Tag Archives: batgirl

Jan 22 2024

DC Multiverse (Mr. Freeze Wave) Batgirl, Poison Ivy, and Mr. Freeze by McFarlane

As promised on Friday, I’m back to finish up with McFarlane’s send up to the 1997 schlock classic, Batman & Robin. I already checked out The Dynamic Duo, so let’s jump right in and have a look at Batgirl, Poison Ivy, and the Collect-To-Build Mr. Freeze!

The packaging is the same as what we saw last time, and standard stuff for the DC Multiverse CTB Waves. Each figure comes with a standard black disk figure stand, a collector card with a promotional image from of the character from the film, and parts to build Freeze. Batman & Robin came with Freeze’s limbs, while Ivy comes with the torso and Batgirl comes with the head, shoulders, and freeze gun. There were also some icy effect parts scattered throughout the wave. Let’s start with Batgirl!

Batgirl’s one-off appearance in these films was portrayed by Alicia Silverstone and I think I would have been a lot happier with that if they at least made her a redhead. Oh yeah, and she was Alfred’s niece for some reason. I wasn’t a fan of any of this, but she sure did look good in the suit. And I do indeed love this suit! The sculpt here is really good, but there are some minor unintentional color variances because of the different materials used. As a result some parts are glossy while others are very dull matte. The only thing about this that is off-putting is how it makes the diaper-piece stand out more than it should, otherwise I dig what we got here. The cape is sculpted exceptionally well and I love the way all the folds and rumples look in it from the back.

The head sculpt is passable, but I think it’s let down the most by the flat paintwork. Honestly, I’d have no idea who this was supposed to be without the context of the mask and suit. Like Robin, the mask is sculpted separately which makes for some clean lines between it and her face, but the same can’t be said about her collar, where there is some overspray of flesh tone on the suit. There’s also a bit of black smudging on her neck. The hair is also sculpted as a separate piece and looks good, but it does inhibit her neck articulation quite a bit and sort of just hovers over the front. It’s a far cry from what Hasbro is doing with their Legends portraits, but I think we can all agree that DC Multiverse is at it’s best with comic based portraits and not actor likenesses.

You do get the same level of articulation here as with the Dynamic Duo and I always love that this line doesn’t discriminate when it comes to poseability, unlike Hasbro’s Legends. They added a bit of chonk to Batgirl’s heels to help her be a little more stable and that helps, but she can still be a little tough to keep standing in dynamic poses, especially with the weight of the cape pulling her back. This is definitely one that will need her stand to keep her upright on my shelf. As with Batman and Robin, she comes with fists attached and no other hands. I like her a lot, but I think the other two Caped Crusaders turned out better. Moving on to Ivy..

I’ll start by tossing out an unpopular opinion bomb and stating that I’m not a big fan of Uma Thurman. Part of that is me just not liking a lot of film’s she’s been in, but also I just don’t find her to be that charismatic or appealing. With that having been said, she seemed to have a good time playing Ivy in this flick and she sure put a lot more energy into it than Silverstone did Batgirl, so I’ll give credit where it’s due. She had a bunch of different looks in the film and if I know Todd, he’ll find a way to capitalize on that, but for now we get the one that’s most like her more iconic comic appearances. She’s wearing a one piece which is beautifully sculpted out of leaves and given a nice wash to bring out the detail. The outfit also features a pair of light green sleeves, and tights that start out dark green and gradually go to black when they reach her high heeled boots. There’s some ivy sculpted onto her left leg and I think this outfit turned out looking great!

This portrait is easily the best of the wave and while that may sound like a loaded compliment, it really is just all around excellent. The bright orange hair features a really nice sculpt and the ivy half-mask over her eyes are separate sculpts giving this portrait some nice depth. The paint for the eyes and lips are also sharp and clean. This may be some of McFarlane’s best work when it comes to action figure portraiture.

And once again, we get standard DC Multiverse articulation, although the hair really gets in the way of her head movement. Her heels have less chonks than Batgirls, but she has no cape dragging her back, so it’s possible to get her to stand, but it can still be tricky so she will also be using her figure stand to stay up on my shelf. Ivy is the only figure in the wave to not have two fists, instead she has an accessory holding hand on the right and an open hand on the left. I dig that they sculpted a leaf into her open hand, that’s a cool little touch. This figure turned out great, and I wasn’t surprised to see her sell out fast at some of the online retailers that I usually frequent. And now… The Iceman Cometh…

It’s safe to say that Schwarzenegger’s Iceman is the main reason I ever re-watch this film. It’s so stupidly over the top it just screams 1966 Batman with a budget. Beyond that Arnold seems like he’s having an absolute blast and his suit and makeup are both works of art. I honestly think you’d need Hot Toys working at the top of their game to really pull off anything that comes close to this on screen glory in action figure form, but for a 7-inch entry, what we got here ain’t bad at all… but I’d fall just short of calling it great. The sculpting is excellent and there is a lot of detail packed into this suit. I also like the proportions of the body, especially the big shit-kicking boots. The head seems a little small, but it is a guy in a power suit, so it’s permissible. What’s really missing here is the paint. You get a vibrant blue on the panels that were lit in the movie, located on his lower and upper legs, biceps, and chest, but everything else is cast in silvery plastic. It has a decent finish, but would have looked so much better with some silver foil paint, or even just a wash to bring out more of that wonderful detail.

