Hawkgirl

Likeness

Hawkgirl looks like the clean Murphy Anderson Silver Age look. There are no tiger stripes on her Silver Age helmet like the modern JSA Hawkgirl. There are no snake-like pupils painted on her helmet. This is the only thing missing. The other helmet is the half face mask the character sported in the 1940s with regulars painted eyes. She is a red hair, like the Silver Age Hawkgirl. The Golden Age was a brunette.

Sculpt

Hawkgirl is a petite woman, albeit a tough looking one. Her arms and abdominal are cut but her breasts are very small. She has beautiful and lean legs and thighs. She leans calmly on her left leg and looks like a noble woman ready to take the plunge. John Ostrander and the modern JSA's writers have often characterized Hawkgirl as the meanest of the couple. As graceful as this figure looks, they are right!

Paint

Hawkgirl's paint job is clean and nice. There are no highlights on her costume, but her red hair is not just painted orange, like the Oracle action figure. One can assess the quality of the paint job by looking at the tiny hawk logo on the figure's belt. It is much smaller than Hawkman's, but it does not bleed on other areas. Like Hawkman's, the belt is gold coloured, although some wear is starting to show.

Scale

Hawkgirl is smaller than Hawkman, but will fit very well with the first modern Wonder Woman action figure, The Birds of Prey gals, the Silver Age Version of the Justice League, such as Aquaman, Superman, Batman, the Flash and even the Golden Age Green Arrow and John Stewart. Next to the JSA figures, she looks perfect. Those who want to put her next to the modern JLA will find it difficult.

Stability

Hawkgirl's stability is a problem. Just like Hawkman, one must use her wings to pose her since they did not include the advertised action figure stands in the package that shipped from DCDirect. However, Hawkgirl's has particular problems, and having Hawkman's. Since she is shorter, one must spread her wings further apart to stabilize the figure. It makes her wings looser and less supportive of her weight.

Articulation

Hawkgirl is short on articulation. Technically, she has five points of articulation at the neck, the shoulders, and the hips. Only the shoulder articulations are useful. The neck cannot move. Her hair seems glued. The cut in the neck is ugly, especially when it doesn't "work." The hips have v-shaped articulations. You can only rotate the thighs. It's only useful when trying to stand the figure and will not help areal posing.

Wing Articulation

The characters' wings have four points of articulations and an action push button to flap them. DCDirect should have used this type of articulation on the Kingdom Come Hawkman action figure. The wings can open, and flap. The joints are better hidden than in the Toy Biz Archangel and Angel figures. The push button articulations won't work well if the figures are not standing up.

Plastic

The figures have harder plastic than the rubbery stock used with other DCDirect's. However, their construction and their wings' weight change the feet's shape. The wings' plastic is malleable. The joints tying them to the flapping mechanism are fragile. To avoid problems, I put them on their feet, lean them against a wall and let a small opening under the wings to avoid having them support the figures' weight.

Props

The figures come with two sets of helmets, shield and a morning star. There lack props for the figures in this set. Hawkgirl's left hand can carry props. However, Hawkman really looks good with the shield and the morning star. One must substitute parts from other figures for Hawkgirl. The paint inside the helmet was not dry when I got my figure. It may leave some paint on your figure's head. They also catch much dust.

Packaging

The Hawks come in a box with a removable sky background paper panel. The back has some information on the figures and shots of other DCDirect action figures.

Cost

When DCDirect released it in the summer of 2000, the Hawkman and Hawkgirl set was more than twice the price of a single package. At the time, retailers sold from $29.99 to $59.99. Again, like many of DCDirect's product, the set was very expensive and not easily affordable by many fans. One can only purchase the set on the secondary market where prices can often go over a $100 for this rare set.

Availability

Because of the hefty price tag and the limited appeal of the figures, retailers did not order many sets. This set is probably not available in stores and sold out from DCDirect. However, many fans unaware of the limited availability of the figure and those starting their collection much later missed out. They can only be found on the secondary market. There are no words on whether DCDirect will release it again.
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