Jul 22 2015

Street Fighter: Juri Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Can this be? Has it really been four months since I last looked at one of Koto’s Bishoujo statues? Yes, I’m ashamed to say that is indeed the case and I am woefully behind on this little obsession of mine. I feel that Koto is partly to blame because they have really been upping the ante and releasing these things like crazy. I need to start scrambling to get caught up before the ones I missed start rising on the second-hand market, which is already the case with at least one of them. Anywho, back in March I checked out the lovely Julia Chang from their Tekken line, now we’re going back over to the Capcom side of the fence to look at Juri from Street Fighter!

Aww, yeah. We all know what to expect from this packaging by now. You get a window box, which gives you a little tease at what’s inside and a lot of great artwork from Shunya Yamashita. While the comic book statues come in white boxes, Koto has been releasing the video game pieces in these black ones. I’m still partial to the white, just because it’s a cleaner look and makes the artwork pop a little more. But hey, who’s complaining? Not me, because I got a new Bishoujo to open up. Let’s do it!

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Juri comes already attached to her stand and ready to go, although she can be removed from it if you want to. Once I got her out of the box, my first reaction was… Holy crap, look at those boobs! Actually, I meant to say that I was impressed with the size of this piece. The last couple Bishoujo’s I opened were from the Tekken series and those are scaled a bit smaller. In contrast, this is one big and beautiful figure!

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While both Chun-Li and Cammy are caught in mid action poses, I think Juri looks more like she’s posing for the “camera.” The box suggests she’s readying for a kick, but I don’t get that kind of energy from the composition here. That is not in any way a complaint, mind you, just an observation. Truth be told, I think this is a fantastic pose and I’m particularly fond of when Koto can get their statues to balance like this. Juri stands balanced on the toes of her left foot with her right leg drawn up at the knee, one hand on her hip and the other held aloft as if to say, “behold my bad ass sexiness!” Ooooh yeah!

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Juri’s outfit includes her puffy pants, a long belt, which bellows out at her side and a a rather revealing top that just amounts to a breast plate with a bunch of straps running to her back to make up a bitchin’ spider motif. Funny, I don’t remember Juri being quite so well endowed in the game, but she’s positively busting out of her top here. She’s also sporting some sleeves, finger-less gloves and spiked bracelets.

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The portrait here is a beautiful piece of work. Juri has a rather sly look as she glances off to the side and licks her lips. She seriously looks like she’s about to relish kicking the shit out of someone. The eyes are absolutely gorgeous and they did a wonderful job recreating her distinctive hairstyle.

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The coloring on this piece feels a little muted compared to most Bish statues, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s certainly in character. I think the fact that there’s no glossy aspects to her clothing is a big part of that. Instead of getting that contrast between the soft skin and the sheen of the clothes, everything is soft. The pallet is even a little more limited, with basically just black purple and gray. You do get a little bit of sheen on her belt buckle, her gloves, and the nail polish on her fingers and toes.

As with the previous Street Fighter statues, Juri comes on a clear disc stand with a choice of two inserts. One has the Street Fighter logo and the other a piece of Shunya Yamashita’s character art on which this statue was based. I’ve gone on plenty about how I’m torn over these clear bases. On the one hand, they look nice and don’t detract from the figure, on the other hand, they show fingerprints really easily and the bottoms have a tendency to fall out when you pick them up.

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And to the great surprise of absolutely no one, I’m in love with yet another one of Koto’s magnificent Bishoujo statues. Considering how iconic Chun-Li and Cammy are, it’s no small feat to say that Juri can easily hold her own on the shelf next to her fellow game gals and with Sakura and Poison coming up next, I expect great things to continue for this sub-line. Now, I just have to backtrack and pick up the ones I missed, like Jun Kazama and Nina Williams from Tekken, oh and I think Anna Williams is shipping soon. And Batwoman and Jubilee… good grief!

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.

Jun 23 2015

Ame-Comi Heroine-Series: Supergirl (v.2) by DC Direct

A couple of weeks ago I picked up my first Ame-Comi statue and I was pretty impressed, so when the opportunity to get a second one for really cheap availed itself I jumped right on board. Supergirl was an especially nice pick up because the Bishoujo Supergirl statue has become a bit too pricey for me to go back for and so the character has no representation on my “over sexualized anime statue shelf.” We can’t have that! This time I’ll spare you the long winded Bishoujo vs. Ame-Comi diatribe and get right to the goods. Let’s start with the packaging.

Here’s the packaging and it’s all kinds of beat up. The seller was looking to unload it cheap because the box took a hit to the top corner and messed up the plastic. The statue was unharmed and while I would probably not have picked up a Bishoujo with a box in this shape, I’m still testing the waters of this line, so I was more than willing to make the compromise in order to save a little cash. Anyway, the package is the same style of window box that we saw with Mera. It’s got some nice shots of the statue and an extended back with a J-hook so it can hang on a peg or sit on a shelf. Let’s bust her open.

