Like Giganta before her, I think Elasti-Girl has one of the best head sculpts in the line. It may just be that the sculpts look better in the larger scale or that Mattel muddles it less on the larger canvas, but, either way, I’m happy with how Rita turned out. The gloves, boots, and skirt all give the figure a sharp look. I could nitpick and wish the hand sculpts had been different (a fist, a gripping hand), but the open poses make for some great reaching poses at least.
The only drawback to the sculpt is that it meant changes to articulation. Most of what we’re used to is here and works great. Like previous new female sculpts, the ab crunch has been removed for a high waist swivel. I’m not the biggest fan of this as an articulation point, but it does improve the sculpt. The thing I don’t like though is the removal of the rocker ankles. It kills me. As a taller figure, it’s natural to want to pose Rita in crouching or lowered poses. The lack of rocker ankles (or even Giganta’s ball ankles) really makes that difficult.
Rita’s paint work was fairly spot-on. I had some small blemishes in the white part of her costume, but she’s largely either molded in the appropriate colors or features clean paint lines. The only issue that really bugged me was the brown paint slop on her purple headband. Thankfully, it’s not nearly as noticeable in person as it is on the close-up shot above.
Rita does include one accessory: herself. While the regular figure tops out as one of the biggest C&C/oversized figures, her accessory is easily the smallest “figure” coming in at 2/3rds the size of the Atom that came packed with Giganta. It’s a nice little piece, though having her in multiple sizes just makes me want a regular 6” version to go alongside them. Years ago, when the line was healthy, I thought that might be a possibility, but I think it’s safe to say this is Elasti-Girl’s one and only moment in the line now.
Overall, Elasti-Girl is pretty much exactly what I’ve wanted ever since the possibility of DC BAF’s became a reality five years ago. The sculpt is fantastic; Rita’s head sculpt in particular. The ankles annoy me, but the articulation is on par with what we’ve come to expect. The details are all there, but the important thing to me is that the core trio of the Doom Patrol is complete. It’s not the same without an ill-tempered, bearded man in a wheelchair, but I’m not holding out much hope for Mattel to solve that problem. I’m going to take what I can get and these three being on my shelf together is pretty good.
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Another great review Noisy! The last picture is hilarious. Hope you are feeling much better..
Ugh I am still in need of a finished Giganta. Though agree Rita rocks. I picked a collected Doom Patrol at the Library and got a much better liking of this group. That and a secret Six trade that had the group in it. Rita loses a leg though thanks to king shark and grows it back.
The mini.Rita I still have in the box so I won’t lose her. Those lil figs can get lost at times. I have to go finish Doom Patrol now but, wanna Ambush Bug and Bumblebee too.
So far, the only Doom Patrol members that have been “New 52d” in the New 52 is Beast Boy and Niles Caulder in the Ravagers comic.
Is that Starman standing in for Negative Man? I always thought he’d be a decent candidate for a custom ‘Negative Spirit’…
This looks great, perfect for a silver age DC display.
Nice review!
am i the only one who thinks that the horsemen, while i love them, need some work on boobs? i understand, they’re sculpting in a static medium and real boobs are all about movement, but it always looks like, when you can see a gal’s rack from a horsemen line, the boobs look like big hard implants rather than hanging in a natural way. i understand completely that i’m nitpicky since i’m a serious boob fan, but for me, they just don’t looks good.
that said, you’re damned right batman is the man! seriously, chicks always fall for the brooding artsy type. he’s unfreakin’ stoppable in the poon department. seriously, the roster of batman’s loves is almost as long as the rogues gallery. i know it would never happen at retail, but i think a “the many loves of batman” would be a fresh subline… one hot chick figure, well sculpted, well articulated, necessary accessories, the package designed to look like a comic book, and then each release, you print the box so it looks like her first appearance issue.
I think they sculpt the breasts to try and emulate comic art today. Most of comic artists today draw women with huge fake breasts so it makes sense.
In regards to Rita, are you sure her chest isn’t the same as Giganta’s? It could be why her chest looks so fake.
