DC Direct Superman/Batman: Public Enemies DVD Batman Maquette Review

Street Date: 2009-09-23
MSRP: $100
Price I Paid: $50
Edition Size: 4000
Statue Scale: 1/8

Based on DC Animation character designs
Sculpted by Derek Miller

From 2009 to 2011, DC Direct (now DC Collectibles) released maquettes based on character designs from DC Animation's direct-to-video movies.  Although I watched the movies as they were released, I didn't start collecting statues until 2016.  Therefore, I wasn't even aware of these maquettes until fairly recently.  I'm not going to try to collect all of these, though most are quite nice.

What's the difference between a statue and a maquette?  Some people use the terms interchangeably, while some use maquette to refer to comparatively simpler designs (fewer fine details).  Thus, maquettes tend to be based on animation artwork.

This particular Batman is from Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.  He's wearing almost all grey, which drew my attention because I'm so used to seeing blue/grey, black/grey, or mostly black.  The outside of the cape is glossy, whereas the inside is matte.  I think this was a great art direction decision.  The statue comes in one piece, no assembly required.  Batman's not standing straight, though if he were, he'd probably be 9-inches tall.  The statue includes a numbered certificate.

DC Collectibles Designer Series Nightwing & Batgirl Statue Review

Street Date: 2019-02-13
MSRP: $250
Price I Paid: $170
Edition Size: 5000
Statue Scale: 1/7

Designed by Ryan Sook
Sculpted by Paul Harding Studios

This statue was released the day before Valentine's Day this year.  I ordered one that arrived the Saturday of that week, but it was defective.  The price for this statue has hovered around $200 - $210 just about everywhere, so I didn't get another one until eBay's 15% off promo earlier this week on 03-12.

The statue comes in one piece, no assembly required.  You can hang it upside down, though the best angle to view it is to rotate it so that you can see Nightwing and Batgirl's faces as they gaze deeply into each other's eyes.  DC included some plastic nubs that you can stick to the "bottom" of the base so that it doesn't get scuff on your display surface.

The sculpt and paint app are beautiful.  There is one oddity, though.  The area where Batgirl's left thigh meets the left boot looks a little thin.  I don't know if this was a sculpting decision or manufacturing error, though it's not really noticeable unless you're looking right at it.

DC Collectibles Cover Girls Mera by Joelle Jones Statue Review

Street Date: 2019-03-13
MSRP: $125
Price I Paid: $50 + tax
Edition Size: 5000
Statue Scale: 1/7

Designed by Joelle Jones
Sculpted by Jack Mathews

When DC Collectibles up-sized the Cover Girls statues from 1/8-scale to 1/7-scale, the MSRP went up from $100 to $125 (same as the Bombshells statues, which are also 1/7-scale).  For some reason, GameStop listed the Mera by Joelle Jones statue for $50 and Free Shipping from August to December of 2018.  Unlike Amazon, GameStop did a great job packing the statue inside the shipping box.  This is definitely one of the best deals of 2019.

This face sculpt resembles Joelle Jones the most out of all of her statues so far.  The crazy big hair is very detailed, and you may be tempted to display the statue backwards every so often just to admire the hair sculpt.  There seems to be a bit of excess material between her breasts, though I've seen this on other statues' cleavages.

The base is the biggest difference between this statue and its cohorts.  The ocean waves are flowing upwards against the pull of gravity due to Mera's hydrokinesis.  Thus, you don't see Joelle Jones's signature.  The statue is slightly wobbly because it's attached to the base with only one peg, though I think DC wants to avoid a common problem with past statues, where statues with pegs in two legs/feet couldn't be attached to their bases since the leg positions had warped during storage and shipment.

Joelle Jones