Harley Quinn - Premium Format Exclusive - StatueForum Review

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Harley Quinn Premium Format Exclusive by Sideshow Collectibles - The StatueForum Review
Exclusive edition limited to 1750. Regular edition limited to 3500.
Release date – May 2014. Original price $359.99

Knock knock, Puddin'!

Sideshow collectibles proudly presents one of Gotham City’s villainous sirens, the ever deadly and psychotic Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, also known as Harley Quinn. Her first appearance in comics is in The Batman Adventures #12 (September 1993). While she appears to have gone through numerous costume changes recently, none have been as celebrated and loved as the red and black diamond costume featured here today.

- Dimensions: 21" H (533.4mm) x 12" W (304.8mm) x 6.5" D (165.1mm)
Sculpted and designed by:
- Kat Sapene (Paint), Steve Schumacher (Sculpt), Pascual Wawoe (Sculpt), Jennifer Johnson (Costume Fabrication), Kristafer Anka (Design), Stan Lau (Design), Dylan Forman (Design), Chadwick Andersen (Development)
- Weight: approximately 10 pounds

Click on the bar atop the images for a full size view.

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Sculpture: Steve Schumacher and Pascual Wawoe sculpted, in my humble opinion, one of Sideshow’s front runners for statue of the year (so far). Following the tremendous success of DC's Comics the Joker, Poison Ivy, and the Batman premium format statues, Sideshow keeps the remarkable quality and craftsmanship of its product exactly where it needs to be -- at an all-time high. Working alongside a stellar development team, Steve and Pasqual hit an out-of-the-ballpark homerun with this definitive Harley Quinn statue. Extra special mention should also go out to Kat Sapene whose exemplary paints rarely gets the credit it deserves. Awesome job.

Displaying at 21 inches in height, this piece should display quite well alongside other ¼ scale premium formats. The blend of mixed media is astounding. While there are some statue purists out there who swear by fully painted sculpts, this is one of those designs where the museum quality cloth treatment stands out in an incredible way. It both exemplifies the preliminary design as well as serves to show how much the mixed medium has evolved over the years and continues to break new ground. Fans of the Gotham City universe of characters are in for a royal treatment. This one looks amazing.

The tragic theatre stage base theme matches the previously released Joker Premium Format, which should make for an ideal matching display. The theatre masks which surround the base is an especially nice touch. However, the mallet prop really makes this statue. It serves to create this playful yet diabolical ambience to the piece. The fact that Harley smiles wide only adds to the maniacal nature of the design.

While Harley Quinn has since changed her costume to look less linked to its original Bruce Timm animated roots, I absolutely love her in her classic black and white, diamond highlighted tights. While the statue ships with an unmasked, tongue taunting portrait, I much prefer to display her in her classic costume. For whatever reason, the variant head is just a bit too sassy for my liking. I don't see myself ever displaying the variant portrait. It's just not how I envision the character. However, there's no mistaking the top notch sculpting effort of both portraits.

The sculpture does lean slightly backward. I imagine that was likely part of the design to show the weight of the mallet behind her back. However, it did make it a bit of a challenge to take point-of-view pics. A minor nit-pick, I realize, but worth noting for those other shutterbugs like myself. You may need to take pics from various angles to get the look you want.

Overall, an excellent job. Very very nicely done.


Rating – 9/10
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Paint/Mixed media: As the Harley Quinn is mostly covered in a red and black body suit, there isn’t much going on paint-wise, save for the acrylics on her face, hair (on the variant), boots, the wood mallet, and theatre themed base. Let’s start with the facial features. Harley’s classic jester face paints look absolutely fabulous. While there have been some rumblings about the eyes being misaligned, I’m happy to say that the eyes on mine look perfect.

No paint smudges or painting over lines. No over-tailoring or seams showing or cloth sagging in areas. Overall, a very solid job. If there is any downside to this statue, it’s that Sideshow didn’t use actual soft material pompoms on the ends of Harley’s mask, but that might just be me looking for something to nitpick (again).

Rating 9/10
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Production and Build quality: The statue comes with a theatre stage-type pseudo wood base, wood mallet with long handle, two heads (jester classic version and tongue-taunting blonde-haired variant), and the figure itself. The two heads and hand/mallet pieces use magnets to attach itself to the sculpture. The figure connects to the base via a peg located underneath Harley’s right foot. This piece is relatively easy to put together with no fuss or exertion of force. As a general rule, I much prefer pieces with as few accessories as possible. Compared to other PFs, this is a very light piece.

The following is probably another nitpick, but I found that the variant head magnet isn't as strong as it could be so there's some swivel to it (at least on mine), though it's not at all to the point where it might fall off. Also, we can see the seam around the neck on the variant head. I see that this same issue reported from other collectors. I'm not calling this a design flaw because the piece stays put. However, given the choice, I'll go for stronger magnets and no-seams showing every time.


