hand, and no stand used. The figure is a bit top heavy though, and you may need to mess with the pose a bit to keep him standing, but for the most part, he’s a sturdy figure. A stand is includes that can be used as extra support, or can be used to display the flying fist effects pieces.
The decision to pick up Rain and Smoke will depend on how complete you want to be with the Ninja mold. They’re good additions, with solid color schemes, but some fans may be growing weary of the mold at this point. The upcoming Bloody Editions will be a lot easier to get, though, compared to these. On the other hand, for fans, Goro is an absolute worthwhile purchase. For me, he’s the best release in the line since Scorpion and Sub-Zero. With a stellar sculpt and a nice assortment of swap out hands, there’s a lot ot like here. Check out some select photos below, and the full gallery after that.
Some of the backgrounds featured in pics below are from Extreme-Sets.com. Enter code TOYARK at checkout and get 15% off your order!
CompaniesStorm Collectibles
CharactersGoroSmokeRain
Scale1/12