If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen that I’ve been reworking my beloved collection of J. Scott Campbell books, prints, and collectibles to make room for some new additions. And while I’ve got plenty of stuff in this collection still waiting to be reviewed, I thought I’d push this newest one to the front of the list. Let’s check out The Little Mermaid Morning Edition Statue from JSC’s Fairytale Fantasies line.

I first visited with this line a little while ago with a look at Tinkerbell, but in case you missed that one, Fairytale Fantasies partners the enormous talent of J. Scott Campbell and Sideshow to create polyresin statues depicting Campbell’s stylized renditions of some well-known fairytale ladies. The Little Mermaid was the first statue and at the time she was released I had too much money tied up in other pre-orders to allow me to get her. Unfortunately, she sold out pretty quickly and I missed out, but another opportunity popped up in the form of this Morning Edition, which is a blonde haired, red-tailed variant. Yes, I would have preferred the original green tail and red hair, but hell I do enjoy me some salmon, and I wasn’t about to miss out on this one a second time. She comes in a fully enclosed box with some ornate decorations and the boldness of including absolutely no images of the statue on the box. But yeah, granted, I’d say the overwhelming majority of collectors that buy this are doing so online anyway. I don’t believe there was an exclusive release on this one, but it was limited to 1500 pieces and the number of each statue is on the bottom of the box. Inside contains a Styrofoam block with the statue in three pieces: The base, the upper body, and the tail. The pieces connect to the base easily with magnets and she’s all ready for display in a matter of minutes. Let’s have a look!

Oh, heck yes! These statues appear to be roughly one-sixth scale, but because our mermaid is bending over as she emerges from the water, we’re dealing with a piece that takes up about as much real estate on the shelf as she is tall. Nevertheless, this is a sizeable and hefty piece that commands attention on the shelf. The figure is pushing up from the surface of the water, with her hands resting on a jutting rock, while her tail disappears into the water (right about where her knees would be) and protrudes again to show off the majestic fin at the end of her tail. It’s a cool effect, and while the tail is a separate piece, I can definitely buy it being all connected under the water. I think the composition here is perfect, as it allows for a number of sweet spots so you can be a little creative with its orientation on the shelf. Truth be told, this lady looks great from just about any angle.

The tail itself features a sculpted checkered pattern of scales and an absolutely gorgeous coat of deep crimson red paint with a subtle sheen to it. Yeah, I made a Salmon crack before, but this is clearly red not pink. There are some semi-translucent fins coming off of each side near the waist, where fish meets lady. At first, I was thinking it would have been cool to work in an area where the tail gradually gave way to human flesh, but on second thought, that might have been a little creepy and gross. Given the stylized nature, I’m fine with the definitive cut off. The tail fins are cast in an opaque milky plastic with some gradient red running through it. It’s quite lovely and majestic, almost resembling flower pedals as it sweeps out and curves down at the tips. The tail manages to be impressive without being oppressive, as it really only blocks the view of the figure from directly behind.

Of course, the lady half is what garners the most of my attention, and that’s because she’s stunningly beautiful. The contours of her body match that undeniable Campbell style that makes me swoon (while making Twitter nutbags exclaim “OMG, WHERE R HER ORGANZZZ???” The fact that she’s pushing herself up on off the rock allows for some serious chest poofing, of which I am definitely a fan. It is, after all, a well known fact that Mermaids have no concept of modesty and they will advertise their goods to any fish or sailor that happens to be gawking. In this case, however, her rather elaborate shell necklace manages to conceal just enough of her copious chest to give this piece a PG rating.

The necklace is not only beautifully sculpted and painted, but talking about it more allows me to take some strategic close ups of her shells. This collection of conches, starfish, and other undersea treasures is painted in pink and turquoise with a pearlescent finish. She also sports a gold bicep band on her left arm.

And that brings us to the portrait, which is a stunning piece of work. A design style as singularly distinctive as Campbell’s cannot be easy to adapt to a 3D model, and yet the wizards at Sideshow seem to have mastered the art of this conversion. I think this Mermaid is right up there with Tinkerbell in perfectly capturing JSC’s talents. From the high cheekbones and almond eyes to the slope of the nose and the perfect lips, this head sculpt brings the 2D art to life. The paint here is exquisite as well. The applications on the eyebrows, eyes, and lips are all sharp and crisp, and the warm, soft skin throughout the statue has a subtle freckling that really brings this fish-gal to life. And while I would have preferred the redhead version of the original, this Morning Editions flowing blonde hair is certainly a worthy alternative.

Our final stop, as always, is the base, and here we have a simple black oval with a beautiful resin water effect, which ripples around the rock and tail. The jagged rock looks real enough as to have been plucked from the sea and glued onto the statue. The mermaid’s fingers grasp at each end of it, with her fingers adorned in gold rings, and her wrists covered with golden bangles. There’s even some pink nail polish on her fingernails.

The bottom of the base has the Fairytale Fantasies logo in gold foil against a pink backdrop. This combination looks striking in person, but my camera had troubles with it, so it’s not quite as prominent in the picture. Also here on the underside of the base, the statue is hand numbered. Mine is 495/1500. As far as I know, there was no Sideshow Exclusive version of this one, which is a shame. Tinkerbell came with a metal concept art card, but I’ll have to settle with picking up the concept art print off of JSC’s store to display with her.

If you’re a fan of J. Scott Campbell’s work and are looking to throw some money at some JSC for your shelf, this Fairytale Fantasies line is a great way to go, and I believe both of these statues are still available at various online retailers, including Sideshow themselves. I don’t think anyone has managed to capture Campbell’s work nearly as well in statue form and I think the subject matter is a perfect fit for the style. I’ll confess that I was a little worried that the variant colors would be a constant reminder that I missed out on the original, but that hasn’t been the case. For the record, there is also a purple tail brunette variant, which I believe was a JSC Store Exclusive too. I picked up this piece from Sideshow when they were doing a free shipping sale, which amounts to quite a bit of savings when you’re talking about a heavy statue like this one, and after applying some reward points, this fishy lady set me back about $250. A fine catch, if you ask me. I still have Alice to review, and Cinderella is slated to be released next year.