Tag Archives: dc comics

Nov 29 2024

DC Comics: Power Girl Premium Format Figure by Sideshow

Happy Day After Thanksgiving! Obviously, there was no review on Wednesday as I put in some extra hours at work and then spent some time getting stuff done around the house. Chances are I may be missing a day or two here and there as I move closer to moving. But, yesterday was a good day of rest and food and now it’s time to get back to it! It’s been a little bit since I last checked out a Premium Format release from Sideshow, and that’s because I really haven’t been picking any up. And as someone who is in the process of packing up his collection to move, the fewer of these I have to schlep 700 miles across two States the better. And because the lovely Kara Zor-El here is going to be getting tucked back into her Styrofoam bed soon, I figured it would be a good idea to check her out before that happens!

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to just how big these boxes are when they show up at my front door! I have wanted a Power Girl PF Figure ever since the last one Sideshow did. I came so close to pulling the trigger on that previous release, but truth be told, I just couldn’t budget it at the time and soon she was only available for stupid money on the secondary market. When this new version was announced, all my sorrows went away, because I liked everything about this version a lot more. But, the timing was bad, because I had my eyes and money on a different PF Figure about to release and so once again, I had to put her on hold. But she eventually wound up on one of Sideshow’s sales and the discount along with some unspent Reward Points got her down to a manageable number and she finally flew to my shelf. Yup, it was quite a roller-coaster getting here! Anyway, the box is colorful, and as big and heavy as you would expect a quarter-scale statue box to be. As usual, there’s some assembly required here, both magnets and pegs, but getting Kara slotted into the stand was a bit of a terrifying chore. I got there eventually, and I have to say the balance and stability on display here is a wonder of applied physics.

Oh, Kara my Kara! So, straightaway I’ll say that my two favorite improvements seen here over the last version is the better proportions and the dynamic hovering flight pose. Don’t get me wrong, I would have been perfectly happy owning that one, but in comparison, she looks a little chunky in the limbs and the regular stance on a rocky diorama base is a little pedestrian compared to what we got here. It may not seem fair to make so many comparisons against a piece I don’t own, but believe me I spent a lot of time pouring over those pictures back then. Here, Power Girl strikes a bold and triumphant pose, levitating in the air with a swirl of comic-art clouds miraculously supporting her not-insignificant polystone weight. Her left hand rests on her hip, while the right flexes. She offers a beautifully understated smile, looking off to the side while her half-cape flutters off in the opposite direction. It’s a comic book cover come to 3D life!

I love the proportions here and the beautiful curves of her pose. I think it would have been cool to have her raised leg kicked back into a tight bend, but I still love what we got. The previous Kara PF had a softgoods cape, at a time when Premium Formats almost always had some form of mixed media. I like that idea, but I can’t complain about the sculpted cape on display here. It flutters beautifully, giving a little more kinetic energy to the composition and you don’t have to worry about the material wearing or getting messed up. I also think they did a wonderful job on the boob window and I’m obviously a big fan! As for the colors, the blues and reds are deep and vibrant while the skin tone is warm and soft. The white one piece has a bit of blue wash to it, which I think looks very nice. Finally, you get the maroon belt and some gold leaf paint for the buckle and the cape braid.

The Exclusive release came with two head sculpts, with the extra one smiling, whereas here you just get the one. It’s always nice to have two options, but I don’t think I would ever swap out this one. Let me say that I have passed on a few female Premium Formats because I thought the portraits were too manly. The last Zatanna they did is a heartbreaking example of that. But what we got here is just beautiful. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but I see more than a bit Robin Wright in this likeness, and I’m digging it a lot. The slight smile is great and the paintwork for the eyes is some of the best I’ve seen in this line. The short hair is nicely detailed and frames the face perfectly. I don’t think the smiling face on the exclusive comes close to this one.

The base is impressive and terrifying at the same time. As I said earlier, it was tough to get her pegged into it and I was afraid to let go because it didn’t seem like the engineering here should work. You also don’t get any kind of satisfying click or thunk to suggest she’s locked into place. But the connection is strong and sturdy. She doesn’t get moved a lot, but I do try to be careful not to lift her from the snaking whisp of cloud even though it makes for an inviting and obvious handle. The limitation is printed on the base, and despite getting mine very late in the game, I wound up with 49 out of 1500. I think that’s my lowest PF number yet and it just goes to show you that the early adopters don’t always get the low numbers. Oh yeah, I always love the artwork they put on the bottom of the base. You will almost never see it, but it’s cool to know it’s there.

And just for some scale reference, here’s Kara’s Premium Format beside her Cover Girls of The DC Universe counterpart. Oh yeah, she’s a big girl!

I can’t express how happy I am to finally get a Power Girl Premium Format, and as it happens it all worked out well since I definitely prefer this one over the last one. I think they absolutely nailed every aspect of this piece and owning her is just something off my collecting bucket list. I think she originally retailed for $576 and yeah, I’m pretty much priced out of the Premium Formats at this point. But, between a sale and some Reward Points, I was able to get her down to a little under $400 so that wasn’t too bad in comparison. And alas, now she has to go back into her Styrofoam stasis pod for a couple of months.

