I've never really gotten into the 1/6 TBLeague releases. Usually it's cost, but also, there's the matter of subject matter, whether it be something that I'm really not interested in, or it's something that there was no way I could possibly display without getting into some trouble. But when your buddy ships his entire collection your way, you pretty much look at whatever it is that they collected, so some of the guilt of procurement is removed.
Dawn has been around for a long time, particularly by Indie Comic standards. Created by Joseph Michael Linsner, Dawn is the Goddess of Birth and Rebirth. I've never read any of the issues myself, but it seems that this concept is a common theme in the story arcs. Whatever the case may be, she was popular enough that Executive Replicas went ahead and did a 1/6 scale figure, powered of course by a TBleague body.
Contents of the box include:
- 1 x TBLeague Body (S10?)
- 1 x Costume Set (Body Suit, Top, Gauntlets, Upper Arm Rings, Waist Armour, Ankle Guards, Boots)
- 1 x Sculpt with Rooted Hair
- 1 x Lucifier's Halo
- 1 x Spear
- 1 x Sword
- 1 x NYC Diorama/Base with Stand
The base is.. interesting in a way in that it's really just a basic Base with some bits and bobs tacked on. Still more visually interesting than the one with Satan, even if they kind of skimped on expenses when it came to the Demon and Angel wing. Detailing is actually pretty nice across teh board, though naturally there is more detailing on the rock base and the wings as opposed to the street signs.
The product was kind of doomed from the start from the perspective of accuracy. While the figure uses an aptly curvy body, ultimately there is nothing in the catalogue, even now, that comes close to the proportions of actual drawings, especially if you take into account the artist's thing for nipples.
The Exclusive Replica figures seem to use the generic TBLeague heads, but customized slightly to match needed appearances, which more or less worked with the ARH Comix stuff as their characters had more realistic facial features, but Dawn features a more Pin Up Girl styled face, befitting of a Goddess. Hair and lip colour are about right (though the hair is not styled correctly), and she does feature her Trademark tears from her left eye. Wikipedia, however, indicates she's suppose to have a single tear from her right eye, and if that is true then they're missing it from this figure..
They did, however, go ahead and give the head earrings, which are kind of big but hey, I'll give credit where credit is due.
The various armour pieces are made of plastic and painted silver. They're functional and all, but ultimately are pretty basic. That would be fine for most of the parts, but wish they had added more hinges/mobility to the waist armour, as it does inhibit range of motion and just won't sit properly on the body in some positions. There's also a strange lack of roses on her gauntlets, something that I've read is very symbolic to this character.
The actual fabric outfit is actually quite well made. The dark green sections are made of pleather and feature some very good stitching and tailoring, resulting in an outfit that hugs the curves of the body, but still allow for general movement of the underlying body. The coattail is dual layered, and is wired along the bottom, and if you're more talented than I am you can do some fabric folds there. Her lime green top is a different piece completely and is made of an elastic material which has also been tailored with extreme competence. My only real beef with the fabric parts is that the skull print on the lime green top is too large.
I would also like to add that I find it pretty hilarious that a character that features a Pin Up/Bad Girl style comic art somehow translated into one of the most conservatively dressed TBLeague offerings.
In general, Dawn's fabric outfit doesn't get in the way of articulation, though of course you need to be mindful of pulling a stich (though it would seem you really, REALLY need to try as I wasn't exactly super careful when posing the figure). As stated, the waist armour really should have been designed better, as it has no functional hinges, and quite honestly is a bit too large, so when you're doing sitting poses it looks really odd, and also covers up the curves in that section of the body. I guess, at least the gauntlets don't get in the way of elbow articulation.
Wrists are the standard TBLeague issue, so decent but extreme range of motion isn't in the cards. Interestingly enough, with regards to ankles, they've actually allowed for a very wide range of motion through the use of a void and a really shallow ankle joint cavity, so low, lunging type poses are possible, and still be relatively natural looking.
From a Paint Apps perspective, relatively simple as the only real painted parts are the detailing apps on the face and the hard plastic pieces. Perhaps the most "vibrant" part of this figure would be the actual stand itself. Overall though, there are no real problem areas to mention as the applied paint is generally quite clean, and there are no real masking details to deal with. It WOULD have been nice, however, to have actual paint on the Halo, as it's just an unpainted piece of white plastic.
Finally we have Build Quality. There are two flaws to expand upon here, but to start off, things are generally OK when it comes to having good quality finishes and production quality of parts. The underlying body was well made, as they typically are, and the various pieces of gear fit on the body properly. Having said all that, the ankles on my particular figure are incredibly loose, and require some extra friction via Tape or some other material to ensure they can hold their pose.
While I may have some bad luck with the RNG game, there's certainly no bad luck with the hands. I'm thinking that standard random, perhaps useful hands, were packed in with this figure, and possible other ones too (I've not gotten around to the others in my pack), but as far as being functional goes, the gripping hands are effectively useless. The weapons are too slim to be held by any of the hands properly. My favourite part is that they included two gun holding hands, which is perfect for someone with no fire arms. I think a pair of close fists would have been preferable.
Overall, if I had to comment on the accuracy of this conversion to figure form, I'd have to give it a "solid cosplayer" rating. The overall elements are there, but the accuracy is effectively not as close as one would like, and in the case of the waist armour, actually get in the way of showcasing the strengths of the underlying body.
Having said that, Dawn is a very stylish figure, even if this wasn't what they were aiming for. The outfit shows off some curves, but there is very little skin showing and by comparison to some of the more interesting costume choices out there (even amongst her own cover gallery through the years), this figure is effectively dressed like a Victorian era prude. Thus in summation, come for the curves, stay for the suit.
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