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[b]CATWOMAN[/b] The Catwoman’s comic book outfit which appealed to me most was her skin-tight purple cat-suit with thigh-high black boots and arm-length clawed gloves (from her late 1980’s-late 1990’s comic book appearances). This costume has been represented a number of times as an action figure. So I had very high hopes of avoiding the lengthy creation of a custom figure for my “Legends of Gotham City” Collection. No such luck… The DC Direct Batman: Long Halloween Catwoman Action Figure was based on comic book artist Tim Sale’s artwork from the “Long Halloween” storyline. Unfortunately, is artwork was not my cup of tea. However, I did recognize pretty quickly that it was mainly this action figure’s head sculpt, wrist bracelets, and color scheme that made it [i]artwork-specific[/i] to Sale’s “Long Halloween” book. With an appropriate head swap, anatomical alteration, and careful paint work, this figure could definitely be made into a perfect “classic” comic book Catwoman! After some extensive surgery to replace her anatomically awkward arms, and a head-swap with a Silver Age Catwoman figure, I carefully re-painted this figure into a much more accurate depiction of Catwoman’s modern age catsuit. ![]() |
Hank Pym (Ant-Man) | ![]() | Submission Order | ![]() | Sub-Zero, Mortal Kombat 9 |
Arkham Asylum Bane | ![]() | Batman Series | ![]() | Arkham Asylum Batman |
The Penguin | ![]() | Created by darklord1967 | ![]() | The Joker |
I really love the DC Direct figures too. At the risk of sounding snobbish, I think they have a solid weight feel... an artistic, collectible richness... an elegance to them that I frankly find lacking in the DC Universe Classics line.
The Mattel products are definitely intended more as (mass production) "play toys". All of the men and women characters are molded off of the same basic 2 or 3 body sculpts. It feels very strange to me to see Catwoman with the exact same anatomical size and build as Harley Quinn or Batgirl... or Green Lantern with the exact same physique as The Flash, or The Riddler
However, As a customizer, I cannot help but feel the need to enhance the articulation of the DC Direct figures a bit for better poseability. As collectible as they may be, they can be overly "statuesque", if you know what I mean.
For that very reason, I went through quite a lot of surgery correcting when I created my custom (poseable) DC Direct-based Penguin Action figure for this series.
Feel free to check out my WIP thread for all of these "Legends Of Gotham City" characters over in the forums Custom Workstation.
Kinda sad she doesn't have leg articulation.
If you are referring to sideways (side-kick) hip articulation, then perhaps I should explain something:
There has always been an old conundrum in the world of customzing, where artists seem to be divided into two camps: Those who prefer Super articulation, (for added poseability in their figures), VERSUS those who favor basic articulation, (for its tendency to preserve anatomical aesthetics and clean sculpts).
I would probably describe myself as a customizer who favors the sculpt work, pleasing anatomy, and aesthetics of an action figure.
I honestly find Mattel's DC Universe Collection figures, (as sculpted and engineered by The Four Horsemen Studios), to be some of the most anatomically strange and awkward looking figures around today... particularly the female characters.
I do not care for their strange mid-thigh swivel articulation (who decided THAT was necessary?), nor do I care for the strange design of their upper hips. I don't really need (or even want) for my figures to be able to perform side-kicks or splits if it is going to make their hips look like bizarre fragmented door hinges.
But, hey... as always to each, his own...