Jazzinc Dioramas 1/6 Ultimate Catwoman (Batman Returns, 1992)

[Mike86]

I think Mars Toys and Soosoo toys are way over their heads right now. Announcing up the wazoo with no actual releases.
Mars has shown many 3D rendering, but very little completed prototypes. Have they even released something after their 60s Joker ?
As for Soosoo toys, they promised a full line-up of Watchmen figures, but have yet to show their Doctor Manhattan that was teased over a year ago.

As for Hot Toys...not sure what is going on over there right now. They seem to be short on capital, reusing molds to release 2.0 (or 7.0 for Bale Batman) of previously released figures. Nothing really exciting being announced. Star Wars clones or Batman, rinse and repeat.

Not a big InArt fan as I wish they would've tackle new figures instead of just redoing what was already done. And personally, I don't think the 30-50% premium price has translated to 30-50% quality improvement.

So I am happy to see new people shaking things up and offering something new and different.

Eternals seems to have the same approach that Toys Era and VTS used to have: announce when ready to produce, release quickly and sell before anyone has time to sue. As for Jazz Inc, this will be proof of concept as a first real license figure. Eager to see how that pans out and hope his figures are as great as his batmobiles.

SooSoo has a lot of releases under their belt. They’re behind but have a lot going on. Mars has a lot of announcements and very little actual releases. I do think it would be smart of Mars to drop out of releasing a Catwoman and putting their resources towards other projects that they have in development.

 

[Raven6009]

Mars has shown many 3D rendering, but very little completed prototypes. Have they even released something after their 60s Joker ?

'66 Batman and Robin under the Saturn name, and mob boss Joker, Bruce, and Alfred from '89.

 

[czanew]

I don’t think Mars should cancel theirs. Even if the Jazz figure ends up staying at the 250-300 range, there will be people looking for a cheaper option. You’ll also inevitably have people who missed the pre-order window or have never even heard of Jazz. If I was Mars I’d just wait until after Jazz is no longer an option. When everyone is posting pics of theirs, that’s when you put up the PO. Scoop up all that FOMO money. As for the Eternal figure, it looks so cheap, if there weren’t two other options, I’d still be passing on it.

 

[Mike86]

I mean.. the Eternal figure is cheap. You don’t get figures for $150 very often. Might not be the best option but for the price I still think it’s decent.

I’ll probably get the Jazzinc offerings but I’m not convinced how great they’ll be yet since Jazz is new to making figures.

 

[BoricuaHec01]

I have zero doubts that Jazz Inc won’t execute. Their Vulture figure was actually pretty damn good for their first figure attempt and unlicensed during the time. There wasn’t a face sculpt but was still better than any other Vulture out there.

 

[WolfBoy]

If anything, maybe this Jazz figure will finally open the flood gates for other companies to do more of her. Licensed i mean, and not ugly and cheap.

 

[Chopper Face]

Not a big InArt fan as I wish they would've tackle new figures instead of just redoing what was already done. And personally, I don't think the 30-50% premium price has translated to 30-50% quality improvement.

Not to be one of the ‘InArt can do no wrong’ crowd but I can’t think of any 50% price differential with a comparable licensed product.
Even the lower end of your estimated 30% is much higher than the reality I’ve observed.

Quality hair application and styling raises prices significantly across the board regardless of who’s doing it and will always result in at least $100 increase over sculpted options.

To compare some HT Vs InArt pricings-

InArt Standard Joker was something like $340 on OSK including shipping after release.
HT’s new 2.0 is $370 at sideshow before shipping, and was $399 at OSK,
The ’Artisan’ Joker was $515 at sideshow before shipping I believe, and even more expensive for anyone outside of China or the US who dared attempt to get one.

It’s hard to compare directly to InArt’s rooted Joker as it wasn’t available individually, so I’ll sub in Aragorn as he has a similarly layered costume and amount of hair.

Standard could be ordered for $307 and premium/rooted for $448.
Artisan Scarlet Witch was $440 before shipping.
Gandalf was around $500 shipped and requires a double root job.

