MAFEX Batman: Hush – Catwoman review

Over the years various Batman writers teased the potential of a Batman/Catwoman romance. For whatever reason — maybe it was Jim Lee’s gorgeous artwork? — seeing Batman and Catwoman working together in Hush got fans all but demanding that they be paired together on a more permanent basis.

Mafex has been slowly knocking out the core characters from Hush and they’d reached the point where Catwoman was too essential to skip. Mattel released a pretty decent Catwoman figure in this attire and with the DC Direct Hush Catwoman head, I didn’t think I needed to get the MAFEX version. That resolve lasted right up until the first wave of photos started popping up and I knew it was a loss cause.

Let’s see if this Hush Catwoman can steal my heart or make me feel like I’ve been fleeced.

Packaging: MAFEX is keeping the look consistent with the blue greys of the trade and a nice portrait of the figure at the bottom. I wish I had space just to display walls of the cool packages from lines over the years.

You’re not gonna find these figures at retail save your local comic book store, but I appreciate the wide window to showcase the figure and all her accessories.

The back showcases the various accessories and some pose options.

Likeness:  Selina’s slinky black leather get-up is simple but sticks to the cat burglar motif nicely. MAFEX nailed all the essential elements of the attire with the circle clasp collar zipper, the matching belt and boot buckles. Her gloves and boots are slightly bigger to match Lee’s drawing.

Some companies struggle getting female proportions down properly. Usually it’s twig style arms and legs that make the figure look too sleek and frail. That’s not the case with Selina, who’s actually well proportioned.

The default head sculpt has her goggles down. MAFEX used a translucent material for the lenses so her eyes are visible. I really like that since Lee was inconsistent in drawing Selina’s eyes or making the goggles opaque.

Paint:  MAFEX utilized a glossy black to simulate the leather outfit. It has a good sheen to it that catches the light sharply. Smaller details like her eyes and the buckles didn’t have any problem at all.

Like the comics, Catwoman’s goggles have a light blue tint. The red of her lipstick is a nice shade and really pops.

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Scale:  Catwoman is appropriately shorter than Batman. It’ll be fun to see how she matches up height wise with Harley Quinn and Huntress.

Articulation: Catwoman is a slinky, acrobatic fighter.

The MAFEX body is the first comics style Catwoman that really allows for quality Catwoman poses.

As a result, she’s a lot of fun to pose thanks to how expressive you can position the figure.

Hush has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• butterfly shoulers
• bicep
• elbow (double-jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• hip
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle
• toe

Accessories:  Catwoman has plenty of display options.

First up are the two alternate head sculpts. One is with the goggles raised so we can see all of Selina’s face along with some of her bangs. This is my favorite of the head sculpts as it’s easier to read all kinds of emotions from Selina with it.

The third is an angry gritted teeth expression. I always appreciate this as an alternate expression as it’s very useful for fight scenes.

Naturally Catwoman comes with her whip. It’s got a decent amount of length and is made of a nice flexible material. It behaves a bit more like a pliable thin strip of leather capable of supporting Selina and doing major damage in fights.

Lee drew Catwoman’s whip like it wrapped around her belt. MAFEX actually included a waist piece so you could mimic that look. That’s a wild extra bit of detail that wasn’t going to be something I missed if it wasn’t included. I was leery of the potential headache of switching them out, but it was amazingly easy, and I switched them far more often than I expected.

This is something that justifies the import cost compared to a retail figure. In fairness, the DC Direct version also had this, but the swappable option takes it over the top.

She’s got an assortment of hands — gripping, outstretched/slashing, index finger up, claws up and spread fingers. What I really love about the Catwoman is the ease of swapping her hands.

Batman and Superman are a little tougher, but all of Catwoman’s accessories are super easy to swap in and out. It makes a huge difference and gave me a lot of confidence in switching the parts out.

Finally, she comes with the traditional stand.

Worth it?  I got Catwoman for $99. While I’d love for the figure to be $50 at maximum, it’s tough to complain given the high quality of the figure.

Rating:  10 out of 10

Catwoman was so much more fun than I expected. Her articulation is amazing, and all of the accessories are useful with simple swappable parts. This is my new favorite Catwoman figure and it’s not even close. I highly recommend tracking this one down.

Where to get it?  Amazon has her listed, but just from secondary sellers at this point.