The head sculpt is very good, and the use of that translucent blue plastic for the helmet looks exquisite. It’s a shame we couldn’t get more of that effect for the lit panels on the suit. The flesh tone of the face doesn’t quite jibe with the on screen makeup, as Freeze had more of a sparkly face, but it still looks good. I will note that if you look closely, the paint on the lips doesn’t really match the sculpt of the mouth, but that’s not something that’s really obvious when viewed with the figure in hand. The shoulder pieces are cast in a softer plastic and so the silver there doesn’t look as vibrant as the rest of the suit.

The articulation here is fairly similar to a regular packaged DC Multiverse figure, although you do only get single hinges in the knees and elbows. Everything else is textbook right down to the hinges in the feet. The arms can just about do a 90-degree elbow bend, and the shoulders plates are designed to hinge up and down to allow for decent range of movement there. I initially had some problems with the legs detaching, but I don’t think they were in all the way. A little heat and pressure got them seated better and they stay put pretty well now.

Freeze comes with two accessories: A freeze gun and an ice blast effect part for it. I have absolutely no idea what happened to my effect part. I can see it in the packaged shot, but I haven’t seen it since. It’s possible one of the cats carried it off to their Treasures Den under one of the sofas. The gun sculpt is excellent and his right hand is designed to hold it perfectly, along with the foregrip for the left hand. DC seems to be giving McFarlane a little slack lately when it comes to including sci-fi themed guns. Overall, I like this figure a lot. There are certainly opportunities for improvement, and who knows? Maybe McFarlane will release him as a Gold Label with a better deco, like they did with Collect-To-Build Bane and the coat. Part of me would like to see what a Gold Label version would look like, while part of me doesn’t want to endorse that kind of scummy business practice.

Oh yeah, you also get a four other ice effect parts, which I think are meant to go on the other figures to make it look like they have been frozen. Two of these are obviously meant to go over the hands, the other two are a little more nebulous in their intent. I really need to hunt around and see what some other collectors have done with these.

And that’s the DC Multiverse Batman & Robin wave! All in all this is a nice set of figures, and I’m really glad McFarlane took a risk on these, and even happier that the risk seems to have paid off. While these have been going in and out of stock at some retailers, you can probably still assemble the wave at retail cost if you hunt around a bit. At the time I’m posting this, Amazon has them all available for just a few dollars above retail each. A lot of the Ebay listings I have seen seem to be without the Freeze parts. More than half the time I’m willing to play the waiting game on DC Multiverse, but this was one assortment I pre-ordered and I’m glad I did. I would love to see a Gold Label Ivy, repainted as one of her other outfits in the movie, and I’m hoping to see some more figures from these wacky films.

Oct 27 2023

DC Essentials: DCeased Supergirl and Batgirl by DC Direct

Well I said I might work in another comic based Halloween review before we hit the big day and here we are. This one is really out of left field, because I stopped collecting DC Direct figures back when the DC Icons line went out. But… I saw these pop up on sale a while back and I tossed them into my cart with some other stuff. They arrived, I cursed myself for buying stuff just because its cheap, and they got put in a closet at which point I promptly forgot about them. Until now! Suffice it to say, these are the only two figures from this line in my collection.

Wow is this a blast from the past! I was always a fan of the DC Direct packaging and the way it showed off the figures. In this case you got a partially white window box with top and bottom bands color coded to the character, so purple for Batgirl and blue for Supergirl. Sure, there’s a lot of wasted space in that packaging and there are no accessories or extras for either figure. But I think this presentation had such a clean and premium feel about. The photos on the side panels also made these look really nice on the shelf. I never read the DCeased comic, but then again I never read all of Marvel’s Zombies either. The whole concept appeals to me a lot more as action figures than it does as a story line for a comic. Let’s start with Supergirl!

This is a nice looking figure, but in case you can’t tell, this is just the regular Supergirl figure with a bit of bloody paint added to the body and a new head sculpt. It’s a little more interesting for me, since I never owned the regular release, but I think this would be a hard sell at full retail if I had owned the original. The costume is mostly painted on, with the only unique sculpting found in the skirt, cape, and feet. The colors are nice and vibrant, but the red paint on the upper thighs doesn’t match the red plastic used for the lower legs. The pleated skirt looks good and doesn’t hinder the hip movement too badly. In addition to some splotches of bloody paint there’s some dirt added to the back of the cape.

