Artist Ant Lucia’s 1940's re-imagining of popular female heroes and villains has become one of DC Comics’ hottest properties, spawning a line of gorgeous statues, a comic book series, clothing, mugs and more. The only thing missing was poseable action figures. Consider that box checked.
I love the Bombshells line. Its mix of World War II pin-up style and modern rockabilly has produced some truly outstanding variants of characters like Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Batwoman and Poison Ivy. The DC Designer Series Ant Lucia DC Bombshells action figure line (MSRP $30 or so) takes the designs we’ve only seen in printed artwork or sculptures and turns them into fully-articulated premium six-inch action figures.
The jump from seamless artwork to jointed plastic figure is a bit rough here. Take Harley Quinn, for example. The face here is outstanding, as is the detail on the jacket. It’s just hard to ignore the ribcage articulation point there.
Look at the logo on the back of Harley’s jacket. No, stop looking at her odd hip joints. Look at the jacket! It’s so cool.
The joints become much more bearable when you start posing Harley. The trade-off between the look and utility makes it all alright. I mean, at least she can stand.
Not only can she stand, with a few swapped-out plastic hands she can hold her signature giant mallet like a damn boss.
Posion Ivy doesn’t fair nearly as well.
I love the hair. She’s got some really nice paint detail on her arms and legs. She is a very statuesque figure. She also has these:
It is impossible to get Poison Ivy to stand (can you spot her in the image atop the post?). Those heels are ridiculous. I am not posing her lying down to make her seem sexy. I just had no other choice.
One up, one down, top of the third—let’s call in a pinch hitter.
When it comes to DC Bombshells action figures, Kate Kane’s Batmwoman is in a league of her own.
Turning Batwoman into a baseball player was a stroke of genius. And those shoes? Those are some standing shoes.
They heard she liked bats, so they put a bat on her bat.
The more I look at this figure, the more I like it. The glove, the ball, the colors? They’ve taken Batwoman beyond the other three. Home run.
Finally we have Wonder Woman, the star of the line. I love this design, but the face—this is the face of a dynamic sculpture of a woman engaged in whatever action causes this sort of elation (good early movie buzz, perhaps?). It works in some poses, but not in others.
Now look at the full figure. See anything off?
What the hell is going on with this poor woman’s feet? I am surprised she can stand, even with my creative knee bending.
I am calling magic at play. Especially since she can even stand whie holding this massive ball and chain accessory.
The DC Bombshells’ action figures aren’t horrible. The sculpts are for the most part great, and the paint job is superb. Most of the flaws—Ivy and Wonder Woman’s feet, the weird face—are done in order to maintain the integrity of the designs, which is the whole point of the Designer Series in the first place.