Queen Studios is back with another installment of its INART The Dark Knight Rises action figures and this time we’re talking about Catwoman. Portrayed on the screen by actress Anne Hathaway, Catwoman was something of an anti-hero in the film. In a post Occupy Wall Street world, her anger and frustration with the ruling class was meant to humanize her and make her sympathetic, but when she set her sights on one Bruce Wayne she did unknowingly risk her reputation with the unseen audience watching all. Still, this was an action film based on a comic book so Catwoman did get a chance to demonstrate her ability to kick ass and rock a skin tight suit and while she didn’t have the kind of tech Batman possessed, she did have some toys of her own. The portrayal was fine, but perhaps a bit too conventional for movies. It certainly lacked the camp of Julie Newmar and proved less memorable than the Michelle Pfeiffer portrayal which makes this Catwoman feel a bit like a lesser Catwoman. The character didn’t stay with me once the credits rolled and not helping things is that The Dark Knight Rises was the weakest film in the Christopher Nolan trilogy. Not a bad film, just not as good as what came before. As a result, I’ve never felt the pull to add Catwoman to my action figure collection, but then along came INART with its take on Batman last year and now this Catwoman. The look of the figure blew me away in promotional shots and the early reviews that showed up last summer were able to sway me. Now, the figure is in-hand and I have to figure out if this was really something I needed, or if my impulse control got the better of me.
Catwoman comes in a plain shipper box with a nicer black box lurking within in a style very similar to what Batman came in. The packaging is accessible without destroying it and the trays inside contain the figure and all of the accessories free from any sort of aggravating tie-downs. It’s a nice setup, though I do find it odd that Queen Studios literally puts a request (more like a demand) that you record your own unboxing in case there are any defects or damages to be found. I guess if you don’t have proof that you didn’t cause the damage or lose the part then they’re less likely to help you in the event something went wrong between the factory and your hands. I guess this would have made for an opportune time for me to pivot to video, but a bunch of toy reviewers got this thing last year so what would be the point? INART has an interesting production schedule where they send reviewers final copies of the figure just as preorders are going up for the rest of us scum. It seems weird to produce just a handful of figures upfront for the purpose of reviewing, but I guess it works for them. And if it’s costing them a lot it’s not reflected in the price compared with other premium collectibles as Catwoman is somewhere in the $65 – $75 range. She is only available overseas for folks living in North America so there will likely be a not insignificant shipping charge attached to that, but even after all is said and done I think I’m in the hole about $80 and given what Medicom and Bandai are charging these days that ain’t bad.
Out of the box, Catwoman stands at just a tick under 6″ in height. INART is a 1:12 scale brand and since Anne Hathaway is a real person that sent me to the Internet to see if I could get a height on her. And if said Internet can be trusted then Miss Hathaway stands at 5’8″ or 68″ tall. At 1:12 scale that would place her at about 5.67″ – but wait! Cawoman sports some rather large heels. It’s a little tricky to measure them, but I have them at about 5/16ths of an inch. Convert that to 1:12 scale and add it to the figure and we come out to 5.98″ which is almost right on the money. Impressive. She is a figure comprised mostly of black plastic, but it’s plastic with different textures and finishes like Batman. The long boots and gloves have a sheen to them like leather, while the body suit is more matte and textured like Kevlar. There is some shiny black piping along the inner shoulder and the zipper down the front with a little hit of silver on the zipper grasp itself. The end of which is coated black which is an impressive attention to detail. There are also some faint hits of silver along the pouches of her belt with some of them looking quite faded. Is this to simulate use or an imperfect paint app? In looking at stills from the movie, I don’t think these are meant to be silver, but instead supposed to just give it some gloss. The same is true of the mask over her eyes. It’s a gray or silver paint, but it seems to exist to just provide some gloss and break-up the otherwise all black look. The other paint hits are reserved for the red of her lips and the brown of her hair which leads me to the faces in the box.
Just like we saw with Christian Bale, the likeness here is almost so good that it’s eerie. The likeness is really all in the shape of the face as Hathaway isn’t someone with obvious creases or hallmarks on her face. It’s the size of her eyes, the shape of her lips, and the angle of the jaw and cheekbones and whoever sculpted these portraits did a fantastic job. There are two portraits in the box: one with the mask sculpted on and one without. The one with the mask has two ports on the temples for the included goggles, of which you get two. One is designed for when she doesn’t have them in use and they sit atop her head like cat ears. The other piece is for when she actually needs to wear them. They have translucent red lenses and are well sculpted. The expression for both portraits is a fairly neutral one. There may be a tiny hint of a smile, or maybe that’s my imagination. If there’s one failing with both portraits it’s that the hair is a bit flat and unconvincing. It’s obviously plastic and I don’t typically dock points from an action figure for not being able to create the illusion that it’s actually a tiny person, but so much of this figure does accomplish that for me so it sticks out a touch. It’s especially true with the unmasked portrait as her hair is just as taut as it is on the masked version, and as a result, I’ll probably never use it. Hair is tough to make look real so it’s easily forgiven. Some probably wish she had more expressions though and I do agree. Something a bit more cheeky or angry would have added some nice variety.