Nov 8 2024

Cover Girls of the DC Universe (J. Scott Campbell) Zatanna by McFarlane/DC Direct

The DC Cover Girls line of statues has been around a long time now with different series showcasing different artist interpretation of some of comic’s greatest female heroes and villains. Hell, I reviewed my first purchase from this series here almost 12 years ago! The line went from DC Collectibles to DC Direct and now McFarlane has taken up the torch, although they still seem to be using the DC Direct name for whatever reasons. Also, the current series is showcasing one of my favorite comic artists of all time, J. Scott Campbell, and boy is ever about damn time! DC’s Mistress of Mysticism, Zatanna, is the third release in this series, with Catwoman and Wonder Woman preceding her, and Supergirl now up for preorder.

The packaging is pretty standard stuff, featuring a fully enclosed box with some shots of the statue and some artwork ghosted behind it. The box does state the limitation and you also get your piece’s individual number on the box as well. The statue comes nestled between two Styrofoam bricks for protection and there’s a little assembly required. Just peg Zatanna’s foot into the base and tab her wand into her hands and she is ready for her curtain call!

Of the three JSC statues so far, Zatanna comes the closest to a classic museum pose, but it suits her so perfectly. Catwoman was playfully readying her whip, Wonder Woman was deflecting a bullet, but Zatanna stands with her hands folded and resting on her cane/wand as if waiting for the magic show to begin. Feet apart, back arched, and head cocked, it’s a pose that conveys a sense of high confidence and professional showmanship.

Zatanna’s costume represents my favorite look for the character. She’s got her black one piece with yellow and white corset over it and black tuxedo coat and tails over that. There’s a little sculpted ruffling to the middle of the corset while the low cut top shows ample cleavage, no doubt to distract from any slight of hand. The shoulders flare up stylishly, the lapels are painted blue, and she had a red carnation on the right lapel. The snappy tails of the coat hang down to the backs of her knees. She has a pair of shiny black heels and while her legs aren’t clad in actual fishnets, the skin is painted in a darker color to denote that she is wearing stockings. The paint lines on this piece are very sharp and the yellow, blue, red, and white all add some nice contrast to the black.

The head sculpt is very nice, even if I do think she got an unnecessary extra helping of eyebrows. The expression in the eyes is absolutely priceless. They’ve got a slightly sleepy quality to them, which also works as confidence bordering on boredom. It’s as if she’s sizing up an adversary and thinking,
“You’ve got to be kidding. You have no chance against my mystical arts.” I think there’s a tad less of Campbell’s style in this one, although it’s definitely there in the distinctive nose. The paint is immaculate, especially in the eyes and mascara and her bold lipstick. They seem to have toned down the shading around the eyes as seen on the box, and I think that was a great idea. The hair is beautifully sculpted and frames her face perfectly and it’s all capped off with the regal black top hat with blue band to match her coat’s lapels.

The base is designed to match the previous statues. It’s a circular raised platform in black with a gray stripe around the beveled edges. It’s simple and distinguished but the addition of the Zatanna logo gives it a kick of personality. These pieces are limited and hand numbered on the bottom of the base, and I have no idea where they are drawing the limitations for each. Catwoman started at 920, Wonder Woman went to 945, and now Zatanna shoots up to 1580. Back in the day, most Cover Girls were at a limitation of 5200, whereas these seem more random. Either way, mine is #509, which is lower than my Wonder Woman but higher than my Catwoman.

Over the years, some of my Cover Girls have left my collection, but I maintain a solid dozen or so on display at any one time. Needless to say I’m happy to see the line continue and it really seems to be in good hands with McFarlane. And naturally, I’m doubly happy to see my main man, J. Scott Campbell, finally get his turn at these ladies. I’ll confess that Catwoman was not a rock-solid start for this run, but she was still pretty good and both Wonder Woman and Zatanna more than make up for that somewhat shaky start. These retail at around $139.99, which feels right in line with what they’ve been going for in the past. Supergirl is next up on the roster, and as you can imagine, I already have her preordered.

Sep 27 2023

Justice League Unlimited: Wonder Woman Half-Scale Bust by Diamond Select

It’s no secret that I love collecting Wonder Woman stuff. Heck, I’m up to four Hot Toys of Gal Gadot donning the tiara and I didn’t even really like those movies. So I am an easy mark when it comes to merch from the Princess of Themyscira. But today’s piece had me up and down on whether or not to buy it. It’s part of Diamond Select’s line of 3D Half-Scale busts, but I don’t know why they make a point to call them out as 3D as that’s kind of implicit in the idea that it’s a sculpted bust. But… whatever. I really wanted to pick this up when it came out, but their previous Harley Quinn release in this line was less than stellar, so I declined to preorder and eventually forgot about it. But then she turned up for sale at a few places and I decided to give it a go. Boy am I glad I did!

The bust comes in a pretty sizeable box, and that’s to be expected as it measures a bit over 10-inches tall. This sculpt is based on the Amazonian’s animated style as she appeared in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. And while that Justice League series may have been unlimited, this statue is limited to 1,000 pieces, which is fairly low for DST’s stuff. And as the box points out, this statue is cast entirely in resin. The piece comes nestled between two pieces of styrofoam and is fully assembled and ready for display.

