Review of Selene - Underworld (Blue Eyes)
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

It's rare in life when you get an opportunity at a do-over. Usually, you screw up your first shot, you don't get another. But some sixth scale companies believe in the old "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" philosophy, and Star Ace is one of them. They picked up the license for Underworld several years ago, and they produced a terrific Victor, setting up a for their release of Selene. Unfortunately, she did not live up to the expectation set by the vampire.

But Star Ace went back to the drawing board, and have released a new version, with rooted hair, light up eyes, and several new accessories. This 'blue eyed' version of Selene should be shipping very soon (this is a bit of an early review), and will run you around $225 or so, depending on the retailer.

Already bought the first version? Star Ace has you covered. For $45 you can pick up just the new head, along with the best of the new accessories, the long white coat.

Packaging - ***
I love the exterior, with the tinted color and spot gloss. It's definitely an attractive design, particularly for a fairly basic five panel box.

However, it's a bit clunky on the inside. There's a single tray, and the batteries and extra coat are taped underneath in a plastic bag. Tape is also used to help secure several of the smaller pieces, and I'm not a fan. Still, it's relatively collector friendly, and it will keep things safe and sound on their trip to you.

Sculpting - ***
The single biggest issue the earlier release had was the portrait. The face was squished inward at the bridge of the nose, just below the eyes. At the time, some people pretended this was on purpose - it was not. It was clearly a problem in manufacturing, and this new release makes that obvious. No such issue exists this time, and while I suspect this is the exact same sculpt, it is much improved thanks to correcting the warpage.

Another improvement is the rooted hair. The original had a sculpted hairstyle, and while sculpting isn't terrible as a choice with shorter hair, that particular work was thick and clunky looking. The new rooted hair looks much, much more realistic, and lets you do a lot of styling, if that's your thing.

I messed with it a lot between photos, poofing it up on the sides at times, flattening it down with product at others. You can curl the ends around the face more, or flow them straighter, it's up to you. Add enough product, and you can better control the strands, but I prefer a wilder look, so that's what you'll see in most of the shots.

But is it Kate Beckinsale? It's not perfect, but it's close. It's not as realistic a skin texture as something Hot Toys would do, but there's enough detail to still keep it away from Barbie comparisons. There's less visible forehead with the rooted hair, a big plus. The expression is decent (I still don't love the forehead wrinkles, but I'll live), and fixing the production issues has gone a long way to softening up my overall opinion.

One aspect that I'd like to see improved is the hand sculpts. The poses and scale are fine, but there's not much detail, and paying attention to these smaller details is what sets great figures apart from decent figures.

She stands just over 11 1/2" tall in her boots.

Paint - ***
The production paint work isn't the sort of scary real stuff we might see from some companies, but it is clean, and the eyes, brows, and lips all look good. While it's technically not 'paint', my favorite aspect of the color is the subtle tint added to the hair, which is tough to capture in photos but looks great in hand.

Articulation - **1/2
Things haven't changed much in this category, and I had one big issue.

The move to rooted hair makes the neck a bit more useful, but not quite as much as I'd hoped. Still, you can get some tilt and lean out of it, adding some personality to most poses.

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists work as you'd expect, and those damn wrists are just as hard to work with this time around. Worse, I managed to break the left peg off in the hand this time, and they don't supply any extras. Arrrgh.

The tight corset takes away any twist, turn, or lean the torso might have, but the hips and knees aren't too restricted by the tight pants. Ah, but that's pretty much a moot point, because the single piece boots take away all the ankle articulation. They really, really needed to go with a two piece design here.

Accessories - ***
The original version did slightly better in this category, thanks to the key addition of the crossbow and bolts. You don't get them this time around.

You also get only 6 hands, not 8 like the first release. There's a set of gun grips, a tight grip right and a loose grip right, and the set of relaxed hands she comes wearing. Swapping is tricky - definitely heat the hands with a hair dryer every time. There are no extra wrist joints.

The weapons are re-used from the first release. There's the silver hand grenade, a small shuriken, a knife, a sword, and two Walther P99 handguns.

The sword has a removable pommel, which makes it much easier to place in her tight grip hand. Getting the knife in there will require the hair dryer again. The guns fit neatly in the hard plastic holsters, which are a permanent part of her outfit.

Finally, she has a simple display stand and support rod.

Light Feature - ***1/2
One aspect they got right both times was the Light Feature. First time around it was the flashlight on the crossbow, and this time it's those blue eyes.

When you get her out of the package, you'll notice she definitely has brown eyes, just like the original release. But rather than simply paint them blue, Star Ace went with a much cooler effect.

There's a battery compartment in the head. The cover is under the hair in back, and is fairly easy to pop off. Insert the three batteries included, pop it back on, and you can easily flip the switch from off to on.

The eyes light up brightly with a very blue color. It's easy to see them in a fully lit room, and the effect will transfix you. It looks terrific, and is easy to use - the perfect combination!

I did take a half star off though because it took some effort to get mine to work. I was worried it was broken at first, or at least the batteries were dead. But I found that by messing with the batteries a little, I could get them to properly connect and stay that way. I don't know if some loose hairs were in the way, or if it's just touchy. If it seems like yours isn't working right out of the gate, first ensure they are in correctly, and then adjust them slightly with a pencil or knife blade until you get it working properly.

Outfit - ***
The outfit is pretty much identical to the first release, including the shirt, corset, pants, boots, and long coat. There are arm wraps too that cover the forearms, under the coat.

The quality of the materials is all excellent, and if you liked the costume the first time around, you'll like it again.  My big issue is the damn boots of course, but I also wish the holsters weren't permanently in place. They tend to pooch out the sides of the black coat, if you pull it forward over them.

This release does have one additional costume piece - the white coat. It has a big fur collar around the hood, and the tailoring is quite nice. The hood can be up around her head and face, or down across the shoulders.

If you have it up, they gave you extra fur collar to wrap around the bottom, across the neck. However, there's nothing to hold it in place - no snap, no velcro, nothing. In the photo it's in place, but that's because I got it to simply lay there for me. Your mileage may vary.

Fun Factor - **1/2
The restrictions on the articulation, especially on the ankles, make her a lot less fun. You're going to be limited to the posing you can do, unless you use the included stand, and that's never my preference.

Value - **
I'll assume you pay around $230, which is a pretty average price right now for high end figures. On the plus side, you're getting a great light up feature, a complex costume, and good rooted hair. On the minus side, the body/articulation isn't up to standard, the sculpting detail is not quite there, and the accessories are mediocre.

At $200 I'd go with another half star, taking her up to an average value, but at $230 she's just not quite there. However, if you already have the earlier figure and pick up the head and white coat for $45, you can add another half star here easily. The head is worth the extra cost, and takes the original figure to a new level.

Things to Watch Out For -
Just those damn wrists.  Make sure you're using heat on the hands when swapping them, or when putting some of the accessories in the tight fist.

Overall - ***
With their second try, Star Ace does come much closer with Selene. She still suffers from the issues with the costume and articulation, and there's nothing about the accessories that will up her score from before, but the new head is a big improvement. If you already have the original there's no reason to buy the entire figure again, but grabbing the head and coat for $45 is a terrific upgrade to the figure on your shelf. If you skipped her altogether the first time, this one is definitely the route to go. Considering the prices I've seen the original release going for on ebay, this release, while expensive, is definitely the better deal.

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

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the full figure for $250, but with free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I've covered the earlier Selene, as well as their Victor.

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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