Sunday, January 24, 2010

DCUC Wave 10 Power Girl: The Odd One Out

That's what comes to mind for me first thing--she's part of the Superman "family" but doesn't wear the big red 'S'.  Instead she's got, well, literally nothing for a chest emblem.  Ok, not nothing...but rather two whole lots of nothing. :P

I had to get this figure loose on Ebay where not surprisingly, she's the most popular figure in Wave 10, more popular than even the sensationally accessory-laden clown prince of crime, the Joker.  That's based solely on price, where PG was the most expensive of the three Wave 10 figures I got (the other was Man-Bat).



I have to confess: the first thing I did when I got this figure was to compare her torso with the rest of the female figures I had from the line like Wonder Woman and Hawk Girl.  And it's no surprise that Power Girl's is a new sculpt which is bigger in two specific areas. Yup.  Perhaps the extra cost in molding a new chest prevented other nicer add-ons?
But despite being disappointed at the lack of accessories (other than the Imperiex C&C, which I'm kinda meh/blah about, mainly due to the size of the complete figure), I've been pleasantly surprised by the overall integrity of the figure's joints, especially the new thigh/hip swivel/hinges.  It could be just that the fig I got was nice and tight but I'd like to think Mattel has improved on the quality of the line, especially since they've hiked prices.  Still, tight joints mean tight poses, and that's where Power Girl shines.




Like: The face sculpt, viewed head-on.  Unfortunately beside looking all dolled up and pretty, she's barely got an expression from this angle, though her eyes have been painted nice and sharp and blue. :)


Dislike: The face sculpt, when viewed from the side. It's a little flat for my liking. What's worse is that she also looks she has no neck, giving her a little bit of a constipated expression.


Like: The sculpted folds in the boots, cape.  They also did a good job with her, um..."emblem."

Like: That her arms are nice and muscular without being to beefy.  We definitely don't want PG looking like a female body builder although I've read in some places that some fans think she should look that way. Not me.

Like: Her new leg joints, which don't have the hinge cut on the outside of her hips.  She looks more natural when posed in wider stances compared to the older heroine figures.

Dislike: That her left knee piece doesn't match her left thigh, giving the thigh swivel a really mismatched look.  As a result, my Power Girl looks like she's got a bow-leg.  Luckily I can hide it when posing her.  But it's obvious enough that you'll notice it if you look.  Some QC please, Mattel?

Dislike: That she has some blue paint marks on her thighs that I strongly believe rubbed off from her gloves during shipping.  After all,m I did get her loose. (And she flew halfway round the world to Singapore from the US.)  But those should come off with a little bit of alcohol.  If you're getting her in package, there should be no problem here.


RATINGS

Aesthetics: 9/10 - Power Girl looks great, make no mistake about it.  From the sharply painted facial features to the details in the sculpt and the seamless hip joints. They've done a great job, especially with how plain PG's costume is.  It's just too bad her face isn't a nicely done as Wonder Woman's or even Big Barda's.  Ya win some, ya lose some, I guess.

Poseability: 9/10 - PG shines here not because she's more poseable than the standard DCUC female, but because her legs look nice and seamless in poses.  With the new hip joints, she doesn't have weird joints cuts in her hips.  Also, with thinner limbs than the males, her joints are nice and tight so she can hold her poses without falling over.  That's always good.  Oh and get this--she's got extra boot-top swivels. Nice.

The downside though is that she, like all of the new figures after Wave 8, have lost their ball-joint ability in their heads.  Pity, because a flying character like PG could use it.  It also doesn;t help that her ab crunch is partially blocked by the piece used to attach her cape to her back.

Fun: 9.5/10 - I think it's always fun when you get a great female character in a male dominated line like DCUC.  Well, actually most action figures are male anyway.  That's all the more reason to get the females right.  It's also great to have a character like Power Girl because she's not a main main character, but she is vital to lots of storylines.  Take Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, for instance.  They needed her, er...assets in order to persuade the 13 year-old Toyman to find a solution to the Kryptonite asteroid about-to-crash-into-Earth dilemma. Heh. ;P

Value: 8.5/10 - Great as she is, PG's a little shy in the value for money department because she doesn't come with any accessories.  What would come with PG, you ask?  Well that's a tough one.  Alternate hands? Since both of hers are fists...Removable cape?  That would be nice, but not absolutely necessary.  But since when did an accessory have to be necessary to be included? :)

Overall: 9/10 - She's a highly sought after Walmart Exclusive, which makes her price high at the online stores and Ebay.  But do not fret, for she's slated to be released in a future wave as a "World's Greatest Hero" figure with a stand.  Get her then, cuz her price should be lower and they'll probably have worked out QC issues (hopefully.)  She'll also come with a stand! Woot! ;)

7 comments:

  1. I have my doubts as to whether the price will be lower for the World's Greatest.

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  2. I'm not so sure it's just the knee pieces that don't match -- it looks like your figure's left leg is actually a right leg except for the boot. Try swiveling the knee piece all the way around and seeing if they match! (Not that it'll look any better, but that'll confirm my suspicions.) In any case, you're far more forgiving of that problem than I would have been. :)

    Anyway, great review! I wasn't all that keen on Power Girl at first (she's so darned skinny from the side... it's so not attractive), but I like her a lot more since modding her head so she can actually look up.

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  3. @ Reverend Ender - The price over here for the Wave 9 version has dropped since the news of the World's Greatest hit the streets. As to PG from World's Greatest itself, I think it'll start high but fall back to retail once enough stock comes thru.

    @Wes - Yup, the knee piece doesn't match no matter how much I swivel. I suspect you're right about it being 2 right knees, but I'll have to look again to be sure.

    As for her head: how'd you mod it? Is it difficult? :)

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  4. Well, I'm more certain that she's got two right thighs than anything else -- you can see the flat part of PG's butt at the top of the left leg -- but I've got my PG in hand and that bulge on the outer part of her left knee is on the inside of both legs on my figure. It doesn't match if you turn it a complete 180?

    As for the head, nah, it's not difficult... and it doesn't even involve glue or screws! :D I'll have an article about it on AD in the near future.

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  5. Oh my, you're competely right! She does have 2 right thoighs! I couldn't figure out for the life of me what the problem was because the knees looked right as did the calf/boot part. Lol, my Power Girl's literally ass backwards. Thanks for helping me figure that out, Wes. :)

    As for the article of fixing her head, I look forward to it! :)

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  6. That's just stupid looking.

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