To celebrate Capcom’s triumphant release of Street Fighter IV, we have here a figure of Cammy White, the sole new challenger to have made an impact on the series. She is sculpted in 1/6 scale by Kaiyodo, who seems to mainly make Revoltech action figures these days. I bought her in early 2006, and she was one of the earliest figures I acquired. The fourth overall, I believe: Kanu, Kasumi, KOS-MOS, and then Cammy, who breaks the sequence of Ks but not the phoneme.
This particular Cammy is titled “Authentic White” which seems to be something of a misnomer, as she is not often depicted wearing white and she certainly has never had this skin color in any of the games. At least, I think this is certain; I haven’t played the Street Fighter Alpha games all that much. Kaiyodo released a counterpart figure named “Fascination Black” in which Cammy is predictably kitted out in black, and I think they later released pink and blue versions. I like the white version best because of its distinctiveness; the ganguro styling contrasts sharply with the white combat leotard and body paint and blue hat.
The plastic anime figure scene was still in its nascent stages in 2006, and it took some time for figure makers to improve their production methods and quality control practices. Cammy is an unfortunate victim of the industry’s infancy. Her lipstick looks awful, and I’m not sure what is up with her eyebrows; did she really dye them blue? Have they been plucked out and painted over with more lipstick? The paint of her outfit is uneven and strangely shiny, evoking memories of the model airplanes I tried to paint in my youth when I was clueless of the difference between gloss and matte.
She stands defiant, her dismissive gaze directed sideways. This pose makes her a bit difficult to display; I think the only two angles that work are so that she is viewed directly in front or from the rear. I choose the latter. The base is a blue disc that I’ve stained with a dark blotch sometime in the last few years.
Perhaps sentimentality overrules my scrutiny, as I still like this figure a lot. For all its flaws, I think she looks pretty damn good, particularly from behind with her waist tilted, and being that I weigh that criterion more than technical issues, that’s good enough to make me happy.
WOW I’m the first to comment. She is so hot in that white outfit. To the artist, well done.
Even today, it is still one of REFLECTs best sculpts in my opinion.
I just got this from eBay. I think the versions with the blue base are bootlegs are they not? I’m wondering because I got mine for $150 and there are others out there with a thick white base that are being sold for $500+
I mean, as bootlegs go it’s pretty damn good, but still.
I’m not really sure what to do with mine. Send it back? Have it touched up (paint job I mean) and display it?
Nah, the figure with the blue base is authentic. Or at least, it’s not automatically a bootleg, although I suppose there is nothing preventing a counterfeiter from also duplicating the base. They probably used a different base for their promo shots. Alter also does that very frequently; if you look at figures that are up for preorder, they usually have a transparent base but the production figures never do.
This review shows this figure with the blue base, and so does entry at Mandarake.
Brilliant, thanks for helping me!
So I didn’t know that about the bases….
Mine is the same as the pictures you have shown.
I guess where there is a big grey area for me where I have a lot of questions:
1. What was sold at wonderfest 2005? how many where there? and what are they worth?
2. Did they in fact as I have read go on to create PVC versions (which is what I have). And if so, how many? Because for some reason the white and black PVC are priced higher (at least on eBay) than say the pink.
3. Were there bootleg versions? If so, how can you tell?
The sculpt is amazing. But the paint job is so weird. There is this sort of varnish finish on her white clothes that is yellow in colour. It makes the figure looked aged.
And the facial skin colour is so strange. Like a spray tan that overflowed onto the hair…..
Thanks fo your help!
Interestingly this website seems pretty legit and says this version is “long sold out” and would have cost $80. With tax and shipping from Japan, even a new one (if available) would cost $100+. That makes me feel better about my purchase.
Even if I never totally find out the back story I do know I love the piece!
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10046256
Hobby Search is certainly legit. Actually, the figure would’ve been considerably cheaper since back then, the exchange rate was like 110 yen to the dollar. I remember when a new-release figure from Alter cost about $45.
I have no clue about what was sold at Wonder Festival, but REFLECT’s sculpts are often sold as unassembled model kits before somebody makes a PVC version and back then, I think model kits got much more of a focus than mass-manufactured PVC figures.
Yeah, they made PVC versions of the figure. Looking back through my e-mail, I got mine back in February 2006 (for $69 + $5 shipping). They made two versions of Cammy, one white (Authentic White) and one black (Fascinating Black or something like that). Some time later, they re-released this figure in pink and blue versions (not to be confused with the REFLECT-sculpted Cammy that Yamato manufactured), but those figures don’t seem to be nearly as in demand as the original two figures. I remember seeing them in the bargain bin of a US retailer for a relatively cheap price not that long ago.
I’m certain there were bootleg versions of this figure, as there are of many figure, though honestly, I’d have no idea how to tell. Generally a really sloppy paint job is suggestive of a bootleg, as is a peculiarly glossy finish, particularly on the skin, but that’s not always the case, and with a figure this old, though, I think it’d be harder to tell. On eBay, my rule of thumb is anything that comes from a Chinese seller is probably a bootleg and anything that comes from a Japanese seller probably is not.
Ok, that’s really helpful. Thanks.
I just ordered one of the pink versions to compare, although based on what you have said it seems that comparing them might not be all that useful.
I’d actually like to get all of the – blue, pink, black and white. I’m more experience with PF statues like Pop Culture Shock or Sota. I don’t know much about PVC.
The box I have seems the same except I don’t have the blue circle in the bottom right hand corner (not sure if this is a sticker that came off).
The sculpt really is amazing.
The paint job is sloppy though and from everything I have read I’ve read there’s either a lot of bootlegs out there, or it is just not a great paint job. But like I said, I’m more used to the Premium Format Statues, not the mass produced PVC figures/statues.
And I know that the mass produced PVC statues/figures have their faults.
having said all that. My figure looks exactly the same as the one above.
When I look at the one above it looks to me like there is a yellowish hue / a kind of varnish overkill on the white clothing.
Mine’s a bit dirtier and needs cleaning.
The right hand side of the face has too much paint and the lower eyelash is slightly off – like 1/2 a millimeter off the bottom of the eye.
some of the really detailed parts are great though. Her nails are silver, as are her lips and eyebrows, as well as the cut on her face.
It’s definitely the same as the figure above.
Apart from the blue stain on the base….which is exactly the same as one that sold on eBay recently!
Whatever I have, I think it’s the same as what you have/had.
I really love it. I just hate the yellowish hue on the white…….
Yeah, I’m sure your figure is the same one I’ve got. It’s a rather old figure and most of the problems you describe could be explained by age.
I don’t have too many polystone figures from Western manufacturers but from what I’ve seen, anime PVC figures are far superior in quality. I saw some pictures of Sideshow’s Rogue PF that look absolutely hideous, and I’m regretting preordering their Psylocke PF statue. I’d be inclined to cancel it if I hadn’t already paid a preorder deposit.
Hello! First of all, I’m now a proud owner of both black and white Cammy’s, all I need to get now is pink and blue, which should be a lot easier.
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6920/dsc0293el.jpg
secondly, there are most definitely bootlegs for this Cammy, here is what they look like in general:
http://img03.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i3/86892436/T2B9JmXX4bXXXXXXXX_!!86892436.jpg
http://img01.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i1/86892436/T2b9VmXfpaXXXXXXXX_!!86892436.jpg
http://img04.taobaocdn.com/imgextra/i4/86892436/T2JS4mXk0XXXXXXXXX_!!86892436.jpg
Most obvious difference is the sloppy painting near the edges of her suit.