2023 was a year of many firsts, including the Thunderbolt Squad series, which just happened to be a line I picked up on as the figures featured both seamless and jointed components. I would have likely just left it at one figure, but then they went ahead and did something magically.. release a second character that didn't suck. so naturally I was on board.
Fast forward to the end of 2023, and Barbera Red makes her grand appearance.
A significantly larger box than her predecessor, Whisky Sour, it's a pretty simple yet elegant design, effectively transparent plastic for the front panels and printed on the back.
In terms of contents, Barbera Red isn't lacking. Of course, with no reference to the source material, I can't exactly say whether or not something crucial is missing:
1 x Main Figure
1 x Unhelmeted Head
4 x Faceplates w/Adjustable Eyes (Netural, Focused, Smiling, Ahegao)
10 x Posing/Gripping Hands
2 x Earpieces
2 x Blue Flame Effects
2 x Red Flame Effects
2 x Swords
1 x Axe
1 x Base/Stand
Out of the box, Barbera Red has the helmeted head on. I'm not sure how I would describe this look, as it's certainly not as simple as Cybernetic Bunny Girl. The best i can come up with is Space Pirate or something, but so long as clothing is basically optional I generally don't complain.
Like with Whisky Sour, the arms and legs are all Cybernetic, and as such are jointed, which honestly is better in terms of balance anyway, but thematically it makes sense here. Unlike Whisky Sour, however, Barbera Red has a fully intact torso, which of courses means full silicone between the neck and the thighs. Barbera Red is also significantly taller than Whisky Sour is, though the height difference is made up by the jointed legs rather than the silicone torso itself
There are of course other aspects to her costume, such as the translucent red cape on her back and the transparent plastic cover for her abdomen, that were included for pure cosmetic reasons, and make designs like this incredibly appealing to me.
To make her look even cooler, you swap out the heads and apply the flame effects. I stuck with the Blue ones, but as mentioned there are Red ones too.
So curves are always nice to see, but even better are beautifully expressive faces. They might not be the expressions you prefer, but companies should commit and do the best the can with what they got. These faces, IMO, are exactly that. There are no subtle differences between the faces, eyes are large and expressive. Combine that with the articulated eyes, and you can vary the usage of each face even more.
So if you're familiar with Silicone seamless bodies, you won't be surprised to hear that Articulation on Barbera Red is pretty good. There are of course some limitations due to the jointed limbs and their general bulk, but overall you can pull of a nice assortment of poses, including battle poses, though for those you may wish to consider the Base/Stand for balance issues - those high heels of her are terrible for that sort of thing. The cape and ponytail do have a joint to allow for more dynamic looks and, more importantly, maneuvering to get them out of the way. Fully functional ankles, double jointed knees, and double jointed elbows help to further your posing enjoyment.
I think that for whatever reason, the range of motion on them seems to be inferior to a Phicen, which operates at a 1/12 or a 1/6 scale left. Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure that you could get more back arch out of even a 1/12 scale, As always, keeping the figure in dynamic poses for long periods of time probably isn't a good thing for the lifespan of the material.
Paint Applications, for the most part, are pretty well done, or at least on the body. The sections on the limbs are well taped off off, with no overspray or bleeding observed. The use of the red plastic sections helps to add some flare to the limbs. Work on the faces is delightful, as mentioned, and the decal/paint work here helps to make them glorious.
Paint work on the weapons, on the other hand... eh. Hit and miss, particularly on the handles of the twin Swords.
Build Quality, kind of a mixed bag. The figure doesn't fall apart or have crap joints or anything, but there are a few noteworthy concerns.
So, funny story - I ended up buying an extra one of these, and I figure I might as well hang on to it for a donation or something. Turns out that my first figure actually had a bum left shoulder joint and I couldn't hold the same range of motion on the right shoulder. Wouldn't be the first time this has happened to me, as it is even like that on my WB100 Wonder Woman. What's interesting is that when I went to swap out the figures, I noticed that while the left one was fine on my new figure, the left one was relatively tight. So I can't quite say this is an issue with the design, but rather, I feel it's a QC thing from the Silicone factory, which no matter what price range I've played at, still gives you the potential for issues.
The second issue isn't quite as bad as this first one, but this one for sure is a design issue. The handles of the twin Swords aren't actually fully connected, and as such easily flexes during installation into the hand, giving me concerns with regards to longevity of that piece.
Overall, Barbera Red would fit easily into my "Guilty Pleasures" category, which to be fair, is probably 99% of my collection. I love the design, I love what she has to offer, and overall, I love the final product. The design issue with the Sword handles I can live with as I don't use weapons much, but that bum shoulder wasn't something I was expecting, especially since this wasn't a problem with Whisky Sour. Hopefully this was an isolated incident, as I really don't feel like doubling up on a figure just to make sure one of them doesn't completely suck.
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