But hey, that new head sculpt sure is nice! Kara has a really vicious expression with exposed teeth and milky dead eyes. There are some deep gashes on her face which look appropriately gnarly and blood everywhere. It’s a really unsettling look on the character, since I attribute her to being so pure and kindhearted. Very well done.

Articulation on the figure is pretty good. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows, and ball joints in the wrists. The hips are ball jointed, the knees are double hinged, there are swivels in the thighs, and you get hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint under the chest and another in the neck. I’d say the lack of extra hands is really conspicuous, but I guess the graspy hands are good enough for Zombie posing. On to Batgirl!

Obviously this is the Burnside Batgirl, which is a design I’m rather fond of, even if I didn’t care much for the comic. Unlike Supergirl, this figure has a lot of unique sculpting all over. I dig the way the tunic ends just above her hips, and the way the cape folds over the front of her shoulders and has sculpted gold buttons holding it in place. The bat symbol is sculpted, the wrist bracers are sculpted, and the boots have some great detail in the laces. She also has a belt sculpted from a separate piece that’s worn by the figure. The black and purple looks nice with all the yellow tossed in. I love this costume and the figure pulls it off well. Like Supergirl, all the zombification in the body is just done with bloody paint splatters, but man I do really love the bloody fingers!

Once again, the new head sculpt is quality stuff and possibly even more disturbing than Kara’s. Here we get an open bloody mouth with some nice use of gloss to make it extra gross. There are some deep cuts on her face, her hair is sprouting through a hole in the top of the cowl, and her eyes have yellowed irises giving Babs a perfect cracked-out undead look. The paint on the cowl could have been a little cleaner as there’s quite a bit of black slop on here ear, but there’s so much going on with this portrait, it isn’t overtly obvious to me.

Articulation here is identical to what we saw with Kara and that’s a good thing because both figures are loads of fun to play with.

These are both very nice figures on their own, but DCD definitely took the cheap way out here. The new head sculpts are excellent and the blood splatter is well done, but it would have been nice to see some re-sculpting done to the costumes. Even if I had been collecting this line at the time, there’s no way I would have paid retail to get these undead variants. And to be perfectly honest, the only reason I bought these on clearance at $11 each was because I thought they would scale better with McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line, but they are way too small for that. As it is, these will be relegated to a DC-related figure Tote… dead and buried.

Aug 30 2019

DC Gallery: Batgirl Statue by Diamond Select

I’m always happy to be able to bring back DC Friday, even if it isn’t that often. It’s hard to believe that there was a time when I had enough DC related action figures and collectibles to keep it going as a regular thing. But between Mattel’s terrible distribution and DC Collectibles’ inability to stick with a line and scale, I’ve mainly been turning to Diamond Select Toys’ Gallery Statues for my DC fix these days. Let’s check out their new Batgirl!

Based on her 2014 makeover by Babs Tarr in Batgirl of Burnside, this statue comes in the typical Gallery style box, with windows on the top, front, and side panels and a purple and yellow deco to match Batgirl’s costume. The statue is suspended between two plastic trays, allowing you to see what you’re getting before you buy and open her. And as always, everything here is collector friendly, which is good for me because I don’t have the shelf space to display all of these, so I have them in their boxes and stacked in a corner.

There’s no assembly required, as Batgirl comes out of the box all ready for display, and what a nice piece this is! I should start by saying that I don’t find the pose anything terribly special, she’s simply striding across the rooftops with her arms out and hands balled into fists. Her hair splays out in the wind and her cape bellows off to the side behind her. It’s not bad at all, it hints at a nice bit of action, but it’s just not that unique or memorable to me.

Thankfully everything else about this statue is so well executed! Every detail about the costume is incorporated into the sculpt and that includes the tailored seams, pockets, and even the bat symbol on her chest. Even the lines of the black stripes on her legs are sculpted. The detail on her utility belt includes the little buckles and retaining straps on the pouches, and the sculpted laces on her boots are fully realized.

Equally impressive is the coloring here, which mostly relies on the purple, yellow, and black of her costume. Everything is done with a matte finish, and while this costume’s boots and gloves are often depicted as shiny in other recreations, I think the matte works fine too. For the most part the paint applications are sharp and clean, but there are a few exceptions, particularly between the yellow on her boots and the black of their soles. Still, it’s nothing that I haven’t seen before on far more expensive statues.

The portrait is pretty solid, although not terribly expressive. It’s a good likeness from the comic art and I’m extremely happy with how sharp the lines are on her mask, as well as the paint applications for her eyes and lips. The sculpted red hair is a bit muted, but I dig the way it spills out of the cowl and blows wildly around her.

The base appears to be an abstract of the city rooftops, perhaps scaled down to give her a sense of height? I’m not really sure what they were going for here. It’s not bad, though, and it offers her a good surface for her wide stance, as well as giving the statue stability.