The composition is pretty creative in that it has Supergirl admiring herself in a detached sideview mirror of a car. I’d like to think that she found it following in the wake of the holocaust, but if we’re dealing with that universe, I suppose it’s just as likely she tore it off some poor citizen’s car to check her make up with.

Her pose is pure cheesecake. She’s got her hip tossed to the right with her hand resting on it and the other holding up the mirror. Her costume features a pleated skirt, which goes slightly transparent as you get to the bottom of it. You also get the iconic S-shield and a pretty cool yellow collar with what looks like Kryptonian writing on it. The top of the outfit has cut outs on the sides and some yellow piping along with a short cape that blows off to the left. The ensemble is finished off with a pair of red boots with more yellow piping. The designer actually put a lot more detail and love into the costume then I’m used to seeing and I applaud them for that.

And, because this is an anime-style statue, you get a heaping dose of cleavage in the front and a panty shot from behind, because… fan service!

It’s only in the portrait where this statue stumbles for me. What’s frustrating is that I can’t quite put my finger on why. It’s like someone described what anime style was to the artist and he did his best to reproduce it and the result is a sort of western-eastern hybrid. I don’t hate it, but something just looks off about it. Ironically, I get a similar feel off of the recent She-Hulk Bishoujo statue, which, even with twenty-something pieces in my collection, is the first comic-inspired statue in that line that I am passing on. The hair is a little chunky, but it has a decent wind-blown look to it. The yellow paint, however, is laid on a bit thick and the paint for the eyes could have been a lot neater.

The mirror is well done with a reflective adhesive on it so you can actually see her reflection in it. Unfortunately, she isn’t actually looking directly at it. There’s actually some articulation to be had here via cuts in the shoulders. They offer a little variety, but nothing too crazy.

The base is a simple, black plastic oval with the “Ame-Comi Heroine-Series” logo printed on it in blue. The figure attaches to the base using pegs. It’s a snug and serviceable fit, but I had no problems getting her attached.

Supergirl is a decent statue, but I didn’t fall head over heels for her like I did the Mera statue. I like what they did here and honestly from the neck down it’s a total winner. Had the portrait had that more traditional anime look to it, I could have bumped this piece from good to great, but as it is, I’m sure I can find a spot for her at the back of one of my shelves. Hey, at just under thirty bucks shipped, I can’t complain.

May 19 2015

Ame-Comi Heroine-Series: Mera by DC Direct

I’m a Bishoujo guy. I say that in the way someone might say, I’m a Coca-Cola guy as opposed to Pepsi, because deep down inside I’d like to think that the same style of Coke vs. Pepsi rivalry is being fought among the comic book statue collecting market between the rabid and diametrically opposed supporters of Koto’s Bishoujo and DC Direct’s Ame-Comi. One day, I’d like to sit my grandson on me knee and tell him all about those glorious days when Kotobukiya and DC Direct slugged it out and scorched the Earth over dominating the statue market of overly-sexualized anime-style female comic book characters. Yeah, that’s probably not going to happen, but my point here is that I’ve rarely ever given DCD’s Ame-Comi line a second glance. Somehow it seemed suspicious. Koto’s Bishoujo statues are the real thing because they’re from Japan and designed from art by Shunya Yamashita, whereas Ame-Comi is like a Western imposter line. Then again, Ame-Comi is the one that actually has a comic book to justify its existence and DCD pulled in the big guns for some of these pieces, like the one I’m looking at today, which was sculpted by the great John St. John. And so, here I go, jumping in to see how the other half lives. Let’s check out Ame-Comi Mera! Also, apologies in advance to all you non-Bishoujo collectors because I’m going to probably be doing a lot of comparisons where they aren’t necessarily warrented. What can I say, I’m coming at this piece as a Bish collector and that’s the filter in which I’m seeing it.

The box is pretty typical of what we’ve been seeing in the later years of DC Direct and the current DC Collectibles branding. There isn’t a date on this one, but I’m sure it’s one of the most recent releases, probably from right before DCD changed over to DCC. You get a big window box that shows off the statue quite well, mainly because there isn’t any plastic wrap to obscure it like you get with the Bishoujo pieces. I’m not saying that’s necessarily a good thing, as that plastic is there to prevent paint rubbing, but in this case, its absense doesn’t seem to have hurt the statue. The box is collector friendly and the only thing holding the three pieces into the tray re some twisty-ties.

The back of the box extends to form a card with a J-cutout to hang this on a peg if need be, but it’s a pretty big and heavy box for that sort of thing. You get a mix of artwork and shots of the statue and a little blurb about Mera on the back. So why was it that Mera got me to break down and go to the Dark Side of Ame-Comi? Mainly because I saw this gal in the comic shop and she called out to me and because Koto hasn’t given Mera the Bishoujo treatment yet. Although with the way they’ve been cranking them out lady, I have to imagine she may not be far behind.

