I am continuing to make it a bad habit of pushing older DC Multiverse figures out of the way in favor of new arrivals. But after having checked out the Power Girl Premium Format last week, I was hankering to open up and have a look at the new DC Multiverse New 52 Huntress. I really enjoyed World’s Finest around that time and this is a figure I was pretty excited to get my hands on! Also, I’ve begun packing away many of my loose DC Multiverse figures for the move and I’m focusing on opening some of the new ones to take a look at them here and get them packed too!
Huntress is part of the Collector Edition subline, which means she’s more expensive than the regular figures and comes in a box with some spiffy silver foil. I sort of say that in jest, but to be fair this packaging looks really nice. I am especially fond of the artwork chosen for the collector card and it is reproduced much larger for the back panel of the box. You may notice that Todd has abandoned including a collector card holder, which nobody seemed to really want, in favor of some more accessories. In this case, that includes two extra face plates (Oh yes… I said face plates, not heads!), and extra hands. I still think these figures are priced too high, but at least we’re moving in the right direction to bring the feeling of value up.
And here’s Helena out of the box and looking pretty damn fine. This costume shows a lot less skin than some, but the overall design is certainly familiar. You get the black body suit with purple boots, gauntlets, belt, and shoulder pads, along with the white cross over the upper body and white stripes on the outside of her leggings. I believe the body recycles legs from Arkham City Catwoman, and to be fair it works really well here with the purple boots making it look rather distinctive. It probably helps that I don’t actually own that figure so my eyes aren’t making that comparison on the shelf. The cape is softgoods, which helps to add to the Collector Edition sense of value. It’s a fairly light black material, light enough to be somewhat sheer. The white border is a little chunky, but it does have a rather sturdy wire running through it, which makes it lots of fun to pose.
Swappable face plates is a new thing for this line, or at least it’s the first time I’ve encountered it. It works simply enough with the face pegging into the front of the head and the transition is fairly seamless thanks to the way the hair is sculpted. The first two plates give her the extended wings on the mask, which also extends down across her chin. One of these sports a serious expression and the other a smile. I think the head sculpts are really solid and while the paint on the mask doesn’t quite line up with the sculpt lines, I think these are both pretty good.
The third option features a more abbreviated mask without the extended wings and lacking the chin piece. This one has a somewhat concerned expression and I like this one a lot too. The hair is sculpted to be blown off the shoulders and that helps to free up the neck articulation. I will say that she could have used a little more neck as the jawline feels like it’s too close to her upper body. Still, I’m pretty happy with it.
If you’ve been kicking around Todd’s DC Multiverse, you know what to expect from the articulation and yes, it’s really quite good. Huntress faces some balance problems because her feet are rather small and in high heels. Combine that with the cape and she’s probably a figure that you’ll want to use the included stand with. Still, I was able to get her to stay upright most of the time. The three pairs of swappable hands include fists, gesturing hands, and gun-holding hands.
The gun hands work with her crossbow, and this is easily the biggest disappointment here as it’s so chunky and uninteresting. The sculpt is bland and satisfies the bare minimum of what it needs to in order to look like a crossbow. I’d wager I could do better with ten minutes and a lump of Playdoh.
I’m still trying to be selective on what Collector Edition figures I buy, but Huntress was one I was never going to pass up and I preordered her right out of the gate. It would have been more prudent to wait, because she’s now turning up on sale at retailers, and I’ve seen her for as low as $17.99 since her release. But I’m not mad, because she’s a really nice figure and definitely an improvement over my old DC Signature Series Huntress, which is looking mighty dated these days. But, maybe I could snatch that crossbow and see how it works on this release. Either way, she’s a great addition to my Multiverse shelf, or at least she would be if I weren’t dismantling them as we speak. Now bring on Power Girl!