Packaging - **
The statue comes in a large box, with the graphics and text printed on labels, rather than right on the black box itself.

It's a fairly basic box, and there's no Certificate of Authenticity. The interior foam casing is made from the cheaper low density stuff, which I absolutely hate. By the time I had this guy out, there was little white specs on the figure, floor, and me, and these things are such a pain in the neck to clean up. Had they used the higher density Styrofoam, they would have picked up an extra half star here.

EDIT: Turns out there IS a COA, but the folks at Triad had opened the box to make sure the one they were sending over wasn't damaged, and in doing so the COA dropped out on the floor. Doh!

Sculpting - ***1/2
The work on this statue is quite good, particularly on the face and hair. There's lots of fine detail work in the strands of hair and small wrinkles around the eyes. He's not uber-realistic, but the style matches a video game character quite well.

The paint work does hurt the sculpt quite a bit, but more on that in the next section. 

There's less detail on the body than on the neck and face, with fewer wrinkles and less texture.  The scarring on the chest could be a bit more sharply defined, but again, part of the problem is actually with the paint.

The base is truly unique - I've never seen anything quite like it in the pop culture collectibles arena. It's a solid piece of very clear, high quality acrylic, with four metal feet. These feet screw together, so that there is a top piece above the acrylic and the longer foot below.

Rather than go for a base that was tied to the property, Triad went for a 'museum' look. This is the sort of base you might see a prized pop culture item sitting above in the Smithsonian. It's a very clean, sharp, simple design, and I think it looks terrific. I don't know that I'd want all my statues on something like this, but it makes for a unique and unusual look for Heihachi.

One downside is that there is no edition number on the base or figure. With such a limited number produced, it's a shame that you can't have the number someplace on the statue. Add in no COA and no number on the box, and you're left to remembering that they only produced 300, and you have no idea what number out of that 300 you received. EDIT - as I mentioned earlier, there is a COA, mine just ended up not making it to me.

The post that attaches him to the base is in his front foot, so you won't be able to display him without employing the base.

As I mentioned earlier, the figure is in approximate quarter scale. He stands about 16" tall, with his knees bent in a deep fighting stance.

Paint - **1/2
The paint work is not quite up to the standard you'd be hoping for with a statue in this price range, and it's the one area that Triad will need to work on moving forward.

The sculpted head has almost no wrinkling on the top, which is not incorrect - most men don't have too many wrinkles on the top of their head, no matter how much might they look like a Shar-pei otherwise. But with a dark wash over the skin, the wrinkles are very, very obvious - and the lack of them on the head all the more obvious as well. It's almost like it's two completely different sculpts.

The same is true on the base of the neck, where the dark wash highlights the deep wrinkles, and the lack of any of those wrinkles on the chest is too distinct.

The paint work on the body has a airbrushed look, especially where they've tried to highlight the muscles. I'm not a fan, but this is one of those situations where your tastes in style may be quite different than mine.

Articulation - N/A
I didn't include this category to 'rate' the statue, since it is a statue after all - there isn't supposed to be any articulation. But since we have seen some PF's with limited articulation (as well as some large scale statues from other companies), I thought it was worth mentioning that it is NOT the case here.

There is something slightly unusual though that's worth mentioning - the left arm and left leg are removable and held in place with strong magnets. Why? I have no idea. This is usually done to allow for a swappable piece, but I don't know of any other version or exclusive that might include extra limbs on this statue. Perhaps it was something Triad was considering and engineered for, but fell through.

Outfit - ***1/2
Heihachi doesn't wear a whole lot, so it's not a particularly complex costume. But they have produced a very realistic outfit, using properly scaled high quality materials.

The uniform is made from a very heavy cotton fabric, old school martial arts all the way. The torn sleeves and pant legs look great, and the material is heavy enough that unraveling over time probably won't be an issue.

The red belt (which is a darker red in person than it is in photos) looks great, with excellent stitching. Again, the material and construction mimics an actual MA belt perfectly.

The wraps on his wrists and ankles could have been sculpted, but instead Triad chose to make those cloth as well. The fit tightly and are well secured.

The highlight of the overall costume is the stitched tiger's head on the back of his tunic. They used very bright, high quality thread, and the stitching is extremely well done.

The costume has been weathered and dirtied up a bit, giving it a lived in, long term feel.

The costume is pretty basic at first glance, but the quality bodes well for Triad's future work in this scale and style.

Value - **1/2
Sideshow PF's are rarely less than $300 these days. Now, the paint and complexity on this statue isn't at the level of say, a Blackbeard or a Lurtz, but the price is about right ($240) with the rest of the market.

Things to Watch Out For -
Remember that the left arm comes off, as well as the leg. The leg won't fall off on the floor if you bump it, because the pants will also keep it in place. But even with the magnet, it's possible to knock the arm loose if you're not careful.

Overall - ***
Once again, with a **1/2 value score, the overall really comes down to the Sculpt, Paint and Outfit. 

It would be tough for them to improve too much on the outfit, and while the sculpt has a few issues, it's still a great first outing.

Unfortunately, the paint isn't quite up to the level you expect in the over $200 category, even with such a large statue. If they want to compete with Sideshow (who have their own paint issues) and Enterbay (who have just started in this market as well), then this is the one area they'll really need to focus on improving. 

While the costume is good, it's simplicity makes it less critical to the final Overall score than the paint and sculpt. This is a solid first effort, and shows that Sideshow has more competition in this market.

Score Recap:
Packaging - **1/2
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - N/A
Outfit - ***1/2
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy -
Online options include these site sponsors:

- you can pick him up directly from Triad at their online store for $239.

- Big Bad Toy Store has him for $230.

- Urban Collector has him for $230.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

- Entertainment Earth has him in stock at $292.

Related Links -
This is the first Triad quarter scale mixed format statue, so there's no other reviews there yet, and I haven't covered other Tekken products. Your best bet is to grab some further info from the Triad site itself.

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