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Introduction
There are certain licenses I love above all the others - Batman The Animated Series is certainly one of those. When Mondo announced they'd be doing sixth scale figures, combining a much loved franchise with a much loved scale, I was all in.
Unfortunately, we haven't gotten a ton of figures. So far we've gotten two versions of Batman, and Mr. Freeze. Tonight I'm checking out the latest release - Catwoman. I have my fingers crossed that at least a Joker is still in the cards.
Catwoman was exclusive to Mondo's online store, where she was $165. As of this writing, she's still available, but these tend to sell out.
Packaging - ****
I love the box, thanks to the terrific cover art. Of course, Mondo is a company known for quality, innovative artwork, and their posters are some of
the best on the market. It would be pretty sad if they couldn't produced some sweet packaging.
It's all collector friendly too, and you can easily remove and replace the figures and accessories without any damage to the package.
Sculpting - ***1/2
From a distance, I really like this portrait. Portraits, actually, as she comes with three different masked heads, and one unmasked Selina Kyle.
I will say that on closer view, there is something a bit...creepy about her look. Unlike the box front, the eyes are very, very large, and the edge is sculpted out to a sharp point at the tip. It was an interesting way to go, and does set her apart a bit from others. I'm not sure if I love it or not quite yet, but the three expressions work well.
There's a smiling face (my favorite), a mellow look (which she is wearing in the box), and a face with a sneer on her lips. You can find poses to match up with all of these, making them quite useful.
The extra Selina Kyle head has a huge chunk of blonde hair, and a slightly coy look about her. I don't know that I'll use this one much, but it's nice to have, and the detail and style match the animated show quite well.
She stands about 11 1/4" tall, and should fit in fine with the others in the series. The hands are sculpted to hold the accessories or work with various poses, and both the head and hands swap pretty easily, provided you follow my tip in the Things to Watch Out For section.
Paint - ***1/2
Larger figures like this allow for fewer paint issues, because everything is much easier to see. This is also an animated figure, which means fewer
operations and bolder colors.
However, they did use a pattern of light and dark gray on the body suit to add shading and depth, and the cut lines between most colors are quite clean. It's not perfect, and there's a blip here and there, but overall it's well above average work for this scale of a true action figure.
Articulation - ***
The body is quite well articulated, but there's some looseness to the legs.
The ball jointed neck could use a bit more mobility, but you can get a little tilt and lean out of it. The rotating hinge shoulders, rotating hinge elbows, and rotating hinge wrists will get you some good arm poses, and the rocker chest and cut waist will let you break up the straight line of the torso.
The ball hips, rotating hinge knees, and rotating hinge ankles have a ton of movement. You can rotate these joints both above and below the ball, and the rocker movement in the ankle is excellent. All that should mean some great, natural stances, but the knees and ankles are also a bit too loose. This makes it tough to keep her standing in the cool poses she can take.
Accessories - ****
Here's the best part of the figure - all her toys!
I already mentioned the three extra heads, which is a huge boost to this score. There's also eight extra hands - four sets - to go with the pair of fists some comes wearing. Some work with various accessories, others are simply posed for optimum display. They swap easily, but absolutely hold the ball of the wrist when pulling it off. Not the hand! Pulling on the hand alone could damage the ball.
Selina is a burglar of course, and she has several goodies she's lifted. There's a necklace, a large diamond, and a brown bag of 'loot'. She can carry these in various hands.
She has some tools of the trade as well, including her spy camera, and two different whips. One is permanently coiled, while the other is loose. And in case Batman catches her, there's a pair of bat-cuffs.
Along with the Selina Kyle head, the exclusive version has two different poses for Isis the Cat. The regular pose is sitting up straight. The extra pose is with her lounging, perfect for slipping her around Selina's neck.
Finally, there's a Batman display base with crotch support. I'm hoping I won't need to use it, but the weak joints have me worried.
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Combined with the Mr. Freeze and Batman, this figure could be a ton of fun. Plenty of extras and three portraits allow you to come up with plenty of
different poses and looks. I would have gone the full four stars here, but the weaker joints may become an issue. It's far less fun to pose and
re-pose when she can't maintain.
Value - **
Most of these figures have been in the $140 or so range, depending on the extras and the version. Selina took a big jump up to $165, although to be
fair, this is an exclusive version. I also don't think they produced quite as many of the Catwoman as they did the earlier releases.
Things to Watch Out For -
I didn't have any real issues, but I did notice one area where you might have a problem.
When pulling off the hands, make sure you are squeezing at the ball, not simply pulling on the hand itself. I think you could separate the ball doing that, and perhaps even break the pin going through the ball. It's not hard to hold the ball - unlike many sixth scale figures, these are easy to grasp - so there's no reason to risk it.
Overall - ***1/2
I'm really happy to see another figure come out of the Mondo BTAS series. Yea, there's something about her eyes that is still freaking me out,
but I'm thinking that's just me being weird. The overall quality is great, and you get a lot of goodies.
I'm hopeful we'll still see a Joker, although I can imagine engineering the articulation with the sharply cut lines of his suit will be tricky. I hope there's been enough demand to justify it, even if it costs closer to the $165 of Catwoman than the $145 of Mr. Freeze.
Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ****
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **
Overall - ***1/2
Where to Buy
I picked this up directly from the Mondo store, the only place to get the exclusive version. She was $185 there, and still available. Or you can search
ebay for a deal.
Related Links -
Other Mondo BTAS figures include Mr. Freeze, and Batman of course.
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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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer. Photos and text by Michael Crawford.