Straightaway, let me say that I adore this statue. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw her in the box on the comic shop counter, apparently waiting to be put away. I’m not sure whether it’s the composition or the coloring or just the style that I love the most, but maybe it’s just all three. The pose has her supported on a mermaid tail, or what actually looks like is the husk of a mermaid tail with her bare legs breaking out of it. Is it a real tail or just a wildly impractical costume? Who knows? I’m not trying to read too much into the logistics of what’s happening here, and that’s probably for the better. The tail on the base gives her a levitating effect with her legs off the ground and one kicking up more behind her, as if she’s bounding through water across the ocean floor. She’s got her trident in her right hand held down at her side and her left hand trailing behind her. It’s a superb pose, which straddles the line between action and just mugging for the camera, and it’s all the better because it works when displayed from multiple angles.

The outfit is really something special too, even taking into account for the possible body horror aspect that’s going on between her fish tail and real legs. The fish scales are intricately textured and the shimmery green paint is damn pleasing on the eyes. I really dig how elaborate her headdress is, along with the matching choker collar, and the way the transparent shell pieces rise up from her shoulders. The paint is overall excellent, particulalry on her eyes, lips, and even the green nail polish on her fingers and toes.

Mera shows a fair amount of skin, but I don’t get the same feeling of intentional and overt sexuality here as I do with the Bishoujo statues. Yeah, she’s got some killer legs and she’s showing off her midriff and a little cleavage, but what’s here feels slightly more innocent and natural. Maybe that’s just me. I think it may have a little something to do with the proportions, which strike me as more ‘toon than anime. I think a lot of that also comes off in the portrait. It’s more rounded and the eyes again, strike me as conveying more Disney Princess rather than anime tentacle bait.

In addition to the figure itself, you also get the trident and the base. The trident is a nicely sculpted piece that simply goes right into her hand. I was a little nervous getting it in there, since you have to pull the fingers apart a bit, but it went in with out any problems and she holds it quite well. You can even tweak it a little depending on where you want her to grasp it.

The stand is a simple black oval base with the tail portion pegging into it. It features a nicely engineered system of balance that makes it look like the statue shouldn’t be as stable as it is when standing on the shelf. The base is printed with “Ame-Comi Heroine Series” although the mermaid tail does obscure most of the lettering.

Based on a little research, the market on these Ame-Comis seem to be a lot more erratic than the Bishoujo pieces. A lot of Koto’s ladies shoot up in price, some hover around their original MSRP, but very few ever sink below that making them a fairly safe investment. While I’ve yet to see an Ame-Comi reach the heights of a Bishoujo Emma Frost or Rogue, some of these seem to have doubled in price, while a few others are available for deep discounts. This one was already sold at the comic shop I saw it at when I went back for her, but she later popped up on a clearance sale at on online retailer for $38, which is certainly not bad. She’s a fantastic piece and I do believe I’m smitten enough with her to pick up another statue and see if my new found admiration of this line can hold.

May 11 2015

DarkStalkers: Morrigan Aensland Statue by Capcom

[My apologies about last week’s kerfuffle, but with all I had going on at work and at home, I was not in a good place to be creating content and in retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t try. Things should be back to normal now… Enjoy! -FF]

One of my big pet peeves is that there isn’t enough DarkStalkers merch out there. Seriously, this is the kind of thing that sometimes keeps me up at night. It may not be one of Capcom’s hottest properties these days, but I love the character designs and some of their wacky and creative attacks. And let’s face it Morrigan and Lilith should be ripe pickings for any one of a dozen manufacturers of big-busted, anime-themed hawt chick statues. I’m still hoping that Kotobuikya’s relationship with Capcom might net us some proper Darkstalkers Bishoujo pieces one of these days. Nonetheless, I stumbled across today’s statue on the InterWebs without even knowing it existed and the price was certainly right so I gave it a chance.

The box is quite large as this is a rather large statue, landing somewhere between 1:7 and 1:6 scale. It’s just a bit too big to really fit in with Koto’s Bishoujo’s and definitely projects its own presence on the shelf. The box art features some great illustrations and pictures of the statue itself. There’s a window on the front, but the statue is wrapped in so much plastic that you really can’t get a great look at the goods inside. Below the window is the priceless tagline that identifies Morrigan as “The Labido Roming The Shadows!” Gotta love it! I’m going to assume that this piece is actually produced by Capcom, although I find that rather surprising, especially since the bulk of the Figure Builder Creators pieces seem to focus on Monster Hunter rather then anime girls. Anyway, I’m pretty curious to see what’s inside the box, so it’s time to free this Succubus!