And… wow! I was actually afraid to open this because the reports of shoddy paint on the preceding Harley bust were pretty common, but I am absolutely blown away by how great Diana here came out. The sculpt brings the artwork to life, so long as you’re not viewing from the back as it’s just a big blob of black cartoon hair back there. But that’s to be expected. I am really pleased that the detail in the eyes is part of the sculpt, as she looks up and off to the side, pondering the skies. The expression is just perfectly stoic with maybe just a hint of some possible action about to take place. If I had one gripe, the channel running through her chest piece could have been sharper, but otherwise… Beautiful!

These animated style pieces can be very tricky as they rely as much (if not more) on clean and sharp paint as they do on sculpted detail, and I’m happy to say the paint on this lady is quite breathtaking. For starters, they did a wonderful job with the skin tone as it has a lot of beautiful shading that gives it a lot of warmth and adds so much to the piece. The yellow and read of her tiara and chest piece add some nice, vibrant colors and it all contrasts with the black background of her majestic coif. I especially like the little cut of brighter yellow showing a little animated-style reflection to the golden bits. The lips, eyes, and eyebrows are all painted with precision and care and the white star earrings really flash under the studio lights.

The pedestal is sculpted as a Grecian style column, which works both as a classic bust stand and given the Themyscira theme. The pale blue adds a bit more color to the mix, but I like how the pedestal is understated. Flip the piece over and you can see the hand numbered limitation on the bottom. And… wow, I got #10 of 1000. That’s probably the lowest number I ever got on any numbered limited statue in my collection.

Like all DST limited releases, you get an art card stating the limitation and with the number of the piece as well. I always loved these and I wish Sideshow would do them with their far more expensive Premium Formats.

And here she is in her center spot in my little Wonder Woman corner, alongside the Adam Hughes and Frank Cho Designer Series statues by DC Collectibles.

I’m so happy I took the plunge on this one, especially since it took a crazy good sale to make me do it. It was too much of a gamble at the original $175, but getting her for less than half that was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Maybe DST just had a bad run of luck with the previous release in this series, but all I know is Wonder Woman turned out absolutely stellar. Every time I look at her I fall in love again! And with this purchase following soon after picking up their amazing Jem statue, I have to say that I’m really digging what DST is doing these days.

Mar 22 2023

DC Multiverse (Rebirth): Lobo by McFarlane

As promised, the DC Multiverse reviews are going to be ramping up, as I have spent the last month or so plunging head first into this line and grabbing a bunch of figures on clearance. And it seemed like the perfect time to get into the line as Todd put up the very impressive looking 89-style Batmobile for pre-order just last week. But for now, I’m delving back into the Rebirth era with a look at everyone’s favorite cigar-chomping, genocidal asshole bounty hunter, Lobo.

Here he is in the package, and boy do I have a lot of these big and beefy Multiverse boxes stacking up around here. Storing all of these figures in their packages is sheer folly, as I will eventually fill up an entire bookcase, but for now that’s what I’m doing to make it easier to see what I’ve picked up so far. I like these boxes, even if they aren’t all that visually striking. The blue behind the tray looks nice, you get some artwork on the back panel, and while removing the figure itself is collector friendly, you have to rip the backer to get to the figure stand and trading card. For now I’m leaving those be. I never did pony up for any of the Mattel versions of Lobo, so I’m pretty excited to get this guy opened!

Generally speaking, I like the costume designs that came with Rebirth, and Lobo is no exception. Indeed, while I was largely fine with The New 52, its depiction of Lobo was a huge wrong turn, something which Rebirth set right again. Here, Lobo is quite a beast of a figure sporting a suitably chonky build and lots of great detail in the sculpt. He’s got a ribbed tank top worn under a leather jacket, with the sleeves absolutely shredded off of it, revealing some jacked up arms with some bulging veins. The texturing on both the shirt and jacket is superb, with some tears, and what look like bullet holes in the shirt. He’s got a studded belt with a skull belt buckle, and super tight blue jeans with sculpted pockets, tailoring and all the little wrinkles and rumples to make them look great. The lower leg armor has forged skulls protecting the knees and sharp spikes running down the sides. These grieves are sculpted all around the leg and with straps, but the backs and straps are just painted blue like the jeans. Yeah, these would have looked much better if they were painted all around. I mean, that steel paint on the fronts really is nice. Finally, he has a pair of fingerless gloves painted onto his hands, and some massive shit-kickers on his feet with steel plated toes for kicking that shit!

The head sculpt is solid, and different enough from Mattel’s versions to make comparison’s kind of tough. This one is a bit more stylized, with some exaggerated wrinkling in the forehead to make him look more like a proper alien, and even a bit evocative of a vampire. I love the way his red eyes are partially shrouded under that plunging brow line, and even his nose is wrinkled into a permanent snarl. His sculpted beard follows his jawline, jutting out with a prominent chin, and his teeth are on full display through his wicked grimace. The blue highlights to his wild hair is an interesting choice, at first I was a little iffy on them, but they’ve grown on me. All in all, this is great stuff!

The back of the jacket is a fun nod to the 1992 cover of Lobo’s Back with the “BITE ME FAN BOY” winged skull logo. This stuff is partially sculpted into the jacket as well, and it looks great. If this extra paint is why the paint on the backs of the leg armor didn’t cost out, than I’m totally fine with that. Once again, the texturing and detail on the jacket is superb, and those spikes on his epaulets are pretty sharp!

