Just when I thought the Adam Hughes Comiquettes couldn’t get any better…I get my Mystique. Gotta offer a plug to my friends at Hollywood Heroes for making yet another purchase as smooth as silk. But hey…let’s get on with the review, shall we?

Sideshow and Adam Hughes present their seventh lady from the Marvel Universe and put her in stunning, large scale format. This time it’s the deadly Mystique, the shape-changing femme fatale from the X-Men storylines.

A little background on the character (from the box): Learning to use her shape-shifting ability early in life, Mystique’s true past and age are a mystery. Mystique concealed her superhuman powers and criminal intentions well over the years. Using the name Raven Darkholme, she was able to rise rapidly through the United States Civil Service to the trusted position of Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Planning Agency (DARPA) in the United States Department of Defense, giving her access to military secrets and advanced weaponry, both of which she used for her own criminal and subversive purposes. Mystique organized the third incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, originally founded by Magneto. This Brotherhood first became known when it attempted to intimidate the public by assassinating Senator Robert Kelly, who was investigating the perceived danger posed by the existence of any superhuman beings. The X-Men thwarted the assassination attempt, and the Brotherhood later clashed with the X-Men on other occasions, as well as the Avengers and other heroes.

Released in December of 2009, this statue was issued in two edition sizes: the standard edition of 2,500 pieces and the exclusive edition of 550 pieces. The latter includes a print of the control art created by Adam Hughes. The statue measures 17 1/2″ from the base to the top. The base helps give it a little bit of a boost – most of the AH! Comiquettes are around 16″ tall, but the base elevates Mystique well over an inch off the ground and actually reaches 2″ tall at its highest point. It comes in a full-color box detailing various views of the statue, the back of which includes details on the character, and the bottom of which states the edition size and the statue’s sequence number.

As is always the case with the Comiquettes, some assembly is required. The statue comes in four parts: the main body, her right arm, and the front and back of her flowing dress. After having no issues putting my She-Hulk Comiquette together, this one took some attention. The back part of her dressed fit into the peg hole in her butt quite nicely and there was no issue when settling it on the base. Not the same with the front piece – I had to take extreme caution when getting it into place to ensure that the dress didn’t rub against the skull base. I found that the best thing to do is insert the front piece first, then insert the back – there’s a high probability of friction between the two dress pieces and base regardless of which order you do them, but this seemed to decrease it a bit. The right arm attached in good order, but I have major concerns about its long-term sustainability. The only thing keeping it in place is a magnet, which works fine for now. My fear….gravity is eventually going to win this battle and I’m going to come home to see a shattered arm sitting at Mystique’s feet.

If you want sleek, sexy and dangerous all in one sculpt, this Mystique is the woman for you. The face sculpt is possibly the finest female portrait I have seen to date. Good symmetry, robust lips and well-defined features. The skull emblem on her forehead is a nice touch, but the anal side of me notices that it’s a bit off to the left of center. The hair is beautifully crafted with full volume, though it is lacking a little bit in the detail department. What makes up for this, however, is the layering used to run Mystique’s left hand through her hair. This combined with the flow of her hair makes it one of the most dynamic Sideshow sculpts out there. Mystique’s physique (ha…how’s that for a fun phrase?) is well-formed but not ridiculously-endowed like Emma Frost or the Black Queen (though some might argue with me on this point – she’s still pretty stacked). One area that comes up short is the belt. Oddly enough the 6″ Marvel Legends figure includes more fine detail than this 16″ statue. The details provided are nice, but a little more work on the teeth would have given the belt a bit more life. One of the greatest surprises to me was the amount of detail that went into the skull pile that she’s standing on. Virtually each skull has its own characteristics with various indentions, cracks, missing teeth, etc, and the detail that goes into the dirt actually makes the base look “dirty” – you can see little grains of dirt within the eyes of some skulls and the transitions from dirt to skull in partially-covered skulls is very well-executed.

Continuing my earlier comment about the face, the paint does absolutely nothing to detract from a terrific sculpt. The lips are done in a slightly darker shade of blue, and the added gloss really brings them out even more. Her mouth is ever so slightly open, and the paint work done on the teeth and what little you can see inside her mouth is absolutely exquisite. The eyes are done in two shades of yellow, with the outer eyeball being slightly darker than the inner, and the black eyeliner accentuates the eyes even more. The production version of Mystique appears to be a little bit darker than Sideshow showed in the original images, which is frustrating because I thought the sample images captured Mystique’s color well. The darker paint is somewhat of a hindrance in displaying, as she needs a little more light than other statues in order to capture its true beauty. That being said, I have no other major complaints with the paint application. Her hair has been darkened proportionally with her skin tone, which makes the darker color a little easier to swallow. Close observers might noticed that some of the transitions from skin to outfit aren’t 100% smooth, but these are minor nuances that will probably only be seen when looked over at very close range. The exception to this – on my statue anyway – was a little bit of run-over at the top of her boots.

To date Rogue has always been my favorite Comiquette, but Blue here just dethroned her. Words can’t describe how amazing this statue is in person – I’d use the words “flawless” but because my job is to nitpick and find minor flaws in these things I can’t really do so. But if I was solely a collector and not a reviewer….yes, “Flawless” would be the first word out of my mouth. This statue marked another increase in the price of AH! Comiquettes, being bumped up to $159.99 for the standard version and $174.99 for the exclusive. While it is sold out on the Sideshow site, it can still be had at other collectible shops as well as the good ol ‘Bay.

 

Where To Buy*:
Sideshow Collectibles – $159.99
Hollywood Heroes – $159.99
Corner Store Comics – $143.99

* Prices reflect listed prices as of date of this article’s posting