Thursday, July 23rd, 2020
	An Incredibly Rare Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition Blanka Cardboard Standee with Art by Mick McGinty

  

It seems like a lifetime ago when upcoming video game releases were primarily advertised, promoted, and celebrated with stunning character artwork. Many of us remember seeing such epic character art in magazines... and occasionally (if we were lucky), in the form of a stunning, life-size cardboard standee at a game store. (This still form of advertising still exists today, of course, but has become increasingly rare.) Steven "Dreamking23" Chavez of Eventhubs.com recently shared photos of an immaculate Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition cardboard standee of Blanka, drawn by North American artist known for his famous character illustrations, Mick McGinty.    This rare find is particularly interesting... firstly because "high quality" images of Mick McGinty's Street Fighter II (series) character illustrations are more rare (online) than you may think, which the Eventhubs article mentions.   In fact, I've only recently added some of McGinty's character art at this high quality (above) to The Fighters Generation website within the past few years. (Before that, you might be lucky to find some blurry images of of Blanka here on Google.) Below are the highest quality versions of this Blanka illustration in existence!    Here's the interesting part... the crispy HD photographs taken of this SF2: Special Champion Edition Blanka standee proudly displays McGinty's Blanka illustration in all its high-res glory. Not only that... but we now have official confirmation that this particular artwork of Blanka (above) was in fact created with the actual purpose of... yes, holding a sign! THIS SIGN.  It's pretty amazing to still learn new things about the history of Street Fighter 2... so many decades later. The Eventhubs article states: "A message is printed on the back of the standee that reads, "Handle with care! Do not throw me away! This unit has been designed for future use. Replacement Banners will be forwarded as new Street Fighter II products are introduced." Now that's what I call advertising!   In an interview with FightingStreet.com, McGinty confirmed he drew this artwork of Blanka, in addition to the "rough sketch" next to it (above). McGinty also mentioned Blanka was one of the SF2 series characters he illustrated the most. As you may know, McGinty created official illustrations for every character in Street Fighter II, along with the iconic box artwork for the SNES / Genesis versions of SF2, SF2: Turbo / Special Champion Edition, and Super Street Fighter 2. "From what I can gather, this standee was created and put into stores sometime in 1992 alongside the release of Street Fighter 2 on the Super NES," said McGinty. You can check out the rest of the article at Eventhubs and read more details about how Dreamking came into possession of such a rare artifact of fighting game history! (And thanks for sharing your find with all of us, Steven! We know you'll take good care of that masterpiece.) Mick McGinty is one of the artists appearing in TFG's Artist Profiles feature. Hit the link to read more about McGinty's work on the Street Fighter series.
Sources:  Eventhubs,  Fighting Street   Related News  |   September 2021 Iconic Street Fighter 2 Artist, Mick McGinty, Passes Away If you grew up in the early 90's playing the Street Fighter 2 series, there's no doubt you've seen and probably purchased a video game with Mick McGinty's artwork on the cover. We're terribly sad to hear about the passing of Mick McGinty today.     (9-18-2021): SFV: Champion Edition Luke Alternate Costumes Revealed,     (4-20-2020): Street Fighter 2 North American Manual Art + Bios Related News  |   September 2021 Fighters Gen Podcast - Episode 7: On Being an 80's / 90's Kid The Fighters Generation website takes a ton of effort, time, and resources to keep running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year — especially for 1 committed webmaster who does it all. Hi guys, Frank here. Once again, I'd like to invite you to my exclusive Podcast on Patreon — a great and easy way to support the site.   Related TFG Links:  Street Fighter II,  SF2: CE,  Blanka,  TFG Artist Profiles | TFG NEWS
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