And by “comic art of today” you mean since the 80s? That’s when the founding Image partners all got their start and the “bubble tits” look really took off, which influenced the next generation of artists with their commercial success. Of course, comic females have always been fairly well-endowed.
yeah, but that’s what weird about it… the boobs they sculpt tend to very silvestri or lee, but the horsemen grew up on ditko and kirby… all i’m saying is, every once in a while, i’d love to see a toy that’s sculpted more bisley or madureira or even wrightson or sam keith… something stylized differently or (GASP AT THE HORROR!!) realistic. i don’t mind big boobs, but then power girl should look like carrie kegan. but then again, i don’t need every comic-based gal to have F cups either. sam keith’s julie, from the maxx, was maybe a generous c cup, but the bubbly style of art made her incredibly hot, much moreso than mr pulido’s lady death w/ the G scale bubbly jubblies.
or to put it another way, i’d be beyond fine if the horsemen stepped away from the control art and tried something more personal w/ their sculpting style on comic book chicks. sure, they’re DC characters, but it’s the horsemen… let them have their own style.
Put me down for a Silver St. Cloud ala Marshall Rogers with natural hangings boobs.
Yeah, that’s the ticket. 🙂
Robotman got 52’d up in a new “My Greatest Adventure” limited. I don’t think sales were great, but it wasn’t bad.
Absolutely love Rita, though; probably more than I usually would since I didn’t think we’d ever get her. I was slightly annoyed to realize Robotman and Negative Man both have neck joints that can’t look up at her, though…
Absolutely great figure! Thats why I love this line. Thats why it definitely stinks that its down to about 12 figures a year. Unless they can sneak a c-list figure here and there in the DC Unlimited line instead of the umpteenth Batman variant (with exceptions for Zebra Batman)I cant get enough of them.
nice!
I ended up making a custom Niles Caulder. I took the head off a Marvel Legends Prof. X and then put on the extra head I had from the unmasked IE Starman. You Have to glue it in place because the neck pegs don’t match but it looks great. I painted the shirt white and the tie red. It is not a perfect figure by any means but it works with the group since I doubt we will ever get him from Mattel.
we people want MENTO!!!!!!!
“new 52ed” = rebooted. sad that that term is what goes, these days.
the w10 Beast Boy is actually in his DP colors. kinda. He was actually purple at that time, then somehow turned green and took up the red/white and lost the yellow Wolvie mask.
(can’t seem to find him in that color, but I know I’ve seen/shared it before! DP 99 shows him as green? brief retcon or I’ve skipped to another parallel world??)
Niles Caulder – the easy custom I think I first saw from Dan’l Pickett (Julius Marx), with the bearded Starman head on a suit body (MM Harvey, DCSH Clark Kent, or just use Walter Peck!) in Xavier’s movie wheelchair. It was passable, and only requires of Matty to make a wheelchair, if they can’t borrow one from Barbie.
Mento – new head and (re-used) hands on the Negative Man body.
I’m still annoyed neither Larry nor Raven came with a vinyl cling or even cardboard standee Negative/Soulself accy. 🙁
We also still need Madame Rouge for Beast boy to angst against (if only to face off against X-Men’s Rogue! LOL) and maybe Gen. Immortus. and Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man!
To clarify on the Beast Boy color issue: he was always green, but when he joined the Doom Patrol, he wore a purple mask that covered his entire face with a Hawkeye style domino mask over it(yes, he wore a mask over a mask…).
My dad is possibly one of the world’s biggest Doom Patrol fans, so I’ve got all this stuff memorized backwards and forwards.
Also: Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man Figure = Awesome!
Nice review! Rita and upcoming Platinum are the stars of the 2012 sub. To date, however, haven’t seen anything comparable in the 2013 sub.
That’s a cool Perez cover on the Blue Ribbon digest. Kinda weird to see Rita in a redesigned costume at a time when she was still pushing up daisies. Or was that the suit she originally died in? I haven’t read the 60’s run but much like the Metal Men, I still welcomed the figures because they display nicely. All we need now is the Chief.
The head sculpt on Rita is my favorite part of the figure. The Horsemen captured the softness of Rita’s features in a manner which clearly resembles Premiani’s artwork.