Batgirl is another fine example of why it’s been impossible for me to quit DST’s Gallery series. You simply can’t beat the quality at this price point. And while my budget and available space often requires me to admire the bigger premium statues on the market from afar, I can collect this line all day without breaking the bank. Batgirl here cost just under $40, and I couldn’t be happier with how she turned out!

Apr 28 2017

DC Designer Series: Batgirl (Babs Tarr) Statue by DC Collectibles

I’m taking a mid-wave break from reviewing the excellent DC Bombshells action figures to check out a statue that’s been long overdue for my collection. It’s rare that I court a statue for as long as I longed after this one. Sure, sometimes I’ll waffle a bit and other times I’ll wait for a deal, but this Babs Tarr Designer Series Batgirl Statue is one that I started eyeballing way back when the teaser art was first introduced. Then it was revealed to be part of the B&W Series. I loved the art direction, loved the sculpt, but wasn’t keen on it being a B&W piece and it was too small to really fit in with my mostly 9-inch or 12-inch scale statue collection. But, as if in answer to all my reservations, DC Collectibles re-worked the statue back in 2015 as a full color sixth-scale piece. I was in love again, but there were so many reports of QC issues and statues arriving broken, despite being new in sealed boxes. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, when my infatuation finally won the day, and I decided to roll the dice and risk disappointment or else forever regret what might have been.

While this is my first DC Designer Series statue, the packaging is very similar to my beloved Cover Girls line. It’s a fully enclosed and collector friendly box with a brick of styrofoam inside that houses the statue. The box on mine is a little beat up and there’s some heavy rubbing on the sides. Oh, man. I can’t tell you how nervous I was as I sliced the tape and prepared to reveal the statue inside. The Interwebs are littered with pictures of this statue with pieces broken off of it, I was terrified mine was going to be a mess, and this distressed box isn’t helping to calm my fears. Nevertheless, I came this far, and I just had to see how my luck turned out…

Well, it turned out pretty freaking great, thank you very much! Not only did the statue arrive without any breakage, but the paint quality and overall coloring on this piece are both superb. Setting her up simply requires that you peg her foot into the base with the metal rod and she’s all ready to go. Before getting started, I will mention that while this figure is billed as being cold-cast porcelain, there’s definitely some mixed media going on, namely the plastic used for her the skin tone of her face, and I’m pretty sure the hands and some other fixtures are resin. That’s not a complaint, mind you, as the results are fantastic, but just an observation. And the statue still has a remarkable heft to it, especially as I’m used to the smaller Cover Girls.

Where to begin the love fest? Well, for starters I think the pose really captures this iteration of the character perfectly. She’s got one foot kicking back behind the other, a little playful lean on her right hip, and her left hand fiddling with the pouch on her utility belt. They did such a great job bringing this costume to life. There’s just enough detail to keep things interesting, but it still manages to capture that rather simple animated art style of the book. And she’s so damn colorful! Granted, a big part of that comes from this costume design, but credit has to be given to the team of artists at DC Collectibles for translating it so perfectly into this piece. The purple and black matte finish on the suit is smooth and practically flawless and it contrasts so beautifully with the bright and glossy yellow used on her big, chunky boots, gloves, bat symbol and utility belt. Some silver paint on her zippers and black lacings on her boots round out the costume beautifully.

The portrait is just plain adorable. I love the way her head tilts down to the left while she glances up to the right with her big green eyes. And that smile says it all! Her cowl appears to be sculpted separately from the face, which gives the head some welcome depth, even more so than if there were just sculpted lines. The reddish-orange hair swirls around her neck and drapes down her left shoulder. There’s so much personality in this portrait, and like the pose I think it just captures Babs Tarr’s Batgirl perfectly.

The beast of a base is a simple black disc, which is a heavy slab that all but ensures Batgirl won’t be taking any dives off the shelf. It has a bat symbol cut deeply into it, and I really dig the way they outlined the cut lines with purple paint. It makes for quite a striking statement. The bottom of the base features the hand-numbered limitation. Mine is 1,990 of 5,200.

It’s always a tricky thing, pining after something on your want list for so long. Can it possibly live up to the anticipation and expectations? Well, in this case, Batgirl certainly did. I was in love with this statue when I first saw it, and I’m just as much now that it’s in hand. It’s been so long since this statue debuted, I don’t even remember it’s original MSRP. I’m guessing it was somewhere in the $100-125 ballpark. I picked up mine from a comic shop on Ebay for about $85 shipped and I am so damned happy to finally have this gal on my shelf. Every little thing about this piece works for me. The colors are gorgeous, the pose is so perfect, and I actually set her on the shelf beside my desk, at least temporarily, so I can admire her every now and then, before retiring her to the display case in the spare room. I’m looking forward to picking up some more statues in this series, and I’m pretty sure my next one will be the Amanda Connor Starfire.

