Aug 26 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Vixen by DC Collectibles

As many of you know by now, Cover Girls is a line that I love to collect, but it often has to take a backseat to other priorities. It’s a gamble, because sometimes they get discounted and other times they sell quickly and skyrocket in price. Getting backlogged on this line can be a scary prospect. Most recently, I was torn between picking up Vixen or the second version of Catwoman next, but then I figured I already have the first Catwoman release, so why not expand the family? And besides, Vixen is awesome.

It’s been a few months since I last visited with this line. The boxes haven’t changed. They’re simple, and collector friendly, and they show a number of shots of the collectible inside. The back of the box has images for Starfire and a new version of Harley Quinn. Vixen has been getting a little love in the DCTV media lately, with both animated and live action appearances. And seeing as how DC Collectibles is already producing second versions of some of the A-Listers in this line, it’s nice to see that they aren’t completely ignoring some of the B-Listers. No offense, Mari. Anyway, getting Vixen set up is easy, you just peg her into the base and she’s good to go, so let’s do that and check her out!

Grrr, baby… Grrrrr! If you’re a newcomer to this line, these ladies tend to be approximately 9 to 10″ in scale. Vixen stands with legs apart and her arms held out, as if she’s ready to pounce right off her base. The Cover Girls line has offered a reasonable compromise between action and museum style composition, and I think Vixen is another good example of that. In this case, what we get really captures the character nicely. This is just such a simple and elegant pose.

Vixen sports her rather simple body suit with sculpted cut-outs to resemble animal stripes, and long sleek gloves. You also get some sculpted seams, boot lines, and whatever that strategically placed silver fixture is right above her you-know-where. The paint on the costume is almost entirely… ochre? Is that what you’d call that? Yeah, let’s go with ochre… with a hint of metallic sheen to it. There’s also a low plunging neckline for those of you who like a little sumthin-sumthin with your lady statues.

The portrait here is among my favorites that this line has done in its current series. Mari’s got a beautiful face with a stern expression that shows she means business. The skin tone is warm and soft and the paint lines around her tribal necklace are pretty nice and sharp. In fact, all the paint on her facial features are equally sharp and precise. I especially like her yellow eyes and the sheen on her lipstick. There’s a little spray around her hairline, but I’m thinking that is intentional. Speaking of the hair, it’s sculpted beautifullly, and I dig the way it trails down around her high collar and over her right shoulder.

This line continues to use simple and standardized oval bases, in this case personalized with an animal head cut out at the cardinal points. It features a silver top and stripe and the edges are painted to match her costume. The limitation is hand numbered on the bottom of the base. Mine is 874 of 5,200.

As beautiful a piece as this is, I’m guessing that Vixen isn’t selling all that well, because she’s available everywhere and at pretty deep discounts. That’s a shame for two reasons. One, at this price point, you’re getting a stunning statue of a great character. Two, a lot of people complain that these lines stick to the safe A-listers, which brings me back to my earlier point. Doing lesser known characters is a gamble for these companies and if it doesn’t pay off, they won’t keep doing it. And honestly, Vixen isn’t exactly obscure. It’s something to keep in mind when we’re seeing the second versions of Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Wonder Woman, and still haven’t seen a Zatanna, Jessica Cruz, Fire, Ice, Stargirl, Star Sapphire… I could go on and on…

Jun 24 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Katana by DC Collectibles

It’s Friday! Let’s check out some DC Comics stuff! This week I’m staying on with the Cover Girls statues line and opening up one of the more recent releases, Katana! She’s a cool character, who I believe is going to be getting a lot more merch in the days ahead, so long as the Suicide Squad movie performs well. This version is from the recently defunct New 52 continuity, which is appropriate, as that was where she got her first solo book. I also rather enjoyed her time in Birds of Prey.