Despite being a powerhouse, Lobo’s articulation is pretty much in line with the DC Multiverse standards. Granted, because of his bulging muscles, those double-hinged elbows don’t get quite the range of motion as normal, but they can do a bit better than 90-degrees. Everything else is solid, with some especially wide stances up in them hips, double hinges in the knees, and a ball joint under that chest. All these joints feel super solid and are fun to play around with. I don’t know if it’s still the thrill of a new figure line, but I think these Multiverse figures feel fantastic in hand.

Lobo comes with one accessory and that’s his coiled chain blade. The chain is sculpted to be coiled around his wrist when he holds it, and it works OK, but the Mattel figure wins this round for having an actual chain attached to it, which would have been a lot more fun. Still, this looks pretty good in his hand, and the sculpted weathering on the hook is a nice touch.

McFarlane has to abide by Warner Bros’ no gun policy, but you can pick up one of the weapons packs to skirt that silly regulation and give Lobo some firepower. I only have the second weapon pack, and to be honest, most of the shooters are too small for Lobo’s extreme manly meathooks, but this one looks OK.

Lobo was one of the first McFarlane figures I picked up, after getting that Booster and Beetle two-pack, and it was spending some time playing around with this guy that really affirmed my decision to start collecting this line hard. This is a big and beefy badass of a figure, that I managed to pick up for about $17 and that’s a deal that you can’t shake a Czarnian stick at. This brute has been on my desk for weeks, and he is just loads of fun to pick up and play around with, even if you do have to be careful with some of those sharp spikes!

Feb 10 2023

DC Multiverse: Blue Beetle and Booster Gold by McFarlane

I know what you’re thinking. You killed off Marvel Mondays, backed away from Marvel Legends, and now DC Multiverse is coming to take its place. That’s not how I planned it, but I can understand that’s the way it looks. I’ll explain… but first it’s story time! Once upon a time, I had a thing on FFZ called DC Fridays. It was back when I was doing five reviews a week (holy shit, how did I ever make that work?) and I was bookending the week with Marvel and DC content. But after many attempts by Mattel to keep it alive, DC Universe Classics and all its spiritual successors died out. I collected DC Collectibles figures for a while, eventually got into the DC Icons line, but all that crumbled to dust and I just gave up on collecting DC figures altogether. When McFarlane took over, I was interested, but it looked like every other figure was Batman, and I’ve never been enough of a Batman fan to pursue a line like that, so I let it pass me by. But when I wasn’t looking, DC Multiverse seemed to diversify a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still way too much Batman, but then they released a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle two-pack based on the limited series Blue and Gold, and I pre-ordered the set as fast as my finger could mash the button, because I adore these characters so much. And that brings us to today.

I’ll confess it’s exciting to start checking out a line of figures that are new to me. I have looked at a few other current McFarlane releases, including their Doom Guy and I’ve started looking at their figures from Vox Machina, but this is my first experience with the DC Multiverse series. The giant window box is impressive, and the figures look great in the package against a futuristic cityscape. Alas, it’s not quite so collector friendly, as the figure stands and the collector cards are sealed against the backdrop. I won’t be removing those for this review, as for now I plan to return the figures to the box for storage. Thankfully, the set includes a tandem diorama-type display base to use instead.

The back of the box features some great character art, even though Booster’s costume doesn’t match his appearance in the Blue and Gold series. It’s close, but he’s got his collar from the earlier days, whereas the figure does not. But, let’s start with Ted Kord as Blue Beetle!

Wow, it’s great to have a new Blue Beetle figure, considering the last one I owned was all the way back in the DC Universe Classics days. DC Icons put a Booster and Blue Beetle two-pack up for pre-order, but like a dozen other pre-orders in that line they got shit-canned along with the entire line. This new McFarlane version certainly hits all the right points for me! The suit is achieved almost completely with paint, which makes sense, since both Booster and Beetle share the same body. You do get a sculpted black belt with gold buckle, and sculpted bands around the tops of the boots, but the rest is just painted buck. The suit looks as iconic as ever with a light blue base and darker blue making up the boots, gloves, undies, and shoulders and the stylish beetle shape cut-out with thick black borders. This figure looks great!

The head sculpt is also on point, with the dark blue cowl, big yellow bug eyes, and the sculpted eyebrows and antenna on the cowl. The facial sculpt is a tad soft, but still looks solid and is punctuated by a big and cheesy Ted Kord smile. I suppose the eye globes are a step back from the clear lenses used on the old Mattel figure, but I’m not hating it. If anything, the painted globes give the figure something of a more animated look to me.

As my first experience with DC Multiverse articulation, I can say I find what’s here pretty satisfying. The arms feature shoulder crunches as well as rotating hinges, there are swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows, and rotating hinges in the wrists. The hips are ball jointed with soft plastic used in the undies, knees are double hinged, ankles have hinges and lateral rockers, and you get hinges placed right before the toes. There’s a ball joint under the chest and a ball joint in the neck. Everything feels great and works well with an overall excellent range of motion. I think my only two nitpicks would be the wrist joints look a tad awkward, and I would really like swivels in the thighs instead of up top in the hip joint.

Blue Beetle comes with one accessory and that’s his grapple gun. It’s a nicely sculpted piece with that lovely bulbous design and painted with in a sharp silver sheen. The beetle grapple and connecting line is permanently attached. It would have been great if this piece was separate and just pegged into the gun, but the effect is still well executed. Let’s move on to Booster!

