Andrea Miniatures has done it again! In what is slowly emerging as a Christmas tradition, they have released a figure that I simply cannot do without. The first, as you might recall, was “
Dra- gon Lady”, release
d in December, 2014. This year’s offering is no less spectacular: “Daddy’s Lil Girl”, the premier release in Andrea’s Upside Down – Outlandish Figures series (
bn: I can only hope that Mistah J is next!).
The quasi-eponymous title of this piece is as red as a red herring can get—so long as you don’t have access to the visuals! For if you do, then the subject of this piece is obvious to virtually any- one, regardless of the marketing chaff hurled at us: this is none other than the the scene-stealing Margot Robbie in the role of Harley Quinn in the film
Suicide Squad (2016).
The computer-generated design is commercially available in two scales: 1/32nd and 1/24th (54+ and 75mm, respectively). As indicated in the subject of this posting, I elected the 1/24th-scale offering. The kit is comprised of 10 pieces: 8 white metal (incl. base) + 2 resin (the legs). The white metal castings are exceptional--evidence that the 3d-printed prototype was not thoroughly cleaned before surrendering to the moldmaker included. The resin legs are a bit more problematic in that they were cast in 2-piece molds, which saddles the miniaturist with removing noticeable, significant even, seamlines from the finely textured fishnet stockings--more on this when the time comes. . .
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This is yet
another figure that while acceptably fine straight OOB, potentially demands a bit more attention from the end-user, depending on the extent of his/her 'anality'. . .And I think we all know by now where I fall in this range. . .
As we have seen in an alarming number of Andrea releases of late, the promotional boxart simply does
not do justice to the figure--nor executes its intended purpose particularly well. This leads to a rather involved TDL for the ever-
decreasing number of miniaturists who don't paint by and for the numbers! As to the aforementioned TDL, here is what I have to date:
- Grind-off bas-relief of “Daddy’s Little Girl” on t-shirt. The fact that the silk-screened(?) motif of the t-shirt is raised (as is the “Good Night” of the bat) delivers a conflicting message as to whom the intended audience might be. It reminds me of the plastic airplane kits of the late 50s-early 60s with embossed markings! Furthermore, in the movie, Harley’s t-shirt reads “Daddy’s Little Monster”! The ground-off bas-relief will be replaced with a custom-made decal (see below).
- The choker is another head-scratcher. . . Per the boxart, the band is purple, and has “HONEY” in large gold letters. Again, who are they—Andrea—trying to kid here??!! Purple? HONEY?? I have two options: 1) replace HONEY with PUDDIN; or 2) elimi- nate the choker altogether. I choose #2. As much as the PUDDIN choker is iconic, she never wore the choker while wielding the mallet (see below); and it beats the hell out of sculpting six letters in this scale!
- Rework/enhance spikes on wrist bands.
- Replace baseball bat with scratchbuilt mallet. The actual bat is embellished rather extensively: to achieve a convincing rendition in scale is a tall order, and one that I don’t feel is worth the not-insignificant effort to get right.
I intend to use custom-made decals to replicate the majority of the ink displayed by Harley in the film (
nb: the boxart omits two major tattoos, and a number of minor ones). While I am not a big fan of using decals to replicate things that could be rendered with paint and brush, it is my es- teemed opinion that these cannot. And more to the point, even if they could,
I could not do these justice at this stage of my career.
Stay tuned. . .
“When the cost of a hobby exceeds the fun and doesn't attract new people, the game is over.” -
Oscar Koveleski, August 2003
