XM Studios 1/4 Elektra Statue

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I honestly don't care who says what because I don't make ad personam posts, my post is clearly pointed to the ongoing attitude rather than the single individual, because you're not the only one who came up with this argument.
And the point is really simple: this sculpt has the exact same features that we've seen in the last 10-15 years by any company in this hobby on any female statue, including statues you said had character/personality/whatelse (Ivy, Ms Marvel).
Now, I wouldn't have made a lenghty and boring post with pictures on Statueforum about head sculpts if I thought that XM head sculpts were perfect. They aren't. I just see a ridicolous amount of double standards in this specific case where something that until yesterday was commonly considered "good" has now become not enough, and coincidentally only in this specific case.
Because the fact that people criticising this sculpt are the same ones praising their Emma Frost tells me a whole other story and seriously, I'd rather see XM not listening to any kind of criticism than listening to people who clearly have double standards or are personally biased.

There's no praising the Emma Frost sculpt for me. I think it's pretty awful. More a caricature than a real person.

This doesn't influence the fact that I think this sculpt is devoid of any details in the sculpt or paint. It's very bland, very mannequin-esque, and frankly looks like a generic 1/6 Hot Toys sculpt from 10 years ago with it's dead stare...a major reason people who like statues hate "Dolls" and Hot Toys (I'm not one of them, I collect both).

IMO it's just not very good regardless of which company it is coming from.
 
I didn't say people have to agree with me wolf. However, I was not the one insulting people's intelligence either.

Fixed. :wink1:

Exactly Spidey. No one has to agree with the other. In my opinion I like the detached focus of the gaze whereas obviously others don't. That being said I leave it at that.

What I find tedious is the endless reasoning for one's preference to the point that it seems to be trying to convince or sway others to agree with it. There is a saying that goes like this..."you can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all of the people all the time."
 
There's no praising the Emma Frost sculpt for me. I think it's pretty awful. More a caricature than a real person.

This doesn't influence the fact that I think this sculpt is devoid of any details in the sculpt or paint. It's very bland, very mannequin-esque, and frankly looks like a generic 1/6 Hot Toys sculpt from 10 years ago with it's dead stare...a major reason people who like statues hate "Dolls" and Hot Toys (I'm not one of them, I collect both).

IMO it's just not very good regardless of which company it is coming from.

Bear with me, but I'm pretty convinced that the issue with XM's head sculpts is more in the paint app area. Already posted about it a couple times, but XM makes very detailed and realistic costumes, while painting skin tones with a comic style, and that tends to clash once you look at the figure in its entirety.
It's like if they made characters with the details of 1:3 PCS statues on the body, but then painted the faces like PCS paints their 1:4 statues, take a side by side comparison between the 1:3 Scorpion face and the 1:4 Scorpion face and you get the idea. Not sure if I'm being clear but it's not easy to explain.
I think they should use more shades, gradients, textures and realistic skin tones on faces the same way they already do with costumes and bases.

BTW, the thing about dolls is pretty new to me. Stopped collecting HT about 3 years ago and I was pretty sure that statue collectors quite praised the HT likenesses and paint app (mostly on skin tones and metallic finishes). Didn't know there was a feud going on :D
 
I can agree with the lack of paint variation, but I think it's the sculpts themselves. XM seems to be of a mind that smooth, rounded features are best for female characters. I understand this, and also don't mind that take, but without more prominent cheekbones, foreheads and chins, the portraits can appear bland to people. It's a stylistic choice. If you look at the better male sculpts, they all have more prominent features.
 
There's a point where criticism gets beyond "moronic" and falls into the "utterly retarded" area... and this is it.
Now, I couldn't care less about Elektra and I've been one of the first to criticize her because I wasn't sold on the pose. I don't have either many XM statues on order (for myself, only two), so at this point I really couldn't care less... but this is getting ridicolous too quick. Let me do a very quick list from top of my head:

Emma Frost, Queen of the Dead, Psylocke (both PF and Comiquette), Ms Marvel, She Hulk, Poison Ivy - no expression. I owned Ms Marvel and I swear I'll punch in the face whoever tells me her face has attitude, seriously. It's as plain as it gets, "blessed" by a paint app without issues and decently painted lips. That's it, everything else is just a huge collective handjob by people who keep spitting the "Grail" status on everything.

Catwoman, Power Girl, Batgirl, Rogue, Supergirl - same playful pin up smile, spare me this s--t. "I'm a woman who beats the crap out of people, wait let me stop, strike a pose and put on a smile", yeah, seriously. If that's the kind of attitude every female piece has to have, give me the soulless stare any day, any time.

Only recent ones with some kind of expression I can recall are Wonder Woman and Jean Grey, and they miserably lose when it comes to paint app or hair color (but I guess that comic accuracy police works only against XM, duh).

I could waste the whole afternoon listing the number of Sideshow pieces with these exact same features, including many pieces that people like to call Grail on a constant basis. I could even throw in there characters from other companies, wait, let me rephrase- praised characters from other companies, like ARH Medusa, GG Artemisia, Black Widow and Shanna, Yamato Lilith and Ritual.
The freaking Red Sonja shown at last SDCC on whom we were all fapping on.
Most of the ones I mentioned have some kind of character to them thanks to either body language (pose) or their stare/eyes.
Which is the exact same case of Elektra, because even from these few and bad pics I can see that they sculpted and painted a determined stare on her face, and if I can see it, others can too, and they're bulls--tting left and right with their biased opinion.
By coincidence, tho, it has become an issue now, after years of statues that had the same features and were awesome in everyone's opinion. Come on, there's a point where this all gets ridicolous and even embarassing.
Apply some cold water on that burn and pull your brain out of your a--.

:rotfl :rotfl

Hair doesn't look like a helmet; stellar paint app; features/dimensions of the face look correct; normal expression; I like it.
 
I like the pose and the stained glass although I agree that the face and skin tone remind me more of wonder Woman than how I pictured Elektra to look but that isn't necessarily a criticism. The piece looks inventive and novel (and nicer than the original concept sculpt, in my opinion).

Sent from my SM-T900 using Tapatalk
 
Custom COH anyone? Maybe repainting her head might work on this one? Phoenix needed a brand new sculpt imo fr the heads. This one looks better and might look better with a better paint in the eyes and lips. What do you all think?
 
Custom COH anyone? Maybe repainting her head might work on this one? Phoenix needed a brand new sculpt imo fr the heads. This one looks better and might look better with a better paint in the eyes and lips. What do you all think?

I think you should buy one before calling for COH.
 
:pfft: If the COH is good then I buy or I don't want it yet as of now. Need something to make me want this which is a great COH. :pray:

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Trust me, you will never own one of the XM Elektra statues. Never! :wave
I got my BW ;) but also always hear the I dont like this as is, now is really bugging me it always will change in production and what you hear then GRAIL I NEED THIS! But then gess what sold out.
Always to fast to judge with XM

PS: I need my Phoenix :(
 
I actually think she has one of the better female portraits done by XM. All this complaining will cause XM to revisit and we all know how that turned out with Phoenix
 
I think this is easily my least favorite XM statue to date. Can't wait to see what people will sell this one for on Ebay.
 
I actually think she has one of the better female portraits done by XM. All this complaining will cause XM to revisit and we all know how that turned out with Phoenix

This scares me now ^^^^. The current head is ok better than many older XM female faces imo. Just needs more
For a buy.

The Facebook listings are even funnier

Are you a big XM fan? Do you collect XM? I'm still waiting to open my first XM box for the XM expierence so many are talking about :dunno
 
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