As I mentioned, Booster shares the same body with Beetle, which works well enough, given the two are depicted with about the same build. The costume here is again nearly all paint, with the exception of the wrist bracers. If you look close enough, you can see the sculpted edges of Beetle’s boots are still here, but they aren’t that obvious. The yellow plastic looks fantastic, while the painted yellow areas are a shade too dark for a perfect match. I also wish the blue was a touch lighter to match the comic panels a bit better. But all in all, this is a great looking figure!

As much as I dig Beetle’s head sculpt, I think Booster’s is the winner in this set. Once again, you have an opaque lens for the goggles, so no visible eyes. The shock of hair protruding from the top of the cowl looks nice, and I love the big toothy smile.

It’s the same body, so you get the same articulation, and once again these figures are a real joy to play around with. While Beetle only came with the one accessory, Booster comes with two… well, sort of three.

The first is this blast effect part that clips to either of his wrists. It’s a cool bonus and I like the bright blue plastic used for the blast. Maybe it should have been tinted clear plastic? Eh, it looks fine the way it is.

Second, Booster comes with his phone, perfect for taking selfies of his heroics and promoting himself on social media. OK, as far as accessories go, it’s pretty simple. The phone’s case is yellow and it has a simple black screen. A sticker for the screen would have been cool. The left hand is designed to hold the phone, and while it can be a little tricky to get it to stick, I was able to do it without resorting to blue-tack trickery.

The final sort-of accessory is his buddy Skeets, and I’m not thrilled about how they did him. Skeets comes attached to a segmented pipe, which plugs into the display stand, and I have two issues with this. First, why not make it a translucent stand to depict Skeets hovering? Second, why make it so low to the ground? Skeets is usually depicted hovering around Booster at eye level. The DC Universe Classics version of Skeets actually pegged into Booster’s back with a translucent swoosh effect and it worked pretty well. My gripes here are nowhere near critical enough to impact my enjoyment of the set, but I just don’t think a lot of thought was put into Skeets.

The tandam base is a really nice sculpt, but I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be. It looks like the deck of an alien spacecraft, but that doesn’t really fit, so I’m wondering if it’s recycled from a previous McFarlane two-pack. I suppose it could be the Space Museum? Nah, that was always depicted as clean and sterile. Rip Hunter’s lab? Maybe. Either way, it’s cool to have a detailed stand to display the figures on, so I won’t be complaining.

I opened this set a while ago, and while I just got around to reviewing it now, I was impressed enough to start looking at DC Multiverse more seriously. So, no this wasn’t planned as a replacement to Marvel Legends, but it’s something that I’ve been buying now. Some of the figures that have come and gone have become a bit too pricey for me to go after, but since opening this set, I have amassed quite a pile of figures from this line, nearly all purchased at deep discounts. And so you’ll see this line popping up a lot in the coming months, but I’m not going back to a dedicated day for DC, since I’m moving away from that sort of thing. But not to get ahead of myself… I really love these figures and it felt damn good to be reviewing some DC figures again. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a beautiful new friendship between me, McFarlane and DC!

Apr 28 2021

DC Comics: Premium Format Wonder Woman Premium Format by Sideshow

The fact that I only own a few Premium Format Statues by Sideshow proves that as a collector I at least have some willpower left. These things are huge and expensive, and I frequently find myself with glass of Jameson in hand drooling over them on Sideshow’s website into the wee hours of the night. I’m fond of saying that I got my first taste for free when I won a Sideshow contest for the Batman Returns Catwoman, but it’s today’s Wonder Woman statue that was the first Premium Format to get me to open up my wallet. I actually had this lady in my sites for a long time, hoping that she would sell out so I could finally stop agonizing over the decision. But a couple of years ago I got a nice bonus at work and decided to treat myself.

These statues usually come in pretty big boxes, but this Wonder Woman’s box is absolutely massive. It features absolutely no images of the figure inside, just Wonder Woman’s name and logo and some stars against a red and white backdrop. Inside, the statue is nestled between two large Styrofoam bricks, with the individual pieces wrapped in tissue paper. As always, there’s some assembly required, but nothing here was too difficult and all the pieces fit together with ease. Before proceeding, I’ll start with an apology. This piece is well beyond the comfortable constraints of my little studio set up, which is designed for action figures, not mammoth pieces like this. As a result, when I reviewed my camera roll, I wasn’t happy with many of the pictures I took. This piece deserved better, but until I can put together a larger studio space, I have no reason to think a reshoot would have had better results.

Here she is, standing majestically among crumbled ruins of Themyscira and meauring something like 24-inches high. Her right hand is held out at arm’s length, clutching the shaft of her spear and balancing it on her shoulder and behind her neck. Her left hand grasps the handle on her shield, while her left foot rests up on a piece of ruined architecture. Sideshow has done several excellent Premium Formats based on the Amazonian Princess, but the composition of this piece is probably the one thing that makes it my favorite. Diana looks like she just got finished pummeling the combined armies of Ares, and now she’s coming for the Big Guy himself. Simply wonderful!

