Stephanie Brown has had a long history of getting kicked out the DC Universe. She was introduced in 1992 as the daughter of the Batman villain Cluemaster who disapproved of her father's antics and became a vigilante named the Spoiler to thwart ("spoil") his evil deeds. She earned a fan following pretty quickly, but I was definitely not one of them. She maintained a low profile in the Bat-universe but was a consistent b-character nonetheless. At one point, she even became the fourth (and first in-continuity female) Robin. That was right before she was brutally tortured and killed by the Black Mask. Or so we thought. Steph returned as the Spoiler several years later (after much fan controversy surrounding her death. Then a few years later in 2009, the new mysterious Batgirl in the DC Universe (after Cassandra Cain stepped down) is revealed to be Stephanie Brown. This is where I joined the Steph bandwagon. She quickly proved herself to me and much of the fan community (and may actually be my favorite Batgirl ever). I'm so glad we got a figure of her during her brief time in the mantle. Let's check her out below!
This figure is Amazing. I might be saying that because I'm still ecstatic that she even exists, but even beyond that, she's kind of perfect. If I had to find some constructive criticism, it would be that be that her irises are painted very oddly. She looks like whatever the opposite of cross-eyed is. Up close it's noticeable, but from a few feet away she looks fine.
Steph came with two weapons, a uniquely-shaped yellow batarang (shaped like her chest logo) and a nightstick.
This new Batgirl series only lasted a brief 24 issues, but they were all fantastic. This Batgirl was smart, fresh, and fun. She had flaws, personal issues, and was trying to be a successful college student while juggling her vigilante duties (all while keeping it a secret from her mom). It had a lot of similar themes are early Spider-Man stories. Another fine point of this series is that it always had pretty amazing covers. Here are a few examples:
The fate of Stephanie Brown is unknown. She stepped down as Batgirl in her final issue and hasn't yet appeared in the New52.
Time for a Comparison Shot!
Cheers!
So this isn't actually related to this post but I didn't want to leave it in an old post since I'm not sure whether you get notifications for that sort of thing. Anywaaays, I was wondering how you cut up your Bat-family multi part statue? I just got the Nightwing/Huntress figure and Nightwing definitely needs to go. However, living in a dorm room with only a pair of scissors at my disposal I am rather at a loss as to how to actually chop it up. So any advice would be appreciated! Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat Question! It was very very hard to do. I used several methods and it made a total mess. I would try do it outside if at all possible.. and wear a mask. My two main tools were a Dremel and a hacksaw. The 2 bits that worked best for the Dremel were one that looked like a stick with a tiny lemon juicer on the end, and another that looked like a narrow cone of sandpaper-type grit. I asked at the hardware store and they were what the guy suggested. I actually wore out several in the process, too. For the hacksaw I kept switching out blades. It takes a long time and a lot of patience. Definitely not a one-night job. The material the statues are composed of grinds to a fine powder that sticks to everything.. especially electronics. Ceramic is a conductor so my dust just floated across the room and stuck to my tv.
DeleteAnyway, on a side note, Nightwing isn't as bad as you might think. I did a really easy mod on him that turned out pretty great. (http://s185.photobucket.com/user/paperseed/media/Nightwing%20-%20BatmanFamily/P2280201.jpg.html) All I did was sand off his awful haircut, used apoxie-sculpt to give him a new one, and then sawed through his bent knee to reposition his foot. Also, He has a heavy-gauge wire running up his standing leg, so i sawed through his ankle to the wire and "re-bent" him into an upright posture. I filled in the gaps with more apoxie-sculpt, and the only parts that needed repainting were solid black.. which is kind of impossible to screw up.
The posts that Comalies is refering to are:
Catwoman Custom: http://www.shesfantastic.com/2012/02/customized-catwoman-statue.html
and
Huntress Spotlight:
http://www.shesfantastic.com/2012/02/character-spotlight-on-huntress.html
Let me know if you have any more questions!
(oh yeah, and I get notifactions on all posts no matter how old)
Good luck! - Alex
Oh dear, that sounds quite daunting! Maybe first I'll try to see if I can get someone professional to do it for me, I don't think anything that involves me and power tools can end well.
DeleteYour Nightwing turned out really nice, the new hair makes a world of difference. I only bought the statue to complete my Huntress collection though, I'm indifferent towards Nightwing on the whole so a mod's too much effort tbh. I think I'll just put him on eBay.
Thank you so much!
If you're on a campus, why not check out the art department and see if they have a sculpture studio. We had access to all kinds of crazy tools when I was in school. From my experience most art students are geeky too so they'll understand :) Good luck!
DeleteThanks to your suggestion I found a sculpture workshop to do it for me! Huntress turned out perfect and now I have one last question; what kind of paint would you recommend to use on the base? I also need to do some touch ups on Nightwing. Would your standard art supply shop paint work?
DeleteAwesome, I'm so glad that worked out for you. That sculpt of her is really underrated. You know, I also have a broken PowerGirl/Huntress statue that I'm slowly working on fixing up, too. I'll post on it when she's done (like in a year haha).
DeleteAs far as paint goes, I have two suggestions. For almost everything I use cheap Apple Barrel (non-gloss) paint that you can in little bottles at Walmart, Michaels and ACMoore. I always have issues with the higher-end paints, but the cheap stuff usually works out great. I would also suggest buying a couple bottles of clear gloss from the same paint display (not sure if it's the same brand though, but still the same size tube). I always have a bottle of "satin" and "gloss" just to adjust the shininess of the paint when it's dry. lightly brushing on a thin layer of of Satin usually gets it about right, and if it's too shiny, just rub it with your thumb to dull it.
Now, if you need/prefer a higher-end paint, I would suggest Model Master's. I only use this stuff for tricky skin tones and occasionally for large areas of black when i want no brush strokes. I've only ever ordered it online and usually sells for about $3-4 a bottle (a tiny bottle). Good luck! Let me know how it turns out :)
This is my favourite figure that I have. I absolutely love Steph and to find one is a miracle. Glad you got one too they are like 200+ dollars now!
ReplyDeleteYeah I'm amazed at those prices nowadays.. it's crazy. I picked up mine the day she was released. If I remember correctly, she sold out at the first two comic shops I went to... luckily I have a ton of options.
DeleteIf I ever get my hands on this beauty...
ReplyDeleteWho knows, DC Collectibles seems to love re-releasing popular older figures. Maybe she'll be in an upcoming batman reborn boxset with metallic paints :)
DeleteThat would indeed be lovely. In the meantime, I put together a custom Steph Batgirl: Here she is !
DeleteVery impressive! All my customs so far have been repaints or resculpts. I think it's amazing when customizers disassemble toys and create a new figure frankenstein-style. What do you use for sculptural details? Apoxie Sculpt?
DeleteI really appreciate the compliment! I use something similar to apoxie (but not quite as good) called Bondite putty from a company called Miracon. It's a two-part epoxy putty like apoxie, but it doesn't take detail as well.
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