DC Collectibles recently released its newest wave of Designer Series action figures based on DC Comic’s über awesome artist Greg Capullo’s artwork. The wave, sculpted by Jonathan Matthews, includes Batman (year zero), Two Face, Commissioner Gordon and the topic of today’s article, Batgirl.
Numbered 12 in the line, Batgirl has all the features you’ve come to expect from DC Collectibles, especially when it comes to articulation. Batgirl’s arms move and twist at the shoulder, forearms rotate, as do her legs at multiple places. The only place where the articulation is lacking is with her head; it doesn’t turn that well. Really…at all.
Initially, I had thought it was because of her hair sculpt getting in the way of her shoulders, but…it’s not. Because, as it turns out, I had another issue with Batgirl’s head (man…that sounds so wrong).
My Batgirl lost her head. Now, this is really my fault. Let’s just say I was probably a bit to “enthusiastic” when trying to remove her from the packaging’s inner clam shell. So…just do yourself a solid and be careful when taking your figure out of the clamshell. Or, because like Alice in Wonderland, she’s likely to lose her head.
But…because my Batgirl head’s was free of her earthly bondage, your friendly neighborhood jman was able to test to see if her head would rotate any better.
It didn’t.
And while we’re on the topic of Batgirl’s head, here’s as good a point as any to bring up her hair. The sculpt of it is just…ok. Actually, the sculpt itself really isn’t bad, per se, it’s just how far it sticks out away from her body that makes it…”ok”. I was able to reattach Batgirl’s head to her body without much trouble. And as you can see by the pictures, her hair is just kinda floating out there. If a figure’s head isn’t going to turn because of the hair, then the hair should be closer to her body. Right? Can I get an amen?
Overall, though, Batgirl does have a really nice sculpt. Her face looks good. As do the paint apps on her uni and cape. She’s packaged with three batarangs, which are paper thin. But, they fit in her hand nicely, so that’s no big deal.
While this version of Batgirl is overall a pretty decent figure, I think I’m more partial to her predecessor, the DC Collectibles New52 version. That version of Batgirl’s costume has more of a detailed armored look than the Capullo’s version. The cape is better on the New52 version, as well. DC Collectibles has opted with a scalloped (yes…you actually read the word “scalloped” in a toy review) look for the capes on their Capullo figures (ie: all the Batman figures) that I’m just not all that crazy about. The traditional cape looks much better on the New52 version.
All that being said…both DC Collectibles versions are far superior to Mattel’s Batgirl.
You can pick up Batgirl at your local comic shop or on Amazon
Before you head on out of here…don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the Almost Internet Famous Internet show. We’re talking the classic crossover DC vs Marvel!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRblwiAXnvc
