’m going to get into the weeds here, fully cognizant that for 99% of collectors on these boards, these will amount to shoulder shrug worthy differences.
But since you asked, here goes.
The big differences are in the hair, the face, and to a certain extent, the spirit (or lack of) on display.
In terms of Hair-
The statue actually tones down the Perez hair quite a bit and changes it's essential character from large bulbous curls to shorter, straighter locks. The volume that Perez (and the artists that superseded him but who followed his model sheet religiously), depicted was insanely extravagant.
t also repeats an essential characteristic that is found in her face and in her features- everything is based on circular shapes.
Most people may look at this TH statue and see “big hair” and that’s enough. I understand that.
The actual structure on the statue, though, is triangular. While relatively bigger, than someone like Donna Troy for example, it’s still far less voluminous at the crown (than the Perez design) , while only expanding out as you get lower.
In the illo directly above, as well as the model sheets you posted, you can see Perez designed the hair to be expansive in every direction, almost as if it's on the verge of engulfing her face.
To my eyes, the way the sculptor rendered the hair on this Tweeterhead piece, the art looks more like it was based off some other artist doing their own stylistic spin on the Perez Starfire design, rather than art by Perez himself . Frankly I see more of an artist like Michael Turner or J. Scott Campbell in this than I do Perez.
It's definitely the Perez costume and design of the character, but looks filtered through another artists style even prior to the actual sculpt.
For most of the demographic buying this, I’m sure that’s more of a virtue than a sin. And I’m not denigrating anyone's preference with that, I’m just trying to read the room.
That’s
one key difference to me.
Another is in the facial structure and features.
Perez didn’t draw this, but to me this is clearly a “Perez Starfire” - most particularly in terms of the portrait.
The shape of the face is rounder, the eyes are larger and rounder (with no irises).
Another quality is the absence of sharply defined structure in the nose bridge.
This is another area, on the statue, where I see an art style that would be more consistent with an artist more like a Turner or a Campbell. Maybe not either of them
specifically, but more in the direction of various '90's era artists I've seen, who were given liberty to deviate from model sheet exactness and were encouraged to make slight alterations according to their own stylistic whims.
Perez’s Kory combines the kind of wider, rounder face you might see in Eastern Europeans (or some equatorial Latin/South Americans), with the delicacy of nose/bridge structure you would see in many Asian - or probably more precisely, children’s - faces.
That last is really an essential point that I hesitate to harp on because it will most likely skeeve a lot of people out.
Kory's whole thing was that she was child-like, and Perez used her features to subliminally hammer that point in.
Even the whole "big hair" conceit was a way to give her a bigger head/smaller body kind of appearance- which are more child-like proportions.
It's almost as if the TH is a Starfire that is suitably 'aged up" to be "safe" for leering, middle aged men.
Ultimately, you could probably boil the differences down to three “S”s- Shape; Size; Spirit.
In regard to that last quality-
Kory , when I read the book anyway, was frequently portrayed as a joyous, childlike spirit- no trace of self consciousness - almost always happy, enthusiastic, excited, smiling.
On the flip side, when she was roused to anger, she burned with a white hot wrath.
Generally extremes in either direction (which is also in keeping with that whole child-like nature)
The placid, cipher-like expression on this statue doesn’t allude to any of that.
Even if the sculptor had gotten all those earlier aesthetic aspects I laid out, but had left the same blank look, I would have noticed, and bemoaned the fact, she was still missing something elemental.
So yeah, the TH statue is nice.
It’s nice to see the costume in three dimensions (and larger than the Icon Heroes piece), and the body is nicely sculpted, and the colors are great, and the portrait is attractive -for what it is.
For most people, I realize, all that is more than enough.
For myself- I’ll enjoy this for what it offers, but I'll still be pining away for a “real” Perez Starfire- something that fully captures the character that entranced me forty years ago.
