I’m almost caught up on my DC Collectibles figures, but then a couple more just dropped into my Pile of Loot, so I thought I’d take care of unfinished business before the new arrivals appear. Today we’re checking out Supergirl, who shipped in the same wave as the last DCC figure I looked at, Batgirl. I am still reading Supergirl’s book, but like most comics these days I read it in the collected TPBs and I believe I’m one volume behind the one that’s going to print next. I’ve been up and down on this book, but it’s safe to say that it’s far from my favorite horse in DC’s stable. I thought it started out pretty good. I kind of dig her new origins, but then it got really shaky and now it’s evolved into something that is just mildly enjoyable enough to me to keep me coming back, albeit as a very low priority title. With that ringing endorsement, let’s check out Supergirl’s figure…

There’s the in-package shot and its right in line with what we’ve been seeing this year from DCC’s action figure line. You get a very collector friendly window box with a very minimalist deco. The side panel shows a photo of the figure, the back has pictures of all the figures in the wave, but it’s still pretty bland. About the only thing I really enjoy here is the colorful Supergirl logo at the top of the card. Supergirl has some troublesome twisty-ties to deal with, so let me get a clipper and we’ll get her out of the box.

DCC’s figures are all about getting collectors the current versions of their favorite DC characters, so needless to say, Supergirl is sporting her New 52 costume. I don’t have a huge problem with it. It’s a blue one piece with the iconic “S” logo on her chest and a rather strategically placed shield on her nethers, which looks like it’s supposed to be nod to the days, not so long ago, when caped heroes wore their undies on the outside. As it is, it just kind of draws extra attention to… well… that area. There’s not a lot of panel lining here, and while I don’t mind it on Batman or Superman’s costumes, it looks kind of silly on Supergirl’s skimpier outfit. Also, the knee cutouts on her boots still baffle me with the sheer stupidity of their design. What’s the point? Is it because Powergirl has exclusive rights to the boob window? Did the designer have some kind of knee fetish? Is that a real thing? Well, at this point picking on Supergirl’s knee-less boots is kind of like picking on a pair of defenseless kittens, so we’ll move on.

The portrait here is OK. I think they did a nice job on the hair and I really like the plastic and skin tone that DCC is using for the faces on these figures. She has an appropriately youthful countenance. If I were pressed for something to complain about it would be the eyes. They look just a bit too much like crazy ex-girlfriend eyes. But I really am only nitpicking here. I hear tell a lot of horror stories of people getting googly eyes on their DCC figures, especially with Supergirl and Batgirl. With that being the case, and considering I got this figure sight unseen, I’ll happily take what I got.

I really dig the coloring on this figure. The blue is clean and looks great when contrasted with the red. I especially like the metallic red paint used for her boots. The yellow fringe is vibrant and neatly painted. There’s barely any slop on this figure to be found.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time praising DCC’s newly found discovery of articulation, or at least improved articulation. Now that I’ve got a number of these figures on my shelf, however, the truth is starting to sink in that better may be better, but it’s not necessarily great. Supergirl has rotating hinges in her shoulders, ball joints in the hips, hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles, and swivels in the biceps, wrists, and thighs. Her head is also ball jointed. The inclusion of the thigh swivels is very welcome, as Powergirl was sadly missing those, but posing these figures still feels rather stiff. So yeah, much better than we used to get in the days of DC Direct, but still room for improvement.

Supergirl comes with one accessory. It’s a transparent pickle. Ha! I’m just joshing you and be thankful I didn’t go somewhere else with that joke. No, she actually comes with a sliver of kryptonite. Fun!

DCC continues to do a fine job assembling their action figure universe of New 52 characters. While I’m ready for another jump ahead in the articulation department, Supergirl still represents a great sculpt and some fine paintwork. And while this may not be my favorite iteration of Supergirl’s costume, but I can’t fault DCC for that, as they’re merely giving fans the characters as they are currently appearing in the books. Supergirl set me back about $22 and as long as these figures don’t creep up any higher then that anytime soon, I’m pretty content with the price.

