Cammy from Street Fighter (Bishoujo Version)

Cammy from Street Fighter

People who’ve visited this site before may know that I’m a big fan of fighting game girls. There are less of them that I’d like, particularly of the characters from Street Fighter. Like many gamers, Street Fighter II was my introduction to fighting games, and though I did not play as Cammy very often, I appreciate her design, particularly in all its immodesty. Therefore, when Kotobukiya rolled out this figure of Cammy, it was a no-brainer to buy it, no? Well, not quite, which is a little odd, because their Bishoujo series synthesizes Shunya Yamashita’s artwork, characters and series popular amongst international audiences (including characters from Star Wars and DC and Marvel comics), and low prices. Should be a no-brainer, but I had to think a bit before buying Cammy, and while I’m happy with this figure in the end, it’s an equivocal level of happiness.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

But first, the usual background synopsis and bit of personal trivia. Cammy White is a clone of M.Bison, a member of the British paramilitary and anti-terrorist group Delta Red, and is by far the most popular character of the four combatants that debuted in Super Street Fighter II. The rationale for her acceptance seems obvious today but back in the early 1990s, her future popularity was less predictable. There were far fewer female characters in video games, particularly fighting games, and at least back where I lived (Seoul, Korea), they weren’t commonly used. I used to play Chun-Li most of the time, partly because I liked using female characters but mainly because she was easy to play, and I’d occasionally get some odd looks from other players, who invariably chose male characters (Guile was a really popular character at the local arcade). It was a strange time. Video games haven’t come as far as one might prefer with respect to giving female characters more prominence but at least nobody cares these days whether a male player picks a female character.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Manufactured by Kotobukiya, Cammy is 1/7 scale, and is reasonably large, unlike the earliest bishoujo figures, which were 1/8 scale but were considerably smaller than that. She comes more or less ready for display right out of the box; her only accessories are a couple of stickers which can be affixed to the base. I used neighter but for those who are curious, one is of the Street Fighter logo and the other is a reproduction of the artwork this figure is based off of.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Speaking of the artwork, that’s a good place to start off, since one thing that all the bishoujo figures have in common is their art style. Every figure in this series is based off of artwork by Shunya Yamashita, whose work and style should be well-known to figure collectors, at least those that have been in the hobby for at least a few years. The figure takes a few liberties with the source illustration, particularly in the design of her face and her musculature.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Bishoujo means something like “pretty young girl,” and that’s an apt description for Yamashita’s work. However, despite the quantity of figures in Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo series, something always seems to get lost in the translation from art to three dimensions. The faces often don’t look much like the artwork, and sometimes they have a noticeable pink or reddish hue rimming the eyes, as if the character had gone off on an all-night bender. Cammy doesn’t have that particular issue but she does look noticeably older than she does in the illustration, which is an odd thing considering that the term bishoujo specifically references youth. She reminds me a bit of Panty from Panty & Stocking, whose older form looks much more mature than the typical anime girl. Moreover, I don’t think it’s obvious that this figure is based off of Yamashita’s art, which is weird for a couple of reasons. One is that his style is highly distinctive, even amongst the mostly homogeneous characteristics of anime design. The other is that a great many figure manufacturers have made figures derived from his work and none of them have had problems effecting his style, and many of them are quite pretty.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Is Cammy’s face pretty? Yeah, I guess so, but not in that sterotypical anime manner. She looks nice from a couple of feet away. Close up, though, I guess her face is alright; I mean, maybe she’s not as cute as she is in the picture, but at least she doesn’t look like she ran a hundred-yard dash in a ninety-yard gym. As a fan of Yamashita’s art, I do know I feel like Kotobukiya could do better than this, though I’m not sure if they’re inclined to try; the Bishoujo series is undoubtedly targeted at the American audience and I’m not sure an accurate adaptation from the source art is accorded much priority.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Her body build is another interesting aspect of her design. As mentioned, Yamashita specializes in drawing attractive anime girls and in this culture, bulging and chiseled muscles are generally not considered beautiful. Certainly they are not an element of what would classically be considered “bishoujo,” but nonetheless, Cammy’s body is ripped. This is an accurate representation of her appearance in Street Fighter IV, in which most of the characters have enormous muscles, sometimes to a comical degree. I do like the way she’s sculpted; she looks very strong while still looking feminine. (However, despite her impressive muscles, she seems to get beaten up a lot. In some of Street Fighter IV’s animated material, she gets manhandled and punted around by Crimson Viper and defenestrated by Juri.)


Yuri in Street Fighter?

