If there’s one undeniable thing about Diamond’s Femme Fatales line of statues is that it draws its source material from a deep well. So far I’ve looked at one original design, one comic based figure, and now we’re digging into the pages of history itself with the 18^th Century bad girl of the seas, Irish pirate lass Anne Bonny. In my experience thus far, I’ve found this series to dabble between excellence and mediocrity, so let’s see where Anne falls along the spectrum. I should warn you, however, I enjoy me some pirates and sexy ladies, so this piece is starting off with bonus points. Warnings aside, let me also apologize. Cat hair is the bane of my collection, and copious amounts of it have snuck its way into a couple of these pictures. I didn’t see it until editing the shots. Anne’s whip and boobs seemed to be particularly prone to it. I’ll reshoot when I have time.

Anne comes in a window box that is identical in style to the last two Femme Fatales statues I featured. The front window shows off the statue fairly well and the top window lets some light in. The back panel has a blurb about the character and a shot of the statue itself. The credit for this piece goes to Uriel Caton for the design and the great Jean St. Jean as the sculptor. The box is totally collector friendly and the piece comes nestled between two plastic trays. Let’s get her out and set her up… ARRRRRRRR!

Anne comes out of the package attached to her base and all ready for display. She is also followed by a pungent aroma of plastic and paint. If you think opening a NECA or McFarlane clamshell is bad, you need to experience this! It’s rather overpowering and not something I experienced when opening Lexi or Ariel. It is, however, historically accurate, as I understand 18^th Century pirates didn’t bathe very often. Right off the bat, it’s worth noting that this is a large piece. She’s only about half a head taller than Lexi and the base doesn’t gain her much height, but she just looks a lot more imposing. She is, however, still scaled fairly well, so if you display the two together, Lexi just looks petite.

Anne strikes a classic Captain Morgan pose with one stiletto-heeled boot on a treasure chest. She’s holding either a whip or a piece of rope in her hands. It’s a very effective pose, albeit rather clichéd. The outfit, on the other hand, does not consist of any of the typical pirate duds that I’ve seen in history books. In addition to the aforementioned boots, Anne is donning the 18^th Century equivalent of hot pants, a rather revealing red corset and a long brown naval greatcoat. Her hair is tied in a red bandanna. For obvious reasons, I’m a big fan of this costume’s design. Sure, it shows off a lot of skin, but it isn’t totally off the wall and just a little part of me, the part that doesn’t have a Masters Degree in History, would like to think that pirate chicks actually roamed the seas dressed like this.

ARRRR… THERE BE CAT HAIR IN THAT THAR PICTURE!!! The sculpt here is quite good, and that’s something I was worried about. Normally, I would have picked up a statue like this without hesitation, but there are very few photos of her at e-tailers that do her justice and I’ve never seen the statue in person at a comic shop or convention. In person, it looks great and the detail work on her outfit is particularly nice. The boots and coat show all the proper creasing and wear, you can make out the little line of sculpted fringe along her shorts, and the scrollwork on her corset are great little touches.

ARRR… BY NEPTUNE’S BEARD… ENOUGH WITH THE CAT HAIR YE SCURVY DOG! The portrait is very distinctive. Anne is wearing a devilish smirk and glancing out of the corner of her eyes. The nose is surprisingly evocative of J. Scott Campbell’s work, not a bad thing as far as I’m concerned, and the little sculpted dimples are a nice touch. She has one ear exposed and fitted with a gold earring, and her hair is ratty with some of her bangs coming down out of the bandanna to cover her right eye.

The paintwork here is rather subdued. Apart from a lot of flesh tone, you get the same brown on her boots, her coat, and the rope, and the same red on her shorts, bandanna and top. There is a little gold paint on her belt buckle, corset laces and necklace, as well as the white frilly cuffs on the jacket help to mix things up a little. What’s here is good, but I think there are some missed opportunities. The fringe on the front of her greatcoat could have been painted, and there’s a bangle around her left ankle that also could have used a little brushwork. It just seems like if you’re going to take the trouble to sculpt those little details you should draw attention to them with some paint. I will note that there was a very limited NY Comic Con exclusive version of Anne with a far more colorful deco and one which has the paint apps I feel are missing here.

The base is just big enough to support the figure and it features a nice patch of sea washed sand with a couple of shells and a starfish, as well as the treasure chest. They put a lot of work into the chest sculpt, which is a nice surprise because it’s one of the last things that draws the eye. It’s also a little ironic that the paintwork on the shells is some of the best on the entire piece.

I picked up Anne on clearance for $20. It seems like very few of these statues hold their value, as I’ve yet to pay more than $25 for any and they all start out closer to $40. I think she’s definitely worth the money. She’s a satisfyingly large piece with a great sculpt and an adequate paint job. I’ll even go so far as to say that I don’t think I would have been disappointed paying full retail for her. In a market that’s flooded with anime statues and comic book characters, it’s kind of refreshing to see something like Anne come along every once and a while, and while the Femme Fatales portion of my shelf is starting to look mighty eclectic, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.