Aug 12 2016

Batman (Classic TV Series): Batman, Robin & Batgirl Box Set by Mattel

For today’s DC Friday, I’m pulling out a line that I thought I was done with. As most of you probably remember, the 1966 Batman TV Series was in licensing limbo for a long time. No DVDs, no toys, no nothing. Well a couple of years back some lawyers reminded everyone involved that money is a good thing and managed to break that log jam. The result was an avalanche of toys and merchandise. Mattel scored the 6-inch scale action figure license and produced a couple of series of figures and while they were far from exceptional, they were fairly decent by Mattel standards.“Holy backhanded compliment, Matty, are you going to let him get away with that?” SHUT THE HELL UP, ROBIN, ADULTS ARE TALKING!!! I liked the figures well enough, but let’s face it, they would have been in better hands with just about anyone else. Where was I? Oh yeah… let’s look at this…

matbatg1

Yvonne Craig was one of the last hold outs in terms of likeness rights, Mattel finally got them, but the timing was awkward and unfortunate as the line was already breathing its final breaths. The package even makes a funny little jab at that fact with Robin’s quote: “Holy return from oblivion, Batman!” Mattel managed to get the figure out anyway, but in a typical Mattel dick move, they released her in this three-figure boxed set, making sure that pretty much everyone buying her was going to be re-buying the Batman and Robin figures too. This is actually my third time out with the same Batman figure, because Mattel made us buy him again in order to get Robin. Sheesh! In the end, this set arrived on store shelves around the same time the earlier figures were deep discounted on the clearance racks. I’m pretty sure this set was a Toys R Us Exclusive (that’s where I got mine), but there’s nothing denoting that on the package.

matbatg2

The packaging here is actually quite nice, although based on early promo pictures, I assumed the box opened up to look like this, but nope, it’s just a weirdly shaped three-window box. Presentation was always this line’s strongest suit , and I think that’s reflected here. The colorful artwork is great and the box shows off each of the figures beautifully. The back panel even shows Batgirl’s motorcycle. which would have been a pretty cool vehicle for Mattel to make if this line had lived longer. While the individual carded figures were not at all collector friendly, this set is, so between the Batmobile and these figures, I still have the look of the package represented on my shelf. Anyway, if you haven’t guessed by now I’m really here to check out the Batgirl figure.  I’m not going to spend a lot of time with Batman and Robin, because I’ve already featured them here several years back. But let’s take a quick look at them anyway…

matbatg3

matbatg4

Batman is the same as the carded release, which just means he doesn’t have the wire running through his cape. So, I suppose if you only bought the Batman & Robin 2-pack, this figure is new to you. Robin also comes sans cape wire, which means he’s also sort of a new figure and he’s nice to have as he fits in the Batmobile better than wire-cape Robin. The paint on this pair is OK, but the quality seems to have dropped a smidge from the earlier runs. My Robin has a stray mark of green paint on his upper right leg and my Batman has a stray blue mark on his chest. Overall, though, not bad.

matbatg5

The articulation on these figures is pretty good for what are essentially Mattel’s Movie Masters line. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows. The legs feature those lateral hinges, which should be familiar to people from the DC Universe Classics days. There are swivels in the thighs and hinges in both the knees and ankles. There’s an ab crunch in chest and the necks are ball jointed. The right thigh swivel on my Batman is fused. It’s probably an easy fix with a little heat, but seeing as I now own three of these, I don’t think I’ll bother. A lot of people loved to shit all over these figures, but I really do enjoy them a lot. If these were available when I was a kid, it would have blown my little mind. Moving on to Batgirl…

matbatg6

I watched the intro of every episode of Batman with baited breath to see if Batgirl was going to drive by in the animated intro sequence. They did that whenever she was going to appear and while I’m not sure I knew why back then, I always wanted her to appear. She made me feel funny in every good way possible. Mmmm… Batgirl. What? Oh, the figure… right. This was a great costume. It was campy and colorful and it really showed off Barbara’s Bat Assets. The costume itself is recreated quite nicely here, but something about Batgirl’s figure is lost in her figure. She just ends up looking a little too boxy in the hips and a little too lanky in the limbs. The same was the case with this line’s Catwoman. Still, all in all, I think the good outweighs the bad here.

matbatg7

The cape is cool, so long as you’re OK with it always being spread out. The stitching is surprisingly well done for a figure in this scale and the fabric matches the purple paint on the cowl fairly closely. It’s definitely going for a singular look, but it displays nice on the shelf, so long as you don’t stand anyone behind her.

matbatg8

The head sculpt is fine, although it really begs the question why Mattel needed the rights to Yvonne Craig’s likeness to make this figure. Sure, it looks like her, but I attribute that mostly to the cowl and mask and hair. The eyes are painted sharp and straight and the extra flare of mascara really sells it, but it’s hard to believe they had to pay out to the actress just for the eyes and the lower half of the face sculpt. If this were a Hot Toys figure or even a NECA release, I could understand it. You’d get more of an attempt at accuracy in the sculpt. This feels more like what we might have had in a vintage action figure likeness.