There’s not much new to say about the box. With nearly a dozen of these statues on my shelf, I’ve showcased the packaging quite a bit and not much has changed. Katana comes in an enclosed red and white box with various shots of the statue and some teasers of what’s coming up or also available on the back panel. The statue is wrapped in plastic and encased between two pieces of styrofoam. The only assembly required is to peg Katana’s feet into the base and they fit in quite easily.

The Cover Girls line has been a hearty mix of museum-style poses along with some hints of action and on that scale of things Katana comes close to going for all out action. She stands with feet apart and her sword, Soultaker, drawn up to her shoulder and ready to strike. And yet, it still passes for something like a staged shot and I don’t think it goes too far off point. She still looks perfectly at home when displayed with her fellow Cover Girls. Besides, this is a pose that really conveys so much of Katana’s character, and so in terms of composition, I’d say she’s damn near perfect.

The costume features her New 52 armored body suit that looks great without the need for a whole lot of sculpted detail and does it’s best to show off her lovely curves. You do get panel lines running throughout and a cool and consistent metallic charcoal paint that meshes beautifully with the rich matte crimson on her lower leg armor and the quilted sleeve on her right arm. The body suit also features some exposed ribbed black areas in the joints and down the spine, presumably to give her more flexibility. Her scabbard hangs off her back and you also get some sculpted pouches on the small of her back. While the paint scheme and overall sculpt are fairly simple here, everything looks exceptionally clean and this is arguable the best paint I’ve seen in the line to date.

All that praise applies to the head sculpt as well. The beautifully sculpted portrait is two-tone with the lower face painted in matte gray, just a tad slighter than the suit, and the top half in white with the Rising Sun on her forehead. Her blue eyes are sharp and straight and her short hair ruffles ever so slightly in an imagined breeze. I love how her expression offers just a hint of joyful anticipation at the fight that’s about to come.

Katana’s sword looks good, although the sculpt for the hilt is a little on the soft side. Hey, I’m really looking for things to complain about and that’s the best that I can come up with. The blade is straight and while I’m going to be sure and be careful with it, it doesn’t feel overly fragile.

The base consists of the now standard oval with a charcoal and crimson deco to match Katana’s costume. The emblem on the sides consists of a simple red disc suggestive of the Rising Sun. The limitation is hand numbered on the bottom of the base, with mine being 561 of 5,200 statues produced. I think this may be the lowest number Cover Girl I own.

Katana is a wonderful addition to my Cover Girls shelf and definitely a triumph for this line. What’s even better is at the time I publish this Feature, she’s readily available at a few online retailers at close to half the original MSRP. I picked up mine for $55, and damn was that a steal! Considering that DCC has already started doing second versions of some of the gals in this line (Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman) it’s nice to see that they’re also hitting on some of the less high-profile characters like Katana here. She’s a great release for the line and a worthy pick up for folks who just love the character.

Jun 17 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Poison Ivy (Ver. 1) by DC Collectibles

I’m switching it back to the statue scene this week on DC Friday and heading all the way back to the beginning of the second series of the Cover Girls line. I wasn’t all that smitten with this first version of Poison Ivy, especially when compared with what came later, but it’s one of the few early releases that I didn’t have, it’s become a bit pricey on the secondary market, and I was made an offer on this one I couldn’t refuse. Does Ivy manage to win me over? Let’s find out!

The packaging hasn’t changed much since the line was rebooted. You get the same fully enclosed box. It’s mostly white and it has some shots of the statue. Inside, the statue comes wrapped in plastic and between two styrofoam bricks. There’s no assembly required and there’s no statement of limitation on this one. It wasn’t until later releases that DCC began limiting the runs to 5,200 and hand numbering them.

And this is indeed the New 52 version of Ivy and it’s a design that I never really understood or much cared for. Just what’s up with the black leotard? To me it doesn’t fit with the whole plant motif. And the leaves and vines on top of it? Are they sewn in? Does she grow them around it after she puts on the leotard? It’s just a weird design. With that having been said, I’m OK with the pose here. It’s designed to show off the curves of her body and with both arms over her head, she holds a single rose bud in her left hand.