Probably the next thing that attracted me to this piece was the portrait. I’ve got to say it, maybe two-thirds of the time, Sideshow’s female portraits let me down. I was willing to throw money at their Zatanna figure when it was first teased, but I couldn’t get past the somewhat masculine head sculpt. What I like about this one is the way it portrays Diana as both tough and beautiful. The portrait isn’t inspired by the likenesses of Gal Gadot or Linda Carter either. Not that there’s anything wrong with those lovely ladies. I think they each look perfect in the role, but I just love that this isn’t influenced by any of the movies or TV. Either way, here she has a strong, determined brow, and an upturned smirk as she assesses the confrontation ahead. Meanwhile, her hair blows off to the side. The paint on her eyes is razor sharp, and there’s a nice glossy finish to her lips.

Her costume is certainly one of the more abbreviated designs. There’s no skirt, but just the blue panties with white stars. Her gold belt offers up her trademark WW logo, and she has the Art Deco-style golden eagle motif on the front of her chest. Meanwhile, everything in between is painted with a rich crimson. The coloring is lush and deep, rather than being too flashy and bright. It definitely has a patina of realism too it, or at least as realistic as you can make an outfit like this look! It’s simple and elegant, and the quality of paint application is above reproach.

The spear is a simple wooden shaft, which has a sculpted ribbon tied around it. Once upon a time, Premium Formats all had some form of mixed media incorporated into them, and while that hasn’t been the case in a while, I do wish they had made this ribbon out of real cloth and sewn a wire into it to make it poseable. It’s not that it looks bad, it actually looks quite nice, but I just think some cloth would have been a great touch here. It also would have been a lot less fragile. She also carries her coiled Lasso of Truth on her right hip. This piece is sculpted with braids and painted with the same finish as the gold portions of her costume.

The shield is an absolute masterpiece, and it definitely draws the eye toward it almost immediately, thanks to that brilliant high-gloss finish. It’s a cool contrast with the matte coloring of the rest of the costume and it really pops from across the room. The concentric circles feature a blue ring of stars, a silver ring of Gracian patterns, and a central red disk with two silver stars and a raised golden eagle. Sideshow also released an Exclusive version of this statue where the shield could be swapped out with an battleax. It wasn’t too much more, but I still opted for the regular release, since I couldn’t imagine myself ever displaying this figure without the shield.

And that brings us down to the base, which compliments the figure perfectly. It’s quite large and adds some height to what is an already impressive piece. The crumbled stone texturing is exceptionally well done, and Diana attaches to it securely. A sword and helmet serve as some additional ornamentation. I wasn’t able to get this beast turned upside down for a picture, but the bottom surface of the base is fully illustrated and the statue is hand numbered. Mine is 4172 of 6000 total pieces. Not a low number to be sure, but it does represent how long I wrestled with myself over this one before finally buying it.

I can still remember my anticipation over this piece arriving. It was more money than I’m used to spending on any single collectible, and I was worried that I would come down with a case of buyer’s remorse. Not to mention the stress over it arriving broken or with some horrible QC issue, which has been known to happen with these statues from time to time. But after getting her unboxed and up on display, I found that I was delighted with my purchase. I don’t buy a lot of collectibles from DC Comics these days. I mainly blame that on the lack of a sustained, cohesive action figure line and my rage at them changing scales and styles so often. But, I do have a small collection of Wonder Woman statues, so this lovely lady is in good company.

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!

Nov 3 2017

DC Gallery (Justice League Unlimited): Huntress by Diamond Select

If you’re keeping track, I last visited with DC Gallery, Diamond’s plucky line of comic-based statues, back in September with JLU Hawkgirl and I was disappointed. But before that Black Canary and Zatanna blew me away. Will today be the day that the DC Gallery restores its good name? Let’s find out and open up Helena Bertinelli based on her appearance as The Huntress in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon.

The DC (and Marvel) Gallery statues evolved from DST’s old Femme Fatales line, and the packaging hasn’t changed much since those days. But hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. You get a collector friendly window box with windows on the front, top, and both side panels. This offers a great opportunity to scrutinize the piece you’re buying, assuming you actually get them at a brick-and-mortar shop. The back panel features a blurb about the character and you get a nice JLU logo on the front. The statue comes encased in a plastic tray and there’s no assembly required.

DST has managed to do some pretty fun poses with these statues, and The Huntress here is no exception. She’s staged sitting on the edge of a cylindrical light fixture with one knee drawn up. Her right hand crosses her chest and wrests on her left arm, which in turn is raised with her signature crossbow at the ready. She turns slightly, waiting for her prey to arrive, and clearly she means business. The composition here is a nice compromise between a staged cover-style pose, while still offering a whiff of action. I love it!

There’s more than the usual amount of sculpting invested in Huntress’ costume. Because of the simple nature of the source art, these animated statues don’t always offer a lot of opportunity for sculpted detail, but there’s a lot going on with this one. Indeed every detail, from the purple bands on her boots and gloves, to the tummy-exposing cut out, to the white stripes on her cape, is incorporated as part of the sculpt. She also features pouches on her belt and arm bands, and a holster for her crossbow. The crossbow is cocked and ready to go. Even the shoulder-hugging cape falls naturally and looks great.

It’s the paint that has been an issue on a few of my DST statues. It was particularly bad on their Lady Deadpool and not so hot on their Hawkgirl. Fortunately, The Huntress is here to set things right again. The quality of application here is fantastic. The lines that separate her boots from her skin could have been a tad sharper, there’s a tiny bit of slop where she makes contact with the light fixture, but I only point those out because I’m really looking for something to complain about. One of the pitfalls of some of these pieces has been scratching and rubbing showing up on large, featureless surfaces that are painted gray or black. I’m happy to say that’s not the case here.