Before I get into how great this piece looks, let’s talk about the perfect storm of frustration that was the assembly process. The statue comes in four pieces: The figure itself, two wings, and the base. The wings are tabbed with individual shapes so the right will only go into the right slot and vice versa, which is all well and good, but the tabs are such a tight fit, I couldn’t get either wing in more than a tiny bit before running up against resitance. Add to that two more factors: One, the wings are super thin and feel super fragile. Two, both tab slots are just below Morrigan’s windblown hair. It’s difficult to get a hold of either of the wings’ base to safely apply pressure and even when I had a good entry point all the force I could muster was not getting those wings all the way in. I eventually resorted to boiling the tabs and that got them most of the way in. Now normally a little gap from the pieces not seating right wouldn’t bother me, especially in this case since those parts are only visible from the back and mostly obscured by her hair, but the stand is designed to cradle Morrigan’s butt (giggity!) along with two slots for the wings at a very specific angle. If the wings aren’t seated perfectly, it’s tricky to get her cheeks to stay in that cradle. The result is that the figure will tilt backwards at an angle, and since this statue already has Morrigan arching backwards and looking upward, it’s really noticeable. With a lot of work, I was able to strike a happy medium and get her cradled OK, but I really wish this whole process went easier. If you thought reading about all that was a lot of bother, just be thankful you didn’t have to endure it.

With all that worry out of the way we can finally step back an admire what a beautiful statue this is. The sculpt manages to capture all the ridiculous curves of Morrigan’s sumptuous succubus body from her rounded hips to her dramatically over-sized breasts. Such things are certainly not unusual in the world of anime-inspired statues, but this one makes any one of my Bishoujos look tame by comparison. The pose also goes a long way to accentuate what is already a pretty obviously killer body. Morrigan is in mid flight, arching her back, and pushing her chest up with her head raised upward and tilted to the side. While the pose works really well to compliment the sculpt, I’m not sure exactly what they were going for. I suppose it’s supposed to be seductive, but it almost looks like she’s swooning or even going for a little damsel in distress expression. It also kind of looks like she’s stretching, so maybe she just woke up from a long day’s nap and is ready for a night on the town. Nonetheless, as confusing as the pose may be, I still dig it a lot.

Morrigan’s outfit is achieved through both sculpting and paintwork. Starting at the bottom, she has a pair of high heeled boots, which are painted in high-gloss black. Her trademark stockings are painted on with the purple bat emblems scattered about her legs. The base color of the stockings can look more orange under some lights, but in person it’s more of a pinkish-purple. I think it would have looked better with a more definitive shade of purple, but as it is it certainly makes things more colorful. Her one piece is sculpted with a heart shaped cut out in the middle to show her mid-riff and the top is sculpted so that it can barely contain her boobs, and it’s all painted with the same high-gloss black as her boots. The outfit is rounded out with some feathered fringe around her shoulders and sleeves painted to match her stockings. The glossy black does a nice job of contrasting with the soft skin tones of her body and all in all I’m satisfied with the paintwork here.

Of course, you also have her two sets of wings, two large coming out of her back and two smaller ones protruding from her head. As troublesome as it was to get the wings in, they look absolutely fantastic, even with the notable gap between wings and body. The purplish-pink paint used for the membrane carries a pleasing animated effect and the black paint used for the rest is neatly applied. Still, the wings are pretty thin in some areas and thus probably quite fragile.

Last up, we have the portrait, which is certainly attractive, but also has a somewhat unsettling otherworldly vibe going on. I’m not sure if it was intentional or just the way the statue came out, but it certainly is interesting. I attribute a lot of it to the paintwork in the eyes, which are somewhat haunting. Her mouth is especially nicely done with her lips slightly parted and showing just a glimmer of teeth. The hair sculpt is a tad chunky in the bangs, but I think they did an overall good job of creating a crazy windblown look to it and the way it tapers from powder blue to purple at the ends looks good.

And then there’s the base, which remains my big bone of contention with this statue. Beside the fact that it isn’t engineered all that well (as outlined in my assembly rant) the somewhat primitive style is a bit at odds with the beauty of the figure. The bats are clearly just intended to be thick 2D representations and the moon is heavily textured with a less than stellar looking paint spray. The idea of the imagery is OK, but I just don’t care for how its executed all that much because the decor on iit looks almost intentionally fake like cut-outs.. Is it a dealbreaker? Nope, not at all, but in this case I think something simpler might have worked better. I will concede, however, that while the way the statue balances on the stand isn’t all that well executed, it is nice to be able to take her off and have a figure that is in no way marred by a post or socket. That leads me to wonder whether this piece might look better on a traditional Sixth-Scale figure stand. I may have to try that at some point.