The costume design here is relatively simple, as it’s just a lot of matte black. There isn’t a lot of muscle definition showing through, but the shapes and curves are certainly pleasing. But with all that simple space, I would have hoped the sculptor would have paid more attention to the clusters of leaves. In some areas, they’re well defined, but in others they just look like mush. On the plus side, the green paint is applied well and there’s hardly any slop to speak of.

And that brings us to the portrait and this is the part of the statue that could have probably won me over, but it just doesn’t. Again, part of this has to do with my lack of enthusiasm for this version of the character. The black and green eyes are a little too demonic for me, and the black patterns on the face are as weird a choice as the black leotard. There’s something a little too sinister about this portrait. I know, she’s a villain, but here she looks like some kind of Deadite. The expression looks a little too forced as well. Again, the paint here is pretty solid, though, so my issues here are more from the design than the technical merits of the piece.

Easily my favorite thing about this statue is the base. Currently the Cover Girls line utilizes uniform oval bases, but early on in the reboot, the statues featured personalized environment style bases and DCC did some pretty cool things with them, as showcased here. I really dig the way the vines sprout up from the ground and weave their way around her body. It’s a really cool effect for a statue in this price range and I think they pulled it off wonderfully. As for the base itself, it showcases some of the best sculpting and paint on the entire statue. It feels like there was a lot of love put into this aspect of the statue and it makes me wonder if the line would have been better off sticking with these environmental bases.

Admittedly, I’m not the target audience for this piece, as I’ve admitted to not being a big fan of this look for Ivy, so the fact that this statue leaves me a little cold, should be taken with a grain of salt. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. The paint is sharp and clean on the figure and fairly exceptional on the base. The sculpting is solid work, although the leaves on the costume could have used better definition. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t love it either. And none of that is surprising, considering my rather odd motivations for buying it. I mainly wanted it to complete my trio of Batman femme fatales from the early days of the reboot, and at $65, she was an extremely good deal for a Cover Girls statue that has been out of circulation for a while.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Mar 11 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Batwoman by DC Collectibles

While, it may seem like I don’t get back to it too often, I’ve been wholly impressed with DCC’s current run of Cover Girls statues. I surprised even myself when I realized that I only picked up and featured two of these lovely ladies in all of 2015. Needless to say I’ve got catching up to do, so let’s start by checking out Batwoman!

If you’ve seen one of DCC’s Cover Girls statue box you’ve seen them all. The art and size may change to suit the contents, but you’re still getting a fully enclosed box with a brick of styrofoam inside it. There’s a colored swipe down the front to match the character and some nice shots of the statue on the front and side panels. Everything is collector friendly and the only assembly required is pegging the statue into the base. I can’t say as I’m a huge Batwoman fan. I’ve barely read anything that she appears in. But I fell in love with Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo version of the character and the same happened here as well.

The composition of the pose here is pretty conservative. Batwoman stands with her feet apart, her grapple gun held in her right hand and across her chest and her left arm off to the side. I love the way the cape adds some energy to the pose in the way it flips up in the back and partially wraps around her right leg in the front. Overall, this is a nice mix of museum style with a hint of action and it certainly suits the character perfectly. Every facet of the costume is part of the sculpt, from the bat symbol on her chest and the panel lines on her boots right down to the subtle wrinkles and the definition of her underlying ab muscles. Her relatively straight posture puts the statue at just over 9 1/2-inches tall and right in scale with her fellow Cover Girls.

The coloring on this piece is positively striking. The black body suit features a hint of sheen and the crimson boots, gloves, belt, bat symbol and lining in the cape has a slight metallic finish to make it pop. The paint on this series has been overall serviceable, at least as far as the pieces in my collection are concerned, but Batwoman here stands out as very nearly perfect. I can’t find a single flub or stray brush stroke. The paint is simply immaculate.

The portrait features her half-mask with pupil-less eyes. The hair flows a little wild, probably caught by the same invisible wind that blows her cape. I particularly enjoy the way part of the hair falls in front of her mask’s left ear. The angular nature of the mask’s brow and nose contrasts nicely with her soft jaw line and perfectly painted lips.

