Review of Holly Golightly - Breakfast at Tiffany's
My Art Gallery Deluxe Statue

Introduction

One of my favorite formats is the quarter scale statue. Big enough to be impressive, not so large to be impossible to display, often with a ton of detail and amazing designs. Of those, it's the mixed media statues that truly stand out, but outside of the Premium Format line by Sideshow, there's not a ton of options.

Star Ace is producing their own series, called My Art Gallery. They have two classic film characters so far - Christopher Lee as Dracula, and Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. Since they've done both of these characters in sixth scale, it's not surprising they would start here.

Tonight I'm checking out their Holly Golightly, from the terrific film A Breakfast at Tiffany's. There's a regular version, but I'm looking at the deluxe, which includes a light up feature and was limited to just 500 produced. She will run you around $500, depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ****
The large box looks attractive, and holds the contents safely and in a collector friendly manner.

The high score here isn't for the box itself, but the Certificate of Authenticity they included. It's large, and looks like a high end restaurant menu. You know the kind, puffy cover with a removable card inside that would normally list the day's specials. Here, it explains the statue. With a silver foil logo on the front, and a very attractive design, this is how COA's should be done. It's creative, and ties in perfectly with the license.

Sculpting - ***1/2
This isn't the first Hepburn that Star Ace has produced. I looked at one of their sixth scale versions earlier, also from this film, and the portrait there was excellent...but suffered from the scale. Like too many female sixth scale figures, the head was slightly too large for the body, even when it was very accurate to the actress otherwise.

With the statue, they do not have that problem. The head, neck and shoulders flow cleanly, and the head is perfectly in scale. Overall, the proportions of the body capture the lithe appearance of the actress extremely well. The accuracy of the face is excellent, from the unique nose to the hairstyle. There's plenty of detail too, and the almost porcelain skin is appropriate for this particular beauty.

The only thing pulling it down slightly for me is the lumpy appearance of the silver jewelry in her hair and on the necklace. There was more detail on these pieces on the sixth scale figure, with better defined orbs, and it almost appears as though they simply attempted to upscale those smaller pieces without taking into consideration the loss of detail that could occur.

She attaches to the base with a very solid square metal post. The base is a simple design, but the classic elegance matches the film's style. The silver 'fence' behind her is plastic, but attaches tightly to the base and looks great. The base has the New York City skyline sculpted around the circumference.

She herself stands about 17 1/2" tall, but on the base is closer to 20".

Paint - ***1/2
The detail work on the statue is excellent, with a very lifelike skin tone and beautiful eyes. The make up is very clean, including the eyelashes, lips, and eye shadow. The eyebrows are very realistic, and the skin tone matches perfectly from top to bottom.

The hair is very detailed, and the pose is about as perfect as you can get. The cigarette holder with cigarette is a separate piece, which you can place in the hand carefully. It stays when you get it in just the right spot.

While the paint work on 95% of the statue supports or improves the excellent sculpt, the silver paint on the softly sculpted jewelry doesn't do much to improve the look.

Btw, you'll notice the necklace is slightly off center in some of the photos. That's my bad - the necklace is a separate piece, and you can adjust it as you wish.

Light Feature - ***
The deluxe release includes a light up feature. They've advertised their Dracula will have one as well, and it's nice to see the plan is to make them easy to use.

With Holly, her base lights up. Rather than being battery operated, it comes with an HDMI cord you can plug into a variety of sources, including a battery recharge pack. There's no on or off switch, but when you plug it in, the lights just operate. The base cycles through various pastels, and the base diffused the colors to create a very beautiful, soft effect. 

Sadly, I couldn't come up with a great way to shoot it, but the effect is quite nice. I only deducted because they should have included a switch to make it simpler.

Outfit - ****
The outfit is about as perfect as you can get. Tailored to fit not just her body, but her body in this exact pose, the definition of the 'little black dress' looks amazing from every angle.

The outfit also includes the sculpted gloves, and the pearl necklace with the silver bauble. The necklace isn't removable, but is loose around her neck.

They also included the thin, soft stole. You can use this around her shoulders, or you can skip it, depending on your personal preference. I liked it better with the white stole in place, but your mileage may vary.

Value - **1/2
There are two versions of this statue - the regular, that runs around $450, and this deluxe with light up base, that runs $500.

While the light up feature is well designed, it's not necessary for you to enjoy the statue. If you're looking to save $50, I'd have no problem going the light-less route. When they release Dracula, that might be a very different situation, since his eyes are going to light up. That might just be too cool to pass up.

Things to Watch Out For -
Getting the cigarette holder in her fingers just right can be a bit tricky, so take your time and don't force anything.

Overall - ***1/2
We get a lot of super heroes. We get a lot of sci-fi and fantasy figures. But we don't get a lot of the classic characters from the great films of the past, and fans of the amazing Audrey Hepburn should love this statue. I'm a huge fan of the mixed media in general, and Star Ace has done a beautiful job with it here. She's going to look fantastic next to the Sideshow PF of Sean Connery as James Bond.

The quality of this statue really makes me look forward to the Lee Dracula, where the costume and light up feature have the potential to be amazing.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***1/2
Light Feature - ***
Outfit - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Star Ace doesn't have this one listed on their own site yet, but there are a few sellers out there. You can always search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Check out the Star Ace sixth scale Holly Golightly as well!

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