GET OFF MY PLANE
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Cammy wears an interesting military uniform, consisting of a beret, leotard, and boots and gloves. The way her footwear is sculpted takes some liberties from her original design; she’s wearing high heels, which are a bit impractical but then, there is not much about her outfit that seems practical so I suppose it’s not a big deal.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Cammy has had a few different designs – this one, obviously, and her Shadaloo design, which may be better known, as well as a Delta Red variant seen in the spinoff game Cannon Spike – but one element that has carried over across each of her variations is a thong leotard. Her leotard here is a little smaller than usual, and is cut much higher on her hips. It’s sort of a shameless design but it looks great. The wrinkles in the material give it a heightened sense of realism as she turns around, and its tightness adds to her appeal in a very obvious way.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

And while we’re talking about immodesty, we’ll look at her backside, since it is so prominently emphasized in both this figure and in her character design. She has a great looking ass; it’s quite large despite her more-or-less petite build (perhaps not so petite in this figure, but she’s generally drawn with a more waifish look in much of her artwork) and it’s entirely visible.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

Her pose is a little odd; it’s a typical fighting game pose, I guess but it’s not evident what she’s doing, aside from looking sexy. I’m guessing that the main purpose of her stance is to show off her ass, which it does quite effectively.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

I’ll wrap this up by griping about one more thing; instead of using conventional tightly-fitting pegs to attach her to her base, her feet have slots which fit loosely into standoffs built into the base. That means that whenever you pick her up, her base often slides right off, which is a little annoying. I’m guessing there wasn’t enough room in her feet for pegs, given her high heels, but other manufacturers have come up with ways to get around that and it would have been nice if Kotobukiya had done so as well.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

But then again, this is a fairly inexpensive figure and perhaps its more fair to judge it in that light. Being that Kotobukiya charged a ridiculous 15,000-ish yen for the 1/8 scale Tomo Asama, the price I paid for Cammy – $65 shipped from Amazon.com – seems like a comparative bargain. Considering the price, this is a pretty good figure – certainly way, way better than the original batch of Bishoujo figures, which were undersized and sort of malformed. Moreover, despite some of my qualms regarding her face – and those are strongly motivated by my fondness for Yamashita’s style – Cammy doesn’t really look like a budget figure. This is a fairly good-quality figure (with some visible seam lines if one inspects if very closely, true, but that doesn’t bother me too much), and it gets a lot of things right, particularly with Cammy’s muscles and ass-baring outfit. So, I’m pretty happy with it. Not quite as happy as I would be if they’d made her a face a little prettier and a little younger, but pretty happy. I haven’t bought that many Bishoujo figures since that initial group (my only other one is Ms. Marvel, which I ought to review someday) but Cammy might compel me to buy more. (What I’d really like to see are some Mortal Kombat Bishoujo figures; a Kitana figure would definitely compel me to buy more.)

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya

My man at Makigumo has some pictures of the setup he used to shoot his own shots of Cammy; they look nice. And his camera is more expensive than mine, too.

Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
Cammy figure by Kotobukiya
This entry was posted in Figure Review and tagged , , , , , , , , .

23 Responses to Cammy from Street Fighter (Bishoujo Version)

  1. BostonBrandon says:

    0_0
    Assy Indeed!
    She is a very nice figure to be sure (especially for the price) but what I have always kept an eye out for since I started collecting is the Yamato release of Cammy. Street Fighter II on Super NES was my first fighter game. However, Cammy was not one of the playable characters. I was never a particular fanboy of the franchise, but at some point I did see her artwork somewhere and was left scratching my head wondering why I never had the pleasure of playing as her.
    On a side note, its truly a shame that we never got to see Kylie Minogue in her full leotard. As crappy as that movie was, it might have had at least one redeeming quality in that.

    • Tian says:

      Excuse me sir, the redeeming quality of that movie was everything about that movie.

    • Tier says:

      I think I was more of a Mortal Kombat fan when I was younger, since I was a pretty dumb teenager, but as I grew older I started appreciating Street Fighter more. I’m really awful at fighting games but I particularly like Street Fighter III, even though it never came close to the popularity of its predecessor.

      Haha, yeah, that would’ve been nice; I remember being rather disappointed that Kylie wore workout tights rather than a thong leotard. I’m pretty much expecting that if Ms. Marvel ever makes it into an Avengers movie, she’ll be wearing a more conservative outfit as well.

  2. Wieselhead says:

    Oh cool figure I love how her colors pop out in your pictures, love this first picture with her.

    Before getting involved with the look of cute anime girls, I liked the distinctive design of US Comic girls, which was a mix of beautiful, tough and cute, also these great Batman Cartoon from the 90’s had a strong influence on me. And thats how Cammy looks to me, like one of these beautiful comic heroines, I really like her face as well as the shape and details of head and hair. Some muscles on a girl are nice, but she has too much abs for my taste, still I like her overall presentation, even though the few small imperfections are really obvious ^^

    Would be great if she had thigh high stockings instead of color patches, though. The base is a bit…. well they could have tried harder than this.

    “And his camera is more expensive than mine, too.” Ahaha I don’t think that makes much of a difference actually XD

    • Tier says:

      She does have an 80s or 90s comic book look to her, with her high-leg leotard. At least, it was pretty common for comic and cartoon characters to wear leotards (or in the case of males, panties over bodysuits, which is a little odd but no stranger than wearing a leotard, I guess). I remember when I played Street Fighter IV, I thought the muscles were a little overdone as well (particularly with Chun-Li), but otherwise I really like the aesthetics of the game.

  3. Tian says:

    Love the lighting here! Rim lights look great on her body lines.