While the early releases in this line offered more individual and environmental bases, DCC has since standardized them to simple ovals with a tasteful character symbol on the sides and a color that matches the character, in this case black and crimson. The bottom is slightly raised on four felt pads and the limitation is numbered on the bottom of the base.

Batwoman is another fantastic addition to my DC Cover Girls shelf. It says a lot about a statue when I can fall in love with it even without having a deep bond with the character. That was the case with Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo Batwoman and that’s the case again here. I’ll concede, if I had to choose between the two, I’d give the nod to Koto’s, but I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison. They’re very different styles, and Koto’s is PCV whereas the Cover Girls are cold cast porcelain. Thankfully, I don’t have to choose.

Jul 6 2015

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Huntress by DC Collectibles

It’s been a little while since I last revisited DC’s Cover Girls , but don’t think that I’ve lost interest. This continues to be a line that I keep on the back burner, but it continues to keep my interest with each new one I grab. I’m quite a few releases behind and I’m glad to see that DCC is being so prolific with these ladies. Today, it’s Helena Bertinelli’s turn as we take a look at The Huntress…

I don’t have a lot to say about the box that hasn’t been said already. It’s typical fare for this line and not terribly exciting. It’s an enclosed box that keeps the statue safe between two slabs of styrofoam and there are some pictures of the statue to give you a good idea what you’re getting. The best thing I can say about it is that it’s entirely collector friendly. There’s no assembly required here, as Huntress comes already attached to her stand and ready for display.

I was real iffy on this piece when I first saw the pictures. I absolutely love the character and tend to buy whatever Huntress merch comes my way, but I wasn’t sold on the composition. She’s got a ramrod straight pose going on while taking aim with her crossbow. The Huntress is a fantastically agile and acrobatic young woman and I didn’t feel that this statue really conveyed the sense of energy and action that I associate with her. Then I stepped back a little and considered the overall theme of this line, which is going for something more akin to museum poses mixed with a little personality and I started to warm up to it a bit.

One thing I can’t deny is that this piece accentuates her beautiful curves. With her legs together and her back slightly arched, Helena cuts a lovely figure and the skin tight suit doesn’t leave much to the imagination. And that’s saying something when y ou consider that this is Huntress’ least revealing outfit in recent memory and that she’s literally clothed from head to toe.

The costume is mostly black with the white cross on her torso and white striping down the sides of her legs. You get purple paint on the boots, kneepads, belt, holsters, gauntlets, and shoulder pads. The cape billows out around her and is painted purple on the back and black on the inside with some white trim.There’s something about a black and purple deco that I really dig a lot. Overall, the paint for the costume is pretty good. The lines on the white striping could be a little more crisp in some areas, but nothing too bad.

Huntress dons her trademark crossbow in her right hand with her left hand drawn up to her neck. Again, it’s not a bad pose, just a lot more reserved then what I’m used to seeing with this character.

The portrait is excellent. Her sculpted hair blows off to the sides and strands pass in front of the ears on her mask. Her mask itself looks great and her face is very pretty. While the lines on the uniform may not be quite as crisp as they could have been, the paint on the face is absolutely gorgeous.

When this line rebooted a couple of years ago, DCC was going with individualized scenic bases, but since then they’ve standardized them into simple ovals and I kind of like it. In this case, Huntress’ base is painted black and purple to match the rest of the statue and has a small dagger emblem etched into it. The bottom of the statue features the statue’s number and the limitation of 5200 pieces.

Huntress is the seventh Cover Girls statue in my collection and I’m continuing to enjoy this line quite a bit. While these pieces retail at around $100, I tend to wait until they hit the $70-80 mark before biting and in that case patience usually prevails. I nabbed Huntress here for just a little under $70 and even though I was unconvinced about her pose, she won me over when I got her in hand.

