What is it that makes a good Comic Book figure?  Why is it that I love some figures so much and yet can utterly loathe something else even if they come from the same line?  It's an interesting thing to think about.  Why does one figure line excite me while another with a similar idea behind it have the ability to leave me downright depressed?  

It really is an interesting thing to figure out for myself.  In the end it really comes down to 2 key reasons.  Is it how I imagined this character would look if I were to somehow jump realities?  If the answer to this is no, then I am forced to follow it up with a second question: Does this feel like the character it's depicting?

Join me after the jump as I go into examples of some of the best and worst figures when it comes to the mind of a obsessed comic fanboy and why he thinks the way he does. 

The best way to start looking at this is with what is easily the worst offender when it comes to figures in the last few years: The Ame-Comi line from DC Direct.  Now if you look at coverage of the Ame-Comi line around the internet, you see a lot of comic fans like myself getting up in arms about this line.  If you don't look closely at the reaction you see one of two reactions -- that they are either sexist figures, or insulting to the characters they portray. 

This is different when you come across the small number of completely sane comic fans on the internet who are capable of using actual words (rather than hyperbole).  It's not that the figures are insulting to the character --  it's that they aren't the character.  Yes, Wondergirl may be a character who wears jeans and a tank top as an outfit, but if I look at her I don't want to see someone that looks more in place at a rodeo than they would saving the world.

I'll be perfectly honest.  I don't like a lot of the Ame-Comi line.  It's not because of the quality of the sculpts, those are fantastic.  It's because the designs don't feel anything like the characters they are depicting.  Nowhere is this more evident than in the 2 Wonder Woman figures in the line.

One is a unique take on Wonder Woman that I absolutely find myself adoring, and the other....Well, the other looks like Marvel got a hold of the Little Mermaid, gave her legs and turned her into an Ultimate Universe character.   There are other stand-outs in the line but by far the best is that first Wonder Woman which exudes the grace, beauty, and the strength of the character all at once, which is exactly what a figure needs to do when you throw a twist to the design of the character.  This is something that Kotobukiya does better than any other company.

Kotobukiya are easily the best there is when it comes to taking a classic product and twisting it into something that looks different and yet still feels just right.  It's why I was so excited by the news that they were going to start doing figures for DC properties.  The Marvel Bishojo line has been nothing short of fantastic.  It manages to put an unmistakably Japanese twist on the characters while still having them feel like the character they are depicting and to be able to see that done to my beloved DC Universe characters?  Well that just has me grinning from ear to ear.  That doesn't even bring the Fine Art line into the equation. 

Let's not forget statues that looked like they were ripped straight from the pages of a book.  When you buy a Kotobukiya Fine Art statue you get something that looks like it was ripped straight from the page.  Let's take a look at the most telling example they have,  the upcoming Red Hulk. 

Not only does it look exactly like the character from the book, it looks exactly like how he's been drawn.  This is the Red Hulk.  It's not a Green Hulk painted a red color.  It's Ed McGuinness art being taken straight from the page and made to put on your shelf.  It's exquisite and it manages to answer both of the first 2 rules.  It is the character.  It looks exactly like I would imagine if it were ripped straight off the page.  It's not how I would imagine if it were alive but it's exactly what is on the page. 

But is someone capable of tackling that feat?  Is there some group out there capable of creating things that make me think I'm looking at something alive?  The answer to that comes from the biggest name in affordable high end comic book collectibles, Randy Bowen and the good people at Bowen Designs. These guys manage to take the image on the page and make it real with a cohesive sense of design that allows me to place all my statues side by side and have none of them seem out of place.

To bring it back around to the beginning, it's not just anal fanboy ranting when we express distaste for a figure.  It comes from a place where these characters mean so much to us that when something comes out that doesn't have the spirit of the character,  it's supposed to be it's maddening.  It's hard to look at a design and rather than see it for what it is, all you can see is what it should be.