DC Direct's Ame-Comi line continues to impress!

DC Direct continues to release new characters in its Ame-Comi PVC Statue line, and tonight I’m looking at two of my latest acquisitions, Mera and Raven. The Ame-Comi is becoming a very long-running line, and in many ways the quality of these pieces has gotten better as the line has progressed.

Being a major Aquaman fan. I was delighted to see Mera announced in this line, and I’m delighted with the execution. This is a very whimsical design but there is a great deal of detail behind the fun. Mera is is regal dress with a mermaid style tail, although her legs are visible underneath it.

Her costume is beautifully detailed with the green sections covered with individually sculpted scales. Beyond that, she has a crown, neck piece and wand which are also quite detailed - although the neck piece is perhaps a bit long, making Mera’s neck a bit longer than normal.

There is some clever engineering in this piece, as Mera’s feet are elevated from the ground by the “tail” of her costume, which connects to the base. The coloured fins at the end of the tail are a separate piece which fits on once the rest of the base is assembled. The elevation makes Mera a bit taller than most of the Ame-Comi set.

Another thing I like about Mera is that she can displayed with her base on an angle or facing lengthways, which means that the piece can displayed between other pieces without taking up too much space, which is a concern in the Ame-Comi due to the very large bases the early figures came with.

While I am predisposed to love The Queen of the Seas due to my slight Aquaman fixation, I have to say that Raven is not just the pick of this bunch, but most likely the entire series. The level of detail that has gone into this figure is incredibly striking.

Raven has been designed in a goth style. This goes beyond her pale skin and Morticia Addams-esque eyes to an intricately designed cape that is the making of the piece. It has a gorgeous shape and is painted blue on the outside and black on the inside. The black side has a striking pattern sculpted through it which includes eyes and angry faces - suitably creepy for the daughter of Trigon!

The detail on the rest of the figure is not to be ignored. Raven’s gloves, boots and belt are all very detailed with belts, buckles and gems. Like the Mera figure, Raven has a level of detail that would show up a less than stellar paint job. Thankfully, the paint on both of these pieces are top notch. I really couldn’t be more impressed.

This series just continues to grow on me. I really like the way that each character in the Ame-Comi series gets its own treatment within the spirit of anime styling, which means that designers can take the characters in quite different directions like Duela Dent’s steampunk, Mera’s disco diva look and Raven’s goth appearance.

I also like the way that DC Direct is prepated to go beyond the “A” list with its character selection in lines like this. I do wish they would be as adventurous with their male characters in other lines - there are so many DC heroes we’ve yet to see in statue or collectable form.

You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and you can comment on this post to enter the September AFB Comment of the Month Contest!

Until next time!

Jesse Quick and Duela Dent join DC Direct's Ame-Comi Family!

And now for something completely different - it’s time to look at the latest additions to my DC Direct Ame-Comi PVC Figure Collection - Jesse Quick as the Flash and Duela Dent as the Joker.


First up - the names of these pieces. I’m not sure why Jesse Quick and Duela Dent, who each are characters in their own rights, needed these extra tags. I don’t know that adding “as the Flash” to a female figure is going to cause more people to buy it. Obviously DCD did, so perhaps I’m wrong. As someone who knows both of these characters quite well, it seems a bit of a slight, that’s all. Thankfully, that’s the main note of concern here, as DC Direct has done a great job with both of these statues, bar a few niggles.


Jesse Quick is fun addition to the Ame-Comi line. It's nice to have a member of the Flash Family in the Ame-Comi fold! I like the pose, which is fitting for a speedster but not the running pose one might expect. I love the way that her hair ends in a lightning bolt shape at the back, and her sneakers are brilliantly detailed - more lightning bolts included!


Jesse has a removeable visor made of translucent yellow which I’ve decided to leave on in the display. It does cover up a bit of her face, but I’m not totally worried about that. The only thing I’d change about Jesse is her facial expression. Whether it’s her large, round eyes or her somewhat pursed mouth, she looks a little too much like a blow-up doll for my tastes.


This statue has a very nice paint job, including reds that you might think don’t go together but in fact do work on this piece. Like the rest of the new Ame-Comi pieces, she has the smaller base which means the new pieces take up less room - a big plus for this collector!