Feb 20 2015

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Poison Ivy by DC Collectibles

A lot of this week’s Features have involved me revisiting with lines that I’ve been away from for a while, so I might as well keep that theme going with a new Cover Girls statue by DCC. Supergirl was the last time I looked at this line and that was way back in August of last year and I’m only now starting to get caught up. I figured Poison Ivy was the best place to start since I was totally blown away by the photos I’ve seen and have been looking forward to opening up this beauty for a long time. It’s worth noting that this is the second version of Poison Ivy since the reboot of the Cover Girls line. I didn’t care at all for the first one so I was mighty glad to see them take a second crack at her because the result is absolutey exquisite.

I’ve gone on record as being totally unimpressed by the package design DC Collectibles has adopted for this line. It’s mostly white and kind of bland, but it does at least offer you a good photo of the statue and a little blurb about the character on the back. Based soley on the aesthetics, I wouldn’t bother holding on to these boxes at all. However, the box is collector friendly and when combined with the brick of styrofoam inside, it’s a good thing to have if you ever need to store or transport the piece and so I do hang on to these. When you get Ivy out of the styrofoam the only assembly required is attaching the statue to the base via the metal pegs that come out of the bottoms of her feet. It was a little daunting as the holes were just a little too far apart and I had to pull her legs out a bit to get her in. Once the pegs went in, however, all was good and she stands perfectly on the base.

All set up, this statue is drop dead gorgeous. Ivy is caught in a sexy stride with a single rose held seductively in her left hand, at her side, and her right hand pinching at the top of her leafy one-piece. She’s got a pair of thigh high boots and long gloves, both topped with foliage trim. The costume design is pretty simple, but the attention to detail in the leaves is well done and the two shades of green combined with the wonderful skin tone all make for a striking piece. Yum! I certainly dig this look a lot more than the black and green outfit she donned early on in Birds of Prey.

Of course, what’s really striking is the portrait. I’m totally in love with the face sculpt here. It’s so soft and beautiful and perfectly painted that I think it totally transcends what we’ve been seeing in this line so far. Her eyes are perfectly straight and the paint work on her green eye-liner and parted lips is exceptional. Ivy’s breathtaking face is framed by her lush red hair, which is peppered with leaves and cascades down her back. It’s all simply stunning.

And it would be impossible to discuss this statue without talking boobs. Of course, all of the Cover Girls statues are sexualized to some degree, so boobs are certainly not new to this line. But, holy hell check these babies out! For once, I’m actually not trying to be an adolescent about the topic because quite frankly Ivy’s pair of lovelies are an amazing piece of work and they deserve better. Not only are they beautifully sculpted, but the coloring of the skin tone compliments them so well. I get the feeling that these were a labor of love and that the sculptor, Jack Mathews, had a good time doing it.

It’s hard to top Ivy’s chest, so let’s just wrap it up with a quick look at her base. After releasing just a few statues in this line, DCC began making the bases more or less uniform and so we get simple ovoid platform, which is personalized with a green paint job and a leaf etched into the side. The limitation information is on the bottom and the base rests on four tiny felt pads. I mention the pads because one of them fell off my Supergirl statue shortly after featuring it here and I hope that’s not going to be the case here.

Ivy has an MSRP of about a hundred bucks, but I was easily able to find her for $75, which certainly isn’t unreasonable. Sure, it’s no secret that this current Cover Girls line is considered to have lost some of the luster from the original Adam Hughes run of statues. There’s certainly some basis for that argument. I don’t think the statues have been as good, but I don’t think they’re bad either. I now have five of these ladies on my shelf and I’ve been satisfied with each and every one of them. Now, with that having been said, I think Ivy here is the first to come close to reclaiming the magic of the line’s former incarnation. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say I like this one better than the original Cover Girls release of the character. I don’t know if this is an instance of DCC upping their game or just the stars aligning to produce an exceptionally nice looking piece, but she’s definitely going to be taking a front row spot on my Cover Girls shelf.