Morrigan set me back $70, which is a bit much for what was essentially an impulse buy of a piece I had never seen reviewed or in person.On the other hand, for a statue of this size it feels like something of a bargain. If it were any other property, I probably wouldn’t have gone for it, but, such is the result when DarkStalkers statues or figures are such a rare breed. She may not match the quality or craftsmanship of a Kotobukiya or a MegaHouse piece, but I do think she was well worth the money. She’s big, colorful, and ultimately impressive, and as a fan of the property (and boobs) she was impossible for me to turn down, and in the end I’m mighty glad I splurged on her. I said SPLURGED on her. Get your minds out of the damn gutters, people!

Mar 18 2015

Tekken: Asuka Kazama Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

A couple weeks back I featured Jaycee from Koto’s Tekken Bishoujo line and lamented the fact that I had to start grabbing the discontinued Tekken ladies up before they get too pricey on the secondary market. Asuka was one of the ones that I really wanted when she was released but I had so many other things vying for my dollars I had to put her off and she was rapidly beginning to climb out of the price range ($100+) that I am comfortable paying for these gals. I try not to resort to Ebay for my Bishoujos, especially if they’re not new, but this was a case where I had to take an opportunity and nab her when I could. Luckily she was still boxed and in excellent condition.

And speaking of boxes, there’s Asuka’s packaging. It’s very similar to what we saw with Jaycee and Christie Monteiro before her. The box is mostly black as opposed to the white Koto uses for the comic based characters. You get some great shots of the statue as well as the beautiful artwork that inspired it. While Asuka originally hails from Tekken 5, this particular piece is based on her appearance in TekkenTag Tournament 2 and features the game’s logo on the box. The back of the box shows a teaser for the next statue, which happens to be Jaycee, the one I looked at last time. As I said, this statue came to me second hand and despite being a little shelfworn, the box is in pretty good shape. Asuka requires no assembly, nor does she come with any extra bits or bobs. You just take her out of the box, unwrap the plastic, and she’s ready for display.

I absolutely love the simplicity of this piece and the fact that it in no way sacrifices any of the sexy flash that I’ve come to expect from my Bishoujo statues. Asuka’s brash, arrogant, and playful style is wonderfully conveyed as she throws her hip to the side, winks and offers up a salute. Even if you knew nothing about Ms. Kazama, this pose would tell you everything about her personality. I often go back and forth over whether I prefer my Bishoujo poses to be “action shots”or just shameless mugging for the camera, but this one certainly champions the later.

The previous Tekken statues that I featured here on FFZ showcased some pretty crazy and complex outfits, but Asuka’s couldn’t be further from that trend. Her one-piece (for lack of a better term) is zipped down to the belt and cast off behind her to reveal just her sporty bikini top, which ironically also has its own zipper, which is also zipped down to the bottom. This is a good news, bad news scenario, folks. If you’re an ass-man, Asuka ain’t gonna do much for you because of that damn jacket. If cleavage is your game, however, Asuka certainly came to play. Proportionally speaking, Asuka probably has more covering her arms and legs than anywhere else. She sports a set of boots with shin pads and fingerless gloves with elbow pads.

The coloring offers up some blue, gray, white, a little teal and black. I find it to be a pleasing pallet, although while there’s a nice bit of gloss to Ms. Kazama top, you don’t get that same contrast of high gloss latex and soft skin tones that characterize so many of Koto’s Bishoujo line. The skin tone’s here, on the other hand, are executed particularly well. The use of shading on her midriff, neck, and cleavage all looks fantastic.

The portrait here follows suit with being rather simple and yet so good. Koto usually likes to go crazy with long windblown hair, and Asuka’s rather short coif robbed them of the opportunity here. That’s OK, though, I dig the short haircut and they still managed to get in that tapered transparent look that they love so much. With one eye closed and the other shrouded by hair, you don’t get the same clarity of peepers on this statue as most, but I’m still in love with this portrait.

As is par for the course, Asuka comes on a clear disk stand, which can be opened and customized with different art transparencies or just left blank. As I bought this statue second hand, mine only came with one transparency, but I doubt there was anything that I would have chosen to display her with over this wonderful piece of art. It’s nice to know that if I ever get tired of looking at the boobs on the statue, I can look at the ones on the base art. Who loves ya, kids? Kotobukiya does! [I actually didn’t notice until after I shot the pictures that the previous owner of the statue put all three transparencies into the base. If you look closely, you can see the signature overlay and the title overlay under the character art overlay. 10 Points to me for getting all three included, but minus 100 points for being too stupid to notice! -FFZ]

I’m always thrilled to add a new Bishoujo statue to my collection, but this was a special case because not owning Asuka was beginning to worry me, and that brings me to the subject of cost. This is usually the part of the feature where I say what a great value the Bishoujo statues are, and in fairness, when Asuka first hit the shelves at an MSRP of around $60, she was indeed a great value. Now, you’d be hard pressed to find her selling new for under $100, although in fairness she is close to three years old now. I grabbed mine from a good home on Ebay for about $85 shipped, and I still manage to feel like I got a pretty solid deal, especially considering I spend about that same amount for DC Collectible’s cold cast porcelain Cover Girls, and I’d readily debate that Koto’s pieces are nearly always superior. Either way, I can’t put a price on peace of mind, and knowing that Asuka is finally on my shelf does indeed give me plenty of that.

