Packaging - ****
Designer vinyl always seems to come in very cool boxes, I think it’s because it’s a medium that attracts a lot of graphic designers both as collectors and producers. There’s something about the unfussy clean cut lines of vinyl figures that can really get under your skin. This box is 90% transparent plastic with a die-cut card insert. The plastic has some white graphics and cool typography printed directly onto this plastic on the ‘inside’ of the box. There is also a folded card insert with some nicely designed black and white graphics on the outside and a beautiful flat silver on the interior. Out of this is a perfectly die-cut silhouette of a Booty Babe, which acts as a window when viewed from behind… and let’s face it, what would a Booty Babe be if you couldn’t view her from behind?

Inside she is held secure between two vac-formed clear plastic trays, there are no twisties at all, so it’s just about as ‘collector’ friendly as you can get. I like this box a lot, it’s a classic case of showing how good design doesn’t have to cost the earth or be fussy.

Sculpting - ****
At the end of the day this is a piece of art, it may or may not be your thang, but it’s art nonetheless!

Spencer has created these as an homage to type of ladies he loves, occupying a realm some where between the worlds of underground illustrators Coop, Robert Crumb, Frank Kozik with a good helping of Jessica Rabbit thrown in for good measure!

However, these may or may not have influenced him in different measures, but what we end up with is Spencers creation, his vision, and his alone! 

What I’m most impressed with here, is the purity of his finished design, it is beautifully crafted and sculpted. Her entire body is a mass of smooth curves and beautiful bumps. The face is uber cute with a button nose, deep dimples in her cheeks, closed sultry eyes and full lips. She’s a lady of ample proportions all hips, lips and other things. There is a CCP version available, who has even less of her ‘dignity’ covered. This version is more modest, she’s sculpted with brief G-string to make her more suitable for general public display, her breasts are fully sculpted but she also comes with a semi-opaque ‘boob tube’ which again gives you more options for display… I live in a household of women, luckily my wife thought this was really cool and my daughters wanted her to play with… I had to explain ‘No, this is Daddies doll, she stays on the shelf’, however when my father in Law visited his eye’s nearly popped out of his head… he could not leave it alone. 

But back to the sculpt! Elsa (that’s what I’ve christened her, for obvious reasons) is a jig-saw of body parts with lines of stitches criss-crossing her body, these are painted on, but each stitch is in very slight relief because of the thickness of the paint used. She also wears a neck brace with what appears to be real metal screws/bolts in the sides. As you’ve probably guessed from seeing the pictures her shock of hair that resembles a cross between the original ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ and Don King is real, rather than sculpted. It’s beautifully executed and fluffy. There is a post inside beneath it to keep it upright, but the seam around the edge of her scalp is so well done as to be virtually seamless, it’s another really clean divide with no ugly spurs or glue. I also found it was pretty easy to give her a slight re-style should you wish, just by pulling the fluffy white bits out to the sides.

Her hands are held out to the sides in a delicate, dare I say it dainty position bringing to mind the classic Cupie Dolls from the 1950’s, her legs are in the classic ‘cheescake’ pose with the right foot planted firmly and the left more on it’s toes with the heel turned out. She’s attached to the black base by means of two plugs, I’m sure you could ‘wiggle’ her free, but she’s held pretty firmly.

So a cool sculpt in a very cute pose evocative of many pop cultural references, but still 100% original Booty Babe!

Paint - ****
Well, I mentioned the purity in the sculpt, and that is by far the best word to describe this paint application, I guess another might be slick or professional, as there is no slop evident here in the slightest. Like most vinyl figures, it goes for clarity and perfection over trying to be hyper real. The main body colour is a light green/grey (after all she is ‘un-dead’!), it’s a fantastic dense colour that is dissected with the stitch lines and sutures I mentioned earlier. From the upper arm band on her right side and the line of stitches on her right shin down, she is a nice dense ‘duck egg’ blue which is again painted in a good solid colour that manages to match the matt/silk finish of the rest of her body perfectly. She also has some cool body art in the form of a tribal spiral tattoo on her upper left arm and a large gothic cross with a graphic ’sunburst’ covering her back. The shoes, arm and neck bands are picked out in a brushed steel colour while her eye shadow is the same shade as her ‘duck egg’ limbs. The lips are a deep green and lastly her eyebrows, lashes finger and toenails are picked out in black. So everything is kept relatively simple, but executed very, very well!

Articulation  - N/A
Nuttin, this is in effect a statue, there are a few accessories to alter how you decide to display her, but nothing actually moves!

Outfit - ***
Strictly speaking, this isn’t really a relevant category either, but she does come wearing that boob tube and the roll of bandage, but it’s all pretty minimal. If you do consider the ‘tube’ to be ‘outfit’ then it answers it’s brief perfectly. No loose threads and it’s so tight that every ‘bump’ is evident of what lies beneath, plus when stretched it becomes slightly transparent so perfect for the job at hand… ahem… I did warn you!

Accessories - ***
Elsa comes with two black ‘un-dead’ Franken Cats, both have blank white eyes and lines of stitches. One is designed to lie down while the other is standing. Then there’s a roll of opaque gauze/bandage to be draped like a Pashmina or to wrap her like a mummy, that’s it!
But to be fair what we get is at the discretion of the artist, Spencer decided this is what she needed so whom would I be to disagree? 

If I’m honest I don’t even think she needs the cats, but as I still have my old 1/6 scale Mister Bigglesworth and the grey cat that came with my Godfather figure I’m just happy to be building up a little litter for my Hell Boy figure.

And they do actually look pretty cute when displayed on the base at her feet.

Fun Factor -  ****
Designer vinyl is never really intended for play, it’s about creativity, design and art expressed through the ‘pop art’ medium of ‘mass produced’ toys. I use the words ‘mass produced’ with some irony as often these pieces are made in very small numbers. However, ‘designer’ and ‘urban’ vinyl can often be so ‘achingly’ cool it ends up disappearing up it’s own arse and excluding everyone but the ultra hip. 

So. if you find your self looking at Kozik’s giant fibreglass rabbit with a cigarette in it’s mouth (Smorkin Labbit) that costs upwards of a $1000, you might think it’s crazy… but that doesn’t mean you are right!

Art is all about communication, the message can be as clear or obtuse as you want to make it, but with Booty Babe’s the message is loud and clear, it’s not ‘exclusive’ it’s ‘inclusive’ its sexy and its fun… so for a ‘fun factor’ it’s a sure fire winner, I love it, and even if you don’t, I bet you know someone who would!

Value - ****
I think these are priced pretty much perfectly, Spencer has found a niche market and these are affordable enough for impulse purchases or gifts, and are in a bracket where many ‘enthusiasts’ will want to collect more than one. But at the same time he’s realised that to keep his quality control and finished product at a hi-end level then the price needs to reflect that as well.

Even though the price is reasonable, they are still being made in quite limited amounts, Franken Babe for example is only having a total of 300 units manufactured, 150 for the North/South America and a further 150 for Europe, Asia and Australia, and once they are gone that’s it, the plan is to move on to other designs so if you see one you like, you better strike quick.

I could see these doing very well as ¼ scale statues, limited edition bronze’s and maybe even smaller action figures (thought I’m not sure where you’d sell them) in the future. But for now Spencer is sticking to what he knows best, and I certainly hope to be back for more.