Friday 20 June 2008

Stealth Mode

Iron Man's Stealth Armour made its first appearance on issue #152 of the Iron Man comics. As its name suggests, this armour's role was to avoid being detected by radars & other detection technologies. However, this statue by Sideshow isn't an exact replica of the look in the comics. Instead, it is a Stealth themed variant of their immensely popular Iron Man Comiquette. Not just simply a repaint, this new Comiquette comes with lights as well (which I felt was sorely missed on the red & gold one).





























This statue has had its share of problems from launch, as the early batches were packed with a plastic inner packing which badly scratched the statue during shipping. However, this problem was rectified in later batches (which mine is from. Phew!) with a foam wrapping around the statue. So my advice for people buying this statue, don't trust a sealed piece. With the success of the Iron Man movie & the cool look & lighting on this statue, it's no wonder it is still fetching crazy prices on the secondary market!

Thursday 5 June 2008

"Why So Serious?"

As the anticipation for The Dark Knight movie continues to escalate, we've learned that the focus of this movie will be on the confrontation between Batman & The Joker. How fitting that DC Direct has just released a Batman Vs. The Joker Statue! Sculpted by Johnathan Matthews, based on Jim Lee's art & limited to 1600. I can't begin to describe the level of detail on the sculpt. There's not a point on The Joker that's not loaded with details! From Joker's face, to the buckles on his straitjacket, right down to his skin texture! Only slight disappointment for me is the sloppiness of the paint (one of my usual complaints about DC Direct products). However, kudos be given to the changes done to the base. It now looks better than what was previewed on DC Direct's website. Another thing to note is the lightness in weight of the statue, but I was already prepared for that after my experience with the Wonder Woman Vs. Superman piece.





















I'm considering selling my Kotobukiya Batman vinyl statue now that I have this. Don't need 2 Jim Lee Bats in my collection & was never a fan of vinyl statues anyway.