Mar 4 2015

Tekken: Jaycee Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

I’m not proud to admit that I’ve been neglecting Kotobukiya’s Tekken series of Bishoujo statues. It hasn’t been intentional, but Koto is releasing so many of these damned things that I have to have prioritize. When I’m presented with characters from Marvel, DC, and now Street Fighter, Tekken has fallen down toward the bottom of the list. I have been trying to remedy that recently, especially with some of these statues starting to creep up in value on the secondary market. I can’t tell you how glad I am to have picked up Christie Monteiro when she first came out as now she’s commanding upward of $180 in some reselling circles. I was crazy into Tekken 3 and 4 back in the day, but I have long since stopped following the franchise with any real gusto. Of course, that hasn’t stopped me from wanting to pick up the statues and that brings us to today’s feature, Bishoujo Jaycee. I believe Julia Chang first appeared in 2012’s Tekken Tag Tournament 2, a game that is sitting on my shelf, but hasn’t spent a lot of time in my PS3. Needless to say I’m not all that familiar with the character, but she’s a Bishoujo Tekken gal and that’s good enough for me.

The box is right in line with all of Koto’s Bishoujo offerings. You get a big window in the front and smaller windows on the top and side panel to let some light in. You can get a little peek at the statue inside, and in this case the extra pieces that come with Jaycee. Unlike the predominantly white boxes used for the Marvel and DC statues, Koto has opted to go with a black deco for the Tekken pieces. Finally, you get some gorgeous artwork by Shunya Yamashiti and the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 logo on the front and back. It’s a fairly westernized box with most of the text appearing in English.

Jaycee comes more or less assembled and ready to go. She is attached to her base, although she is removable if you so desire. Her pony tail has to be pegged into the back of her head and I had a wee bit of difficulty getting it to peg in, but I eventually got there. Aside from the alternate masked portrait, which we’ll get to in a little bit, she has a mask, which she can hold in her right hand or be placed on the base and it’s is a very nice accessory if you choose to go with the unmasked portrait. And with all that out of the way, let’s see how she looks…

Oh yeah, I can dig it! Jaycee has a very specific pose, which in turn is clearly intended to be viewed from a specific angle. Some may be put off by that, but there’s something to be said for having that one intended sweet spot in a statue’s composition. In this case, she’s best viewed slightly from behind with her head turned and looking over her right shoulder. If a nice tushie is your thing, you shouldn’t have a problem with the view. She has a very wide stance, standing up on her toes, left hand proudly planted on her hip, and her ponytail flowing outward in the breeze. The pose lends itself to the artwork very well, but that’s not to say it isn’t worthwhile to check her out from all the other angles, because a lot of beautiful work went into her costume.

Hailing from Arizona, Jaycee’s Southwestern flare is represented in her luchador costume. In this case, it’s more like luchador lingerie with a pinch of S&M thrown in. Her delightfully skimpy one-piece is held on by leather straps and yet it’s also laced up the back with some feathery, frilly bits around the shoulders. Her long gloves include straps around her wrists and a pair of generous elbow guards. The outfit is rounded out by a pair of thigh-high boots and holy crap it must take her forever to lace those babies up! The coloring on the costume makes for a very striking piece. You get a pearlescent silver mixed with purple and some blue piping and a little black thrown in for good measure. Most of the costume has a subtle glossy finish to it, which contrasts nicely with the soft matte tones of her skin.

You do indeed get two portraits with the statue, masked and unmasked. I’ll probably be going with the unmasked look most of the time, which was my focus for most of the pictures. Why? Mainly because this way you can see her face and also see the mask as she’s holding it. It’s kind of the best of both worlds. She has a pretty face with the usual soft features and her big, beautiful eyes are a gorgeous amber color. The only thing that throws me a bit is the darker red paint on her bottom lip. It looks to me like she’s sticking her tongue out, but I think it’s just supposed to be a little pouty. As usual, Koto works their magic with the hair by having it gradually turn transparent toward the edges, an effect that I always appreciate.

When you swap the head, you do have to swap the ponytail too, which worked a lot better for me the second time around. The exposed parts of her face are a good match for the other head and the wild design of the mask coupled with the same silver, purple, and blue does a nice job of balancing out the costume. Jaycee really does look great with her mask on and this may be a statue that I wind up actually swapping out the head every so often.