So, before punching out for the day, a quick administrative note. As I warned earlier, this is going to be a truncated week for content. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I’ll be busy all the way into the weekend. I am going to try my best to get at least one more feature on Friday or Saturday and then hopefully get back to normal next week.

Have a great Thanksgiving and I’ll see y’all on the flipside!

Has it been a while since I’ve done anything DC? It feels like it, so let’s go with that… I have to confess that I’m not current on my Batgirl. Like all of the New 52 comics, I’m reading the book in the collected TPBs rather than monthly, but I have been enjoying reading it. But hey, it’s Gail Simone, so the fact that I’m enjoying it goes without saying. It also doesn’t hurt that I absolutely love Batgirl’s New 52 design, something that I can’t say about all the characters since the reboot. Anyway, Batgirl is getting a total makeover come issue #35(?) and while it’ll be a little while before I get there, I thought I should cover some of the collectibles based on her current look before it becomes dated. Today I’m checking out the newly released figure by DC Collectibles. It’s odd timing for this release, as one would think they would want to promote the new look, but then maybe they’re just trying to get the figure out while they still can.

I’ve featured a number of DC Collectibles figures this year so we’ve already seen the packaging plenty. It’s a window box with an extended card back and while it allows for a good look at the figure, the art design doesn’t really do much for me. The exception to that is the glorious old-school Batgirl emblem on the top of the card. That’s just awesome. The box is collector friendly, but I’m just going to rip her out of there and toss it into the bin.

Ah, there she is and man do I dig that look! I’d be sad to see it go if her new costume wasn’t just as cute as a button. This look, on the other hand, marries bad ass with everything I love about Adam Hughes Batgirl. How do you look so sweet, innocent and wholesome while wearing tactical armor? Well, Babs here pulls it off and so does this figure, sculpted by Jack Mathews. The panel lines and scalloped plates of the armor look fantastic and the plastic has an almost rubbery texture that makes it feel like it’s designed to absorb bullets and blows. I also really dig the bat cut-outs in the knees of her boots. Even the cape, with it’s narrow design, is as practical as a cape can possibly be when hanging off of a suit of modern urban armor. The only thing I don’t care for in the suit design is that extra bat at the collar. It just seems out of place and pointless and the paint on it is a bit sloppy.

As great as the suit is, it’s the portrait on this figure that really wins me over. I’ve had a thing for Barbara Gordon ever since Yvonne Craig donned the mask. It’s hard to pick out my favorite thing about this headscupt. I love the lips and the wide eyes, but I think I’ll go with the way the hair is sculpted. It just comes bursting out of the cowl and gathers up around her shoulders and damn if it doesn’t look great.

The paintwork on this figure exhibits some highs and lows. The paintwork on the face and hair is all great, and the bright yellow just pops beautifully against the black of the rest of the suit. I just wish that some of that yellow paint were more neatly applied, particularly on the bat symbol on her collar. I’m already not a fan of that piece of decor and the paint kind of makes it look like Barbara dribbled eggs onto her costume at breakfast. The bat symbol on her chest could be sharper, but I have to get in pretty close before I can notice. There’s nothing terrible here, but certainly room for improvement.

My favorite thing about DC Collectibles this year is the added articulation to their figures and Batgirl certainly shows that off. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and gloves. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, and hinged at the knees and ankles. You also get a ball jointed neck. Yeah, poses still come off as limiting and stiff, but it’s better than what we were seeing out of DC Direct.

Batgirl comes with one accessory and that’s her grapple gun. It’s a simple yellow plastic sculpt with a string running through it and tied to the hook, so you can display it ready to fire or already deployed. You can also use it to try to recreate that unfortunate pose used for her first Cover Girls of the DC Universe statue. Or better yet, don’t. On the downside, it’s a rather big and clunky looking gun and her hand does not seem like it was sculpted to hold this thing. I can barely get it into her hand and even when I do it looks rather awkward. It’s probably destined for the dreaded Tote of Forgotten Accessories.