Rating 9/10
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Design: This premium format was based on the stunning designs of Stanley "Artgerm" Lau, who also provided the designs for the Poison Ivy Premium format. In my opinion, this is the definitive Harley Quinn. Incidentally, Harley Quinn was originally created and designed by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. The character was first introduced on September 11, 1992, on the WB’s Batman: The Animated Series and then later adapted into DC Comics' The Batman Adventures #12 (September 1993).

This original design of this piece is stunning, even if the waistline is too slim. I'm glad the sculptors went with a more realistic looking physique. In this regard, the artistic license really paid off.

Rating: 9/10

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Overall rating - 9/10

[Bullseye]

Nice review mate. How do you think it compares with the DC one which I think is one of DCs best efforts at this scale.

[risingstar]

Nice review mate. How do you think it compares with the DC one which I think is one of DCs best efforts at this scale.



The Joker, in my humble opinion, remains Sideshow's DC Comics' premium format to beat. From head to toe, it's a perfect piece. It's as close to a 10-rating as you'll likely get on a design. The stars were clearly aligned when Sideshow assembled the development team behind that project as everyone on board seemed to have brought their A-game to the table. While I really like the Ivy, especially the sculpture, there was room for improvement with regards to the paint applications. It's always a shame when a stellar design falls a bit short during its final stage of production. The Batman, ironically, suffers from being too magnificent, in the sense that it nearly dwarfs anything it's displayed next to. Its wow factor takes up a lot of space. While it might seem bizarre to actually consider a positive critique like "magnificent" as something potentially negative, the reality is that most fans generally prefer to display their statues together rather than apart. That's a challenge with the Batman PF. Hopefully, the Superman and WW will display well alongside Batman without any scale issues.

The Harley, however, features stellar paint applications and manages to exude this veneer of playfulness, psychomania, and even some sex appeal. Moreover, the pose sets itself apart by the mallet prop, exemplary tailoring and a dynamic pose. Steve Schumacher and Pascual Wawoe had their work cut out of them as they were asked to produce something which can be displayed beside the Joker PF, arguably the best DC statue ever sculpted. No easy feat. Thankfully, for us, they succeeded with flying colors.

What do you think?

[Bullseye]

I think having her with the mallet was inspired especially after seeing the original Joker PF with the bloody mallet which was dropped. I do like the design on this one but I would like to see both Harleys in one picture before deciding which I prefer. I do love the DC one with the hyenas. It was such a playful look.

Steve is fast becoming a very well respected sculptor. I really love what he did with WW and Sinestro which looks like a winner.

[risingstar]

I think having her with the mallet was inspired especially after seeing the original Joker PF with the bloody mallet which was dropped. I do like the design on this one but I would like to see both Harleys in one picture before deciding which I prefer. I do love the DC one with the hyenas. It was such a playful look.

Steve is fast becoming a very well respected sculptor. I really love what he did with WW and Sinestro which looks like a winner.


I had the DC Direct Harley but sold it shortly after I pre-ordered the Sideshow Harley. While the DC Direct Museum line Harley was nice, I don't think it compares to the Sideshow PF, at least not from a mixed media quality perspective. Also, due to the flat base, it was numerous inches shorter than the Joker PF. In all fairness though, the DC Direct Harley sculpted by Jack Matthews was likely the nicest DC Direct museum quality statue they produced. I think it was the last one too.

I always liked the DC Direct Adam Hughes Cover Girls Harley Quinn. Very nice piece overall too. Would you believe this piece was limited to 8000?


http://i1334.photobucket.com/albums/w657/super_c03/ahhq.jpg

[gomur]

I think having her with the mallet was inspired especially after seeing the original Joker PF with the bloody mallet which was dropped. I do like the design on this one but I would like to see both Harleys in one picture before deciding which I prefer. I do love the DC one with the hyenas. It was such a playful look.

Steve is fast becoming a very well respected sculptor. I really love what he did with WW and Sinestro which looks like a winner.

The SS sculpt is amazing and it works very well with the Joker. It's a more playful and mischievous Harley which I remember from the Animated Series. And I prefer her portraits to the DC Museum piece which comes across as sinister.

However, I really love the DC museum's pose with Harley walking her hyenas. And the gadgets they incorporate with the dynamite stick and corked gun. It has a ton more attitude than simply holding a mallet. So I think it's superior in that sense.

Summary, for me, is two outstanding statues with their respective strengths.

[risingstar]

I did a statueforum review for the DC Direct Harley Quinn 3 years ago. For those curious, here are a couple quick pics.

http://i1334.photobucket.com/albums/w657/super_c03/hqpf30.jpg


http://i1334.photobucket.com/albums/w657/super_c03/j-hq1.jpg

[Bullseye]

I would love to see a picture of the two side by side.

[Matches Malone]

That DCD Harley was awesome in so many regards. The big detractor for me was the face/mouth on the piece.

[Shanesg]

Great review my man. Keep 'em coming.

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