Review of Supergirl DC Television
Real Masters Action Figure

Introduction

DC hasn't had a lot of recent success at the box office. But their television success has been noteworthy, and the small screen adaptations like Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl have done well with fans and newcomers alike.

Star Ace has been hitting up the tv license, and I've reviewed their Arrow and Flash already. The next release is Supergirl, another figure in their 'Real Masters' line up. These figures are in a 1/8th scale (around 9"), and have cloth outfits.

Supergirl will run you around $130 - $140, depending on the retailer. This is a bit of an early review, but she should start shipping any day.

Packaging - ***
The box is attractive and sturdy, with the figure and accessories packed safely in a single plastic tray and cover. They do use some of the sticky clear plastic over a few of the accessories, but generally it's collector friendly. The instructions are basic, but provide some useful info.

Sculpting - ***
The sculpt is attractive and clean, but I'm not sure I'd pick her out of a line up.

But that problem isn't so much of an issue with the likeness, but rather the fact that she is a very pretty, but not particularly unique looking woman. They did a decent job with the sharp chin, and the general shape of the face and nose is good. The rooted hair is unique in this scale, but it works pretty well. I used some product of course, and the better you are at styling rooted hair, the better she'll look. There's certainly enough for you to get creative, and the hair line is well hidden.

Scale is good across the board, and the hands are properly sized. The sculpts work well with a variety of arm poses. She stands just about 9", slightly shorter than the male figures.

Paint - ***
Nothing bad here, but there's not a lot of life to it. The market, being driven by players in the sixth scale world like Hot Toys and in the 1/12 scale world by Mezco, is making huge strides in the production paint process. Where once just having clean applications and decent quality operations was enough, now there needs to be a spooky realism just to compete.

All the work on the face is clean, with good eyebrows, lips, and make up. The skin tone is even, but a little darker than the neck. There's the usual black lip line that bugs me, but just about everyone - including the aforementioned players - use them.

The work on the accessories and costume is solid as well. Again, there's zero slop here, but this paint job doesn't quite bring the realism it needs to.

Articulation - ***
The underlying body has all the articulation you expect, but there's one or two areas of restriction that brought it down.

The neck works well, and the rooted hair allows the head to tilt and lean. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists can take reasonable arm poses, although I wish the arms could come further across the front of the body.

The torso doesn't lean or crunch very much. The thicker material on the costume is too restrictive for that. The hips and knees work great though, and the skirt and stockings offer no resistance.

The biggest issue is the tall one piece boots. There's no movement in the ankles, making deep stances almost impossible and even medium stances look less natural.

Accessories - **1/2
Earlier figures in this line had quite a few extras, but Supergirl gets shorted. No extra portrait, and not much else either.

There are four extra hands. She comes wearing open hands, and there's a splayed set and a set of fists. They swap easily, and the painted blue sections look good against the matching outfit color.

There's also a set of Kryptonite handcuffs. Pop off the hands, slide them on the wrists, and pop the hands back on.

There's a hunk of 'ice' from the fortress, along with an orange crystal that rests on top. It's a nice extra, but I do think they could have made the hunk of a bit taller. In the last photo you'll see what I mean.

Finally, there's a plastic display base, with a thin metal, bendable support rod. It has a clamp (with protective padding) to go around her waist. You can get some decent floating or jumping poses with it.

Outfit - ***
The construction, materials, and design of the costume are great, but the tailoring is off slightly this time.

The colors are vibrant, and they did a nice job finding materials that match the on screen look. The flowing red cape has a wire in the edge to allow you to pose it, and the stockings have a properly scaled mesh.  The seams are large of course - you always see that with nylon stockings in smaller scales - but they have them on the inside of the thigh where they are fairly well hidden.

The symbol is tightly attached, and is properly centered. I'm not in love with the one piece boot design - it ruins the ankle articulation - but the sculpt itself is quite good.

So why the mark down? The tailoring on the torso and arms is off. Part of this is due to the thickness of the material, which doesn't allow as tight a fit as needed. But part is also just in the tailoring itself, and the upper part of the costume doesn't fit quite as tight to the chest, waist, and arms as it should.

Fun Factor - ***
I'm not sure how much fun she is on her own, but paired up with other DC TV figures, you get a great looking display and plenty of potential to change things up regularly.  I'm looking forward to the upcoming Batwoman, and I'm hoping Star Ace jumps on the character right away.

Value - *1/2
Here's the killer. The price on these has slowly been rising, and that's not good. Flash was $100, Arrow was $120...and now Supergirl is $140 at a lot of places.

With so few accessories, it's really hard to justify the price point. We're seeing companies like ThreeZero and Qmx produce excellent sixth scale figures in the $160 - $180 range, so charging $140 for a 1/8th scale figure is a tough sell. You really need to have some great extras, and poor Supergirl came up short.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - **1/2
This is one of those figures that looks better or worse depending on the angle. From some angles, the torso looks to chunky - from others, the fit looks better. From some angles, the face is way off - from others, it's a decent approximation.

And a lot has to do with the hair, as well.  Too much product, and it looks flat. Not enough, and it's flying away. Some figures with rooted hair look terrific right out of the box, but others take quite a lot of tending. This is one of the latter.

But combine her with the Arrow and Flash figures, and she will look pretty good on the shelf. The real killer here is the price point, which has reached a level that's tough to justify for this scale and overall quality.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - **1/2
Paint - ***
Articulation - ***
Accessories - **1/2
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***
Value - *1/2
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Other Star Ace DC figures include the Flash and Arrow. Star Ace is also doing Harry Potter figures in this scale.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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