I thought SS
new Red Sonja to be my last statue, I believed no other female portrait could
match hers. I truly believed it was off the mark and no other statue that would
come could surpass her. Then SDCC happened and everything changed. Sideshow
really stepped up its game toward more realistic portraits and I realize that
Sonja was only the tip of the iceberg. I’m really impressed with Sideshow new
outings, especially in the female statue side, they never looked so good and I
don’t know what to expect more beyond what was offered this year. But if they
impressed me this year as Sideshow always does I feel I will be pushed inside
collecting once again. Psylocke, the engineering wonder of Rogue, Harley Quinn with
her cute (and difficult to achieve) expression, Elektra, the daring expression
of X23, Wonder Woman, they all look miles away from Sideshow early takes on
these characters. It’s an incredible and undeniable evolution in sculpting. As
my budget is strictly limited nowadays I may be able to grab only one of them
but I really don’t know which one to choose since all of them are fabulous. The
naysayers insist that the new portraits are too masculine and I couldn’t
disagree more. They are very feminine distinct and full of personality
representations of strong women. As you can see I’m not as fond of the SS male
offerings since, apart from Superman PF, Green Arrow PF and Thor PF, the others
characters look to much like XM figures. Not as realistic and lacking
personality. Plus the “modernization” of their uniforms really didn’t grab my
eye. Yes, you can throw the first stone for my critic about XM. I believe they
do very good villains and the engineering of their pieces is solid and
creative. I particularly never bought a XM figure, but they seem to be very
high quality pieces, the painting is outstanding but regarding female portraits,
no one beats what Sideshow is producing right now. Some come very close, as XM
own Mystique that I think is a more inspiring and sexy figure than Sideshow’s
take on the character and Prime 1 Poison Ivy, the second 1/3 statue I’ve ever
had the true thrill to own (the other being Batman Beyond Gold Edition). Prime
1 Huntress I believe is a tad better than Sideshow’s but both female Prime 1 statues
have so big bases and are so big overall not to mention pricey that I can’t accommodate
them in my collection. They are very good pieces overall anyway.
Why so much
focus on portraits one may ask. Well, I believe portraits to be the most
delicate and difficult parts of a statue and are what give them life and
personality, followed by the pose. I like faces, in a word. And there’s no
match in the market to the new Sideshow. What I think is contradictory is that
the male portraits became worse than they used to be. I would not trade my old
SS Daredevil for the new one, because the new one lacks the personality and
fidelity to the original character. It seems like an emulation of XM famous
take on the character and I think both of them lacks humanity, so to say, that the
ladies exhale. Captain America is also a disappointment when compared to the
old SS Captain America – Allied Charge on Hydra (the one that isn’t based on
the movies).
One trick,
so to speak, I realized SS used in almost all female statues and that adds to
the realism of the portraits is that they’re rarely looking straight ahead but
looking sideways instead. This minor twist gives a lot more personality to the
pieces.
Conclusion,
I may be selling older statues in order to get back to business, a thing I
believe I had given away with the new Red Sonja. Let’s see. The funny thing
because contradictory as hell is that the first piece I want to acquire beyond
all others is The Little Mermaid, which has nothing of realistic about it but
oozes personality and sensuality. Plus, is small in size and price. If I would
choose just one of the new females, a though decision, I would choose Harley
Quinn since I think her unmasked expression extremely unique and difficult to
execute, for me is the female figure of this new batch with more personality of
it all. And I’m not a big fan of Harley let alone the Disney cartoon. Lol.
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