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

[DiFabio]

 

[Wor-Gar]

 

[Spanbauer]

Yeah. All respect to Viola and she is very talented, but most of her work is the character staring straight ahead and to be honest her eyes still very much has the look of "a human painted this onto it", and then we also have to rely on the factory painters to replicate it. Now add in 4 to 6 headsculpts for the dual-pack preorders and making sure the eyes are properly painted into the correct position so they don't look cross or bug-eyed (especially any side eye glance). Pretty big workload there. People complain moveable eyes can look bad, but static eyes can also look terrible.

That Sideshow Premium Format Huntress 1/4 statue from a couple years ago was googly-eyed as heck, so disappointing compared to the prototype.

There could also be the issue with either the sculpt and how the eyes are painted sometimes where it just makes them look too protruded and bulging out and less like actual eyeballs sitting behind the eyelids. These are from Viola's more recent works.

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The quality there isn't really up to the latest moveable eyes. There are pros and cons to both, but if both are done right, moveable eyes still come out on top since they provide massive freedom. Joost seemed pretty against it since the first interview and clearly had no plans for it; I'm wondering if he just doesn't ever plan on getting to them. Future figures like an unmasked Zoe Catwoman is just going to have the same static eyes?

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If we’re not getting movable eyes, I’m having a tough time imagining this ending up looking like a $280 Hot Toys figure - based on what I’m seeing here so far. It’s very nice work for say a homemade custom from a skilled artist, but all I know is that when JC Hong posts the master paint sample, it doesn’t look like somebody broke out their brushes and acrylic paint set on a 3D printed head - even when it’s a figure with static painted eyes.

 

[S. Griffin]

If we’re not getting movable eyes, I’m having a tough time imagining this ending up looking like a $280 Hot Toys figure - based on what I’m seeing here so far. It’s very nice work for say a homemade custom from a skilled artist, but all I know is that when JC Hong posts the master paint sample, it doesn’t look like somebody broke out their brushes and acrylic paint set on a 3D printed head - even when it’s a figure with static painted eyes.

That's not a paint master that Viola just finished. It's very much a prototype. Throw some paint on it and let's see what it looks like and what can be improved. A paint master is the final step before factory paint, and this is very obviously not that. Viola had her feedback for Sean Dabbs about the sculpt, and Joost and I assume members of the facebook group get to give feedback on the paintjob. It's doubtful that it will be JC Hong quality and it might never be Hot Toys quality, but it should be clear by now that at some point in the last twelve years (and pretty early in that time frame) that Hot Toys lost interest in making this. It's a small run (although I anticipate it won't be as small as Joost seems to think) from a small company, and it will be much better than anything from Kumik and Eternal and probably Mars Toys, too, if they ever get their act together. And if it lights a fire under Howard Chan's ass to finally make that Pfeiffer Catwoman he kept telling interviewers to "stay tuned" for a few years after Hot Toys announced that Batman Returns figures were coming "late 2012," you'll undoubtedly get to see a paint master on JC Hong's instagram, and it will probably have moveable eyes, too. If that doesn't happen, then this will assuredly be the best Batman Returns Catwoman sixth scale figure one will be able to get for under $400 for quite some time...possibly ever.

 

[dominishin]

Going to be real here, but Jazzinc paint apps have never been great, definitely not HT level.

While I doubt the production piece paint apps will be on the same level as Queen or HT, it'll probably be better than the 3rd party options we got.

 

[vito81]

Anyone know how pre-orders works with Jazzinc?? I can't miss this one.

 

[Nine Inch Nails]

Anyone know how pre-orders works with Jazzinc?? I can't miss this one.

Yes.

You drop a deposit. Then once the product goes into production, your deposit magically increases 3x and if you cancel, SOL. You do have some freedom when it comes to payments. But this is for a 2k vehicle, who knows how they will handle the figure.

 

[KingGrayskull]

Reading all this, I will definitely preorder this just to cancel it and go with a 3rd party figure on the secondary market.

 

[Freakazoid!]

I do hope they figure out how to moving eyes on this. It is really one of the characters that needs it.

 

[Captain Clown]

I do hope they figure out how to moving eyes on this. It is really one of the characters that needs it.

Sadly I don’t think we’ll even get a prototype with movable eyes.

 

[sj2106]

Sadly I don’t think we’ll even get a prototype with movable eyes.

Can't they just do what Enterbay did. 2-3 cowls with eyes in different position and make the mouth pieces interchangeable?

