Amanda
Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s Harley
Quinn
is one of the best comic books I’m reading right now. It’s
clever, fast-paced, hilarious, and it presents a version of Harley
that I like a lot.
Furthermore,
despite the existence of the term “Batgirling”, you will never
convince me that the success of this comic book – which debuted in
January of 2014, almost an entire year before the Batgirl reboot –
is not what drove DC to try out some lighter fare. This probably even
includes the aforementioned Batgirl reboot by Cameron Stewart,
Brendan Fletcher, and Babs Tarr. Harley
Quinn
was the first New 52 title to bring lightness and humor and it came
in at #2 in sales, only topped by the unstoppable juggernaut that is
Batman.
I
think that maybe
that raised some eyebrows at DC.
And
seriously – if you’re not reading the comic, you should be.
Unless you hate fun. Then you should probably go and read some math
textbooks or something.
I’ve
loved the design of this roller derby Harley since it was first
depicted on the solicit for Harley
Quinn #0.
It’s the traditional black and red, which I prefer over the red and
purple, all of the pads make sense for the derby but also give her a
superhero look (she’s more of an antihero than a villain in the
current comic), and because of
course
Harley would be a roller derby girl.
FIRST
GLANCE
I
ordered the figure because it directly adapts Amanda Conner’s art
and because, like I said, I just really like this look for Harley. In
person it looks even better than I expected and has one of the best
profiles (which is the term I use for the combination of sculpt and
articulation) of any of DCC’s comic book figures.
And
that face is just amazing – pure Conner.
PACKAGING
Harley
comes in a basic window box with a hang-tab panel. It’s the style
DCC has used for the past few years and it’s fine. Size-wise it can
handle a wide variety of figures and the window design is neat and
displays the figure well.
DCC
credits the sculptor, which I find important. I had to clumsily cover
up the eye-straining flash glare on this one rather than crop it
because I wanted to point out that the finished product is actually
better
than what is on the box, as Harley’s hammer is red with a silver
handle rather than all-silver, as pictured here. That’s pretty
neat.
LOOKS
This
is easily my favorite head sculpt that I’ve seen on a Harley
figure. The first thing I noticed is that the shape seems a little
odd, but it’s because of the size of her collar. It makes her head
look a little squat. The collar is a separate piece that moves
freely, so I was tempted to pop her head off and remove it. But I’m
not sure if the head was designed to “pop off” or if I might
cause some permanent damage by trying to do so. Lord knows I don’t
need any more broken action figures lying around here.
Side
Note: I finally had the time to open my Firefly Legacy figures, so I
opened Mal. His right forearm tore off with the gentlest of joint
testing. I might
be done with Funko Legacy figures. I don’t need this hassle.
The
face is full of character. I can’t quite explain it, but one of the
things that’s so great is how this doesn’t just look like a
figure painted to be Harley Quinn, it looks
like Harley. It has such a specific shape and expression that it
sells the character. The sculpted hair looks great and the painted
detail is incredible. The eyes, in particular, are very impressive.
The
white plastic that DCC used for Harley’s skin isn’t quite
white. This is good because I don’t want a yellowed Harley on my
shelf in five years. It has an interesting hue that makes it look
more like white skin than skin painted white. It’s somewhat similar
to the look Mattel gets with the skin tones on its WWE figures. This
white plastic also photographs much better than other white figures.
If you follow Needless Things, you know I often have trouble with
white or even just pale skin. It might also be the contrast that
Harley’s reds and blacks provide.
The
collar I mentioned above is a soft plastic. The sculpted bells are
pretty amazing, as the slotted portions are actually sculpted. The
paint detail is tight, with the glossy red and the silver in the
right spots with no blotching or bleeding.
Harley’s
costume features the standard bifurcated red and black design. The
use of glosses contributes a ton to how good this figure looks. Her
socks and the flexible portions of her elbow pads are flat while
pretty much everything else is glossy. This adds so much definition
and texture to the figure and combines with her skin – a different
texture and gloss, as well – to create a much more interesting and
fully realized character.
What,
exactly, is holding those shoulder pads on? Who
cares.
They look great.
Harley’s
belt and holster are nicely petite. DCC made a good call when they
made the holster and strap out of flexible rubber. This means that
her pistol can slide right into the holster and you can slide the
strap over the top. There’s no button or potentially faulty
mechanism to break.
Harley’s
mismatched boots are glossy with flat laces and pom-poms. Those
little pom-poms are just hilarious and say so much about who Harley
is. The paint is applied nicely and the
freaking grommets are even painted silver.
I’ve got figures that don’t even have painted laces, let alone
the eyelets.
ACCESSORIES
Harley
comes with a pair of detachable roller skates, a pistol, and a
comically oversized hammer.
Compared
to the other looney stuff Harley has, the pistol is pretty dull. But
it has tons of sculpted detail and is a nice gunmetal color. It fits
perfectly into Harley’s hand or into the holster. I would be
careful when putting the gun into the holster. It’s sturdy, but it
is a separate rubber piece that could conceivably tear or be pulled
off.
The
roller skates are excellent. The wheels roll quite nicely. The two
pegs fit snugly into holes on the bottom of Harley’s boots. When
you’ve got them on all the way, you’d actually be hard-pressed to
tell that they’re separate pieces. They look great.
The
comically oversized hammer is solid plastic. On older DC Direct
releases I would have been very concerned about the shaft breaking,
but it’s pretty solid. It and the top portion have metallic
finishes. Harley can hold it with both hands or either hand depending
on how good you are at getting action figures to hold things. But the
important part is that she can hold it.
FUN
DC
Collectibles has, as I’ve mentioned, upped their articulation game.
And what I like the most is that they’re not forcing themselves to
maintain a standard number or style of joints just to do it. They
design joints on a figure-by-figure basis, which ends up giving us
the best-looking figures possible.
Harley
lacks any double joints and her ankles don’t move, but with all of
the ball joints and swivels that were incorporated she can achieve a
good number of poses that you might need a psychotic antihero roller
derby vigilante to strike. Her hips and shoulders have the best
range. When you’re posing them, be careful. They’re sturdy and I
didn’t have any problems, but take your time. The hips have a much
better range than they initially seem to – loosening them up
carefully is a good idea. The shoulders move nicely, but be careful
with the pads. Again – they’re sturdy, but they’re hinged so as
to allow the shoulders more of a range.
Which
brings me to what I think is a pretty amazing feature that I didn’t
even notice until after I took these pictures (and was still playing
around with the figure because it’s so good) – all
of Harley’s pads are hinged. Her knee and elbow pads move freely so
that they can be positioned to cover the hinges and also just look
right. It’s an innovative way of handling the elbows and kneepads
and I think maybe a major company with the license to produce action
figures of the wrestlers from the biggest promotion in the world
could learn something from this.
This
is a fun figure. There are plenty of posing options, it can roll
around, and all of the accessories interact well and
can all be stored on the figure at the same time.
OVERALL
This
is easily the best Harley Quinn figure I own. The sculpt and paint
are beautiful and the design is so good that it actually makes me
excited for other DC Collectibles releases. That
is the mark of a truly great action figure – one that isn’t just
good on its own, but also gets you excited for other releases from
the line or company. If you’re a fan of Harley Quinn or just a fan
of great, fun action figures, you’ve got to buy one of these.
5
out of 5
Buy
one from Amazon and help Needless Things pay the bills!:
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