Review of Silk Spectre II - Watchmen action figure

Introduction

I love the graphic novel Watchmen, and I love the film as well. In fact, I like the ending of the movie better than the book, but was disappointed in the extended director's cut. It had a lot of extra exposition that wasn't really necessary, and was cut for good reason from the theatrical release.

Matty Collector is continuing their comic based series of figures based on the comic with last month's release of Silk Spectre II. Like the other figures in the series, she was originally $25, but is now sold out.

Packaging - ****
These are some of the coolest packages we've seen this year - or any year. The book-like package is sturdy and great looking, and completely collector friendly. Rumor has it that when the first team series is complete, the splines will line up to form the Watchmen logo!

Sculpting - ***
This is Silk Spectre II, the daughter of the original Silk Spectre. This figure is also based on the comics designs, not the movie, in case you were wondering about the costume.

She stands about 6 inches tall (actually a smidge over), fitting in pretty well with the other figures in the line. Of course, since Rorschach was too tall and Dr. Manhattan was too short, she could be in the neighborhood and still be better than either of them. At least she's shorter than Manhattan.

The sculpt is pretty, with an appropriate amount of muscle on her body. It's not super detailed (the hair is the nicest aspect in that regard), but it's clean.

There are some missing details though that really bug me. The skull at her neck is pretty much just a blob, and the shoes are mostly painted on - a big negative.

They used a slightly translucent yellow rubber material for the dress, which allows you to see the black suit underneath. However, the arms are sculpted and painted yellow, making them a weird mismatch with the rest of the dress.

Paint - **1/2
This is a $25 figure with almost no accessories - the paint really needs to be outstanding.

It's not. The earrings are sloppy, and I already mentioned the blob of a skull on her choker. It's not the right color either...at least not as I recall.

The shoes are largely painted on, and not well. The edges are sloppy, and overall the quality is below average.

Articulation - **1/2
This is not the most articulated figure to begin with, and the rubber dress cuts out a whole lot more.

There's the neck, shoulders, elbows and wrists, and these work pretty well. She really needs some sort of cut bicep or twisting elbow joint though, to get decent arm poses.

There's a cut waist, hinge hips, pin knees, pin ankles and cut thighs. The legs can manage deeper stances, even with the rubber dress, but the waist and hips are pretty limited.

Numerically speaking, there's quite a few joints, but once you have her out of the package and try working with them, you find that they are more limited than you'd like.

Accessories - **
There's only two accessories this time - the now standard Watchmen logo base, and the oversized 'trading card'. Both are nice, but considering the price point, you should expect more.

Fun Factor - **1/2
The limited articulation makes this figure a bit disappointing in this category. Not much posing, not much playing. It's unlikely that kids will know who she is, making her a collectors only sort of thing, and with the limited articulation and no accessories, collectors won't find much to do with her either.

Value - *1/2
This is, at best, a $15 figure selling for $25...plus shipping.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - **1/2
When the best thing about a figure is the box, you know you're in trouble. This figure isn't God awful, but considering the price point, it's well below the quality I'd expect.

If you're looking to complete the comic based set, you'll have to pick her up of course, but it's disappointing that she didn't turn out better.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ****
Sculpting - ***
Paint - **1/2
Articulation - **1/2
Accessories - **
Fun Factor - **1/2
Value - *1/2
Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy 
Obviously, your best bet to get these at the suggested retail of $25 is through Matty Collector. At this point they've sold out though, so you should search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
So far, Mattel has released Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach. They should have the full team out by year's end. This isn't the first time the license has been hit with collectibles either - smaller figures that I've checked out include some of the variants, and series 1 split in two reviews, one of Ozymandias and modern Silk Spectre, and the other of Rorschach and modern Nite Owl. There's also the series 2 review, and I also checked out one of the 13" deluxe figures, Dr. Manhattan.

Hot Toys produced two sixth scale figures with the Comedian and Silk Spectre.

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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