    With Koto Bishoujos, some sculptors definitely add more of a personal touch than others. Whoever does the Star Wars ones stays closest to Shunya’s style. I kinda like the super ripped muscular look on Cammy cause it’s very character-appropriate, but yeah it is a ways off from the Shunya look.

    And you made me wonder… can you run 100 yards in a 90 yard gym… if you do it relativistically?

    • Tier says:

      I think the two that kinda threw me off the line were the Invisible Woman and Supergirl; Sue Storm in particular had some weird-looking eyes that looked like she ought to check into rehab. It’s a little odd since I presume you get Yamashita to do the art because you want to replicate his style but most of the Bishoujo figures don’t do a good job of it. (Then again, maybe he’s just cheap to hire or something, I dunno; I kinda doubt much of the target audience knows who he is.)

      That makes me wonder; if you do run a 100 yard dash in a relativistic sense, do you ever reach 90 (or 100) yards? Or do you occupy both points at once? And since such an event is always timed, if no time elapses from your perspective, do you ever complete the race?

  4. Tsunami3k says:

    I’m afraid I like this Cammy more than I feared. Of course if I get her I’m obliged to get Chun-Li as well and, well, all of the Koto fighting girls are quite nice and affordable so….it’s a slippery slope.

    It seems that you’ve got the who’s-who of Cammys of one variety or another but a conspicuous absence is Max Factory’s take on her. Besides her contentious face, I’m tempted to think that she seems right up your alley in most other respects. I’m curious as to your thoughts on that particular variant.

    • Tier says:

      It is! Fortunately I am not too tempted by most of them, not like I would be if they were closer to Shunya’s style. Cammy is at least real cheap by figure standards, as are many Kotobukiya figures. I skipped that Shining Wind Kilmaria girl but I’m kinda wondering if I should pick her up whenever she hits US stores.

      I never did get that Max Factory figure. I’m not the biggest fan of it; I usually like Kinu Nishimura’s work but as you say, I’m not a big fan of the face or the pose. Though perhaps I should be; it really looks like a figure that ought to be spattered with condensed milk at all times.

      • Tsunami3k says:

        Kilmaria’s a toss-up: get the Japanese edition for the extra “limited” gun or go with the domestic release and likely save on shipping.

        Ha! That figure embellished with some milk as you say would certainly make for an eye-popping photo shoot. Your suggestion reminds me of a unique photo request I saw on MFC for, I think, Native’s “Cat Lap Milk” figure wherein someone was asking for a shot of her lapping condensed milk out of someone’s belly button.

        • Tier says:

          She would ship with two-day shipping from Amazon Prime, too, which is nice. I do not know what the extra gun looks like and I think I will avoid researching it further since I tend to get obsessed with buying limited edition goods if there’s something I really want.

          Haha, that’s hilarious. Maybe a bit unusual too, but considering the name of this website and the topics it encompasses, I am certainly not going to be casting aspersions on what anybody else finds sexy.

          • TomTheCat says:

            That particular photo request did indeed ask for Cat Lap Milk posing as if lapping milk out of a woman’s belly button. But as far as I recall it didn’t specifically ask for condensed milk. I imagine this would really make for an interesting and erotic picture. Sadly, I don’t know any girls with a nicely shaped stomach – or rather, those that I know, I wouldn’t dare to approach with such a posing request. One could probably commission a pro photographer with this, but I’m afraid I’d shy away from the involved costs…

  5. TomTheCat says:

    In the artwork, her face does indeed look much more pretty. It’s strange that Koto chose to change her looks. I have their recent Yun Kazama from Tekken Tag Tournament before me, and on this figure they nailed her face, at least in respect to the Yamashita artwork.

    • Tier says:

      I didn’t get Kazama though I thought about it, and I guess I’m still thinking about it. I’m hoping they make a figure of Unknown (who I think is Jun Kazama, but I’m not sure about that). Hopefully future figures are a little better with this respect; they did change the line from tiny 1/8 scale figures to large 1/7 scale figures so they do seem to be interested in improving the lineup.

  6. Ryu says:

    Hello! Tell me,who has this figure Cammy,she removed the left hand ,which to-face pressed?

    • Tier says:

      I do not think the left hand is removable. Her pose is fixed and her left hand can’t be moved away from her face.

      • Ryu says:

        not the whole hand,but only the fist she had removed. back in the fist inside the square hole is made. if it were not removed,as it was painted? I would like to hear the answer to my question if anyone has this figure,what would they have looked at can you take a fist with the hand.

  7. Ryu says:

    not the whole hand,but only the fist she had removed. back in the fist inside the square hole is made. if it were not removed,as it was painted? I would like to hear the answer to my question if anyone has this figure,what would they have looked at can you take a fist with the hand.

  8. kylian mbappe says:

    Beautiful figure, and great review as always.
    One question i wanted to ask you, do you ever get…you know… intimate, with your figures? Because if i were you i don’t think i’d get out of my room at all haha. Just a fun question, keep doing what you doing

    • Tier says:

      I assume you’re talking about the practice of ejaculating on figures. No, I don’t do that. Not to be too judgmental, but I think it’s fucking disgusting.

Leave a Reply to Tier Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *