Though I have never bought a Supergirl comic book in my life, the moment I saw this figure, I knew I had to get it. When they released the first Supergirl by DC Direct with Superboy last Summer, I didn't even bother looking at the spec. This set is aimed at a very specific DC Comics fan, the one who likes the Legion of Super Heroes and old Silver Age comics. I was not part of that demographic group.

This new figure is made for a specific target market. Supergirl has her own comic book. Peter David writes it. For a long time Leonard Kirk and then Ed Benes drew it. The book seems to appeal to girls. This Supergirl is the merged personality of alien shape shifter, the Matrix and the mind of Carol Danvers. Nevertheless, I bought this figure based on her cool looks, not love for character.

Likeness

This Supergirl sports the updated look introduced in the last Superman cartoon series. She looks like a teen. She looks very much like the Supergirl I come across on the comic stands. She has big boots, a skirt, and a shortened cape. She looks like a 15-year-old girl.

Sculpt This Supergirl is posed as if wind were blowing from the right. Her skirt, cape and hair are being pushed aside. This is cool. She looks determined and inspired. She leans slightly on her right foot. Her torso is raised as if she were ready to fly off. This is a great sculpt.

Paint The paint application is standard. Of note, Superman's logo is well painted. DC Direct no longer shades its figures or adds highlights in character's hair. The paint bleeds in many places, especially around the cape's edge in the collar. There are paint spots on the rubber cape too. There are no details in the boots. At the very least, the laces should have been coloured differently.

Scale Supergirl, being a teenager, is very petite. She's shorter than the Birds of Prey Black Canary, Wondergirl, but about the same height as the Silver Age Robin and the Silver Age Lois lane. Of course, she is much smaller than the Modern Superman. Unfortunately, the figure does not look very good next to Powergirl. Powergirl looks like a very mature woman and almost like a bodybuilder next to Supergirl.

Standing upright

The figure can stand up on her own, but not very well. Her hips need to be adjusted. She will however stand very well on the action figure stand that comes with along. The problem with the stand is that her left foot will not touch the base of the stand. It will float. This is not neat.

Articulation

Supergirl has eleven points of articulation and not nine as written on the packaging. Her neck has a nifty ball rotation articulation that allows the figure to look up when flying. It is better integrated in the figure than the Modern Superman figure. However, because of the hair in the back of the figure's head, the rotation shifts to the left at a certain angle. Still, the rotating head lets the figure shift her head sideways.

The figure also has ball-jointed shoulders that are troublesome. They do not rotate freely. Whenever the arms are rotated, it feels like they are coming off. The crack of the ball joint is also very visible. Do not play too much with the figure's shoulders. They do not seem solid. Supergirl has articulations in her elbows, wrists, hips and knees.

The wrist articulation is great if you want to pose the figure in a flying pose. Unfortunately, the figure does not have waist articulation. Her elbows' articulations are not great at first. They seem glued and when pressure is applied to move the parts, it feels like they could break. After a while they loosen up.

Plastic

Supergirl contains light plastic that does not stink anymore. However, be very careful when handling her. She looks fragile. Her limbs are so tiny that they could easily be broken. Supergirl's cape and skirt consist of soft rubber. This is great, as it makes the figure much lighter. The only drawback is that it catches dust easily.

Props

Supergirl only comes with a large figure stand based on the Superman's logo. She is such a tiny figure, and the stand so large, that she only occupies part of it.

Packaging

It seems that DC Direct is definitely back with the old blister pack. They do not use the re-sealable variety. Because DC Direct is trying to attract as much visibility as possible, they put the Superman's logo on the package and only added a small "Supergirl" note on the top. The package features the other Superman figures available in this wave and the past ones such as the Silver Age Superman/Lois set.

Cost

This figure is priced at the standard DC Direct single figure price. Because DC Direct does not enforce a pricing policy, the price will vary at each retailer. There are good places where figures can be purchased for cheap, but they do not pay post ads here, so they will remain unmentioned.

Availability

This figure is not a chase figure. It was probably under-ordered. Although Supergirl has a strong following, her series is about to be rebooted/cancelled. She does not participate very much in the Superman's universe, although, I'm sure that will change soon. Since she is not a real Kryptonian, many consider her a fake Supergirl. Her costume is not popular with many older fans.

They would probably not have made this figure outside a strong Superman wave. Not being a Supergirl fan, I bought the figure solely on the strength and originality of the sculpt by James Shoop with assistance by Tim Bruckner. Those two have now shown me how DC Direct should make a Stargirl (Star Spangle Kid), if they ever get the guts to do Modern JSA action figures.

Update February 6 2005:
This figure has sold out from Diamond Comics, the exclusive distributor of this action figure.

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