If I had to nitpick anything else, I’d say the face is a little too triangular. When I compare it to the cartoon, I think it tapers too sharply toward the chin to be one hundred percent faithful to her look on the show. At the same time, it’s not bad at all, I’m just saying they didn’t nail it quite as perfectly as they did with Zatanna or Wonder Woman. With that having been said, the mask and the hair both look great, and the facial features are painted with the same care as the rest of the statue.

As usual, our last stop is the base and what we have here is certainly functional and well executed. I’m just not really sure what it’s supposed to be. I know she’s sitting on a light, but it’s not like any light I recall seeing. I’m guessing it’s supposed to be on a rooftop.

And so, The Huntress takes her rightful place alongside Black Canary and Zatanna as another shining example of how great this line can be when it’s firing on all cylinders. The three cornerstones of any statue will always be the pose, the sculpt, and the paint, and this lady hits them all with style. Indeed, at about forty bucks, I’m surprised at seeing this level of quality in what is essentially a budget line. If you want some nice representation of these characters, and don’t have a lot of money to blow, DC Gallery remains an excellent alternative to the more expensive DC Collectibles stuff.

Oct 13 2017

DC Icons: (#25) Supergirl by DC Collectibles

We knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier. DC Collectibles has officially discontinued the single-boxed releases for their DC Icons line and as things stand Number 25, Supergirl, appears to be the final release, with Nightwing preceding her and a Robin and Superboy two-pack included in the assortment. I’ve reviewed a lot of these figures here, but certainly not all of them. I’m still pondering over whether or not to go after the handful that I missed. But for now, let’s just enjoy checking out this last figure.

The packaging hasn’t changed. Supergirl comes in a clean window box with an angled corner that bears her name. If you’ve collected any of the DC Designer Series, you’ll also know what to expect here. Her name and number are also on the side panel as well as the comic she’s drawn from, in this case ReBirth Renaissance. The window shows off the figure beautifully as well as the bevy of extra bits, which are laid out beside the figure. Everything here is collector friendly, and while I would have loved to be able to keep these boxes, my available space doesn’t allow it.

Here she is, freed of her packaging and looking amazing. Icons has been a great line from the beginning, so when I say I was impressed by Kara here as soon as I got her in hand, well that’s saying something. I think this is one of those perfect combinations of great choice of outfit, great portrait, and some spot-on coloring. So where to begin? Well, for starters, the costume design lends itself to this sculpt really well. The thigh-high boots are sculpted at the top edges, as is the belt and skirt. The S-Shield is fully realized in the sculpt and I love the look of the way the cape hugs her shoulders. Note, I said the look, and I’ll come back to that in a bit. The sculpt on this costume is just the right mix of poetic simplicity and just enough detail to know that no shortcuts were taken.

The cape falls naturally down Supergirl’s back with just a hint of breeze blowing it to the side. The yellow S-Shield is stamped on the back, and I will point out that there’s a bit of chipping to it on my figure. But that’s about the only place I can criticize the paint or coloring here. DC Collectibles used the exact perfect shades of red and blue for her costume. From the neck down, this is a figure that absolutely pops on the shelf.

And things aren’t too shabby from the neck up either. I really dig the way they sculpted her portrait and the use of a printed face instead of paint makes for a nice change. If you get in really close, you can start to see the halftone effect begin to break down, but when viewed in hand with the naked eye, it looks perfect. I like the styling on her hair, but I do think it could have used a little refinement. As it is it looks a tad more like putty and less like hair. Maybe deeper cuts in the sculpt to give it the feel of actual hair would have helped. But don’t get me wrong, Kara’s coif does not even come close to diminishing this figure for me.

The articulation here is standard for the Icons line, which means it’s good and comes oh so close to being great. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and have double hinges in the knees. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a hinge in the torso down near the waist, a ball joint under the chest, and the neck is ball jointed. Alas, the hair keeps her from being able to look up while flying and the absence of thigh swivels will forever bug me. I will say that they did a really nice job on the skirt. It’s very soft and pliable and allows for a decent range of motions in the hips. And remember that shoulder-hugging cape? Yeah, it does restrict shoulder articulation a bit, although not nearly as much as I would have expected.

Supergirl also comes with three pairs of hands, all of which are very easy to swap in and out. You get fists, accessory holding hands, albeit with nothing for her to hold, and hands with her fingers together as if she’s about to karate chop someone. But why karate chop your foes, when you can just fry them with heat vision!

Yes, Kara comes with a second head and two effect parts that plug into her eyes to recreate her heat vision. I think this looks pretty rad from a distance, although if you get in really close it looks goddamn creepy. Also, if you display this head without the effect parts plugged in, her eyes look like two bloody, vacant holes.

Supergirl includes one final accessory and that’s a rather unique flight stand. It’s actually just a clear cylinder with a slanted top and a peg for her right foot. The illusion is supposed to be not so much one of flight, but more like hovering. I’ve had mixed results with it, but I do think it’s a pretty neat experiment and I may very well wind up using it to display her. In fact, I wish they had included something like this with Superman as well.

