Kotobukiya ArtFX+ Series Avengers Black Widow statue.
Made from PVC and ABS plastic. She stands about 7 1/2 inches tall (1/10 scale).
Kotobukiya first made the New 52 Jim Lee designed Justice League as ArtFX + figures. The quality and designs of the statues were very well received. Many commented they had a good weight and did not feel light and flimsy. Due to the popularity of the series, subsequently, more characters were added to beyond the core members of the Justice League. This included characters such as Supergirl, Shazam, Black Adam, Nightwing, & Batgirl.
What happened next brought delight to many statue collectors, especially Marvel fans. Kotobukiya announced in the February 2013 Toy Fair New York that they were producing the famous Avengers as ArtFX+ statues. But not only that, as was with the signature Jim Lee artist ArtFX+ statues, the Avengers were also based on the designs of legendary artist Adi Granov! The man who brought us the Iron Man Extremis suit design!
The first figure from this Avengers line up was non-other than the powerhouse jade giant, The Incredible Hulk. Black Widow is the second figure to be released.
The Avengers ArtFX+ figures differ from the DC Justice League ArtFX+ figures by a few key differences. When placed together, you might notice a slight difference in size. The Avenger character seems larger compared to the Justice League counterpart. The other difference is the packaging. DC ArtFX+ characters are packed in see through hard plastic boxes. These boxes are not friendly for putting your statue back in the box. The flaps are all very rigid and would break. However for the Avengers figures, they come in 4 colour boxes. Very sturdy and thick cardboard is used. DC characters come in one complete piece, whereas the Marvel Avengers need some assembly and are labeled “Snap-Fit” by Kotobukiya. Despite the name, there isn’t any snapping as the rubbery statue parts just need some pushing to fit into each other.
The cardboard box packaging is a little less premium looking compared to the transparent plastic boxes of the Justice League figures, but it does its purpose well to protect the figure inside and provides enough information on it such as a brief introduction to who Black Widow is, and also includes a large shot of Adi Granov’s Black Widow painted artwork which the statue was based on. Multiple negative silhouettes of Black Widow as she was featured on the covers and interiors of various comic issues where she appeared served as the background art for the box. You can spot artwork by Jim Lee, Adi Granov and others if you are familiar with them.
Let’s get to the statue. She came in 4 parts. Upper torso, lower torso, 2 forearms, plus 2 pistols and one square base. Be careful when opening the 2 plastic tray holding her together, the pistols and arms can drop out easily. Upper torso and lower torso needed some exertion to push them together so that you won’t see any gap in the waist area.
Sculpt: 8/10 :The first thing that struck me while assembling her and also afterwards while admiring her on her base was how well the sculptor at Kotobukiya captured the essence of Granov’s design for Black Widow’s physique. Befitting a former assassin and now reformed agent of Shield and member of Avengers, she is sculpted with very toned arms, legs, abdomen and super toned buttocks. This is not the cheesecake T&A Black Widow but a very realistic rendition of her. Even her breasts are modest and fits the rest of the body structure. The fine details in her costume such as the little stretch lines across her uniform to suggest the tightness of her combat attire, down to the gun holsters on her thighs, the accompanying holster straps and metal clips are finely detailed.
The face sculpt is beautiful. Although on this part, I must say, the final statue does differ a little bit from Granov’s painting as there’s thicker eyelashes. Compared to Granov’s art, the statue’s portrait looks a bit softer. The cheekbones are not that emphasized and prominent as the art. Nonetheless, it is very close to how she was illustrated. What I like most is how the hair was sculpted with many lines and the little curls at the hair tips. Some statues omit such details on hair, and you get just chunks of hair with no line groves to give definition.
Paint & Mixed Media 7/10: The black on her attire is very uniform and painted very evenly. It’s glossy but not too glossy to reflect just the right amount of light for it to give that leather like effect. The skin tone jumps at me a bit as I feel it is a little bit too pinkish & thick. But still okay.The colour for her gold belt is fine. It has that metallic effect. But the colours on her “Widow Bites” bracelets look a tad bit too plastic though. Definitely could have used a better colour in my opinion. Seldom do you find paint bleeds on an ArtFX+ statue. Despite its small size, most of the time you get very well painted figures, especially the faces. You don’t have to worry about crooked lipsticks.
Design 7.5/10: The design is fitting. The posture chosen, how her arms are positioned, the twist of the head to look to her side, the arching of her back, all these are fitting for a sexy yet potentially lethal realistic looking Black Widow. This design should be taken as a whole of how Granov portrayed the Avengers in his art. They are positioned together as a team, but in ready to strike stances. Granted Black Widow’s stance is a bit more relaxed & gives the strike-a-pose-&-look pretty, personally I think it still works for a comic superheroine. It gives a certain degree of feminine softness to it but without overdoing it by making it too dynamic like both guns drawn out and pointed forward in aim or crouching with one leg extended & at the same time another arm extended out to fire her “Widow Bites” shots for example. The only area I think could have been better was perhaps some adornments on the square bases. Perhaps a small Avengers logo(either text or the single “A”) would have made it even more attractive.
Production & Build Quality 7/10: It’s a solid PVC statue. Well crafted and executed. The foot of the figure is fitted with a magnet and will stick to the base. But don’t take it for granted, it’s not a super strong magnet. The figure can fall off easily from the base if you move it around.
From the first day I saw the black and white rough Adi Granov Avengers group sketch as advertised by Kotobukiya’s poster for Toy Fair, I knew I wanted this Natasha Romanova as designed by Granov. It’s the first time Granov designed for Kotobukiya Avengers characters at this scale.Kotobukiya ArtFX+ Avengers Black Widow statue is yet another good piece that is worth collecting and a beauty to be displayed. I can’t wait to display her with Hulk and Captain America when The First Avenger arrives later.
Overall Rating:7.4