Even though she doesn’t have a host of expressions to choose from, Catwoman is hardly lacking in the accessory department. For hands, we get six sets: relaxed, fists, a wide grip, trigger finger, pinching, and a two finger gesture. I assume these are pulled from the movie. The two finger gesture looks like a good adjusting goggles kind of hand while the wide gripping hand is probably for putting her hands on her hips (INART actually lists their intended use in the instructions which is pretty cool). The trigger finger hands are for use with her included gun which is a very small handgun cast in black plastic. The more pinching gesture is for her to hold the included smashed Batman mask. The relaxed hands can also hold it just fine and the trigger finger hands could too, but the instructions in the box specifically call out these hands as being intended for that. The wide grip can be used to cradle it as well. Also included is a swappable hair piece that has a swoosh effect to it if you want to add a dynamic element to your display. There’s also the same stand with an articulated arm that came with Batman only this one is labeled Catwoman on the underside so you don’t get them mixed up. It’s a nice stand as the base has some heft and the armature is nice and tight. The film’s logo is stamped on the front in a shiny plastic that’s cool, but also hard to read.
Catwoman’s articulation is fairly robust. There are joints at the head, hair, neck, shoulders, bicep, elbows, wrists, diaphragm, waist, hips, thighs, knees, ankles and toes. The head is a little limited in looking up because of the hair, though swapping to the swoosh hair alleviates some of this. That joint is mostly a pivot point and exists mainly to facilitate swapping the parts, but it has some utility when posing the head. The shoulders feel like they’re just on ball pegs to get a little butterfly action forward and back. There are no cuts into the torso for a full-on butterfly joint which I think was the right call for this sculpt. Since she’s fairly slight, the range is solid for such a joint. The bicep swivel is a little lower than usual as they put it at the part above her elbow where her glove meets the arm – a logical spot given the design of the suit. The same is true for the thigh swivel as that’s where her thigh-high boots meet her leg. Knees and elbows bend way past 90 degrees as both spots are double-jointed. The wrists utilize ball joints so they’ll move in any direction you need them to. The diaphragm joint has solid range forward, but is a little more limited going back. It will rotate and tilt and the waist does the same as it feels like a ball joint. The hips are these nice, big, hinges which allow Catwoman to hit splits and kick forward quite far. There is a diaper piece at the hips, but it’s quite small so it doesn’t hinder articulation much. If anything, it’s so small that you’ll risk grinding it up as the hip joint slips over it so do be mindful if you’re attempting something more extreme. The ankles do feature a hinge and rocker, though her stiletto type boots limit the ankle rocker’s range. They swivel as well. Despite the rather extreme heels, this figure is fully capable of standing without the aid of a stand. You may not get her into the most dynamic of poses without utilizing her stand, but you also don’t need it if you would rather not display her with it.
The abundance of joints combined with Catwoman’s lithe frame makes her relatively easy to pose. There’s a lot of room for nuance adjustments which is great for a subject sourced from a live-action film. Splashy comic book poses are great for figures based on actual comic book characters, but are less useful for a character like Catwoman. Though given how robust the articulation is, if you wanted to do such with her then have at it. The combination of accuracy, accessories, and articulation (the three A’s of figure making) really makes this Catwoman from INART a true home run. I’m lukewarm on the character, but this figure blew me away in promotional shots and it blew me away in person. It’s almost too perfect – where do we go from here? I expect this level of detail from everyone going forward even though I’m sure to be letdown. I’m also not sure how Queen Studios is able to keep the cost on these figures down as much as they do – is that simply because they’re not paying for a North American distribution license? Maybe, though there’s still little reuse potential in a figure like this and yet that didn’t stop them from going all out. I had some nitpicks in here, but they’re just that – nitpicks. I really couldn’t be any happier with this one and she looks awesome beside my Batman. Does this mean I’m going to get Bane too? I don’t know. He’s less interesting, but they did show a Joker prototype last year (or very early this year) and that could certainly get me. If you’re interested in this one, but reside in the United States, your options are limited as far as where you can purchase this. INART can’t sell directly to folks in North America, but other non-US retailers certainly can. I got mine from Bombusbee (no affiliation or anything, just sharing where I got it) and I was content with both the price and customer service. This one may have gone up since, and I assume she will in general just like Batman did, so it’s probably best not to wait. You may not feel you need a Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises, but you’ll probably be happy to have her should you change your mind.
For more Batman releases including the previous INART release, check these out:
INART The Dark Knight Rises Batman – Deluxe Version
Is this a review I really need to do? Probably not, but I’m doing it anyway. Queen Studios wasn’t a shop that was on my radar going into 2025. I’m guessing that’s true for a lot of folks and that’s probably why they had a media blitz when it came time to promote their brand…
Keep reading
The Dark Knight Rises
I mentioned in my look at Batman’s best films that I had gone into total lockdown mode for The Dark Knight Rises. I got off of social media, stayed away from review sites, and just basically blocked the world out where Batman was concerned. I wanted to walk into this film with an unformed opinion.…
Keep reading
Mezco One:12 Collective Batman (1989)
When it comes to the world of more high end action figure collectibles, I’ve been able to get my hands on a few. Some rather prominent companies have yet to cross my path though, and it’s not really for any reason other than they either don’t make what I like or I don’t really like…
Keep reading
The Nostalgia Spot 