With the new Legendary Pictures Street Fighter movie releasing in theaters on October 16th 2026, I had the chance to speak with Hasbro’s design managerSean Isabella at the Hasbro Press Event before New York Comic Con about the second wave of action figures for the movie and the new line of collectible blind box toys called Street Fighter Mystery Warriors.
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Julian Lytle: So, what are you trying to do with the Street Fighter lines in regards to action figures for the movie? And clearly you’re announcing a new small collectible blind box. What are some of the ideas behind those new lines?
Sean Isabella: So the first thing is we wanted to make sure we brought those characters to life in a really special way. The first thing we did when we were designing this character was think about their special moves and their iconic poses, so we built the figures around those.
So that’s like step one: when we started thinking about designing a character, it was, “How do we bring what people know about them to life on your shelf. And then, of course, these are for the movie, so we’re working with Legendary Pictures, who are an amazing partner, to make sure that we’re capturing their on-screen persona and presence here in the toys.
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Lytle: So what were your ideas with some of the accessories? Like, I’ve seen Ken has his sunglasses, versus Dark Ryu, as he changed his name from the more historic Evil Ryu, has flames on his feet, compared to Guile and Blanka. What were some of the ideas for picking what parts from the movie to adapt to the action?
Isabella: So that kind of goes to how we work with Legendary Pictures. We have those conversations where we think about a character like Ken, what type of accessories work and make sense for him. And then we’ll start discussing what makes sense and feels like it really captures key moments in the movie. Ken has a really fun personality, so we gotta capture those sunglasses. There are some fun scenes in the movie.
We’re gonna see where he’s hanging out and bring that characterization to life. And then also something like Chun-Li. It’s like giving her an accessory so you can capture those really amazing iconic kicks for her. So it’s like, you think about what is the most important aspect of a character, you’re gonna choose an accessory.
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Lytle: So this question is going to be about two of the actors. We have Joe Anoa’i/Roman Reigns playing Akuma, and you have Cody Rhodes playing Guile, but these are also two people who have other action figures on store shelves. What did you guys do in regards to your sculpts to make them stand out from consumers who might be more familiar or feel like, “I got figures of these people already.”
Isabella: Yeah, so we went directly to their depiction in the movie. So what they look like in costume in the movie, it started there. So we weren’t looking at what else they’ve done before, so we had to make sure it felt right for that character. So the hairstyle, you know, if they have a beard or not, all those things, based on how they’re in the movie, that was kind of our starting point, what we looked at.
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Lytle: What can you tell me about the new Street Fighter Mystery Warriors?
Isabella: So here’s our fun, really collectible expression. This is a great way to collect a large part of the roster. The thing I love about this is that it’s such a great onboarding for this fandom, for a larger audience. It’s a smaller price point. You get a lot of different characters, plus there’s a secret character there. So you get 13 characters that you can choose from.
Lytle: Will there be any secondary lines or other looks that the characters will have from the movie?
Isabella: So right now we’re just announcing what you see here. So we have just these 12 characters plus the mystery 13th character, and then the 6-inch and the dark snickers here
Lytle: So when will the Mystery Warriors come out?
Isabella: They release in the fall of this year.
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Lytle: And currently you have the first wave, which is Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Akuma, and then when does the second line, the second Guile, M. Bison, Dark Ryu, and Blanka
Isabella: So, preorders go live for the new characters on Thursday, October 8th, 2026.
Lytle: Thank you very much for your time.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from NYCC ’26.
