M. Bison (Street Fighter (Jada Toys)) Review

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M. Bison (Street Fighter (Jada Toys)) Review

M. Bison
Street Fighter (Jada Toys) (Jada Toys)Street Fighter isn't just about people duking it out all over the world; the fight between good and evil is also a prevalent factor. Most of the characters we've gotten in Jada's SFII line are good or at least neutral, but there are some villains as well. There's the Evil Ryu and Violent Ken exclusives (who didn't appear in the original SFII and its updates), as well as Sagat and more recently Vega. But the true big bad of the game and series is M. Bison (called Vega in Japan, while Vega is called Balrog, and Balrog is called Bison. Not sure why that is).

Bison embraces his role as II's main villain with his design, dressed in a military uniform with a peaked cap bearing a winged skull pin. His face alone is intimidating, with an unamused expression on a head with a prominent chin and cheekbones, as well as blank white eyes, likely a result of him purging all of his goodness to obtain what's known as "Psycho Power." His alternate head matches the sprite art seen on the box, with an angrier expression and small orange pupils. Both heads bear good paint and detail, including some dark wash around the eyes.

Standing about 6 1/2" tall, Master Bison's uniform is mostly red, though with blue around the middle and collar. He's quite muscular, as any Street Fighter would be, and his clothes bear a similar texture to Ryu and Ken's. The lower part of the top from the belt downwards is rubber, so that it doesn't get in the way of leg movement. The parts of his outfit that would be steel, such as the shinguards, are given a metallic silver coat, and the paint work is pretty good, though there's some bleed and other issues on areas like the bracers and belt. The cape is a leather-like material held in place by pins on the shoulder pads, and it's wired as well, so you can pose it however you like.

Bison bears most of the same articulation as the rest of the line, with the usual joints for the head, neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, hips, thighs, knees, and ankles. He lacks the shin swivels these figures usually get due to the shinguards, but the shoulder pads can move, as they're separate pieces sandwiched between the pectoral hinges and shoulder pegs, so their positions can be shifted. My main nit with the design is the back of the knee joints, as the lower parts aren't painted to match the boots, so you have an obvious red disk showing up on gray and black areas. Aside from the extra head, Bison has the option of closed or grasping hands, a Psycho Power effect that can go over the fists, and an alternate pair of shoulder pads without the cape. They're easy to get on and off, with instructions being included on how to do so, but it takes a bit of force getting the right pads to clip on.

Like Dhalsim, Bison is getting an SDCC-exclusive variant, depicting him with a green and red outfit, a bold orange instead of silver colors, and dark maroon boots, belt, and other black areas. He's also far more accessorized, with new smiling and grinning heads (both for this variant and the regular Bison), a pair of thumbs-up hands, a blue Psycho Power effect, a Psycho Crusher effect that goes over the entire figure (and includes a stand), and a burning opponent piece same as Dhalsim's, but blue. Not sure why Jada holds off more of the desirable parts for exclusives, but it gives us more of a reason to get the alternate palettes. Speaking of, there's a BBTS-exclusive Bison with a blue and red outfit that looks pretty cool.

Paint issues aside, M. Bison is pretty cool and fun, and it never hurts to have villains for your other figures to fight. The reason I don't get these more often is because I usually prefer to buy in-store, and Target is the main brick-and-mortar retailer for these, but mine rarely get them. Now that GameStop is carrying this line (Walmart too, but they only have the first wave so far), I'm more likely to get these more often.

- 7/21/25