matbatg9

matbatg10

The articulation here is pretty close to what we saw in The Dynamic Duo. You get identical articulation in the neck, arms, and legs. The only difference here is that the ab crunch on Batman and Robin is replaced with a ball joint under the chest. At least I think it’s a ball joint. Truth be told it only allows for a swivel on my figure. Despite her tiny feet and high heeled boots, she can stand surprisingly well. As for getting her to high kick? Well, as the fine print on the packages often say, that required some additional support.

matbatg12

matbatg13

One of the fun little gimmicks of this line was the inclusion of stands for all the figures, each of which featured one of the comic style fight expletives. In this case, Batman gets “BAM!” Batgirl gets “SOCK!” and Robin gets “WHAMM!!” Each has a foot peg to secure the figure and there’s a slot in the back to stick in the collector card, which doubles as a backdrop. I’ve opted not to remove my cards from the box, but the fronts have animated shots of the characters, and I presume the backs have stills from the TV series. At least that’s how the carded figures did it.

matbatg14

matbatg11

As I mentioned earlier, I really do like these figures and think it’s a shame they get dumped on as much as they do. I would have certainly been all in for another wave of villains. I think one of the big problems is that despite the “Adult Collector” moniker on the package, these feel more like toys to me than collectibles. But that’s fine, because in that sense they’re fulfilling a wish that I had as a kid. There’s no doubt a company like NECA could have done these better, hell they proved that with their one off Adam West Batman release, but I’m all for enjoying these for what they are, rather than lamenting over what they could have been. One legitimate gripe I do have about these was the price. These figures retailed for $20 a pop and these are definitely not twenty dollar figures. Not in any dimension. Fifteen? Yeah, I guess. And here’s where having to buy this whole set to get Batgirl won back a little favor with me. I got mine for $30 on clearance, which means if I factor Batgirl in at $20, I only paid five bucks a piece for the Dynamic Duo.

Mar 25 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Batgirl by DC Collectibles

It’s DC Friday again, and for the past few weeks I’ve been working my way through some DC Statues: Bishoujos, Femme Fatales, and yes, some Cover Girls too! I’m still way behind on the DC Cover Girls line, something that is concerning me because there’s quite a few I’d like to pick up before they hit the secondary market and the prices start to escalate. Today, let’s check out Barbara Gordon in her New 52 look, before she got the Babs Tarr makeover and moved to Burnside.

cgbatg14

As always, the statue comes in a fully enclosed box with photos of the piece all around. Inside, the collectible is nestled inside a brick of styrofoam. The only assembly required is pegging the feet into the base and the pegs fit very easy. Oddly, some of the statues in this line come attached to the base and others peg in, so I always have to be careful to support the base when I’m picking them up. Porcelain statues seldom survive drops, so better safe than sorry! At about 9-inches tall, Ms. Gordon scales perfectly with her fellow Cover Girls and continues to skew this line in favor of Bat-flavored characters.

cgbatg1

cgbatg2

cgbatg3

And damn what a beauty she is! Batgirl’s (former) New 52 costume is a favorite of mine because it doesn’t stray too far from the traditional. Fans old and new should be able to get behind this design. Of course, it is New 52, so you do get the sculpted panel lines in the body suit that suggests it’s more armor than mere latex. I like the ribbing inside the thighs, under the arms, and in all the places where a lot of flexing would take place. The yellowish-gold boots and gauntlets have scalloped edges and match the belt, bat symbol, and the interior lining of the cape. All of the yellow has a slight hint of glossy sheen to it, which contrasts nicely with the more matte finish of the black suit. The paint on this piece is very clean, but I’ve come to expect that. Truth be told, even with eight of these ladies on my shelf, I haven’t had any notable paint issues with this line, so when I say the paint is especially good on Batgirl, it’s intended as high praise.

cgbatg4

cgbatg5

cgbatg6

Batgirl stands with feet apart and her right arm drawn up and ready to fling a batarang at an unseen adversary. There’s some lovely subtle bits about her pose, like the way she’s arching her back and twisting in the middle. This is a piece that shows off the art of the female body in all its splendor.  As often the case with this line, the composition here is a nice blending of action and a bit of museum-style mugging for the beholder. The invisible wind that bellows out her cape and tosses her hair adds a little more kineticism to the piece. It’s a statue that has a couple of “sweet spots” depending on how you want to position it on the shelf. If I had to come up with something critical to say, I’m not particularly fond of how slender the middle of the cape looks from behind, but when it comes to complaints, that’s really reaching.

cgbatg9

The portrait is absolutely fantastic and certainly a high point for this series. The emerald colored eyes are beautiful as is the subtle pink used for her lips.  The nose is softly defined and the edges of the mask are clean. Even going back to the 70’s, one of the most fetching things about Batgirl for me has always been the way her red hair spills out from behind her cowl and this statue conveys that quite well.

