The Good: Amazing sculpt, Great accessories, Great collectible value, Comes with a stand!
The Bad: Poor balance, Imprecise paint job.
The Basics: While not perfect, the Square Enix Play Arts The Dark Knight Rises Selina Kyle/Catwoman 1:6 figure is still well worth picking up!
For those who are not familiar with my many reviews, I am a big fan of Anne Hathaway. Hathaway has managed to take a number of high-profile projects, but avoided extensive merchandising. As a result, while I am a huge fan of Anne Hathaway, even having a more neutral reaction to The Dark Knight Rises (reviewed here!), I ended up more neutral to the extensive merchandising surrounding the film. In fact, until now, I had only picked up the Movie Masters Catwoman figure (reviewed here!). But last year, when I went with a friend to meet Geoff Johns at Michigan State, we trolled some local comic book shops in Lansing, Michigan. There, I found the Square Enix Catwoman 8” doll. At the time, I could not afford it, but I lucked out; in the Spring when I was going shopping for Hallmark ornaments downstate, I was excited to find that the shop still had the Anne Hathaway Catwoman figure. It took until tonight, though, for me to get around to breaking her out of her packaging and evaluating the toy.
And this is a toy that was well worth the wait and the expense!
Basics
The Square Enix Catwoman figure is an 8” figure that is sculpted to be perfectly in the 1:6 scale and it is truly an impressive action figure. The doll is molded to look exactly like Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. As such, the figure comes with two slightly different heads, two sets of hair, and multiples of each hand (three right hands, two left). This is Selena Kyle in her catburgler outfit, distinctive to The Dark Knight Rises.
The sculpting is amazing on both of the heads. While both heads have the partial mask over the upper half of the figure’s face, so the fact that this figure looks like Anne Hathaway from the lips, jawline, nose, eyes, forehead and what little bit of the cheekbones are exposed is quite the accomplishment! The lithe character seems a little busty compared to Hathaway’s Catwoman, but otherwise, the figure is incredibly precise in its rendition of the secondary antagonist from The Dark Knight Rises. Square Enix did an incredible job on the sculpt; with the catsuit looking appropriately textured, even on the backs of the gloves (but not the fingers and palms!).
The coloring of the Square Enix Catwoman is exceptional, though the figure is pretty easy to do right; outside her face and neck, Catwoman’s flesh is entirely concealed. But for the portions of her head and neck that are evident are perfectly shaded. The cheeks have a light rouge to them, the eyes look precise and accurate and the lips on the figure look moist without looking gaudy.
Accessories
The Square Enix Catwoman figure comes with five or six (the hair removes from the alternate head) accessories plus the stand. I tend to fall in with the idea that the interchangeable body parts are just part of the actual figure and from that perspective, Catwoman really comes with only a pistol and her stand.
Catwoman comes with a pistol and the gun is 7/8” long, and cast in solid black plastic. The pistol is immaculately cast and it fits in one of Catwoman’s alternate hands absolutely perfectly. Catwoman’s trigger finger fits perfectly around the trigger and that makes the pistol look like it matches the rest of the figure without standing out.
This Catwoman figure also comes with a stand because she is essentially a doll. The doll stand is a hexagon that is 5 1/4” at its widest point. The clear plastic stand assembles, per directions found inside the box, to support Catwoman with a series of little claws and the figure is untippable and fully-poseable with aid from the stand.
Playability
Who would play with this doll?! This is clearly intended to be a display piece with its accuracy and the expense of the figure. But, for those who get to play with dolls that start in the $75 range, this doll is exceptionally cool for play. Unfortunately, she does not have incredibly good balance when she is off her stand.
Square Enix made a perfectly lifelike figure with Catwoman’s articulation. The doll has tight enough joints that she does not tip over when she is place in a way that allows her to balance on her high heels. Beyond that, most of the joints move with realistic motions, not just on simple swivel joints. Catwoman is articulated at the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, bust, waist, groin socket, knees and ankles. There is no way I have yet found to pose Catwoman where she does not look realistic or cannot be posed. With her stand, she may be posed in even outlandish poses and still be displayed well.
Collectibility
The Square Enix makes quality dolls, so this Catwoman doll is already being gobbled up on the secondary market. Because this was a worldwide release and a limited edition (though I’ve been unable to get a firm number on just how limited this was) it is rapidly becoming harder to find in the secondary market. But because Square Enix did such a good job, it is creating a demand where none existed before: those who were more neutral to The Dark Knight Rises seem to be eager to buy this particular doll. As such, it has all the makings of a strong investment piece. And as people rewatch The Dark Knight Rises and discover just how vital Anne Hathaway’s role in the movie truly was, it seems likely demand will continue to grow.
Overview
The The Dark Knight Rises Catwoman figure is my first experience with Square Enix and with molded details like the zipper on the front of her costume and the coloring details like translucent hair, they make an inarguably cool collectible. One of the new collectibles that truly rocks, the Square Enix Catwoman is worth going back for!
For other figures and dolls of powerful female characters, please check out my reviews of:
Classic Icons Wonder Woman action figure
12” Sideshow Collectible Boushh Star Wars doll
Cordelia Chase from “You’re Welcome” Angel figure
8.5/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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