Today I’m taking a look at the next addition to my Justice League ArtFX+ statues by Koto. This time it’s The Flash and he’s been sitting around waiting to be opened since just after Christmas. I think it’s well past time I get him out and add him to the team! I should note that there’s no particular order in which I’m picking these up. I’ve just been going for whichever ones turn up at special prices online.

There’s the packaging. It’s the same style used for Supes and Wonder Woman only this time with a Flash motif. Once again, the clear illustrated plastic box makes for a great presentation, but it is rather fragile. I worry about it surviving in the long term, but I still think the tradeoff was worth it. Besides, the character art all matches up with the other statues so chances are you’re going to opt to display the boxes behind the statues rather than put them away into storage. On the downside, I’m going to have to find a wider shelf to display them all because I estimate I’ll only be able to get five across in the display case they’re in now. I call that a First World Problem!

As with Supes and Wonder Woman, the pose here leans more toward “museum style” than it does action scene, and yet with each release, Koto has managed to work a little inferred energy into the character’s stance. In this case, Flash is standing with one fist punching his open palm. It’s a great pose as it conveys a “Let’s do this!” attitude, as if he’s getting ready to go up against a wave of Parademons.

If you aren’t up to speed on this line, it’s the “New 52” look and I’m quite partial to The Flash’s current costume. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, many of the current DC costumes were expressly designed with 3D modeling in mind and it really shows in a statue like this one. Every single detail on this piece relies on sculpt rather than just paint. As a result you get all the cut panel lines, the texturing on the boots, the raised chest emblem and even the belt is raised. On top of that Flash features some superb musculature, particularly in his back. You don’t get to see the back detail on Supes because of the cape, but here with Flash it looks pretty spectacular.

The portrait retains the same anime style as we saw with Superman and, to a lesser extent, Wonder Woman. I don’t think it’s quite as apparent here either, but mostly because Flash is looking slightly down and his mask does cover a great deal of his face. It works for me, but I know some have been put off the style. Either way, the coolest thing about Flash’s head sculpt for me are the lightning bolts. They’re slightly bent to follow the curve of Flash’s head, but each ends in a razor sharp point and boy do they look amazing.

And then there’s the coloring. No doubt, one of the high point of these statues for me has been the jaw dropping metallic paint jobs. I was a little concerned about Flash because the statue substitutes the gold for the yellow in his costume. It’s really the first time Koto had to make a significant color change to make the metallic finishes work and it obviously makes Barry Allen’s costume look more like old school Wally West’s. In hand, it doesn’t bother me so much, probably because I’m just smitten by how gorgeous it looks.

Once again, the included base is a simple black metal square with “Justice League” printed on the front. The magnets in Flash’s feet allow him to stand up without toppling over and you can position him on the stand anywhere you want without having to worry about the placement of peg holes or posts.

So far this line has not disappointed and these statues just look amazing alongside each other! Koto continues to deliver fantastic display pieces for extremely reasonable prices.  Flash retails at around $40-45, but like a lot of these statues, I was able to grab him for just under $30 and that’s quite a steal for the workmanship involved. Next week, I’m going to take a week off from the ArtFX+ statues to give the Kotobukiya slot to Bishoujo and then the following week we’ll swing back around to look at Aquaman!