THE CHALLENGER

BRUCE LEE ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

I haven’t really talked a ton about Bruce Lee here on the site.  I’ve got two prior reviews, and one’s here because there was a Kato involved, while the other’s a Minimate.  He’s someone whose work isn’t a main focus of mine, but whose impact on pop culture I can very much appreciate.  He’s gotten all sorts of toy coverage over the years, and the latest is coming out of Super 7’s Ultimates umbrella.  They have a couple of versions of Lee, and today I’m taking a look at “The Challenger,” which is based on Lee’s character Hai Tien from his unfinished film, Game of Death.  Look, it’s Bruce Lee in the yellow jumpsuit with the stripes; it’s hard to go wrong with that one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Challenger makes up one half of the first wave of Super 7’s Bruce Lee Ultimates, with the other being “The Warrior,” who is based on his appearance in The Way of the Dragon.  The two of them started hitting back in July.  The figure stands a little over 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Compared to the improved articulation of the second round of G.I. Joe Ultimates, Lee’s articulation is a bit of a step back.  It’s not awful, but you’re not getting more than 90 degrees on the elbows or knees, which can prove limiting when it comes to fighting poses.  There’s enough give on some of the other joints to work around it to some degree, but articulation definitely remains an area where Super 7 struggles on these releases.  At the very least, this guy isn’t plagued by loose joints, so he’ll hold the poses you put him into.  The Challenger sports an all-new sculpt.  This another area where Super 7 sometimes struggles, especially when it comes to likenesses of real people.  The Challenger gets three different head sculpts, and they all sport a surprisingly strong likeness of Lee.  Like, really good, actually.  Of the three, the one with the pursed lips is definitely the strongest, but the other two aren’t bad either.  The level of detailing is also really sharp, which I was happy to see.  The detailing on the body is a lot more basic.  Obviously, it’s just a jumpsuit, so there’s not a ton to be done there, but he doesn’t even really get folds or texture, so it’s a touch bland.  It is at the very least a pretty good match for Lee’s build in the film, so it keeps the likeness going from what the head sculpts started.  The bracelet on his right wrist is a separate piece, so take care when swapping the hands so as to not lose it.  The Challenger’s paint work is really strong on the heads; it’s not quite Hasbro’s face printing, but it’s still quite lifelike, again aiding with the likeness.  The body is again far more basic.  It’s largely just molded in the one color, but it gets painted details for the stripes and the shoes.  The stripes are sharp and cleanly defined, so they at least do what little painting is needed well.  The Challenger gets a solid selection of accessories, with 14 different hands, 4 different styles of nunchucks, a holster for the nunchucks, and the green pointed stick from the poster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m at best a moderate fan of Bruce Lee, but that’s enough to want at least some toy coverage.  In particular, I’ve always dug the yellow jumpsuit design, which is a very distinctive look.  I’ve wanted a good figure of it for a while, and none of the other versions quite hit the mark for me.  This one looked cool as a proto, but I wasn’t sure how the final product was going to turn out.  He came in during a fairly crowded week of new stuff for me, so I was poised to pass on him…until I took a look at the final product and saw how well those heads turned out.  My dilemma was solved easily enough, as Jason from All Time reminded me that it was my birthday, and passed this one to me for the occasion.  This figure’s not perfect.  The articulation is rather limited, and the body feels a little devoid of detail.  But those head sculpts do a lot of heavy lifting on this one, and I’m ultimately very happy with the final product.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.