I have been covering a lot of Mortal Kombat as of late, which is a cool thing, since we went for so long without any good action figures for the property. However, for your sanity, I will forego the MK cry from the movie as the lead in for this feature. You’re welcome.
Admittedly, I kind of fell away from the Mortal Kombat property after the second game, but I have been enjoying the recent various action figure lines because I have always wanted good figures of the characters from those first two installments. Being a 1:12 scale and super-articulation fan, it should come as no surprise that the Storm Collectibles line has been my fancy thus far, and even though the releases have been limited to this point, I have enjoyed all of the characters I have gotten. Sure, they have all been based off of the “ninja” design from the games, so Reptile here joins Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Noob Saibot, but man, does he look good in doing so.
Yes, on one hand, I just bought a green (mostly) repaint of a figure I already have in blue, yellow, and solid black, but since the design matches the source material, and these are such nice figures, I am pretty much fine with that. I would be lying if I said I would not be all over Smoke, and the other colorways for this basic body as well. Shao Kahn is next, so that will break up the silhouettes on the shelf a bit, but in the meantime, I like what they have done with Reptile. In terms of action figure execution, Scorpion is probably still my favorite of these four due to all of the extras that were included with his release, but Reptile is probably just below him on the totem pole.
If you own any of those other three figures, you will be familiar with 80 percent of this figure, so if you like the base body and articulation scheme from before, you should be satisfied here. I like the articulation on these figures, and the design of the base, coupled with the soft materials used in crucial places really helps the figure take full advantage of all of the points. This applies, obviously, to the overlay and skirt pieces, but I like that the plastic is also softer in the forearms because it makes it so much easier to swap out the hands. I get a cold sweat every time I have to change hands on an SH Figuarts release, and Storm does a nice job alleviating that with these figures.
Also, while there is not a ton to speak of in terms of quantity, the paint applications that are on this figure are good overall. The main body has mostly clean black lines on the green overlay, and the gauntlets and hand guards have appropriate scuffing with some metallic paint. Speaking of, the knee and shin guards continue to stand out o these figures, and while that seems strange to say, I do like the metallic accents to help really bring out the additional splash of color on the otherwise black legs. The really nice paint comes on the unmasked Reptile head, though, and while I will get more into that in just a minute, the “realistic” sculpt is brought out nicely via the detailed paint applications.
For accessories, Reptile gets a few reused items, and a few important new ones with his release. The various hands released before make a return here, and while I am always very appreciative of inclusions like this with my figures, I still find it hard to get overly excited about them. I mean, they are hands, you know? And while I love those options (especially since so many of the new pieces have been sculpted to work with them perfectly), they just are not as exciting the other inclusions. Reptile also comes with his “standard” head that he shares with Sub, Scorp, and Noob, as well as the game one and game two masks. I personally like the simplicity of the game one mask over the other, but that might be due to my opinion that as the game series went on, the costume designs got a lot more complicated, and not really in a good way.
For the new pieces, and the real highlights of this figure, Reptile gets three different acid effects, and his unmasked head with accompanying tongues. Of the acid effects, I thought for sure I would like the larger piece, but I actually like the dripping effects for the fingers the most, and the make for a cool recreation from MKII. I really appreciate the way all of these have been sculpted to fit perfectly over the fingers of the hands, and the translucent plastic adds a nice layer of dimension as well. The alternate head is the real gem of the release, though, and both the sculpt and the paint applications on the Reptile head are just great. He is scary and definitely malicious in look, and there is no doubt at all that this guy is totally gonna eat your head. The swappable tongues are such a great touch, too, because you have the standard for a nice portrait, but the extended version for enemy head eatin’ action! It is not as impressive as Scorpion’s fire accessory, but it is definitely more gruesome.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that, with time, we will be able to build out the entire Kombatant roster from the first two MK games. Reptile is another solid addition to the group, and I will be glad to see a bit of a change up for the next release with Shao Kahn. These are really well-made figures, and if Storm keeps it up, there is a lot of carnage in our future. If you want to pick up old Reptile, he is available from our pals at BBTS.
