Batman Ninja the anime, as far as I can tell, didn't do particularly well. In fact, it might be the least liked animated Batman property, ever, though it's hilarious people effectively complain it's too much like an anime. As far as I can tell, neither the Figma nor Figuarts releases sold particularly well, so it was kind of surprising to see Star Ace forge ahead with their 1/6 line up. Them offering a Catwoman with a seamless body that didn't look bad, it was pretty much an automatic preorder for me.
Star Ace, for those who don't know, are another player in the 1/6 figure world. While most people are caught up in the Marvel and DC superhero stuff, there are other licenses being purchased by companies that are not Hot Toys. Star Ace is probably best known for their 1/6 Harry Potter line up, though they have done others.
As soon as I saw the packaging, I knew I was in for a real treat. So the figure was offered in two different flavours - Normal and Deluxe, with the Deluxe coming in at around $280 USD.. If you bought from Star Ace directly there was free basic shipping. Otherwise, well you were at the mercy of your vendor. I did the math and got it direct.
So pretty much the only thing that denoted this being the Deluxe version is this small printed area on the side. For this price tag, I was expecting a different art box or something. But we're not done yet...
You also get this complete non descript white box which houses some of the Deluxe specific parts. Again, most other companies would just have a new inner tray or just insert it inside. Not these guys, though. I almost just treated it as a cardboard spacer for shipping purposes.
So in terms of contents, kind of light given the price point but it IS a seamless body so I'll give it a pass:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 6 x Posing/Gripping Hands
- 2 x Claws
- 1 x Whip
- 1 x Mask
- 1 x Base/Stand (Deluxe)
- 1 x Isis (Deluxe)
- 2 x Cat Paws (Deluxe)
What's interesting is that according to the official specs, we were supposed to get a pair of pink claws, but instead we get these black things, which don't have claws either. Of course, I wasn't surprised about weirdness, as this is the same company that released a version of Joker that didn't even come with the hands to hold its accessories.
As far as a quick glance goes, Catwoman looks pretty good. The head is the right size for the body, and more importantly, lines up with the screenshots of her that I can find. The armour is slightly in accurate, or at the very least, inaccurate so far as the chest piece goes. Surprisingly, they actually chose a body for her that is not only reasonable in terms of body structure, but also, appears to be in line with her screen counterpart.
As far as I know, there are only two real players in Affordable Seamless Body market, Jiaou Doll and TBleague/Phicen. Considering Catwoman is neithjer a stick nor a Buxom Swimsuit model, it pretty much means this should be a TBLeague, specifically a S34.
The body itself does what it's supposed to - look curvy and offer superior articulation and posing potential to those who actually know how to unlock it. It's not super muscular, nor is it super curvy, but it does have a reasonable build. Sadly, you can't quite fully unlock it's potential because most of the outfit is hard plastic, which can interfere with the range of motion, but that's life.
While the body is pretty much what you're hoping for, it's when you start looking at Star Ace's contributions that things start getting wonky.
Starting with the good, we have the face. The face is pleasant enough to look at and features a pretty good likeness to the character, with the exception of the eyes being slightly too small The eyeballs can move (pop off the face) though I found the side to side movement was very limited. I sense that the face itself is unpainted, along with the flesh tones on the hands, which is unfortunate but at least it looks clean.
The body suit is my second favourite part of this whole figure. Yes, it's mesh and allows some viewing of the body underneath, it's actually more about the workmanship. The actual mesh used has some really small openings, and it is this density of fabric that gives Catwoman's body that kind of darkened shadowly effect. There are a few spots on mine where the openings were just a tad smaller than the rest, which makes it appear like there's dirt on the underlying body. Seams are unavoidable of course because, well, you have to make it somehow. The tailoring is really good, generally adhering to the body but offering enough slack to make posing possible. I found that it was the seams that limited posing rather than slack in the fabric itself, but even taking that into account you can do some pretty nifty things. My suit survived me putting the figure into a pretzel, so I'm really confused about what some other people did to theirs, resulting in a suit that looks like a worn out Storm Door window.
So now we look at the bad. My head featured hair at the back that appears t have been cracked, then just painted over, which needless to say isn't thrilling news.
Paint applications is my next gripe. I think it's fair to say that if you were to rate these paint applications, you 'd probably say something like "I guess they're OK". While they're not bad, they're certainly not what one should be getting for figures at this price point. I mean, look at the paint jobs on even the TBLeague original IP stuff. Some of the paintwork on their amoured pieces are truly dazzling, and they're much more complex than what's seen here.
While I've highlighted the shin and forearm pieces, the weak paint applications are generally all over the figure, with the exception of the mask.
On a related note, you'll notice that the moulding on the various piece aren't that crisp, nor are they remotely straight. So sharp raised edges don't have that tack sharpness they should, and it' really noticeable on the hand claws.
For whatever reason, Star Ace also made their wrist sockets incredibly small, so extracting and putting on hands is a real chore. Fortunately, if you can call it that, the hands are made of a really soft plastic so I don't think there's any real danger of snapping off the embedded wrist joint, but it sure the hell feels like you will.
Wrist motion is generally uninhibited, and you can always shift the forearm guard up a bit for clearance, though you're not going to have the same range of motion as a true jointed figure. What really sucks, however, are the shoes. As far as I can tell, they were designed without a clearance being left between the foot and the leg itself. As a result, while you can rotate the foot on the peg, you're not getting and ankle rocker or tilting action, which is unfortunate as it means no lunging poses or natural foot placement in general.
If you thought we were done, well I've saved the best for last, Isis. Isis is the name of Catwoman's pet, and is her most loyal companion. She's the reason most people even bothered with the Deluxe version of the figure, so it's kind of a big deal.
What we GOT was effectively a black cat statue, with rotating head and a FREAKING PIPE CLEANER AS A TAIL. Yes, you read that right, a Pipe Cleaner... one of those furry flexible things you probably did crafts with as a kid. Nothing says "High End" like the use of mixed media.... amirite???
If that wasn't bad enough, apparently the cat also features a scrotum, or ballsack if you're nasty. Yes, that's right. They made this a male cat, when Isis, as far as I can tell, is a female cat.
Isis is TRULY the crown jewel of the Deluxe release.
Catwoman is my introduction to the world of Star Ace, and she meets the expectations that I had, namely that there would be things that make you want to strangle the QC department. As far as anime cat burglars go, she's not horrible. Definitely easy on the eyes, featuring a costume that takes advantage of a Seamless Body without being blatantly being about how little fabric you can place on it. While an alternate expression would have been nice, at least we got a face with some emotion and eye positioning options.
But is it worth the entry price? It certainly could have been much better at the paint game and in general, Star Ace could have at least look like they tried to earn your money, as opposed to giving an effort that is best described as an above average third party. If you're willing to look past the QC issues, then I suppose buying the base model is an acceptable venture, as she really does look slick. But I don't really think the Deluxe is worth it, especially when Isis really is one step away from being a dumpster fire.
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