Toy Review: Harley Quinn from Teekeez by Cryptozoic

 

   A couple weekends ago my wife and I were traveling through Marion, North Carolina. We walked through the downtown, found a couple Geocaches, and stopped at All Things Geeky by 2 Nerds, a comic book shop inside of an old factory that's been converted into a mall. It was a pretty neat place and we walked around inside for at least 30 minutes. I didn't find much I needed but I did grab this little Harley Quinn vinyl tiki figure from Cryptozoic's Teekeez line. I remember these coming out in 2017 but I never had any of them. I did have some of the Eekeez from FOCO, though, which came out in 2018. These are different than the Geeki Tikis from Beeline Creative, which are actual drinking mugs. Looking at it, it's kind of wild that three different companies (off the top of my head, at least) have made DC Comics themed tiki items in the past decade. I grabbed this Harley for my Harley Quinn collection. At $7.99, she was at a pretty good price, too. Ready to check out a very stylized take on Harley Quinn? Then join me after the break...

The Facts:

Height: 2 1/2 inches

Articulation: None

Accessories: None

Original Retail Price: $10 dollars

Year of Release: 2017

The Positives:

* The painted wood aesthetic of this tiki take on Harleen is incredible. Cryptozoic did a really nice job on these figures. So far as I can find, the DC Comics characters are the only Teekeez they ever released (FOCO did multiple licenses under their Eezeek brand). At 2.5 inches, they're a decent size for stacking, and they definitely were meant to be stacked. The top of the head and the bottom of the feet are flat, allowing you to stack them up. Kind of a neat feature. I'm not sure I'll end up with any more ever, though there are at least 4 Harley Quinn variants I'm aware of (black and gold, green and purple Joker colors, a translucent "Ruby Idol", and a darker red and black with a more weathered finish).

* These things are wild looking and definitely capture the tiki aesthetic nicely. Harley doesn't just look like Harley Quinn carved out of wood; she has the exaggerated features of a tiki statue with massive teeth set in a huge grin, flat surfaces on her body, and very stylized eyes that transform her plain domino mask into something pretty impressive. The paint work is really nicely and has an uneven look that gives it a more handcrafted appearance, perhaps with some weathering as well. 

* Here's the top of Harley's jester cap. Looking at it, you can see the wood grain texture present in the sculpt. It's all over the sculpt, making the figure look like it was truly carved out of one solid piece of tree wood. 

* She might be a tiki, but she's still sneaky! Harley has her classic mallet and it's hidden behind her back, ready to deliver a whomping. It also looks like it was carved out of wood with the mallet head being one single log.

   Cryptozoic's Teekeez might be a but too large to be considered minifigures, but not by much. This is a really fun little figure and I do have to say that it would be kind of neat to have a group of these stacked together on a shelf. The other releases in this series were Wonder Woman, Batman, the Joker, and Superman, each with some variants. There was a series 2 that I found solicited and on display at Toy Fair but I can't find any evidence they were ever actually released (series would have have been Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Catwoman, Aquaman, and the Flash). Harley Quinn is a unqiue figure for my Harley Quinn shelf and I'm quite glad to have stumbled across her. She's very unique and an incredibly well made vinyl. I'm particularly fond of the mallet hidden behind her back, as it seems like a very Harley thing to do. This is a Great piece and just a lot of fun.

For all of my reviews of Harley Quinn/ Dr. Harleen Quinzel, check out the Harley Quinndex.