1/6 INART (Queen Studio) - The Dark Knight - Joker Collectible Figure

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Took some pictures today
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One thing I've noticed a year after owning this is that the figure looks best if you can't properly see his eyes, he looks like a mini Heath from those angles where you can't properly see the eyes.
Because that’s exactly how they photographed the prototype. They had the head tilted extremely downward, eyes pointed upwards where you barely see the pupil and the camera was shot from above.

Then we got the figure in hand and you’re seeing the sculpt and eyes in a more neutral position, which doesn’t look as good. Plus the downgrade in the eyelid thickness.
 
Because that’s exactly how they photographed the prototype. They had the head tilted extremely downward, eyes pointed upwards where you barely see the pupil and the camera was shot from above.

Then we got the figure in hand and you’re seeing the sculpt and eyes in a more neutral position, which doesn’t look as good. Plus the downgrade in the eyelid thickness.
But to be fair, isn’t that the optimal way to display Ledger Joker? Why would one not want to make him looking menacing? 95% of INART Jokers posted online look awful and it’s because users hardly get the eyes right. Most make him look like all wide googly-eyed lol, which imo, doesn’t convey the essence of TDK Joker in the slightest. Most make him look like an innocent nice guy that doesn’t pose a threat whatsoever.
 
But to be fair, isn’t that the optimal way to display Ledger Joker? Why would one not want to make him looking menacing? 95% of INART Jokers posted online look awful and it’s because users hardly get the eyes right. Most make him look like all wide googly-eyed lol, which imo, doesn’t convey the essence of TDK Joker in the slightest. Most make him look like an innocent nice guy that doesn’t pose a threat whatsoever.
I suppose that is definitely the optimal way to display him, but i just can't not be bugged by how the eyes look staring straight on. It just looks lifeless. The jail sculpt has a stronger likeness, something is just off about the neutral sculpt. One day i might look into a custom head that i can be happy with.

Edit: I've got my ideal grenade pose i wanna do but the eyes feel like they can't move left without breaking, and it bugs me because i want to replicate the exact pose from that moment in the movie.
 
I suppose that is definitely the optimal way to display him, but i just can't not be bugged by how the eyes look staring straight on. It just looks lifeless. The jail sculpt has a stronger likeness, something is just off about the neutral sculpt. One day i might look into a custom head that i can be happy with.
It’s crazy how subjective this all is, but it’s really not lifeless at all in my eyes. It’s unreal how great (IMO) both portraits (smirk sculpt is stronger, I agree) are in likeness and paint apps, but again, it depends on how one positions the eyes. Imo, what holds back this entire head-sculpt is the hair – it’s pretty bad, not natural.

Edit: I've got my ideal grenade pose i wanna do but the eyes feel like they can't move left without breaking, and it bugs me because i want to replicate the exact pose from that moment in the movie.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention but I have done the SERS mod on mine so I’m able to independently move the eyes. It’s been such a long time now that I honestly forgot they don’t come that way xD

Even though you’re not able to get full range when moving the eyes to the side, you do get some more play. And for me, since my ideal pose is him looking straight on (eyes up w/ head tilted down), I’m just happy that both eyeballs are finally aligned with each other and I can position them right where I want them.
 
I guess I like his head angled down. It’s evocative of the character and his infamous hunchback. I have the eyes positioned up, so it’s not like he’s looking down on the floor lmao, although it’s hard to tell based off my pic.

But to your point, does it look more real? If so, isn’t that better?
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I love that last picture

Thread cleaned up for off-topic, pointless bickering, although I'm happy that some differences were resolved.
You know somebody ****** up... when a mod gets involved in a Ledger thread

2.5 years to reach 666 pages
This has to be a record for this website?
If the custom discussions weren't pushed out, we'd be well over 700

Dude, for sure. There was a time I would've lost my mind over this HT sculpt. But then I see customs like these and my head spins.

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Custom paint and hair on left, HT version on right. From what I understand, this is the same sculpt HT based their's on.

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I secured one of those sculpts. But I wish Heise (who rooted and painted the one in the picture) was still open for commissions. Sigh..
 
For me it’s not about me being cheap/or saving money.

Yixie/Mike Yuan Joker Smirk Sculpt has long been sold out. No other way to get it.
I started collecting last yr but only started getting into customs this yr. Would have loved going to original source but I wasn’t getting anywhere with that.

The Luly0314 sculpt I bought from eBay. It was already painted & rooted by John Wu. I thought when I bought it was original. It wasn’t until I got and saw the 0 with slash for the number that I realized it was a recast. It didn’t take anything from it as looks great.

The Heise sculpt again I bought on eBay and it was already painted by John Wu. I suspected it might be recast but I wasn’t sure. Got the sculpt. It looked great. Checked the card and it has 0 with slash for number.

Again I have no issue paying more to get original sculpt but if that’s impossible, then recast it is (if it’s something I’m passionate that I want and it looks great)
Your sculpts look great man. But if you had the original side by side to compare with the recasts, you would see the difference. Micro detail and sharpness do get lost, and they can be the differentiator between something great, and something even better.

I've resorted to recasts myself when it was the only option available. Although I absolutely detest the practice of recasting.

I know some would call me a hypocrite for saying that, and having bought a recast myself. But I see things different.

I take the world as it is.
Ideally, I wish that nobody would recast original artwork. However, once some ******* does it, then they've opened pandora's box. . At which point refusing to grab one off of Ebay out of shear principle, would not be to the benefit of anybody. And it certainly won't stop ******* from doing what they're going to.

-

On that note. I hate when clowns justify recasting with the mentality that "The original artist was stealing intellectual property".

Clearly people who say such things have never set out on any creative endeavour themselves, nor can they understand or appreciate artwork. The hobby is wasted on people like that.
 
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I just posted this in the Batman thread since the discussion was about InArt stability issues some are facing, but it's more relevant here.
I recently discovered that on my Joker, the heel and front foot are not aligned. It's impossible to get the entire foot flat on the ground, which I believe is the root cause for him randomly falling over sometimes after months of no issues.

Does anybody else have the same issue on theirs?

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Funnily enough, as soon as I took my Joker off the magnetic base, (to touch up my repair job after doing the magnet mod) he fell flat on his face and scuffed a big circle of paint off his nose. I stood him back up, turned around, and he fell again!!

So I repainted the face and sold him.
 
I got one of those dinky light up rotating cases on sale, so I put Joker to try it out.

Also tried to even his hair out a bit more so it wasn’t so thick on the sides. Spray bottled it up with water, turned the head upside down and worked on the hair that way. Seemed to help a little bit, but i really hate the plastic sculpted hair parts at the bottom of the hair line. No idea why they added those.

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