Switching to my native currency for the best current comparison;
HT standard Batman (No sticky-bomb gun) was £295
InArt standard Batman- £326

A 10% difference but an actual complete release from InArt.

I just find the assertion that InArt have excessively high pricing that isn’t reflected in their product quality compared to other companies to simply be inaccurate; similar to the perpetuation of the misleading claim that InArt TDK Joker was a ‘$1K figure’ wherein people omit to mention they’re actually referring to two figures with two rooted PERS sculpts, tons of accessories, and a huge, heavy, metal and wood diorama, (+ the largest box this scale has ever seen.)

Relative to their closest competitors, InArt’s prices seem perfectly reasonable.

JND on the other hand…

 

[Asta]

JazzInc Dioramas​

Joost Assink ·
Admin
Group expert
· 38 m ·

Here is the first cast woman update, what do you think of these expressions for the mouth plates, and for the five different hands as well as the boots? So we’re going for (from left to right) 1) whip holding/taser holding hand 2) flat hands (as in when she poses in front of a shop window) 3) relaxed hands 4) finger pointing hand (this could be a left hand and the right hand to this set could be the whip holding hand) 5) 'claws out' hands

 

[a-dev]

The expression furthest on the left is probably not one I'd ever use - looks like a 'talking' one and, as with similar mouth pieces for Bale Batmans or Robocop, it almost demands that the figure stand facing another figure to be 'speaking' to them....which I'm not gonna do. All my figures will face outwards looking at me and in Catwoman's case here I would use one of the other two expressions. A more dramatic action-orientated expression on the other hand would work for a dramatic pose.

 

[The Buffinator]

The expression furthest on the left is probably not one I'd ever use - looks like a 'talking' one and, as with similar mouth pieces for Bale Batmans or Robocop, it almost demands that the figure stand facing another figure to be 'speaking' to them....which I'm not gonna do. All my figures will face outwards looking at me and in Catwoman's case here I would use one of the other two expressions. A more dramatic action-orientated expression on the other hand would work for a dramatic pose.

Yeah I think that expression and the one in the middle are a bit too neutral, although it's hard to judge them without the finished eyes. The smirk on the far right looks good. Pfeiffer always seemed to have an open mouth and wide open, manic eyes during most of her action scenes. I think one of the mouth pieces should definitely capture that look.

 

[Scout Trooper]

Also runs into the risk of the eyelid and gap to the eyeball not being up to par in terms of quality. INART only just recently matched Hot Toys in that department. I'd be surprised if Joost and the team can match that right out of the gate with their very first figure. Would love to be surprised though. Same for any rooted hair they consider doing for the unmasked sculpt.

I think they should consider the option and run some tests. Rolling eyes are becoming a standard. Inart, Hot Toys, JND, even LIM is working to implement those. Not to mention OT customs and Unreal Toys. Joost is definitely not the type to shy away from a challenge.

 

[sj2106]

JazzInc Dioramas​

Joost Assink ·
Admin
Group expert
· 38 m ·

Here is the first cast woman update, what do you think of these expressions for the mouth plates, and for the five different hands as well as the boots? So we’re going for (from left to right) 1) whip holding/taser holding hand 2) flat hands (as in when she poses in front of a shop window) 3) relaxed hands 4) finger pointing hand (this could be a left hand and the right hand to this set could be the whip holding hand) 5) 'claws out' hands

View attachment 704756View attachment 704757View attachment 704758

Agree with what's been said so far. Really like the neutral and slight smirk expression but it would be nice to switch the one on the left for something more open mouthed and action orientated.

 

[Scout Trooper]

Dumping some thoughts.

Some added creasing, texture, and reshaping of the boots ends, bottoms, and heels.

I'm not sure, but the head could use a little more roundess maybe. The ear is too perfectly aligned with the side of the mask giving it too flat a contour. I think it's the way the head is supposed to round into the ear, rather than how the ear is angled.

For hyper realism's sake, I suppose the stitching could be less uniform/clean. Needs more handmade imperfection.

