I was very excited this past July when I found a solicitation pic of the DC Superhero Girls Katana figure. The DC Superhero Girls burst on to the scene this past Spring with an awesome selection of action figures that I was instantly smitten over. Of course, after getting my hands on the first wave of six action figures, I immediately wanted more. The obvious choice for an addition would have been Katana, since she seems to be a core character of the series, yet was inexplicably excluded form the first batch of toys. From what I've read, this Katana figure wasn't supposed to be released until early next year, but I found her in a TRU near me a couple days ago. Although, she is riddled with QC problems so there's an off chance that she was accidentally included in a case assortment early after failing QC. My Katana has a malformed jaw, a mis-positioned skirt, a blotch on her cheek, bulky wrists, and overall sloppy paint. Yet somehow she still looks really great. Let's check out Katana below!
Look at that jawline head-on. Her left side is convex and strange. I can't wait to see another Katana in the wild so I can see if others encounter that same issue.
Also, her skirt is seemingly off-center. In most images the slit has been centered to the front. The sloppy paint is especially noticeable with the red lines on the skirt.
Random cheek splotch!
And finally, I may be really nitpicking here, but her wrists seem really bulky and masculine in person.
Katana comes with her signature Katana blade. I don't know if her animated origins include the details of her sword, but it is supposed to contain the soul of her deceased husband.
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Update: I went back to TRU and they had several more Katanas and they were all perfect. I picked one up.
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Time for a Group Pic!
Here is Katana with Batgirl and Wonder Women from the first wave.
Cheers!
I got the big 6 pack that had the entire first wave-they all had super bad QC. My first set had a Harley with one leg that wouldn't bend, both sets Ivy had misshapen, crooked feet, and she couldn't stand at all, and various bent bow-legs. So yeah, bad QC seems to be common with these figures. Can't comment on Katana as i haven't seen her in person yet.
ReplyDeleteHonestly this purchase was first encounter with QC problems in this line. When I bought the first six figures back in Spring they were all perfect. I'll have to check out the multipack QC quality. Maybe they were a second run that was just sloppier overall.
DeleteWhen TRU was closing down recently in my area, I took the chance to pick up a version of this figure for cheap, because I really liked the design. I just checked, and I don't see any sculpt issues in mine, but I DO recall that I had to kind of root around on the shelf for one that didn't have a stray bit of paint in a bad place (I think mostly the cheek, actually! What is it with cheeks and this figure lol).
DeleteGranted, keep in mind this was the remaining clearanced-straight-from-warehouse stock from a chain that was closing down, so it might have been bottom of the barrel in pickings, which may be why so many of the copies I saw had paint issues (i.e. all the good copies may have gotten snapped up)...but even those were fairly minor and I could have touched them up had I been less picky. I was lucky to get one that was pretty much perfect though. :)
This figure is SUPER cute while still clearly being a Skilled Warrior vibe, and I'm glad to see how much this series and DC in general has started embracing female character diversity. And yes, Katana's actually a character who's been around for a while, I know, but they're actually USING her more now, including putting her in the Suicide Squad lineup and this series, and this one gives her such a cool redesign! (I remember her actress for the Suicide Squad movie was so excited to get to be a superhero, which Asian girls so rarely get to be in Western media. Shame they barely even used her in the movie, but still).
Now if only we could get a freaking Jessica Cruz figure for this line, huh? ;)
I picked up a Katana (for my daughter at xmas, so haven't opened) but I see none of the QC issues you listed. Also, my TRU had about a dozen of them, so I made sure to review them to get a good one, ans I really didn't see the issues you list on any of the ones I looked at.
ReplyDeleteYeah mine must have been a total fluke. I went back yesterday and saw a bunch of new Katanas and they were all perfect. I posted a pic above.
DeleteThe ones that aren't malformed - do they include the thick wrists?
DeleteHer character design is totally just Mulan! Which I kinda dig.
ReplyDelete