Koto has been using clear bases for their Tekken and Street Fighter statues and Jaycee is no exception. The bottom of the base can be pulled out and you can customize your statue with your choice of the included transparent inserts. You get a signature insert and two with character art, one masked and one unmasked. As long as I’m going with the unmasked head, I’ll probably go with the masked artwork just to mix things up. I’ve been warming up to using the fan art for these because I think it really dresses up the base and compliments the statue beautifully. As for the clear plastic bases, they do tend to show scratches easily, which is disappointing. When I removed my Christie Montiero to shoot with Jaycee, I noticed some scratches on the bottom of her base and that piece has done nothing but stand on my shelf and get picked up every now and again to be admired.

And so here we have another great effort by Koto. Jaycee’s design and sculpt are fantastic and the paintwork is pretty much flawless. I believe Jaycee was the fourth release in Koto’s Tekken sub-series, but as I mentioned earlier, she’s only my second. I was lucky enough to grab Jaycee at her original retail of around fifty bucks and getting her on my shelf has given me just the push I needed to start picking up the rest of the Tekken gals before they start creeping any higher in price. I’ve targeted Asuka for my next purchase, as she’s already commanding upward of $100 in a lot of circles and based solely on the promotional images and reviews I’ve seen, I’ve just got to have her!

Feb 23 2015

The Avengers: Iron Man ArtFX+ Statue by Kotobukiya

This is finally it… Kotobukiya’s ArtFX+ Avengers have finally assembled with the release of the final statue, Iron Man. I’ve been loving each and every piece in this line, but I was getting really excited to finally get the team on display together. Iron Man was available in two decos. You could go for the comic accurate black and gold Marvel NOW! version or the more traditional red and gold variant. I’m actually a fan of the black and gold look, and if this was a stand-alone piece, I probably would have gone for that one. In the end, I picked up the variant only because with Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Thor sporting so much black I wanted to add a little more color to the team display.

I don’t really have anything new to say about the package. It’s a colorful and attractive fully enclosed box that protects the goods really well and looks damn nice on the shelf. I also dig the fact that the variant is what’s actually pictured on the box. Sometimes these things will simply be denoted with a sticker. Inside are two clear plastic trays securing all the parts to build Iron Man, including the torso, head, and all four limbs. Everything fits together snugly and I had no issues assembling my figure.

Koto has been quite conservative with the composition of these statues going more for iconic character poses rather than originality and Iron Man is certainly no exception. He stands with his right arm stretched out about to fire off a blast from his palm repulsor. He has a moderately wide stance and his left arm is balled up into a fist. Sure, we’ve seen Stark in this pose a thousand times, but I still love it and I think it’s particularly effective for a statue meant to be displayed with the entire Avengers team.

I’m also a fan of the style of this Marvel NOW! armor. I can see a lot of influences in it and in a way it strikes me as a more angular Extremis armor with the circular chest repulsor (my favorite) as opposed to the triangle. It features all the necessary segmentation between the plates and rather than go with a bunch of panel lines, the plates themselves are smooth and featureless giving it a very pleasing comic book vibe.

Koto rarely skimps on the paint quality, so it should be no surprise that Iron Man features a gorgeous coat of metallic red paint with gold metallic trim. The paint lines are clean and precise and there’s just a few very minor blemishes that I could spot under close scrutiny. The one area where the coloring on this piece isn’t all it could be are the repulsors on the chest and hips. These appear to be stickers and aren’t terribly convincing. They look rather Hasbro-ish to me, which is a tad disappointing in a fifty dollar collectors piece. Oddly enough, this is one the rarer instances where I think they look better in pictures than in person.

As always, you get the simple black square base. It’s metal and designed to work with the magnets in the statues feet. You can adjust him anywhere you want on the base or even connect the bases together and have him straddle two of them. Of course, Iron Man can stand just fine on his own too.

With the team all assembled, I have to say I’m so very glad that I started down this road last year. While any of these statues would work just fine as stand-alone pieces, nothing beats having them displayed together and Koto designed them with that in mind. There are a few ways to go when displaying the set, but I used the lineup on the back of the boxes as a guide and I think it looks pretty damn great. And they look all the better lined up on the shelf right above my ArtFX+ Justice League!

At $50, Iron Man is second only to The Hulk in price and about ten bucks more than I paid for the others. The main reason I paid so much for Iron Man was because I was worried about limitation on the variant so I pre-ordered rather than shop around for a deal. That still seems to be the going price, but that’s subject to change after he’s been out for a little bit and as of now you can still grab all of these statues at or below their original MSRP if you hunt around. Forty to forty-five bucks is definitely the sweet spot for me and these ArtFX+ statues, but I don’t mind going over now and again if I have to because they are indeed awesome display pieces. It’ll be a little while before I revisit the Marvel ArtFX+ collection, but when I do it will be with none other than Deadpool!