If DC Collectibles wanted to punish everyone for not buying into this line enough, this figure was a great choice for the final single release. It makes the point that this line was pretty fantastic and that in a perfect world it would have kept going. I know at least one fellow collector who was confident enough in the success of Icons that he started selling off his DC Universe Classics figures. I’m glad I didn’t go that route, although I would have been very happy had Icons become as prolific as Mattel’s and took its rightful place as the new resident universe building line. As things stand, I will forever be disgruntled that we are likely to never get the Booster Gold/Blue Beetle 2-pack. I can, however, promise you that this will not be the last time you see DC Icons grace my pages of toy bloggery.

Oct 6 2017

DC Designer Series: Wonder Woman (Frank Cho) Sixth-Scale Statue by DC Collectibles

DC Collectibles has been throwing some serious love to everyone’s favorite Amazon Princess with not one, but two Designer Series statues released within about a month of each other. In September we got the magnificent revamp of the Adam Hughes Cover Girls Statue, and now we’ve got a new release based on a stunning piece of art by Frank Cho.

If you’ve picked up any of DC Collectible’s statues than you have a pretty good idea about what to expect from the packaging. This piece comes in a fully enclosed box, mostly white, featuring plenty of shots of the statue. Diana comes encased in two halves of a styrofoam brick and requires very little assembly. Just peg her foot into the base via the metal rods and peg her sword into her hand and she’s all ready to go. The statue is limited to a production run of 5,000 numbered pieces and there’s a piece of tape on the flap with the individual number.

Great Hera! Just one look at the solicitation shots for this statue had me mashing the pre-order button. Yes, it helps that I adore Frank Cho’s work in general, but there was something specific to this piece that called out to me. Measuring in at about 12-inches tall, the pose has Diana standing poised to engage in battle. She has one foot on the base with sword and shield in hand and a determined gaze as her hair blows in the wind. There’s so much I love about this figure I hardly know where to begin. I think one of the things that struck me early on was how powerful she looks and that’s something very faithful to Cho’s art and credit also has to go to sculptor Jonathan Matthews. This Amazonian Princess has some muscle on her, particularly in those thighs and I just love the muscle definition sculpted into her back. I’ll also note how much I appreciate that the shield is being held in a manner so as not to diminish the figure itself by obscuring it from view. Even if you’re viewing her from dead on, it’s still off to the side just enough.

And then there’s the costume, which exhibits some magnificent sculpting and paintwork. The gold eagle and WW Belt look as if they are actually layered over the red corset, despite all being sculpted from one piece. The corset and bracers include sharp cut lines and the skirt is textured to look like leather with sculpted stars and border edges. The boots include sculpted creases where her ankle flexes as well as shin and knee armor with nicks and scrapes from battle. The deep crimson, lustrous gold leaf, and deep blue paints are masterfully applied with virtually no slop or missteps to be seen. And all of the colors contrast beautifully with her warm, soft skin tones.

The portrait is a classical beauty and her blue eyes are hauntingly bright. I love the attention given to her clavicle. The paint on the face is nice and clean, and the skin tone looks incredibly lifelike. The only place where the paint on this statue fumbles a bit is the star on her tiara. It’s not something I notice when admiring the statue on the shelf, but when I get in closer with the camera, I can see it needed to be a little sharper. They did a particularly nice job with the wind-blown hair.

Diana’s gear includes her sword, shield, and golden lasso.  The bottom part of the hilt is sculpted as part of her hand, while the blade and crossguard are one separate piece that pegs in through the top of the hand and holds together quite securely. The golden hilt features a sculpted, ribbed grip and a simple pommel and crossguard. The double-edged blade has a deep fuller running through the center and tapers rather quickly to a sharp point.

The shield is a striking piece of work on its own right. The face in adorned with a bird sculpted to look like hammered bronze, and a segmented border that looks like it might be meant to simulate a rope pattern. There are some stray scrapes in the surface to show the shield has seen some action. The reverse of the shield featured sculpted straps sculpted and painted to look like calfskin and are detailed down to the faux rivets that hold them into place. It’s also painted in bronze finish, which distinguishes it nicely from the gold paint on her costume. I’ve always loved her depicted as an actual warrior and while she’s strong and skilled enough to best most foes with her bare hands, she just looks so much more bad ass with her sword and shield in hand.

The golden lasso is attached to her right hip. The vibrant lasso is made of a strong rigid wire-like material and fashioned to resemble braided rope. It’s secured to her belt with a sculpted “leather” buttoned loop.

The base is pretty standard stuff. In fact, it’s identical to the one DCC used for the Adam Hughes Designer Statue. It’s a thick black disk with the familiar WW logo sculpted into it and painted in gold leaf. I really dig the way she’s only got the one foot on the base and the other on the ground beside it. It not only accommodates her action stance by allowing that one knee bend, but the fact that she’s only half on the base gives the whole composition that extra little dynamic kick to it. The limitation is noted on the bottom of the base. In this case, mine is #1,024 of 5,000.

After having the Adam Hughes Wonder Woman for only a few weeks, I never thought my head could be turned by another statue treatment of the character so quickly. That’s not to knock the Hughes Wonder Woman, because it’s a fantastic piece. Indeed, the two of these statues compliment each other perfectly. The Hughes statue has a smoother and less complex costume, emphasizing the more classic blue starfield panties, whereas this one features Diana as the grittier warrior princess. Despite being in the same Designer Series line, this statue was a smidgen pricier than the Hughes statue, but only by about ten bucks. Either way, she was well worth it.