Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Supergirl Gallery Diorama Statue



I recently purchased the DC Gallery Diorama figuring of Supergirl and added it to my collection.

I am usually a bit more reticent to buy merchandise of the Michael Turner, bare midriff costume as I often feel that that particular costume lends itself to cheesecake. That's not why I am a Supergirl fan. And on first blush, this statue with it's very low-riding skirt seems to veer into that territory.

But looking beyond the exposed hips the statue is quite nice. Ensconced in a bright package, this is an action shot of Supergirl emerging from an explosion or a star all while snapping chains that try to bind her.

So the overall subject matter is one of strength.


I am not a big reviewer of packaging but i am a bit confused by this.

Certainly the pastel blues and bright reds are eye catching. And the actual picture of the statue within showcases the things I like about it.

But it is odd that the illustration on the box is of the more current Rebirth Supergirl costume and more akin to her television version. Why not have a picture of the actual costume on the statue.


 And the text isn't my favorite either.

I am not a fan of the lonely Supergirl, reluctantly living on Earth, armed with her planet-splitting right hook. And while I think she is on a hero's journey, I don't know if she is struggling with her identity.

I suppose I am an old-timer who likes to believe that Supergirl is optimistic and bright, sees the best in people, is an extrovert and wants to help.

Okay, enough about the box. Let's get to the statue itself.




 It is a dynamic piece.

As I said, I like that the base seems to be an explosion or a star. Squint and it could be a flower.

That heavy base allows the statue to truly be leaping towards the viewer, Supergirl snapping the chains that bind her.

Her expression is a bit of a blank stare if you get too close but from a distance is one of confidence as she breaks free.


 From the side you really get the sense of the work that base is doing. I definitely like the pain work on that fireball.


And the back is a decent sculpt with nice cape lines and the inverted S-shield which I think is mandatory cape fare.

So overall a very nice piece.


It nestled in nicely with in the Turner section of the collection, right behind the Turner mini-statue.

At some point I'll need a bigger display because in the back there you don't see that base which is the unique thing of this statue.

This is pretty affordable so if this is your favorite look for Supergirl, might be worth hunting down.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a nice statue.

Even though the Michael Turner's suit isn't my favorite, it's commendable. It was her official suit during seven years, and eight years after Flashpoint it is still used in merchandising. In comparision, the New 52 costume barely lasted five years before being retired.

Speaking about Supergirl's most long-lived costumes, Kara Zor-El wore the original Al Plastino costume 11 years (1958-1970) and the hot pant suit 12 years (1971-1983). On the other hand, Matrix sported her red-skirt suit 12 years (1988-2000). Even longer if we kept in mind that it was Super-Girl's original costume, it was briefly used by original Kara prior to her death, and current Kara has been wearing it since Rebirth.

It is not a wonder that the red-skirt suit is Supergirl's iconic costume.

And still the midriff suit takes the fourth spot. Huh.

Back on topic, it is a good statue. I like how Supergirl is leaping from an explosion and at the same time breaking her chains. A very dynamic pose.

I'm afraid complaining about DC putting emphasis on Kara's issues of alienation, anger and survivor guilt at this point is a such a lost of a cause like wanting DC to ditch the "Barry's mom got murdered by Thawne" retcon. They want to highlight Kara is not like Kal, but they can't come up with something better than playing her negative qualities up.

Still it is weird the picture on the box is a different, albeit current, costume. I guess the box designer didn't care for comic-book accuracy but for making a visually good/cool design. I don't blame them.

Still the art looks... familiar. Some guesses on the artist?

Anonymous said...

Well lets face it, these are toys to be given to children....they are collectibles etc....

Cuz these days a kid's idea of a desired toy is a smartphone...


JF

Anonymous said...

I have a theory:

The amber color of the base immediately reminded me of when Supergirl got caught in Insect Queen's amber larvae (or whatever it was), back in Supergirl (2005) #50. The striking colors on the variant cover by Middleton came to mind. Not the size, but the color and the shape.

In the comic, Supergirl breaks out of the amber with exactly the arms-wide pose where she breaks the chains in this statue.

So my theory is that this is loosely based on Supergirl #50.

If there is no closer reference in that run of Supergirl, then I like it. You could do worse than an homage to Supergirl #50, which included a story written by Helen Slater. Her story featured a TV news segment reflecting on Supergirl's impact skeptically at first, but concluded that Supergirl is a hero and a role model - with Linda Lang watching this on TV surrounded by Jimmy, Lois and Perry.

This statue is actually excellent. I'm not sure what her expression signifies, but still it's one of the better-looking among your figures.

I notice with some regret that the shirt is missing my favorite yellow stripes on the top and bottom edges of the shirt and the yellow cuffs (which I liked when they were small, not when they were drawn as long gold gauntlets). The boots are also missing their yellow stripe, which I feel entirely neutral about.

I never knew how the cape was attached to that costume, but chalk that up to one of the many mysteries of superhero costuming. Was it velcro? Snaps? Spider webbing?

T.N.

Professor Feetlebaum said...

I ordered this figure awhile back, but haven't received it yet...so I'm happy to see it get a good review here. The statue looks nice, and that box is certainly colorful. And I think I like the reversed colors on the cape "S" better than the usual solid yellow.

The text on the box is taken word for word from the second paragraph of DC's Supergirl page. The first paragraph reads:

"Superman: The most powerful being on the planet. But what would
have happened if he wasn't raised by the decent, humble souls that
gave him his morals? What if he arrived on Earth as a teenager-
with all the attitude and rebellion that comes with the territory?
Well...he'd be Supergirl."

And then it goes into the text that appears on the box.

Something about the paragraph quoted above doesn't make sense. If Superman had arrived on Earth as a teenager with "all the attitude and rebellion that goes with the territory" he wouldn't be SUPERGIRL, he'd be SUPERBOY with a bad attitude!

By the way, I notice that Supergirl Omnibus volume 2 is not on the shelf.

To get back to the statue, I wonder how it would look with a small light placed under the base? Would that be possible?

Anonymous said...

Good review. I have this one also. It costs half of the 1 to your left, which I also have. For the latter, it now costs more than double what I paid for back then. I was kinda surprised at that. I wasn't really treating these as collectibles like coins. Hopefully, this means that Kara is worth keeping around!