Aug 1 2014

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Supergirl by DC Collectibles

The last time I looked at the Cover Girls statues was way back in January and it was that sumptuous she-bot from the Metal Men, Platinum. Today we’re looking at Supergirl! Supergirl is one of a handful of lower priority DC books that I’m catching as they come out in trade paperback collections. I think it started on a high note, dropped off for a bit, and lately it’s starting to pick up again. It’s not great, but I still enjoy reading it. This is a statue that I had on pre-order way back when it was first revealed, but she got bumped for other things more important to me. Ever since then I’ve been keeping an eye on her and it took me until now to finally fit her into the budget.

The packaging is right in line with what we’ve been seeing from the Cover Girls ever since DC Direct became DC Collectibles. It’s a fully enclosed white box with some shots of the statue to show you what you’re getting inside. As far as presentation goes, this is about as utilitarian as it can get. Call me crazy, but I expect something a little more exciting and colorful out of my comic book collectible packages.

The back panel of the box shows off two other statues in the line, Batgirl and Batwoman, both of which look pretty good. The statue resides between two styrofoam trays and wrapped in plastic. So far, each of the Cover Girl statues I own have come ready for display, but Supergirl needs to be pegged into her stand. The peg is sturdy metal piece, which fits in easily and holds the statue securely. The reason for the support rod has everything to do with the composition of the piece, so let’s start there.

The pose here is supposed to be Supergirl levitating and I think it’s a great look for the statue. She has just the toe of her right boot touching the base, making it look like she’s coming in for a landing. I suppose if you want to ignore the base, she could just be suspended in mid-air. Kara is striking a pose with both hands curled into fists and flexing with her right arm. I think this is the first statue in the line since its relaunch that has a character capable of flight and I’m happy to see they showcased it in pose. The composition is completed with windblown cape and hair.

The sculpting here is certainly a solid effort. All the painted aspects of her costume are also part of the sculpt, which works well to accentuate the New 52 style. Overall, I don’t have any problems with Supergirl’s current look, although I’ll concede the idea behind the cutout knees in the boots is rather perplexing. The portrait is clean and simple. Kara has just a wee bit of a smirk, which lends some whimsical personality to the piece.

The paintwork has been hit or miss on this line. All of my Cover Girl statues have been acceptable, but there have certainly been opportunities for improvement. I think Supergirl reflects that same trend. The paint on the costume is overall excellent. The lines are fairly clean and the glossy paint used on her one-piece contrasts nicely with the slightly more matte finish on her boots and cape. The skin tone is nice and even and the paint on her face is clean. I’m not a big fan of the wash they used on her hair. It’s there to give it more depth, but I think it just makes it look a little dirty. Really, the only other gripe I have with the paint is that the brush strokes on the base are a little too apparent. So, all in all, not bad.

While the first releases in the rebooted Cover Girls line were environmental designs, DCC seems to be moving more toward a standard oval base for the current releases and while I hate when lines like this change styles in mid stream, I still think it was a wise move. Technically, these are still limited pieces, but with a run of 5200 pieces (I see what you did there!), the limitation isn’t too stringent. I’ve also noticed that DCC has been reissuing a few of the earlier releases (or at least they are for Harley Quinn), so I’m not sure how they work that into the limitation. The statue is numbered on the bottom of the base.

In the end, I’m glad I finally got around to adding Kara to my Cover Girls collection. She’s a great representation of the character and overall feels like a fairly solid value for the money. While this rebooted Cover Girls line continues to have its critics, I remain a fan, albeit a rather tepid one. These aren’t something that I often pre-order like I do most of Kotobukiya’s stuff, but then I tend to like the PCV format over this cold-cast porcelain for my statues. Nonetheless, at roughly 1:8 scale and around $80 each, these statues fall right into my sweet spot and keep me coming back for more.