The steampunk look chosen for Duela Dent is fabulous. It’s a bei of a side step from the more straight anime stylings of much of the rest of the line, and I quite like it. The big hits with me are the clown make-up and her groovy spectacles. I like the different purples that are used here, especially the shiny purple on her trousers. The translucent green frills on her sleeves are also a fantastic touch.


I have one minor and one major complaint about Duela. The minor issue is that she’s looking a bit too far down, and unless you can place her on a higher shelf you’re going to be looking at the top of her hat and not her face. The major issue is that her right hand is not designed to hold her cane, which means that if you want to display it with the statue, it has to dangle from her wrist via the included plastic strip. Either the cane was an afterthought, or the sculptor simply neglected to design the hand to hold it. Either way - it’s a dislike.

One other thing to point out about Duela is that she is rather tall, and almost appears to be slightly out of scale with the other pieces in the Ame-Comi line. When you look her in comparison to the others, it’s partly her tip-toed stance, partly her hat and partly that her legs are quite long in comparison to her upper body. It’s not a big issue, but she does end up looking rather big compared to some of the earlier Ame-Comi pieces.


For me, this line continues to go from strength to strength. The repaints of earlier pieces are giving collectors late to the game the chance to own them (I really must pick up that purple Catwoman) and completists more to buy, while the new characters added to the line are broadening the scope of the line’s character coverage. I do love it when we get characters that have never appeared as a collectable before!


Next up for the Ame-Comi line will be Mera and Raven. I’m waiting for a replacement Mera as all of the Meras sent to my LCS (which is still my Canberra shop) arrived with their heads snapped off! Hopefully I’ll be reviewing more Ame-Comi (with heads!) soon.


You can see more pics at Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and you can comment on this post to enter the June AFB Comment of the Month Contest! Also - don’t forget to cast your vote for the overall winner of the Toy Lines! Caption Contest!


Until next time!

Like I needed another line to collect….

When I saw the solicits for the original DC Direct Ame-Comi Superheroine PVC Statues, I was pretty impressed, especially with the first Batgirl. I loved the Anime take on a classic character and costume. Then I saw some of the next releases that didn’t stick very closely to the original character, like a Zatanna with blue hair, and I was out.

A few weekends ago I was in Sydney and I saw the Black Canary version of this line, and I was quite taken by it. The asking price in the Sydney shop was far to steep, so I decided to order it through my reliable LCS, and somehow came home with Hawkgirl and the Cassandra Cain Batgirl. Oops.

Black Canary is my favourite of the bunch. She is a great mix of Anime styling but still a totally recognisable version of Dinah. The PVC material allows for some interesting sculpting, such as the long strands of Black Canary’s hair that would be a major breakage risk in resin or cold cast porcelain, but are quite durable here. My favourite figure was also the most challenging to put together. The plastic stand that is meant to attach into her back was very challenging to fit in as her jacket partially blocks access  to the hole. The pressure required to insert the post caused it to snap, and my attempts to superglue it back together only succeeded in gluing my fingers to the post and each other. It’s now repaired with sticky tape, complete with tiny bits of my flesh as a keepsake. Good times.

Hawkgirl is a good looking figure. Her wings are definitely the best thing going for her. The figure is well sculpted and painted, but the pose could be better. Her arms are dynamically arranged, but her legs are awkward. The way her legs are splayed looks a little like she’s taken a blow on the back. A small quibble, but a great piece overall.

Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) is quite an exquisite figure. It’s hard to appreciate the complexity of the sculpt through my paltry photos. The texture of her cape, the twisted base, the detail in her bodice, all make this a compelling piece to look at. The bats in flight above her shoulder are a very nice touch.

One thing that makes these a little challenging to display is the large circumference of the bases. They’re quite good looking, but huge. The amount of room they take up doesn’t seem totally necessary when you consider that these are PVC figures and are pretty light.

I won’t be trying to pick up all of the pieces I’ve missed in this line (although I’ve already eBayed the first Batgirl) and I will be cherry picking future figures, but I am definitely “on board” with this line – and now trying to resist looking into Marvel’s similar effort. That Rogue does look good……

You can see more pics on Facebook, discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the November AFB Comment of the Month Contest.

Until next time!