Review of Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Deluxe Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

Very few companies - companies that actually play by the rules and get licenses, anyway - are willing to play with the lesser known properties. Star Wars? Marvel? DC? Sure, there are plenty of options, and the big boys like Hot Toys are all over them. Other second tier licenses like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Walking Dead, and Game of Thrones are getting covered by smaller companies, but you can't really claim that those properties aren't popular with a large number of collectors.

Star Ace is looking at some of the much smaller properties, particularly those that involve female characters. They haven't been hitting on every release, however, and they need a win right now. Their next upcoming release is Audrey Hepburn from the classic film Breakfast at Tiffany's, where she portrayed Holly Golightly. This is a slightly early review - she should be shipping any day now.

She comes in two versions. There's a regular release that runs around $220, and a deluxe version that sells for $237 or so, depending on the retailer. I'm looking at the deluxe tonight, but I'll point out the difference in the Accessories section.

Packaging - ***
Nothing too special here, but it is all completely collector friendly, and the interior plastic trays keep things safe and sound. There's also appropriate plastic wrap keeping the body separate from the black costume to avoid staining.

Perhaps most important, there's an excellent photo of the lovely Ms. Hepburn in character right on the cover. I'll be using this photo for my comparison in the next category.

Sculpting - ***
If I were grading this score merely on the portrait, as a separate piece from the body, I'd go another half star in this category. This is easily the best recent female portrait from Star Ace, and rivals a number of other recent ladies from other high end companies.

Comparing the photo below with the one above, looking at her in hand (as opposed to merely in a macro photo), and spending some time analyzing the details of her face, I think this is a very accurate portrayal. Let's start with realism - the skin texture is soft, not smooth like a Barbie, but not over done to appear older. The hair detail is extremely impressive, and rivals work done by Hot Toys and others. The fine stranding looks great, and it matches the on screen appearance perfectly. I'm particularly impressed by the bangs in person - bangs is where so many companies have problems. There is a slight line on one side where things come together, but it's a minor nit in hand.

The jewelry in her hair and on her ears is attractive, realistic, and in scale. The soft texture of the lips and the subtle eyebrows look great, and the most important feature - her eyes - are properly shaped, sized, and positioned.

It's also very much Ms. Hepburn. As I said, her eyes are a critical feature, and I think they nailed them. The facial structure is good, but the cheekbones could be just a little sharper.  The nose is slightly large as well, but in hand is much, much less obvious. The shape of the nose is correct, and the slight smile matches the emotion in her eyes nicely.

So why the loss of a half star? The problem is really with the combination of the head and this particular body. This body has a thin neck, and because they went with a separate head/neck set up, the connection at the jawline is pretty obvious from any side view. The thin neck also makes the head look large, which it isn't. If the head and neck were more in proportion with each other, she'd look much better.

She stands about 11 3/4 inches tall in her short heels. The hands are designed for specific poses, and are all gloved.

Paint - ***
Like the sculpt, if I were merely grading on the portrait alone, I'd go another half star in this category.

The paint work on the head is quite good, with a nice wash added to the hair to help bring out the sculpt detail. There's a subtle variation to the skin tone that adds realism, and the eyebrows and lips are just about perfect.

The eyes are straight and clean, and the make up looks terrific. There's very little bleed into the whites of the eyes, and there's enough glossiness to create catchlights and reflections.

So where's the issue? It's that damn neck again. There's a pretty sharp transition from the slightly darker, more realistic skin on the face and the very white, very consistent neck color. This contrast hurts the overall appearance.

Articulation - ***
The underlying body has all the joints you expect, and the rubber skin hides them nicely. Even the knees are hidden, although the dress already does that.

The neck and wrists are metal ball joints, and the hands swap easily. The covered shoulders and arms can take fairly natural poses, and are less restricted by the soft covering than you might expect. The torso can bend and lean as well, and the hips, knees, and ankles all have a good range of movement.

The tightly fitted dress doesn't allow for much leg movement though, and the ankles were a little looser than I'd like. It's a decent body for posing, and the proportions (other than that damn neck) are good for Hepburn.

Accessories - ***1/2
I'll be looking at the deluxe version - if I were considering the regular, I'd drop this a half star.