cgbatg8

cgbatg10

Batgirl features the now standard oval base. In this case, the coloring doesn’t actually match anything on Ms. Gordon’s costume, instead it’s a bright purple. While unusual for the line, I do dig the color as it calls back to the days when the lovely Yvonne Craig wore donned a different Batgirl suit. As with the Batwoman statue, you get bat emblems on the front, back, and sides.  The limitation here is, as usual, 5200 with the individual number of the piece written on the bottom of the base.

cgbatg7

cgbatg13

Batgirl is another great addition to my Cover Girls shelf, and she displays beautifully with Huntress and Batwoman. I’ve yet to be disappointed with the quality and composition of this line. The 9-inch scale is perfect for a statue collector tight on space and while the MSRP’s on these are usually right at the $100 mark, they can often be had for twenty or so dollars less, which makes them a great value for the money. Now, I just have to pick up Mera, Vixen, Wonder Woman v2, Catwoman v2, Katana, Starfire, Black Canary, and Bleez before Power Girl and Raven are released and I’ll be all current! Yeeeesh!

Feb 9 2015

DC Comics: Batgirl Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

I’ve only been into statues for about four years now. It’s an aspect of my collecting that still takes a back seat to action figures, but it’s been a growing percentage of my collecting budget ever since. I didn’t pick up my first Bishoujo statue until sometime in 2011 and after I got hooked on this buxom plastic crack, I suddenly realized that there were a number of statues in the line that had come and gone and were now only available at crazy high prices on the secondary market. It’s an old story for collectors, getting into a line late and regretting those pieces that you’ll likely never own. And man, the Bishoujo line has a lot of them: Emma Frost, Rogue, Psylocke, Scarlet Witch, and Phoenix, to name a few. And also Batgirl. While I don’t recall Batgirl ever reaching the crazy prices of Rogue, she still commanded a price that was beyond what I was willing to go for. And now Kotobukiya has re-issued her and she’s finally on my shelf.

bishbg1

Batgirl comes in a window box that should be readily familiar to any collector of this line. You get a large window in front and smaller ones on the top and side to let some light in. As always, this arrangement gives you a glimpse of what you’re getting, but she’s wrapped in plastic, so you really need to bust her out of there to get a good look. The box is mostly white and includes some great full color art from Shunya Yamashita. I particularly like the image on the side panel where Batgirl’s cape is illustrated in the foreground and obscures some of the text in the background.

bishbg2

What’s bugging the hell out of me is the Coming Soon: Catwoman thing on the bottom of the back panel. Of course, Koto always has a look at an upcoming release here, but in this case what we’re seeing is most likely because of a reuse of the Batgirl box. I’m pretty sure Koto has gone on record a few times that they have no plans to re-release Catwoman, but then I never thought we’d see Batgirl again, so maybe it’s still possible. Anyway, I believe Batgirl was the 6th statue released in this line, if you don’t count variants, and I think she may been the first DC Comic character to get Koto’s Bishoujo treatment. She was also available in a black costumed variant, which followed the original blue. The statue comes out of the box fully assembled and ready to go, so let’s check her out.

bishbg3

bishbg4

bishbg5

Dear God, I love these statues! One of my favorite things about a lot of Koto pieces is their ability to convey energy and movement in a static form and that’s certainly the case with Batgirl here. Her pose is pretty simple, she’s got one foot up on a very “Gotham-Style” gargoyle, but it’s the spectacular twirl of her cape that makes the composition here stand out. It’s fanning out all around her and it just looks absolutely stunning. Standing fully erect (ahem), Batgirl stands roughly shoulder to shoulder with most of the other statues in the line, although you could argue she looks a wee bit more demure when displayed next to the likes of Huntress or Power Girl.

bishbg6

bishbg7

Newcomers to the Bishoujo line may find this Batgirl rather tame by comparison to more recent releases. The line has always been about pretty women in tight outfits, but it’s become quite the gratuitous T&A show in recent years. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but Batgirl certainly represents a time when the line conveyed a lot more subtlety. Don’t get me wrong, this Batgirl is still dead sexy and her costume still looks like it’s painted on, but it’s not as overtly in-your-face sexualized as say a Starfire, or Spider-Girl, or Powergirl. There’s also a lot less skin than some. Indeed, the motion that Barbara is making with her cape actually obscures her chest almost completely. Although it’s a nice counterbalance that the same motion also serves to showcase her fabulous butt.

bishbg12

bishbg15

The bulk of Batgirl’s outfit is pretty simple, at least the bodysuit part of it, so most of the sculpting here went into the motion of her cape, as well as the belt, gloves, and boots. And, of course, let’s not forget the portrait. Barbara has her head slightly lowered with her red hair escaping from her hood and flowing about her. It’s a pretty simple face sculpt, although the eyes are more defined on this piece and given a bit more depth and I like it a lot.

