Monday, August 29, 2016

Action Figure Review: Harley Quinn (Gold Dress) from DC Comics Multiverse: Suicide Squad by Mattel

 Ready for another Harley Quinn review? Well, that's what you're getting today! As of this writing I have yet to find series 2 and the Toys R Us exclusive Harley Quinn from Mattel's Suicide Squad line but I did manage to get the Amazon exclusive Harley Quinn seen here. I preordered her back in mid-July (preordering action figures is so convenient and any company or retailer who doesn't give collectors the option needs to be forced to eat a Constable Zuvio figure out of spite) and received her in early-mid August. This outfit is from one of Harley's flashback scenes in Suicide Squad and doesn't get a lot of screen time. It figures prominently in advertising, though, and is a pretty unique look for the character, so it's a cool exclusive for an online retailer to offer. Let's take a closer look at Harley Quinn in her fashionable gold dress, shall we?



 The Facts:

Height: 6 1/4 inches

Articulation: Hinged ankles, hinged knees, swivel thighs, H-hinged hips, swivel waist, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, and a balljointed head.

Accessories: Collect and Connect figure Killer Croc's hands

Non-Scalper Price: $20 dollars
 The Positives:

* While I'm not sure that this sculpt is "Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn" is definitely is Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Make sense? I'm not sure it's a perfect likeness but it's a nice looking sculpt and conveys the character well. The expression works, the paint is really clean on the eyes and lips, and the little tattoos are excellent. Also, notice the paler skin. That's a nice detail that seems like it could have been easy to miss.

* The tors has a lot of nice detail, particularly on the dress. I love the studded pattern Mattel crafted here. Harley's necklace also is nicely sculpted here. She has plenty of visible tattoos, all of which are neat and cleanly applied. Mattel has done great work on printing tattoos in their WWE Elite line and they've done an admirable job on the Suicide Squad figures as well.


 * Here's a quick look at the elaborate back of Harley's dress. It's pretty flashy, no? The paint work is quite neat on this figure as all of the small gold chains and straps are really captured quite well.
 * Harley comes with Killer Croc's hands since she rips them off of his arms in one of the final scenes of the film.....

Just kidding. They're build-a-figure parts for an alternate Killer Croc build. If you buy the six retail figures you can build a regular Croc without his hoodie on but with wrapped hands. This store exclusive figure gives you the chance to have a plain handed Killer Croc. It's a small extra, but an extra nonetheless.
 The Negatives:

* The articulation on the Suicide Squad figures has been pretty average at best. We're getting lots of unique sculpts but weaker articulation than we saw with DC Universe Classics. I think I would have been OK with less articulation here and a better sculpt or more useful articulation, but this figure just kind of falls in the middle. She has what you'd expect but it feels and looks kind of gangly.
 * Due to the waist swivel and some odd sculpting, the diamonds on Harley's dress just don't match up quite right. It looks kind of odd the more you look at it. I really think Mattel should have figured another way to execute the dress to make it look a bit sleeker and better tailored. My thought would been to sculpt the full dress as part of the upper torso and have the legs attach underneath. It would have given less articulation but a better overall appearance.
It's very cool that Mattel and Amazon offered this version of Harley Quinn as an exclusive. She's a decent figure with a very cool and unique outfit. Unfortunately, the articulation here isn't rendered well enough to make this figure looks as impressive as she should be. This is really one of those cases where a more classic NECA or McFarlane approach (less articulation, better sculpt) might have looked better. Harley's a Good figure and is definitely going to be a draw for Harley Quinn's hardcore fans (of which they are plenty) but, even with the inclusion of the rather unnecessary unwrapped Killer Croc hands, this is something that most casual fans and collectors can easily skip.


 I've reviewed quite a few Harley Quinn figures on this site including the 12 inch Multiverse Harley Quinn, the 6 inch standard Suicide Squad Harley Quinn, the Imaginext The Joker & Harley Quinn, the POP! Roller Derby Harley, the Suicide Squad Harley Quinn, Batman: The Animated Series Harley Quinn, and the roller derby Harley Quinn from DC Collectibles,the DC Super Hero Girls Harley, the DC Comics Icons Harley Quinn, and the S.H. Figuarts Harley Quinn (Injustice Version). Oh, and the Arkham Asylum Lego set. If you're more interested in Dr. Harleen Quinzel, I've reviewed the Arkham Origins Harleen Quinzel.

If you're interested in more DC Comics Multiverse figures from Mattel, check out the following:

DC Comics Multiverse (6 inches) by Mattel (2016)
The Arrow
Batman from Zero Year
Earth 23 Superman
The Joker from Batman: Endgame
Justice Buster
Reverse Flash (The Flash TV Series)

DC Comics Multiverse: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Mattel (2016)
Batman
Son of Batman

DC Comics Multiverse: Batman v. Superman by Mattel (2016)
Aquaman
Armored Batman
Bat Creature
Batman
Batman's Grapnel Blaster (Collect & Connect accessory) 
Batman Unmasked
Knightmare Batman
Lex Luthor
Superman 
Wonder Woman

DC Comics Multiverse: Suicide Squad by Mattel (2016)
Batman
Deadshot
Diablo 
The Joker (Toys R Us Exclusive)
Rick Flag 

2 comments:

  1. Pre-ordering is the only way to go. Nothing worse that looking for scraps on the Canadian toy shelves. Doesn't matter the store, once we lost Zellers we lost the greatest toy section ever. I bet it took up 1/4 of the store at Christmas time and they never ran out of figures.

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    1. Pre-ordering is just so convenient. I enjoy going on a toy run but I don't find "the hunt" to be all that fun anymore. There are a few lines that tend to show up multiple times but, these days, it feels like most lines have too random of distribution to make searching worthwhile.

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