What does Bruce Lee drink when he's parched? "WA-TAAAHHHH!"
Country of Origin: Hong Kong
Fighting Style: Kung Fu
The success of Street Fighter II inspired lots of knockoff clones. Some are still remembered today, but many more are just footnotes. For instance, ADK's World Heroes for the NeoGeo, which took the basic concept (eight selectable fighters - including palette-swapped ninja guys, one woman, a big wild guy, a wrestler guy, a stretchy guy, a military guy, etc. - travelling to different countries and in between matches beating up inanimate objects) but had unimpressive animation and poor music and effects. It did boast two firsts, though: it was the first game to introduce stage hazards, where the scenery could damage you, and its character Kim Dragon was the first Bruce Lee clone, something Street Fighter wouldn't have until over a year later, with Super Street Figher II's Fei Long.
Fei Long has a whole in-game story of his own, but it doesn't matter: he's just Bruce Lee. The makers of Street Fighter wanted to put a Bruce Lee in their game, so they put a Bruce Lee in their game. And called him Fei Long. Fei Long, who founded his own form of martial arts and starred in a bunch of Hong Kong action movies. Original character do not steal.
As with the rest of the Street Fighters, Jada has given this figure two heads, both with the thick hair and pointy eyebrows you expect. Sadly, neither has the same sort of "howling" mouth SOTA made: the normal one is simply scowling, while the alternate has the mouth open just slightly. They're good looks, but a company could do worse than to really lean into the "Bruce Lee"-ness of the character.
Although later games in the series were more creative with their costumes, this figure is based off Street Fighter II,
so he's just wearing the Enter the Dragon outfit, black shoes and pants, white socks, no shirt. He's definitely chunkier than the SOTA figure, with muscles that are not as lean, and also he doesn't have distinct nipples. Considering that Ryu had a bare chest under the removable shirt, it's a little surprising that this figure doesn't re-use the same one, but nope: he's smaller and narrower.
There's not much to talk about with the paint. He may not have nipples, but his skin is a better shade than the SOTA figure,
not nearly as lifeless, and his hair is black instead of desaturated brown. That's less accurate to the game, but looks better on the toy, so you'll need to decide which is more important to you. It is a bit odd that his socks are cream colored rather than being plain white, and that the white on his shoes is just an outline around the sole, instead of covering the bottom of the foot entirely. Have you ever noticed that Fei Long wears a jacket in his portrait, but never in the game? That was done so players could see what color they'd chosen for his clothes.
SOTA's Fei Long was notorious for having some of the biggest knee joints you've ever seen, to accommodate his baggy pants. The ones here are much more average, though the range of motion is just as good. The figure has a barbell head, balljointed neck, pectoral hinges, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinged wrists, a balljointed chest, balljoint waist, balljoint hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel shins, and swivel/hinge ankles, which is enough to achieve pretty much any martial arts pose you'd want him to do.
Fei Long has fists or hands with the fingers open.
His special move is the Shienkyaku, which is like the Shoryuken uppercut, but with a kick instead of a punch. To signify this, the set includes a translucent flame effect that fits over his entire leg. Wild! Because it encases his leg, there's no stand to support it- you'll either have to provide your own, or find a way to balance him on one foot.
The packaging for this line includes a backdrop of each character's stage behind them in the tray. Reading the text on the floor of Fei Long's stage reveals he's apparently fighting at Haw Par Villa, a real-life themepark in Singapore named after the brothers who invented Tiger Balm - thus its alternate name, "Tiger Balm Gardens." Considering the park's appeal is slipping, with some tourist guidebooks not even mentioning its existence, they could do worse than to promote their connection to such a popular game.
It took SOTA until Series 4 to release a Fei Long, but here he is in Jada Toys' Series 1. You've gotta have these less-popular characters in there if you want the line to have a future, but picking one who looks like one of the most famous martial artists of all time is a good way to keep the interest high.
-- 04/28/24
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