She has a total of six hands. She comes wearing a pair of relaxed grips, with a set of tight grips, and a slightly different closed grip right. The final left is holding the cigarette, which is glued in place. I didn't love the placement, as it looks awkward in most poses, but the holder popped out of the hand with just a little pressure. I'll be re-gluing it at a slightly more appropriate angle.

She was also wearing a very elaborate necklace, and you can pop off the head to put it in place. In my photos I made sure the necklace lay over the dress edge, but in many of the photos from the movie, you'll see it slipped inside the dress at the very end. That's not surprising - I bet every time she moved, the short end of the necklace slipped under the top edge of the dress.

They've also given her the tortoise shell glasses, which look great. They fit over the ears neatly, and are about the right size for her face. There's a small black handbag too, but it's pretty basic and does not open.

Perhaps the best extra is her cat. The feline friend is an excellent sculpt, with finely detailed fur and a nice color scheme. The eyes are particularly well done, considering the small scale.

The regular figure finished out with a standard display stand and waist grabber support. The stand has the movie logo on the top.

The deluxe adds two more extras. There's a clear acrylic two piece table, and a short white plastic chair. There are two cloth covers as well, one sized for each extra. This is straight from the film, and she looks terrific posed with them. She has no trouble sitting on the stool, even in the tight dress.

Outfit - ***
The outfit largely consists of the dress, gloves, shoes, and a white scarf. The scarf works best looped over an arm or the shoulders, but wasn't quite as key in the movie.

The dress looks good, but I'm not thrilled with the tailoring around the hips. It fits the torso and waist nicely, but tends to poof out a bit at the hips and butt. The material is high quality, and the stitching is well done.

The shoe sculpts are fine, but nothing particularly exciting or ground breaking. The heels are low, and she can stand in them with a little effort.

The gloves are my favorite aspect of the costume. The hands are all sculpted in gloves, and the long piece that runs up the arm is cloth. Where they meet isn't seamless of course, but still looks good. The advantage to this arrangement is the ability to position the cloth glove so it always covers the wrists, no matter what arm pose you pick.

Fun Factor - **1/2
While the body is quite articulated, the dress will limit the number of poses. The character limits them as well - she's not going to look right doing ninja moves anyway. Thankfully, you can easily sit her at the table, enjoying a smoke.

Value - *1/2
While I think this figure is a the win the company needs in several ways, the high price point is a killer. Remember, I'm looking at the deluxe, which includes the table and chair (and their cloth covers), but costs almost $40 more than the regular. At $220, I would have gone another half star up in this category. But almost $240 is a lot of money for any figure, particularly one with a fairly standard outfit.

There is one other aspect that can't be ignored, however. They didn't make thousands of these. There's simply no way. While these don't have a 'limited' label anywhere on them, I can promise you the production run was low. That will affect the price as well, and makes it somewhat less painful.

Still, $220 was really the sweet spot for the deluxe, $200 for the regular, and the extra cost is going to be tough for some fans to justify.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***
This is where it gets tricky. I was *this* close to dropping to **1/2 Overall on dear Ms. Hepburn. The big problem with this figure is the way the neck and head look together, along with the price. Observant readers will notice that I gave Marilyn the same score overall - but this is a better portrait. Marilyn had a necklace that hid her neck, something that poor Audrey did not get. She also had a much, much lower price point, coming in at $200.

But even with the higher price point, I had to recognize them for the extra effort in getting this portrait so much closer. This is a much better figure overall than either the Marilyn or the Artemisia they've recently released, and while I almost dropped this overall another half star, I decided the price shouldn't be the only factor to sink it.

If you can find her on the secondary market for around $200 - $220, I'd be less hesitant with this overall score. And if money is no object, then she's a solid B in every other way.  Take this portrait off this body and find one with a neck that is less slender, and you could have an even better figure than that.

I even included a photo below with the scarf around her neck (although it's not film accurate), and she looks much less 'doll-like'. Unfortunately, the glasses are also knocked off her ear slightly, but the purpose of the photo is the neck, and I think she looks much better when it's hidden in some way.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the regular for $229 and the deluxe for $245, but they also have free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I think folks were way too hard on their Marilyn Monroe release, but I'm in the minority on that one. They've also done a couple versions of Steve McQueen.

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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