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REVIEW: Kotobukiya Final Three DC Comics Justice League ARTFX+ Statues
Batman, Wonder Woman, And Cyborg Complete Epic Team...
Throughout this year Kotobukiya has been releasing the initial members of DC Comics’ New 52 Justice League, the powerful “Big 7” of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. While the Japanese toy and statue company is perhaps best known for its ARTFX series of 1/6 figures, these new superheroes are captured in the new 1/10 ARTFX+ scale bringing them to you in a smaller package (and for less money) but still packed with great sculpts and decos. The Justice League series is now complete with the final three members we’ll be taking a look at today: Batman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg! Like the rest of the team these three are based on the Justice League redesign by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, specifically recreating Lee’s iconic image of the team but with an added Koto flair.
Batman certainly needs no introduction, and his backstory was changed little with the New 52 relaunch. Orphaned by a mugger in Gotham City’s Crime Alley, Bruce Wayne devoted his life to cleaning up his city as the Caped Crusader. His one city focus exploded upon meeting Green Lantern, leading him to search out Superman and form the Justice League to oppose Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips. Wonder Woman, meanwhile, has had some interesting updates in the New 52 with changes to her backstory if not her heroism and mighty abilities. Now a daughter of Zeus, Diana competes against threats to both Earth and Olympus. Victor Stone was a high school football player living the dream when Darkseid’s forces first started invading Earth. He happened to be visiting his father Silas at S.T.A.R. Labs when a captured Mother Box exploded, grievously injuring him. The only chance for survival was the implantation of experimental and alien technology, turning Victor into the heroic Cyborg!
All of the ARTFX+ Justice Leaguers come packaged in the same kind of box, a very special presentation that looks great as a display piece if you don’t want to remove the figures. While Wonder Woman’s continues the same dimensions as the previous statues, Cyborg’s is a bit taller and Batman’s wider. Each box is almost entirely clear, giving you a clear view of the statue from the front and partial from the sides. The front panels also incorporate the individual characters’ logo at the top left, DC Comics logo at the top right, and name at the bottom. One side has the character’s symbol, while the back has a frosted Justice League poster in different colors for each box. Finally, the last side has a portrait of the individual hero from Jim Lee’s artwork; you can put all of the boxes together to complete the full image!
Each 1/10 scale ARTFX+ statue represents the Justice Leaguer from the artwork with his or her unique New 52 look and costume. Wonder Woman is very slightly the shortest figure in the lineup, at 7 ¼ inches compared to Batman, Flash, Aquaman, and Green Lantern at 7 ½ inches. At the same time, Cyborg is the tallest at nearly 8 inches (and he’d be even taller if he held his head up!). As I’ve discussed in previous reviews, the JL poster these figures come from did not depict the team in battle, but in a heroic lineup showing off the characters to the world. In that vein, the statues are in classic strength display poses. Batman stands with his legs widely set and arms held loosely at his sides, head cocked and tilted forward in contemplation. Cyborg has an open-legged stance as well, one fist clenched at his hip and the other arm transformed into a complicated technological weapon; meanwhile he surveys his surroundings with both organic and cybernetic parts. Finally the Amazonian warrior stands with a defiant pose, legs at shoulder-width, one fist at her hip by her sword and her other hand hovering near her trusty lasso. All of these ARTFX+ statues have magnets in their feet and come with Justice League logo display bases.
Continuing what we’ve seen with the previous statues, these final three Leaguers have excellent sculpts that highlight each character’s unique features. Cyborg is massive and heavy, with a huge, bulky body; his lower legs and feet in particular are massive. The figure is covered in sculpted technological elements and armor, and what’s really interesting is how some of them mimic their flesh versions. For example, the back of Cyborg’s lower legs have metallic musculature and his mid-section has overlapping plates that look like ribs. There’s a convoluted collar around his neck and a jetpack on his back, and his left arm ends in a fantastically detailed sonic cannon with great asymmetry. The statue has a great head sculpt that’s part organic face and part severe metal. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, features one of the most life-like human sculpts with her subtle (and mostly skintight) costume. Other than her sleek physique, she has intricate patterning on her pants and well defined boots, deeply lined top with star decorations and eagle motif, stylized bracelets and arm band, and more. Diana’s weapons look great too, and she has a killer face sculpt that combines her beauty and her strength with a touch of bishoujo sensibilities. And then there’s Batman! Bruce Wayne’s costume has an amazing array of piping and sculpted lines in the New 52 pattern along with armored elements, overlapping plates on the extremities, revealed mesh undersuit at the shoulders, a complex utility belt, and much more. His stern face is complete with pursed lips and furrowed brow (totally appropriate), and of course his massive cape looks awesome with deep creases and a huge, flowing trail.
One cool thing about superhero teams like the Justice League and others is that without a shared uniform they bring together a wide variety of costumes and colors. Even just in these final three statues we get very different looks from the somber Batman to the glossy metallic Cyborg and striking appearance of Wonder Woman. Diana has sections of color; her pants and boots are a deep blue that’s so glossy it looks wet and highlights in bright metallic silver while her midsection is a deep metallic red. Wonder Woman’s chest and arms are a light flesh tone with lots of subtle shading while there are lots more details like her red lips, blue eyes, more silver accoutrements, jet black hair, and of course the gold Lasso of Truth. Batman as usual wears such a dark costume it seems to suck in all light. His bodysuit is primarily a dark metallic gray with shiny black on the gloves, boots, and chest symbol. The utility belt is gold, and Batman’s cape and cowl is a solid matte black. Wayne’s face adds some flesh tone, white for the eyes, and subtle pink on the lips. Cyborg, meanwhile, is mostly bright metallic silver with gray on the secondary layers visible at joints and on the chest and inner surfaces. Bright metallic red appears on the back, chest, and metal face parts, while Victor’s real face has a nice chocolate brown flesh tone and darker hair. Finally, there are peach-colored effects on Cyborg’s arm weapon with great shading leading to the exhaust and muzzle ports.
Now that Koto has finished the ARTFX+ Justice League series, you can collect them all to display the entire team, and they look great together! Every single one of these statues is a great display piece on its own, and highly recommended for fans of the characters. At 1/10 scale Kotobukiya has also kept the price down; most of the statues are $40 with slight increases for Batman and Wonder Woman at $45 and the larger Cyborg at $50.
Review and Photos by Scott Rubin
Review Samples Courtesy of Kotobukiya
