I know certain sites are still offering pre-orders. You notice how they used to promise to ship the toys out a couple months ago? Now they’re magically meant to ship in October… well there’s less than 10 days left in that month… Well try this, it’s cancelled. I had to block out a lot of personal info on that letter above (sorry guys) but there it is black and white, Hasbro has cancelled all orders of the Brood Series.

Okay, we’ve seen pictures of finished toys, are they gone? Of course not! Sure they can cancel a toy here and there, like the Toybiz Hydra agent that will finally appear in this Brood issue, but an entire series? No way, it’s just too much money wasted! We won’t see Brood for Christmas because they’re focusing on the Fantastic Four and Spiderman series since they both have movie franchises and are more appealing to kids, who are kind of a big factor around Christmas. The Brood Series has a lot of characters that appeal to the hardened collector, so it makes sense to float it during the off-season .

I’m proud to say DorkToys.com doesn’t pull that pre-order garbage. Also, we’re usually cheaper and ship faster. Wait a minute, why do any of you buy from our competitors anymore?

Okay they have a higher price point, and they fill up a shelf real quick, but man, do some of these Icons look cool! My all-time favorites are Dr. Doom and the Silver Surfer, either one of those toys command some attention.

Okay, bad stuff first…

Room for Improvement

One critical selling point that I think Icons need to really grab hold of is that accents are critical. The plastic hunk of a Punisher would have been much better off with a T-Shirt, and Magneto’s cape just didn’t cut it. On the other hand, Doom’s cloak rocks and the Human Torch’s translucent flames make the figure. Now and then a figure like Cyclops gets away with conventional plastics and still looks good, but with figure’s this expensive, you should always look for some special feature and execute it well.

On a less critical note: always use matte paint for the skin! A couple of these figures have gleaming cheeks.

Also, where’s a girl? I know they have to be very careful about this since female figures are never as popular as male ones, but surely a Dark Phoenix figure could sell. Mix it in with some regular, green Phoenix toys just like back in Series 6. In truth, I can’t think of another bankable, female figure I would risk an Icon on, besides maybe an Invisible Woman around movie time, but surely a token female would be advisable.

Suggestions

Hasbro’s third and fourth Icons waves came out practically at the same time, please continue that! With just two figures apiece, I think that’s advisable. I know we can’t have as many Icons at a time since it’s a smaller market, but two at a time is just spreading it too thin.

SLIP COMICS IN! I know it wasn’t considered cost-effective to supply a comic with every 6” figure, but these guys cost more, wouldn’t it sweeten the deal?

While Brood is a good BAF, Modok was garbage. It seems to me that they are running thin on giant characters, so why not use Icons-scale heros as BAFs? Unless of course there are plans to include a larger bodypart with each Icon so that we can assemble and even bigger (life-sized) figure…

I preached about this toy in its review, then mentioned it in every garbage female figure I’ve had to review since, including Mystique,, Lady Deathstrike, White Queen, Jean Grey, Pyro… Oh Pyro’s a guy? Well his figure makes all the same mistakes as the bad female ones). The only other female figure I’ve truly been impressed by is She-Hulk. They’re close rivals, and if you want a high level of articulation, She-Hulk wins, but Batgirl has the edge in sculpting and paint, and it just so happens this blog is about Thrillkiller Batgirl, so let’s get on with it…

First, let’s start with the face…

Okay, I know I’m writing an article about the best female figure ever, so I should be starting with strong points, but I have two weak points to point out right off the bat. Guess what though, they’re the only two weak points!

First, the face is slightly too narrow. The face itself is very well detailed, incredibly detailed in fact, it’s just a bit too narrow overall. Seriously though, check out the cheekbones and the brow on the cowl. This is excellent work! A far cry from the awful White Queen and Jean Grey figures that just came out.

Second, the hair is too rounded. I’m guessing their was either a limitation with the plastics, or somebody was worried about kids poking themselves. The hair’s okay, but it would look a lot better if it came to sharp ends.

Next, articulation…

Okay, she doesn’t have a hundred points of articulation, but you can pose her in silly ways if you like. Really, we need to give up on articulating female figures as much as the male ones. Guys, well superhero guys at least, have defined muscles, which can be replaced with ball-bearing-like joints without ruining the illusion. Females, on the other hand, are more subtle, and those ball-bearing joints look stupid. Marvel Legends built its success on the promise of hyper articulation, but it’s not always necessary. Their Professor X figure looked awful because they tried to shove ball-bearing joints into a suit jacket. He’s a paraplegic!

The girls have thinner frames than the guys. Sure you can look for opportunities to articulate, but if corrupts the figure, leave it out!

Now, moving down to the business end of things…

All right, we’ve all probably had to explain to somebody why we’re into toys even though we’re not kids anymore, and believe me, if you run a site like this, you get asked about this interest a lot more often, and here we are, staring at plastic ass and hips, have we hit rock bottom? No, we have not, because today we’re studying the incredible sculpture that is this toy, let me continue…

Okay, bad female figures don’t have hips, they have a hinge with two knuckles for a “posterior.” This figure looks accurate. It’s not stick-like-Paris-Hilton-type either, this is a real girl. Sure we lost a bit of articulation by fusing the hips in place, but she looks lifelike because of it.

Finally, let’s check out the feet.

Some guys are into feet; they’re weirdos. I’m just showing the boot because you get a good look at, one, the glossy paint and, two, the detailing, which is similar to the gloves. No generic feet pieces here, just custom sculpting!

Onto the subject of glossy paints…

Here she is with her partner, what’s his name again? Bat-something? Anyways, look at the contrast between his matte black chest and his cape. She’s painted the same glossy black as Batboy’s cape, but without seeing that other figure, I was afraid the pictures weren’t doing her justice. The glossy black is deep and rich and better than anything you could ask from a toy. Also, the skin contrasts with a nice, matte finish, so no shiny, plastic pinks on her!

Someday I’ll have to decide on the best male figure of all time, but for now I just want to suggest that if the Hasbro’s and Toybiz’s of this world put a bit more care into their female figures, maybe they wouldn’t all be such unpopular toys.