 

[vspectra]

I think the neutral and smiling mouth plate expressions look fantastic. The battle damaged version will also have 3 other different mouth plates that will work with the non-battle damaged version.

The character needs that neutral closed mouth plate, there's several scenes in the movie where she just looks completely uninterested in Penguin, plus recreating that promo shot of her is a must.

Did some quick photoshop to add her eyes from the movie.

I'd like to see her smiling with her teeth showing as seen in the bird cage scene, but maybe they've made that one for the battle damaged version.

 

[Scout Trooper]

I think the neutral and smiling mouth plate expressions look fantastic. The battle damaged version will also have 3 other different mouth plates that will work with the non-battle damaged version.

The character needs that neutral closed mouth plate, there's several scenes in the movie where she just looks completely uninterested in Penguin, plus recreating that promo shot of her is a must.

View attachment 704770
View attachment 704772

Did some quick photoshop to add her eyes from the movie.
View attachment 704766

I'd like to see her smiling with her teeth showing as seen in the bird cage scene, but maybe they've made that one for the battle damaged version.

View attachment 704771

Love how it looks with the eyes.

I like mouthplates 2 and 3. Wouldn't want either changed, but maybe there's a better option for the first, which looks like mid sentence speech.

 

[The Buffinator]

I think the neutral and smiling mouth plate expressions look fantastic. The battle damaged version will also have 3 other different mouth plates that will work with the non-battle damaged version.

The character needs that neutral closed mouth plate, there's several scenes in the movie where she just looks completely uninterested in Penguin, plus recreating that promo shot of her is a must.

View attachment 704770
View attachment 704772

Did some quick photoshop to add her eyes from the movie.
View attachment 704766

I'd like to see her smiling with her teeth showing as seen in the bird cage scene, but maybe they've made that one for the battle damaged version.

View attachment 704771

Good point about the neutral expression, and your photoshop job really helps to demonstrate how well it captures MP's likeness.

Love how it looks with the eyes.

I like mouthplates 2 and 3. Wouldn't want either changed, but maybe there's a better option for the first, which looks like mid sentence speech.

This. Yes, 2 and 3 look fine, but as stated previously I think an open mouth expression rather than #1 is needed.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Did some quick photoshop to add her eyes from the movie.
View attachment 704766

The eyes help immensely.

I also agree, the "mid-sentence" teeth (far left) is not the correct expression.

If we really are getting more savage expressions with the battle-damage figure, then I might suggest an expression like below, teeth showing but still a wildcat enjoying herself --

As you can see above, Michelle shows more bottom teeth than upper -- which is one of the problems with the current teeth-bared sculpt.

 

[Scout Trooper]

This is why we need rolling eyes.

It adds that much needed intensity.

 

[skizzoid]

This is why we need rolling eyes.

It adds that much needed intensity.

Rolling eyes help, but I'd argue there should be more expression around the eyes to match an intense mouth expression. The first expression looks like a grimace to me, which doesn't work with neutral eyes (even if they're movable). Adding a bit of a furrow to her eyebrows would help there, but then it might not work as well with the other neutral mouth plates (so maybe the battle damaged head could have the more intense eyes).

One of the reasons I don't use a grimacing mouth plate on my Captain America figure is because the eyes look too calm while the lower half of his face is intense- that's just not how faces (normally) look.

 

[Hologram AI]

Rolling eyes help, but I'd argue there should be more expression around the eyes to match an intense mouth expression. The first expression looks like a grimace to me, which doesn't work with neutral eyes (even if they're movable). Adding a bit of a furrow to her eyebrows would help there, but then it might not work as well with the other neutral mouth plates (so maybe the battle damaged head could have the more intense eyes).

One of the reasons I don't use a grimacing mouth plate on my Captain America figure is because the eyes look too calm while the lower half of his face is intense- that's just not how faces (normally) look.

Bingo. Hot Toys has this issue whenever they slap an angry mouth plate on their figures. Their eye plates are usually neutral in its expression so having a mouth plate that's so expressive clashes pretty heavily with it. Doesn't look natural at all. Might be why Joost & Sean went with such neutral looking mouth plates to begin with.