I remember being quite impressed when I saw the previews for the DC Direct Jade bust, part of the Terry Dodson designed series 2 of their Women of DC bust line. I like me some alien coloured women, she had a cool looking energy base, seemed like a slam dunk. Unforunately, things weren’t quite how they seemed, check under the cut to find out why!

Where to start? There’s so much that went wrong but was so close to being right. The energy base doesn’t look as good as it should. It’s sculpted well, the energy waves swirling around are nice and of course they’re swirling away from her ass so that’s on display, haha. Oh pinup styles. The paint is the issue. It’s a bland and uninspired green, it needs deeper shading and brighter highlights. It would’ve been better to make it translucent like the Starfire base.

The face looks so much different from the prototype. The prototype had a wider head and a much nicer smile. It gave it a softer look instead of the doofy one you see present in my pictures. When you combine that with how they’ve changed the angle of the head, it’s much worse than it was. I have no clue why they agreed to these changes.

The lack of refined paint lines in some areas and the hair don’t help matters either. Just look at that hair paint, ugh. Even with the face changes, I think a talented painted could improve it’s appearance considerably. Her body and pose are sculpted just fine after all. Unfortunately, I’m not enough of a Jade fan to make that happen.

2/5.

Buying Options : There are plenty available on Ebay. Cheap on Amazon too.

I’ve reviewed a few of the maquettes in this line, the Supergirl and the Harley Quinn. The DC Direct Zatanna maquette seems to go for the highest prices in the line, I’m not sure whether that’s due to wider appeal or a lower edition size. Let’s see if this little lady fares better than the others!

Quick Buying Options : Sold out years ago, your only options are forums and Ebay.

Straight up, I’m not a fan of the design. While the idea of popping out of a box and getting handcuffs off in a cute pose is a good concept, it suffers in the execution. Her face isn’t nearly as cute as it looks in the Batman animated series, and since that’s a central focus, it’s somewhat offputting. The pose should be better. It’s not bad, but it looks awkward from a fair few angles and isn’t that great looking even from the front. Considering that’s the angle it’s supposed to be viewed at, it was a little disappointing. The treasure chest is nice. On the other hand, something about her actual chest looks a little strange, at least in picture form.

The paint on this is fine. It’s not excellent, but it does a good job of showing off the animated style and it looks nice on the treasure chest. Could it have been improved on the face and fixed some of my issues with it? I’m sure it could have.

3/5. Good idea, lackluster execution. The high price doesn’t help any.

Buying Options : Sold out years ago, your only options are forums and Ebay.

We’ve got the Hal Jordan vs Parallax statue, which looks amazing so far, ringing up with a MSRP of $295 and due to be released in late March, 2012. Next up, a popular Green Lantern lady, Arisia, finally gets a Women of DC bust! $65 MSRP and due to be released mid-March. Finally, a Hal Jordan animated maquette from the upcoming Green Lantern cartoon. The MSRP is $125 and it’s due to be released early March.

You can also check out the 360 degree view. Available for preorder at BBTS for $270, or at Entertainment Earth for $280. ]]> http://www.whatsyourobsession.com/dc-direct-catwoman-14-scale-statue-gets-a-few-tweaks-and-is-much-improved/feed/ 4 http://www.whatsyourobsession.com/dc-direct-february-solicits-re-releases-and-batman/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dc-direct-february-solicits-re-releases-and-batman http://www.whatsyourobsession.com/dc-direct-february-solicits-re-releases-and-batman/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:44:00 +0000 Dr_Teng http://www.whatsyourobsession.com/?p=7286 Next February seems to be a really slow month for DC Direct, makes those rumours about them being taken over seem a little more legit. 2 Ame-Comi repaints, 1 re-released Batman Black and White statue (the rarest one? lots of collectors aren’t going to be happy! that price increase isn’t so hot either), and one original Batman animated maquette from Year One.

Quick Buying Options : Same as the other older busts. Ebay and Amazon.

Getting the no effort costume out of the way, what we’re looking at here is whether it’s well sculpted/painted and how cute it looks, right? Going by that, Wonder Girl’s good. The few comics I read that had her in them, she was pretty chill. So I completely buy her her in a peppy pose with a big smile on her face. That’s what drew me to the bust, she looks like she’s having a blast, whatever she’s up to.

I have absolutely no issues with the sculpting on the actual statue. It nails the cute look, the pose is good, face and hair are all nice. The base looks a little sloppy. The lines aren’t as clean and refined as they are on the Metropolis styled bases. You can see what I mean from the photos, it’s slightly disappointing given that it’s a very plain base.

The denim look of the paint is surprisingly good for such a small size. Colours are bright and vibrant and most of the detail work is decent. There are no areas, aside from the base, where it’s sloppy enough to warrant mention.

4/5. Better than I would have expected.

Buying Options : Same as the other older busts. Ebay and Amazon.