Review of Power Girl - Cover Girls of the DC Universe Statue

Introduction

It seems like it's double D week at the site, first with the review of Helga, and now tonight with a look at the latest Cover Girls of the DC Universe statue - Power Girl.

Like Jessica Rabbit, Power Girl's not bad, she's just drawn that way. And you can thank the talented Adam Hughes for that, and for the designs of all the Cover Girls statues. This time the design is based on his variant cover for Power Girl #2, but word is that future designs will be all new, springing from his rather fertile imagination.

All of the Cover Girls statues are limited editions, but this is one of those cases that I've ranted about before. They made 5000 of this statue, making the term 'limited' a bit hard to swallow. Considering the number of statues and busts out there that are made in the under 500 range - a mere 10% of the quantity produced here - using the word 'limited' is a bit of a stretch. In fact, I'd say that unless a secret society of flat chested woman looking to destroy all bosomy idols breaks into geek homes across the world, smashing poor Power Girl statues, then 'limited' will never equal 'rare' in this case. Maybe DC Direct knows something about the organizational affiliations of flat chested women that I don't.

Still scheduled for release this year are Harley, Poison Ivy, and Batgirl, so the line is going strong through 2010. Come SDCC, we'll see if sales have been solid enough to continue into 2011.

Packaging - ***
Hey, it's a box! Positives include strong Styrofoam trays, a good size for storage (little wasted space), and a nicely done Certificate of Authenticity. On the minus side, the graphics are a tad plain, and more background text on the character would be nice, but not necessary. There's no window either, so if you're buying this at the LCS, you'll have to wait til you get home to be sure she's all she can be.

Sculpting - ***1/2
Let's get to my personal issue with this series so far right out of the gate - the helmet hair. There's not a ton of detail in the strands, giving the hair a rough, chunky look. This has been a style choice across the series though, so you may not find it as annoying as I do.

The face is not only beautiful, but a very good representation of the comic book cover on which it is based. The internal scale - limbs, torso, head, hands, etc - is all very good, and she fits in well, scale-wise, with the rest of the series.

She also defines the term "bodacious ta-ta's". For such a skinny girl, she has some huge breasts, even when compared to the other figures in this series. I think the 'power' in her name comes from her ability to simply stand under the gravitational pull that these babies must generate.

While the size is accurate to the cover and Hughes' style, the cleavage is not. It's a bit...soft and pillowy, not the sharply defined, rounded mountains of flesh on the cover. Instead, these look a bit like Power Girl at 70, after they've lost much of their firmness.

And that's the most time I've ever spent discussing the breasts of a statue.

Paint - ***
The paint work on these statues has generally been clean and well defined, but there are a couple minor blips this time around.

The work on the face - eyes, lips, hairline, skin tone - is great, complimenting the beautiful face. The white of the costume is bright and clean, and the soft red on the cape gives the impression of cloth. It even looks like there's a soft texture, adding to the realism.

Some of the smaller details aren't quite as clean as I'd like though, especially the gold braid across her torso. The white of the costume comes up quite far on the braid, with the gold really only covering the top edge. This, along with a few other slightly off cut lines on the small details, is a minor issue, but at this price point needs to be addressed.

Design - ****
Her name is "Power Girl", so two things need to be clear in the design and sculpt - she's a girl, and she's powerful.

The original comic cover made both those things obvious, and this translation does the same. Clearly she's a girl - even a blind man could tell that. But the choice of the solid, hands on the hips stance, with the cool flowing cape blowing out behind her, gives an impression of strength and determination.

Value - ***
You should be able to get her around $80, maybe a smidge more. If you consider the price for the smaller Batman Black and White statues is around $70 these days, and the MUCH smaller Gotham City Stories are pushing $80 as well, then these don't seem like such a bad deal at all. I suspect that long term most folks will be happier with the purchase as well.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. She comes attached to the base, and short of dropping her on a concrete floor, you should be good to go.

Overall - ***1/2
It can be argued that DC Direct's most successful statue line is the Batman Black and White series, with many releases over several years. I have a hunch that the Cover Girls could be a similar hit, with a couple dozen characters completed over the next two or three years. Sales seem very good so far (in fact, Power Girl is sold out at some retailers), and the releases they have already announced are very strong. Allowing Hughes to do original designs for the series moving forward is also going to be a positive change.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Design - ****
Value - ***
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has her at $90.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I think I'm all caught up now on the series, with reviews of Catwoman/Wonder Woman, Zatanna, and Black Canary.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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