Figuarts Harley Quinn

Ever since Harley Quinn made her debut in the Batman: The Animated Series back in 1992, she has become one of the most popular villains of the DC Universe, and a dangerous and worthy companion to the greatest comic book villain of all time: The Joker.

Ever since, she has been a popular character to include in recent media (actress Margot Robbie will be portraying her in the upcoming live-action Suicide Squad movie coming out in 2016) and video games, such as the Batman Arkham series, Lego Batman, and of course, the ‘Injustice: Gods Among Us’ fighting video game.

Harley Quinn is one of a few characters (and so far the only female character) released by Bandai in their highly poseable S.H. Figuarts line, depicting characters from the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game. Other characters from the game are Batman, the Joker, and Superman.

The video game has two playable versions of Harley Quinn from two different timelines or universes, the normal ‘mainstream universe’ version and the ‘insurgency’ version. The main story runs on the alternate universe where, after the death of The Joker at the hands of a deeply disturbed Superman, Harley becomes the leader of Joker’s gang and acts as an heroine of sorts (though still edgy and psychotic), joining Batman and his Insurgency against the oppressive regime imposed by Superman and his allies.

While the ‘mainstream’ Harley offers a variation of the wacky colorful jester/harlequin look that has come to be mostly associated with her, the ‘Insurgency’ version brings a refreshing and more practical depiction to the character with her leather-clad, street gang thug/warrior look and style that I find more realistic and appealing. So I was really ecstatic when I learned that S.H. Figuarts would release a figure based on the insurgency version of Harley.

The figure comes on a display box which is inside a shipping brown box. The displays box shows the figure and accessories. The colors on the box and lettering match Harley’s main costume colors (gold, red, and black). Nice graphics and pictures of Harley posing are featured in the back and the sides.

Harley comes with quite a lot of accessories, all of them shown in the picture below: two guns, her trademark giant mallet, a knife and a Joker card (the same exact one the Joker SHFiguarts figure has). Harley also comes with three different interchangeable faces: One with a wicked smile with her blue eyes looking just slightly to her right, a neutral gaze straight to the front, and a very angry face staring to her left side. All three of them are beautifully made, with her eyes and mouth nicely done and very expressive; each capture perfectly her expressions in any pose you choose to put her. Also included is four pair of hands: two fists, two open hands, two hands to hold her guns, and two hands to hold her giant mallet. In addition, she also has a right hand that can hold her Joker card with her thumb and index finger.

Right out of the box, Harley looks really amazing. Her insurgency costume is recreated is great detail, and the sculpting and paint job on the figure is absolutely amazing. Her blond hair is sculpted very nicely, and her pigtails are also very detailed. The following pictures shown below were taken with flash so that the painting detail can be more appreciated.

Her upper torso has red and black paint applied on her vest and parts of her pants is shiny and metallic-looking, and her short white shirt recreates the Joker caricature face faithfully, while the back of her vest has the phrase “Kiss This” spray painted on it, with the vest sporting a design with an arrow pointing down. The gold paint applied to the top of her vest (neck, spikes and lining) is gorgeous. The colors on her other parts of her costume are less shiny, such as her arms, ponytails and lower legs, but this is expected, as you would use those to handle and pose the figure, but it is still very good looking and applied.

I did find on my figure there were some paint blemishes (more like paint drops, or some overdone brush) on her upper left thigh which is black, and a bit as well on the right upper thigh, which is red. It is noticeable on some of the pictures where light is reflected on them. There was also a small white dot on her right side of her vest on the black. This is probably just on my figure, and I don’t mind them as it doesn’t detract from the figure overall.

The straps on her arms and legs are, again made in such detail, to include nice brown and gray paint, gold painting on the buckles, and even sculpted holes on her waist belt. Her lower bare torso is also very beautifully sculpted and painted, even showing part of her thong, and her three-diamond tattoo showing on her lower back completes her very sexy look.

Both of her boots feature sharp spikes on the front. The back of her right boot features a cowboy spur, while the other features what it looks like a jingle bell.

Articulation is the one polarizing feature for some people. I’ve seen a few complaints about her articulation on some reviews, but it is still really good. Her two pigtails are ball-jointed, which helps if you want to pose her to mimic movement.

Head and neck articulation is good, but limited if you want to have her look upwards, which is my only gripe about the figure. Shoulders are ball-jointed, with a bicep swivel. Elbows bend quite well. She has a mid-torso joint, but there is no articulation at her waist. Since her hands are interchangeable her wrists have balls joints on them that move side to side.

Legs can extend to the front and sides fairly well, however leg movement very limited to the back due to the sculpt of her rear, but it’s still pretty decent. Knees are ball-jointed as well as her ankles, and there’s a bit of movement of her front boot.

In my opinion, the fact that some articulation was omitted, such as on her waist is because of aesthetics purposes. They basically worked the articulation around the sculpting of her body, and try to make it work as much as it could without taking away her very sexy, feminine features. All of this means that action poses for the figure are still there (not extremely dynamic ones), but nice modeling poses work the best.

Her two revolver guns are actually made of die cast metal (!). They are shiny silver in color with brown (or dark green?) grips, solid and with the right amount of weight that will allow Harley to hold them in almost any position.

Her giant mallet has nicely painted black and red diamonds sculpted on around the gray painted head, and red and white bulls-eyes on both sides. The handle has a sculpted taped grip with red and black colors. Her grip hands can hold it very well, so she can smash her enemies!

Her big knife is holstered on her left lower leg, and the knife’s handle has a neat sculpted green jester face.

Her two smaller knifes that she has on her left thigh are just one piece attached by two pegs, again nicely detailed. They are not usable, but they are removable, which is convenient, as they might interfere with some of the extended leg poses.

I haven’t taken out the Joker card from its plastic cover, as I‘m afraid I will lose it, but I was able to take pictures of it where it can be seen thru the plastic. The detail on it is amazing for such a small item.

More action poses follow…

Since I don’t have the S.H. Figuarts version of the Joker, I had to rely on my old DC Collection Joker figure to join Harley on some poses, but I’m sure she doesn’t mind…

In fact, they started to get cozy for a moment there…

The final verdict:

Bandai S.H. Figuarts Harley Quinn Injustice figure is an extremely well made figure that recreates perfectly what is now my favorite version of Harley. I highly recommend picking up this figure if you are a Harley Quinn fan, as this is a must. Regular collectors will find a beautiful and solid figure for a great price. While her articulation might be a turn off for some, I believe it is great for the reason I stated above. Her very detailed design, great looks and lots of accessories make up for any other shortcomings you might find with the figure. She oozes both sensuality and danger, which is what we would expect from one of the most notable female villains in the DC Universe.