 

[Chopper Face]

Going to be real here, but Jazzinc paint apps have never been great, definitely not HT level.

The uncomfortable truth. When something more than a flat colour has been required, I found it to look a tad amateurish.

Maybe Joost will warm up to moveable eyes down the road and can then offer an upgrade Catwoman head sculpt.

InArt Joker was their first attempt at any figure and his eyelids were definitely too thick.
However, they very quickly learned and rectified that so, by the time Gandalf released, they’d found the sweet spot.
Any company’s first figure is going to become outdated very quickly due to it essentially being on the job training.
The lessons learnt will dramatically improve all aspects of the next offering.

 

[The Buffinator]

Yeah. All respect to Viola and she is very talented, but most of her work is the character staring straight ahead and to be honest her eyes still very much has the look of "a human painted this onto it", and then we also have to rely on the factory painters to replicate it.

What "factory painters" are we talking about here? I can't imagine Joost and his team will be doing any of the paintwork on these sculpts - it's not his forte. Isn't that where this Sean Dabbs Designs come into the process? I've been under the impression that Viola is doing the base sculpt & prototype and then they will be making the production heads. Is that wrong?

 

[S. Griffin]

Can't they just do what Enterbay did. 2-3 cowls with eyes in different position and make the mouth pieces interchangeable?

That appears to be exactly the plan with moveable eyes defeated in the group poll.

What "factory painters" are we talking about here? I can't imagine Joost and his team will be doing any of the paintwork on these sculpts - it's not his forte. Isn't that where this Sean Dabbs Designs come into the process? I've been under the impression that Viola is doing the base sculpt & prototype and then they will be making the production heads. Is that wrong?

Joost said he had a production team of painters lined up that used to work for Hot Toys. So, it sounds like one of Hot Toy's older factories for paint.

 

[Chopper Face]

Mmm, I love me some sloppy seconds.

 

[Spanbauer]

That's not a paint master that Viola just finished. It's very much a prototype. Throw some paint on it and let's see what it looks like and what can be improved. A paint master is the final step before factory paint, and this is very obviously not that. Viola had her feedback for Sean Dabbs about the sculpt, and Joost and I assume members of the facebook group get to give feedback on the paintjob. It's doubtful that it will be JC Hong quality and it might never be Hot Toys quality, but it should be clear by now that at some point in the last twelve years (and pretty early in that time frame) that Hot Toys lost interest in making this. It's a small run (although I anticipate it won't be as small as Joost seems to think) from a small company, and it will be much better than anything from Kumik and Eternal and probably Mars Toys, too, if they ever get their act together. And if it lights a fire under Howard Chan's ass to finally make that Pfeiffer Catwoman he kept telling interviewers to "stay tuned" for a few years after Hot Toys announced that Batman Returns figures were coming "late 2012," you'll undoubtedly get to see a paint master on JC Hong's instagram, and it will probably have moveable eyes, too. If that doesn't happen, then this will assuredly be the best Batman Returns Catwoman sixth scale figure one will be able to get for under $400 for quite some time...possibly ever.

All fair points. I just hope JazzInc shows us something resembling a complete prototype that’s meant to be representative of the final product before they start asking for deposits.

 

[WolfBoy]

All fair points. I just hope JazzInc shows us something resembling a complete prototype that’s meant to be representative of the final product before they start asking for deposits.

Agreed.

I want to see this properly finished as intended before putting any money towards it.

 

[S. Griffin]

Agreed.

I want to see this properly finished as intended before putting any money towards it.

Might not be possible. It doesn't sound like JazzInc works that way. I think Joost said he wants something that looks close to what the finished product will look like to show before the preorder goes up, but he's talked about continually doing refinements and tweaks (and additions) well after that. I do have a higher degree of confidence in JazzInc than I do EXO-6, who shows off ugly prototype photos and then asks for your money on the off chance that what you get will look better (sometimes it does and some times it doesn't).

 

[Mr. Awesome]

It'll beat the pants off what we currently have tho...

 

[WolfBoy]

Might not be possible. It doesn't sound like JazzInc works that way. I think Joost said he wants something that looks close to what the finished product will look like to show before the preorder goes up, but he's talked about continually doing refinements and tweaks (and additions) well after that. I do have a higher degree of confidence in JazzInc than I do EXO-6, who shows off ugly prototype photos and then asks for your money on the off chance that what you get will look better (sometimes it does and some times it doesn't).

That would work for me tbh. Close enough to the final will do. I’m open to tweaks ect.