Jan 31 2014

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Platinum by DC Collectibles

I started this week with a Marvel statue, so let’s end it with a DC statue! It’s been a little while since I last visited with the Cover Girls of the DC Universe. The series was rebooted, obviously along with the entirety of DC Comics, and last year I picked up Catwoman and Harley Quinn. It’s not quite the same line as it once was, but I still think there have been some interesting releases worthy of my monies. Today’s feature just happens to be one of those: It’s Tina from the Metal Men! I first became a big fan of this team after reading the ambitious, year-spanning series “52” and that got me to go back to read through the initial run of Metal Men books. It was hard not to fall in love with Tina as her mischief and desire to be human often drove many of the stories along. Fast forward to the “New 52” and while the Metal Men proper are still only being teased, Platinum did indeed turn up in Justice League #18 albeit with somewhat tragic consequences. And that, my friends, brings us to today’s statue. I was originally on the fence over buying this one, but I’m very glad I did.

The statue comes in the typical boring but serviceable DC Collectibles box. You wouldn’t know it from looking at this, but it comes from a company that specializes in graphic design. There are some photos of the statue but the presentation here is just very bland and uninspired. Although, I suppose you could also call it artsy minimalist. The piece inside comes wrapped in plastic and sandwiched safely between two styrofoam trays. Nope, it’s nothing special. What we’re dealing with here is a pretty utilitarian way to get the statue safely to the collector and not much else. Platinum comes out of the box already assembled, attached to her base, and ready for display.

When dealing with statues, I usually like to kick things off with the composition or sculpt, but in this case the first thing you may notice is the rather monochrome nature of this statue. The entire piece is painted in a metallic silver (or dare I say, platinum?) color with some black scant panel lining to bring out the details of the sculpt. That’s not a complaint, mind you, as the coloring is quite nicely achieved, looks good on the statue, and is above all appropriate. It is, however, worth noting because if you’re looking for a colorful piece for your shelf, this isn’t it. On the other hand, here’s a piece where you don’t have to worry about paint slop or bleeding and the metallic effect is quite striking, particularly when seen in person.

The composition here is pretty reserved as it simply features Platinum striding along with one foot melting into the base. I’m not sure if she’s meant to be merging with it or if the base is supposed to just be an extension of her, but either way it makes for a pretty cool and creative effect. I’m really happy with the pose DCC went with here. Tina has always been a rather sexualized character and this statue drives that point home without resorting to cheesecake. Sure, she looks kind of like a model striding the runway, but at least she’s not bending over or pushing her boobs together. And she certainly doesn’t need to. Even without a gratuitous pose, Tina’s chest and tushy are well defined and all her womanly curves are on display. While I do like Platinum’s “New 52” design, some may not. Either way, it certainly gave the sculptors more to work with. She has exposed wiring in her arms and just a beautiful mix of organic features, like her visible clavicle, and the robotic plating in her tummy.

I’m also particularly fond of the portrait here and that’s saying a lot since there isn’t a lot of paintwork to help the sculpt along. I think the detailing in her face is better achieved than we’ve seen in some of DCC’s other recent offerings. Her integral headset is a cool design and the giant plate with her trademark “P” is a nice throwback to her more classic self. I think a lot of my love for this piece comes not only from my fondness for the character, but my weird fascination with female robots. I’ve loved this kind of conceptual art design ever since I first saw Metropolis and one of these days I still swear that I’m going to pony up the big bucks for Yamato USA’s discontinued and pricey Sexy Robot 002 statue.

My next purchase in this line was intended to be Supergirl. I actually had her pre-ordered last year and had to cancel it in order to bankroll some higher priority stuff. She still would have been next if it weren’t for me finding Platinum on sale at $55, a price I simply could not refuse considering the retail on these is usually $99. She is a really nice piece, but I fear she has a number of things working against her. The lack of dynamic coloring in the source material may put some people off, but most of all, when you consider her abrupt one-off appearance in the “New 52”, Platinum was just a strange choice to occupy a slot in this line. It doesn’t make her any less welcome to me, but it might have been more prudent for DC Collectibles to wait until she was actually appearing in her own book with the rest of the team.