Batgirl set me back $21 at an online retailer and I think she’s a really great figure, even with some minor opportunities with the paintwork and the accessory hand malfunction. I could have tried finding one with better paint, but the nearest comic shop is an hour away, so I’m fine with the one I got. Besides, I hear tell some people are getting figures with googly eyes, and I’d much prefer a figure with normal, pretty eyes, and some slop on her armor. DCC still has the odd kink to work out of this line, but all in all I’m still happy to collect it, especially in light of the vacuum that was left behind by Mattel pulling of of DC Universe Classics. Next week, we’ll check out another DC lady that shipped in the same wave… Supergirl. Then maybe next month I can start digging into some of the others.

As promised I’m back with the second half of my look at DC Collectibles’ World’s Finest action figure 2-pack. Yesterday we looked at Huntress and today we’re checking out Power Girl. I have already given the packaging it’s due, so let’s jump right in with a look at this second figure…

“Hey, my eyes are up here!”

So, I’m really torn with the direction DCC went with here. Power Girl started out in World’s Finest with a very different costume and eventually adopted the one that is most associated with her last pre-reboot look. I love (and actually prefer) her more traditional modern look. What red-blooded male could resist the boob window? But at the same time it would have been nice to see a figure of her other costume. I guess what I’m saying is that either way I would have been happy, but at the same time I’d still love to see the other version be done in figure form somewhere down the road. Unfortunately, I think it far more likely to have seen this version single packed if we got the other version in this two-pack. The bottom line is that I really love Power Girl and I’d like to get as many figures of her as possible. And yes, I am still mulling over that Premium Format Statue from Sideshow, but I really hope my willpower wins out on that one. Anyway, it’s worth noting that of all the New 52 characters, this pair from World’s Finest has probably seen the least drastic change in wardrobe, making this a great set for newer and older fans alike.

The sculpt here is absolutely magnificent on every level. Her one-piece consists of some sculpted lines of stitching with some of her taut abdominal muscles peeking through from underneath and neatly painted gold piping partially partially circling her waist. Her gloves and boots both feature sculpted panel lines, (because you can’t have New 52 without some panel lines, right?) and her short cape plungs down from her shoulders and is fastened loosely just above the right of her chest.

The portrait is also a total slam dunk. I love the soft flesh tone plastic that DCC has been using for these figure’s faces. It looks like something you would see in a larger scaled import figure. The hair is wonderfully sculpted and I love the way it hangs down over the right side of her face without covering her features. The paintwork on the face is clean and precise, particularly on the lips. On the downside, there’s a little white waxy residue on her boobs.

As for the rest of the paint, well if there’s one thing that DCC and even old DC Direct always seems to have a problem with it’s applying white paint. And one look at Power Girl’s mostly white outfit and you can see where I’m going with this. It’s not a terrible paint job by any means, but there are just enough brush marks and slight imperfections in the white paint to bug me a little. It’s frustrating to have a figure sculpt look this good and have a few blemishes in the paint to keep it from perfection. The metallic blue for the boots and gloves, however, is right on point and the flesh tone for her legs looks great. Under the casual eye there’s nothing too bad here, but it begins the break down as you get in close.

The articulation on this figure is close to Huntress, but it is missing a few of Helena’s points and that is disappointing. What’s missing? Well most obvious are the swivels in the legs. Huntress had them at the tops of her boots, but Power Girl is missing them entirely and that really limits what you can do with her stance. Since you can’t tweak the direction her feet are pointing and there’s no lateral ankle tilts, some of Kara’s stances look a little stiff and unnatural. Thankfully the swivels in the biceps survived any further cuts. I’m on the fence over the lack of torso articulation. Not having any movement there is a bummer, but at least there are no POA’s to interrupt the sculpt there.

The World’s Finest 2-pack retails for around $40, which is right in line with the usual twenty bucks a figure that DCC tends to charge. Actually with the markup at most comic shops, you can expect to pay closer to $25 for the more popular DCC figures, so that makes a set like this a little better deal. I don’t know how many of these two-packs I’m likely to pick up, but this one called to me the moment I saw it go up for pre-order and even with some nits to pick, I wasn’t disappointed. Both figures are great updates to the old DCUC style figures and I’m looking forward to DCC getting their figure stands on the market so that I can finally get some of these figures up on display. I’ve got a couple more ladies from DCC coming in the next week, so stay tuned for looks at Batgirl and Supergirl coming up sometime probably early next month.

