DC Comics Statues and Busts: Jan 2019 Search for DC Artists Alley Figures

Throughout 2018, DC Collectibles released PVC figures designed by three people for the new DC Artists Alley line. Each artist's "wave" consisted of three characters with multiple variants. Each artist also got a fourth character, and these characters were scheduled to be released in December just in time as holiday presents.

Well...that was the idea, but holiday transportation woes prevented some of the retailer-exclusive variants from reaching stores until January. That's the good news. The bad news is that some of the retailer-exclusive variants are very difficult to find. Furthermore, only a handful of online bloggers have received one of the retailer-exclusive variants.

Uminga's characters all got Zombie, Glow in the Dark, and Villains variants. Zombie Flash showed up at Hot Topic like the others. Glow in the Dark Flash showed up at Box Lunch like the others. However, GameStop didn't get a Villains variant. Instead, Reverse Flash showed up at Box Lunch (yes, they got two variants) -- and Black Flash, aka Zoom, showed up at Foot Locker.

Yes, Foot Locker. Foot Locker wants to become the GameStop of shoe stores, selling pop culture collectibles in addition to its primary wares, shoes. This business strategy makes sense in terms of distinguishing Foot Locker from its competitors, except there's no shortage of stores selling Funko Pops and other collectibles. Anyway, if you look for pictures taken at large House of Hoops stores in the Northeast and Midwest, you'll see shelves with DC Collectibles statues.

Nooligan's characters all got Day of the Dead variants. Day of the Dead Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn showed up at GameStop. Day of the Dead Nightwing showed up at...Foot Locker.

Murase's characters all got Sparkle Glitter and Iridescent variants. Hot Topic got the Sparkle Glitter Gotham Sirens. Books A Million (BAM) got the Iridescent Gotham Sirens. BAM got the Iridescent Batgirl, but she never appeared on their website. Sparkle Glitter Batgirl was assigned to Foot Locker, but that is the one figure from 2018 that no one other than a few lucky bloggers has. Indeed, it appears that even the folks at DC Collectibles don't know what happened to her.

Batgirl also got a gold variant that's exclusive to DC Universe members. I got one that was missing the batarang that's supposed to be in her right hand and has a left arm that's too high, up above the cape. The replacement that was sent to me also has a left arm that's too high.

Properly manufactured Gold Batgirl

1st defective Gold Batgirl

2nd defective Gold Batgirl

I live in a city that's in the Top 20 of US cities by population. Yet, we don't have a physical BAM store, which means that I have to buy their exclusives online or place a phone order with a store in another city. However, since the BAM Batgirl isn't on their website, stores couldn't sell it to me over the phone even though they have it in stock! On Tuesday, Jan 15, I drove four hours both ways to a mall in another city so that I could finally buy Batgirl. While there, I looked inside the Foot Locker store at the same mall, but they didn't have the Uminga Black Flash or Nooligan Day of the Dead Nightwing. (None of the Foot Lockers in my city have them, and they're not searchable on Foot Locker's website, either.)

The next day, I drove 2.5 hours both ways to yet another city. I already got the BAM Batgirl but was determined to see if the Foot Locker Batgirl would materialize. Well, no dice, but I did see Black Flash and Day of the Dead Nightwing in person for the first time.

My best guess is that Foot Locker is saving Batgirl for February as a Valentine's Day item given her pink hues.

Happy New Year?

Edit, 2019-01-17: Well, about 20 hours after I published this post, someone listed one on eBay. I guess these are trickling out to stores.