Jun 21 2013

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: “New 52” Harley Quinn by DC Collectibles

Ok, folks, let me explain what’s going to happen here today. I’m going to say a lot of nice things about a statue that most people will automatically hate on principle. I get it. The New 52 ruined your precious Harley Quinn because you hate her new costume. And this statue practically rubs your noses in it by its very design. I’m not being sarcastic… I really do get it. I hate what DC did to Zatanna in Justice League Dark. If DC Collectibles comes out with a statue of her wearing her new biker-chick pants and trampling on her old magician hat, I’ll be irked too. It is what it is. However, as someone who tends to not read many Batman books, Harley has never been a sacred character to me, and it isn’t until Suicide Squad that I actually adopted a book that she’s in as regular reading. I really love that book, and this is how she appears in it. Hence I really wanted this piece on my shelf. If hearing nice things about New 52 Harley is going to cause you distress, you might want to get off the train here and come back tomorrow. You’ve been warned!

The statue comes in a pretty standard and boring box, similar to what we saw a few weeks back with the Cover Girls Catwoman statue. I’ve said my piece about how little I like DC Collectible’s package designs, so I’m not going to dwell on it here. Inside, the statue is wrapped in plastic and nestled between two styrofoam trays. The packaging is collector friendly and is handy to keep on hand if you ever want to put the statue into storage.

Starting off with the pose… I really dig it. Harley is standing on one foot, bent forward a bit, while using her other foot to proffer a giant hammer to an unseen opponent. All the while she’s got a pair of blades in her hands and behind her back. I think the pose captures the spirit of the character pretty well. She’s playful, she’s crazy, and she’s going make a game out of killing you. The pose also helps to accentuate Harley’s assets… and her frontssets too!

I find the sculpt here to be excellent. It probably helps a lot that I dig Harley’s stripper costume and it’s quite well executed here for a porcelain statue. Little touches include the loose straps on her pistol holsters, the bullets in her belt, the knit striping on her socks, and the loose lacing on her top. I’m particularly fond of the way her bangs hang over her face. A lot of the statues done in this media seem to have a problem with hair, but this one gets it right.

The paint is competent enough, with just a few little flubs. There’s a little bleeding between the flesh and outfit, but a lot of the little details, like the bullets, look great. Her eyes are a little off, (what’s with DC Collectible’s inability to paint a pair of straight eyes?) but only a little, and the fact that the bangs hang down the way they do keep it from being a major problem. The rest of the paint on the face is quite sharp and looks nice. The red and blue used for her hair and costume is suitably vibrant and I appreciate the use of both matte and gloss in the appropriate places.

So the base… yeah, that base. As already mentioned, it has Harley trampling her iconic costume. I think I get that DC was going for here. It’s a rebirth kind of thing In with the new Harley and out with the old. On the other hand, they really must have known that this was going to piss off a lot of fans. And let’s face it, Harley Quinn has a lot of fans. I can’t imagine there are many people like me who are following Harley for the first time in the New 52 and wouldn’t take this as a slap in the face. But hey, now I feel special… DC Collectibles designed a statue just for me. To add insult to injury, the trampled costume effect isn’t pulled off very well at all. It’s not terribly convincing and easily the weakest thing about this whole piece. Any way I look at it, I think it would have been best left out.

The last Cover Girls statue I featured, Catwoman, was decent, but decidedly average. I’m a lot more pleased with this one. It’s a shame that it’ll be so controversial to fans because from a technical standpoint, I think DC Collectibles did a fine job on her. I was able to pick her up for around $70. That still seems a bit high, considering I can get something fairly comparable from Kotobukiya for less, but I’m guessing that’s the difference between cold-cast porcelain and PVC plastic. Obviously, this statue isn’t for everyone, but I’m glad to have picked it up and she looks damn fine on my shelf.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: cover girls of the dc universe

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Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Platinum by DC Collectibles

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: “New 52” Harley Quinn by DC Collectibles

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