I had intended to get back to this assortment of figures last week with a look at Starfire, but unfortunately my figure had other ideas. The right arm twisted off at the shoulder and her shoulder pads went flying, I know not where. I’m working on getting a replacement and I’ll still be working all of those poor QC shenanigans into that review. In the meantime, let’s skip ahead to Roy Harper, aka. Arsenal.

It’s the same box we saw when I looked at Red Hood. It’s pretty dull and boring, but it does show off the figure fairly well and it is collector friendly if you like to hang on to dull and boring packaging. Also, my Arsenal’s bow was rattling around loose in the package. The best thing about the box is the illustration of the figure on the side panel in case you want to store the boxes lined up on the shelf. Like Red Hood, I took a lot of care removing Arsenal from the tray as these figures do feel rather delicate. Ironically, Starfire felt like the most robust of the bunch and she’s the one that didn’t last.

While I really dig Red Hood’s look in this comic, I’m a little more iffy on Arsenal’s design. He kind of looks like Terry Bogard from King of Fighters is cosplaying as Speedy. On the other hand, part of me thinks it’s so crazy that it works. I don’t know. If I was a much bigger fan of the character I would probably be insulted by this look, but The Outlaws is the first book I’ve invested time in with him as a regular character, so I guess I’m on board.

Whatever my verdict on the character design, it’s hard to find fault in the way DCC translated it into action figure form.The outfit consists of lightly rumpled pants and a chestpate with sculpted muscles. The boots and gloves are painted with metallic red, which contrasts quite nicely with the matte red used for the rest of the outfit. Arsenal features two quivers, one hangs off his belt and the other is worn on his back and both are well stocked with arrows permanently sculpted into them.

The portrait here is prettty good and suits the character well. You get his domino mask sculpted and painted onto the face as well as the party-end of his mullet and his copious sideburns. The whole ensemble is topped off with a trucker’s cap. He looks like someone you might find next to you at a diner at 3am eating pancakes at the counter. My only complaint here is that his expression is fairly blank. I think they should have given him a bit of a cocky smirk, but I still like what we got.

I’ve already mentioned the deco of the outfit, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about what a nice job DCC did on his tatts. They’re tampo’d onto both his shoulders and biceps and are neat and crisp and look great.

Arsenal’s articulation is solid but not exceptional. The shoulders have rotating hinges, which use the same brittle clear plastic as my poor Starfire. Luckily Arsenal’s shoulders don’t seem to have any problems. The elbows are hinged and there are swivels in his gloves. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, hinged at the knees and ankles, and have swivels at the boots. Lastly, the neck is ball jointed and there’s actually a swivel in his cap so you can turn it all the way around as he sometimes wears it that way in the comic. Very cool! There may or may not be a swivel in the waist, but if there is, mine is stuck, so I’ve got no torso articulation at all.

Naturally Arsenal comes with his bow, which is painted with the same metallic red paint used for his boots, and features a real string. You also get a gadget arrow. The articulation makes it impossible to pose him while knocking the arrow, but you can still get some decent enough poses out of him.

If you’re a fan of The Outlaws book, I’d definitely recommend picking up this figure. DCC did a beautiful job on him and I’m happy to say there’s no ugly QC issues to speak of. He looks great when displayed with Red Hood and hopefull even better when I can get an unbroken Starfire to go with them. Speaking of which, it may be a couple of weeks before I get a replacement Starfire, so the next time I revisit the DC Collectibles New 52 line it will be with their World’s Finest 2-pack of Huntress and Power Girl.

The last time I looked at a figure based on Jason Todd it was from the DC Signature Collection by Mattel and I was none too pleased. It was a pretty uninspired figure based on what I always thought to be a terrible character design. This time, I’m checking out DCC’s new figure based on Red Hood’s ongoing New 52 book, Red Hood and the Outlaws, a comic that has managed to keep me entertained in the TPB format. As with their Suicide Squad series, DCC is paying respects to the Red Hood book by releasing a three figure sub-series. Unlike Suicide Squad, we actually get the whole team here: Red Hood, Arsenal, and Starfire. I’m pretty excited to finally get these in hand, so let’s kick off this trio with Red Hood himself.