bishbg8

bishbg9

bishbg10

Batgirl’s costume is predominantly painted with a charcoal paint that somehow manages to be both metallic and matte at the same time. There’s a dull sheen to it that contrasts nicely with the slightly richer gold and the brilliantly blue glossy cape and cowl. And oh god, is the blue on this statue gorgeous! I think the last time I was this impressed by a shade of paint was the red used for Bishoujo Spider-Girl’s outfit. The blue here is so rich and vibrant and manages to capture that new car finish level of brilliance. As is usually the case with Koto’s pieces, the paint on this statue is absolutely flawless. The lines are sharp and there’s no slop to be found anywhere.

bishbg11

bishbg14

The base is a simple black disc with the gargoyle for Batgirl to practice her best Captain Morgan pose on. It’s a hideous little beastie with its tongue sticking out and some really detailed sculpting, especially on the backs of its wings. It’s pretty convincing as a piece of granite done in plastic and it contrasts quite nicely with the smooth sheen of Batgirl’s attire.

bishbg17

bishbg16

bishbg13

This one was a long time coming and after a long time scouring Ebay and Amazon and hoping against hope I’d find a deal, all to no avail, it’s awesome to finally have Bishoujo Batgirl on my shelf. She’s absolutely gorgeous and I’d rank her among some of this line’s best work. What’s crazy about this release is that with an MSRP of around $50 she’s hitting most retailers a good ten to fifteen dollars under what most current releases in this line are starting at. It’s still kind of early to hope that his release will open the floodgates to reissues of the other expensive early Bishoujos, but it certainly does present some possibilities. And even if this is a one-shot deal, it’s still nice to have a statue in my collection that I probably would not have otherwise gotten hold of.

Jun 4 2013

DC (Batman) Unlimited: “New 52” Batgirl by Mattel

Bringing back Barbara Gordon as Batgirl… it was easily the most controversial thing for me about the “New 52” because it meant in turn that Oracle had to go. I was pretty bummed about that… until I saw Gail Simone was at the helm of the new book and I got over it… sort of… kind of… a little bit. Needless to say Batgirl has been regular reading for me since the reboot and I was rather anxious to pick up the new action figure of Babs for my “New 52” DCUC shelf. Alas, this one proved to be a tough figure to find at a reasonable price, but we’ll get to that in due time. First, let’s have a gander at the packaging.

bubg1

bubg2

Yes indeedy, I do love the Unlimited packaging, particularly for the snazzy shingle of character art that runs beside the figure. It’s just gorgeous. I feel bad for the mint-on-card collectors because these packages are huge. They’re also apparently hard to keep in good condition. I don’t think I’ve gotten a single DCU figure where the card wasn’t all frayed at the edges. If I didn’t already own the comics, I’d be tempted to keep the insert with the character art. But… I care not. I’m ripping this baby open with extreme prejudice.

bubg3

bubg4

Unlike a lot of people, I dig many of the New 52 costume redesigns (just don’t get me started on what they did to Zatanna), and Batgirl here is par for the course. The head sculpt sticks fairly true to tradition. The hair looks really great flowing out from the back of her cowl and it doesn’t inhibit her neck articulation nearly as bad as I assumed it would. I’m also very pleased with the paintwork on the eyes and lips as it is both clean and precise.

bubg7

The New 52 Batgirl is sporting more of an armored look then past incarnations, and that’s reflected nicely in the sculpt. The scalloped armor and panel lines are all present and her bat crest is sculpted rather than just painted on. I’m a big fan of the cape, particularly its triangular configuration that keeps it from dragging on the ground. In the end, though, I think it’s the coloring that really makes this such a stand out figure. The mix of high gloss black and the more subtle gold go great together, and I love the purple for the interior lining of the cape and the black matte used for the back. It’s a killer deco that makes her pop on the shelf, even next to her colorful superhero peers.

bubg6

bubg5

Batgirl features solid articulation, although she is missing two points that are rather crucial to me. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms feature hinges in the elbows and swivels in the wrists. The legs have the usual DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. She does have a ball joint in the torso. It’s very well concealed and it doesn’t offer a lot of movement, but it is there. So what’s missing? Bicep swivels! Matty’s been a lot better at including them on the female figures, but I guess Batgirl missed out.

bubg8

bubg9

I’ve got no chance of finding any of these figures hanging on the pegs, so I’ve had Batgirl on my Amazon Wish List for a while, where she languished at the price of $25. Even with my Prime free shipping, I wasn’t going to pay that much. Although, seeing as how that’s about what I pay for my Club Infinite Earth figures, I’m not sure why I was so reluctant. Anyway, just last week she dropped to $15.99 and I pulled the trigger. She’s a fantastic figure, thanks to a solid sculpt and a stellar paint job and another great addition to my New 52 shelf!