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.

Feb 16 2015

The Avengers: Hawkeye ArtFX+ Statue by Kotobukiya

I started collecting Kotobukiya’s Avengers ArtFX+ line back in April of last year with The Hulk and now with only two more statues to go, I’ve reached the home stretch. I’ve been putting off looking at Hawkeye until the release of the final statue, Iron Man, drew closer and now that Mr. Stark has hit my Pile of Loot, I figured it was time to get Hawkeye his due. No disrespect to Hawkeye, but this was the statue in this line that I was least excited about. I don’t mind Hawkeye’s Marvel NOW! Look, but compared to the likes of Hulk, Thor, or even Black Widow, it isn’t the most exciting thing in this lineup to me. Still, there was never any doubt that I would get him to complete the set. Let’s see if this statue can hit my mark.

The statue comes in a completely enclosed box with some great shots of the piece itself set against a monochrome collage of comic art. I’ve been a big fan of these boxes as they’re not only collector friendly, but they display really well too. On the downside, each box has been individually sized to fit each statue, so they don’t really stack evenly or line up all that well on the bookshelves. But hey, they’re sturdy and I can rely on them for storage if I ever move or have to rotate these pieces out of my current display and that’s mostly what I’m looking for in my statue packages.

Inside the box, Hawkeye comes pressed between two clear plastic trays and does indeed require some assembly. You have to connect the top and bottom half together at the waist, his left arm at the bicep and equip him with his bow, quiver, and arrows, all of which are separate pieces. Yes… I was delighted to see that each arrow (eight in all) is separate rather than just having the ends molded into the top of the quiver! I may have underestimated just how cool you’re going to be, Hawkeye. The assembly here is a tad more involved than any of the others, mostly because of the bow, but everything still goes together easy-peasy.

With Hawkeye all set up I’ll confess to being surprisingly impressed with the Koto’s execution of this statue. I think what really makes it stand out is the way they did all the gear. The pistol actually looks like it could be removed from the holster (even though it can’t) and the way they designed the bow to peg together in his hand is rather clever. It reminds me of the way they did the lariat for the first Bishoujo Wonder Woman statue. Had they gone with one single assembly for the bow, arrow, and draw arm I don’t think it could have possibly came out as credible looking as it did. Even the way Clint is knocking the arrow (any one of them will do) works beautifully. Hawkeye’s pose has him on the move as he’s preparing to shoot. It’s nothing original, but it works well for the character. At this point, I’d dare say it’s an iconic look for him, and it displays beautifully from virtually any angle.

The portrait is clean and definitely represents a little Marvel NOW! And a little Jeremy Renner. The sunglasses are part of the sculpt and the texturing in the hair looks great. My one complaint here would be the back of the neck where it’s pretty obvoius that the hair is a separate piece as there’s a channel running between hair and skin making it look artificial from the back. Also, as good as the head sculpt looks, I still can’t help be reminded of Albert Wesker from Resident Evil whenever I look at it. That’s not really a criticism of the sculpt, but rather the character design.

The coloring here is mostly black with a little purple to pay fleeting respect to Hawkeye’s classic comic outfit. While the potential was there for the costume to be rather drab and boring, Koto mixed up the black with a matte finish for the outfit itself and a glossy finish for the pouches, belt and holster. You also get a little gray on the buckles and straps. The paint lines are sharp, even around the fingerless gloves and the hairline.

As always, the statue comes with a plain black metal square base that interacts with the magnets in the statues feet to keep him secured while on display. This comes in handy if you want to put all the bases together to make one large platform and have the statues overlap on different bases.

So, yeah, I wasn’t expecting much from this one. I bought Hawkeye mainly to complete the Avengers team, but he turned out to be a very pleasant surprise in the end. In fact, right now I’d probably even rate him in higher standing than Thor, even though I think both are great pieces. The wizards at Koto obviously looked at what made Barton unique and put a lot of their efforts into that aspect of the statue, meaning his bow and arrows. Hawkeye would have been an easy one to phone in, but instead they turned it around and delivered something special. He set me back just a smidge over $40, which makes him a little bit on the low end of what I’m averaging for these pieces and he was well worth every penny. And that brings me to the last release in the ArtFX+ Avengers series. Next week, we’ll check out Iron Man!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: statues

Street Fighter: Juri Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Huntress by DC Collectibles

Ame-Comi Heroine-Series: Supergirl (v.2) by DC Direct

Ame-Comi Heroine-Series: Mera by DC Direct

DarkStalkers: Morrigan Aensland Statue by Capcom

Tekken: Asuka Kazama Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Tekken: Jaycee Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

The Avengers: Iron Man ArtFX+ Statue by Kotobukiya

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

The Avengers: Hawkeye ArtFX+ Statue by Kotobukiya

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