DCC seems to have settled on these mostly white window boxes for their action figure packaging. It’s got an extended card back so it can sit on the shelves or hang on the pegs and it’s very, very bland and boring. On the plus side, it does have a big window that lets the figure speak for itself and the box is collector friendly. Although if you’re as strapped for space as I am, I don’t know why you would want to save these generic packages. Once I had my in-package shot, the box went in the bin!

Oh, yeah! This is why I love the figures that DCC is turning out these days. Granted, I dig Red Hood’s current look quite a bit, so straightaway that gives this figure a great advantage over the last Jason Todd I looked at. His current costume is a bit of a hodge-podge of his glory days as a hero sidekick and his latest role as an Outlaw. You get his tactical vest with a beautifully chiseled sculpt and a crimson bat to pay homage to his old mentor and ally. Over that he wears a brown leather jacket because… he’s a rebel and an outlaw! I love the way they did his jacket. It’s the usual vest with sculpted sleeves on the arms that all the figure companies are doing these days, but this guy pulls off the illusion quite well. I also dig the way the jacket bellows up around the waist.

Red Hood’s belt features two functional holsters with loose retaining straps and his gauntlets are bristling with some ferocious looking blades. The crisp paintwork and attention to detail in the sculpt is really first rate for a figure in this price range. The outfit may have the composition of an adolescent’s fever dream, but I still think it looks totally bad ass. Hey, don’t knock the ensemble.. these groovy duds got him the sex with Starfire. Oh wait, pretty much anyone can have sex with Starfire. ZING!

The portrait doesn’t disappoint either. The features sculpted into the mask may be a bit more pronounced, but then it really depends on what panel art you’re comparing it to. Sometimes it looks spot on, sometimes the art makes the mask look a little softer. Either way, I like what we got. He looks like a crimson version of Destro and it works so much better for me than the old “pill head” look. Todd is sporting a stern expression, pupiless eyes, and some panel lines, because… hey, it’s the New 52 and everything has to have panel lines, and I’m Ok with that.

Articulation is fairly serviceable, but not outrageous. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and have hinges in the knees and ankles. The neck is also ball jointed. There appears to be a swivel in the waist, but mine is stuck tight and I’m not about to force it. As a matter of fact, all the joints on this figure are rather stiff, so he’s definitely going to need a workout in order to limber up. I’ll also note here that each of the blades on his arms are hinged at the base. That was something I did not expect!

On the downside, this figure is very, very fragile and I could tell that from the moment I opened the box and spent about five minutes easing him out of his tray. For starters, the holsters are glued onto the thin rubbery strips of belt, rather than directly onto his thighs. I like the way that looks better, but it raises the possibility of them pulling off. Either way, I put extra care into removing and replacing the guns, so I don’t have another incident like I did with my Game of Thrones figures’ scabbards. Also very fragile are the arm blades. Those hinges are really cool, but damn, I’m almost afraid to even put this guy into a drawer with my other DC Collectibles figures. I’m scared that the next time I open it, he’ll be surrounded by a pile of knives. Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown away that box!

Red Hood comes with two accessories, and as you may have guessed… they’re guns! You get a pair of metallic silver automatic pistols with painted grips. The guns look great and he can hold them in both hands. He even has trigger fingers! What he doesn’t have, unfortunately is a stand. Coincidentally, DC Collectibles will be selling packs of figure stands later this year for anyone stupid enough to reward this practice and buy stands separately. I bought two packs.

I don’t know what made DC Collectibles step up their game, but since their re-branding from DC Direct, they’ve been turning out some quality figures, and Red Hood here is another great example of that. Yes, he’s got some fragility concerns, but those are clearly sacrifices that were made to deliver a better looking figure and I approve. Besides, nothing has broken off of mine yet, so it just goes to show you that a little care is all that’s needed. But if that fails… you may want to have the Gorilla Grodd Glue handy. Red Hood set me back an Andy Jackson and he was well worth it. Next time we revisit The Outlaws, we’ll take a look at everyone’s favorite ex-slave alien princess, Starfire!