#GetYourCapeOn! DC Super Hero Girls Batgirl, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy

Remember how I said I was having a bit of blogging burnout, but I hadn't lost my excited for dolls? Well, the dolls I have here are some of the biggest reasons that my doll loving fire keeps burning! Long before I collected dolls as an adult, I collected action figures. From movies, comics, television shows...anything I loved that had a line of action figures, I was all over it. That fell a bit by the wayside when dolls started taking over my life, but a few things have remained constant, and one of those is my pretty intense love of Batgirl and Barbara Gordon. Someday I'm going to do a post here of all of my various Batgirl collectibles, so you can see just how big of a problem she is for me, but for today, we're going to look at an exciting intersection of two of my favourite things!

As soon as the DC Super Hero Girls line was announced, I was immediately excited! I love the idea of bridging the gap between the world of dolls (traditionally aimed at girls) and the world of comics and superheroes (traditionally aimed at boys) and so far, I think that the DC Super Hero Girls line is doing this wonderfully! The first wave features 6 dolls and 6 action figures, and I really love that they've released these girls in both scales. This line isn't for girls OR for boys, it's for everyone, and that is very cool. 

The first wave consists of Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, Supergirl, Bumblebee, Harley Quinn and Batgirl, in both doll and action figure forms. Currently they are only available at Target in the US, and will be going world wide in July. My husband and I tried to wait but well...were were too impatient, so we took a little road trip over the border in search of these dolls, and were successful in finding the two we wanted most!

I bought Batgirl for myself, and Ben picked up Harley Quinn, since his Harley collection rivals my Batgirl collection! He also grabbed an Ivy action figure, which makes for a fun little comparison! Eventually, we'll be grabbing the rest of the dolls as they are all super adorable, but for now, this made us both pretty happy! If you want to see us unbox the dolls and give our first impressions, check it out on YouTube, and if you want to see more photos, click on through!

Here's a quick look at both dolls and the action figure, shown with everything that comes in the boxes with them. The dolls don't come with stands or brushes, as they are advertised as being able to stand on their own. This is definitely true, though it can require a little bit of work. Harley stands better than Batgirl, and I actually think it's partly due to the massive mallet she comes with! It acts as a bit of a counterbalance, kind of like a tightrope walker holding a pole or an umbrella. 

 The boxes are really eye-catching and well-designed, I think. The fronts are entirely clear plastic so you can get a good view of the doll inside, and there are lots of bright colours that draw you in. The dolls are posed in action poses inside, and also in their artwork. The art is adorable, and I've actually been enjoying the webisodes that go along with these dolls as well. They're cute and fun, and that's really all I need in a 2 minute story.

The back of the box has a little bio of the girl, and they also come with these student cards that reiterate some of the key points. As the huge Batgirl fan I am, I really love what they say about her. In some recent comics, they've taken away a lot of the things that made Barbara who she is, and what made me fall in love with her, and oddly enough, this children's toy line is giving me those things back! We haven't seen much of her in the webisodes yet, but I'm optimistic!

And finally, here she is! Just looking at her makes me so happy! The details are simple but effective, and I really think these dolls are pretty well done for their price point of $19.99 US.

Her top is a purple t-shirt with a gold bat symbol over a circuitry background, with gold trim. It also has a hood with little bat ears on it, and I think it's adorable, even though the bat ears are a little floppy. There's a hole in the good for her hair, of course, and it stays up well on its own, but can also be worn down or tucked under the backpack. On the bottom, she's wearing simple black leggings with yellow stitching. Overall, her clothing is simple, but I think that's a good thing. These dolls have excellent articulation (which we'll look at in a bit!), and the simple clothing choices allow them to move and hold poses easily, as well as seeming like realistic options for these girls...as realistic as teenage superheroes can be, anyways!

On her feet, Batgirl wears big, stompy, yellow boots that remind me a lot of Doc Martens. This is definitely inspired by the current Batgirl costume. Despite my feelings about the character choices being made on the new title, I do think that the new costume is pretty cool, so I like this reference!

She is also wear large yellow gauntlets with spikes. I like how these look like they might have compartments and all sort of cool things going on, because that is VERY Batgirl! These also match her yellow utility belt, which is an absolutely essential aspect of any Batgirl costume, in my opinion.

Batgirl also comes with a pretty cool backpack! It has bat wings and little bat ears, and from the front, it makes it look like Batgirl has wings herself. I absolutely love this backpack, both as an accessory to the doll AND as an accessory to the character, since it makes total sense to me that a teenage version of the Batgirl I know and love would carry a backpack filled with all sorts of crime-fighting gadgets!

Without the hood, it's easier to get a look at Batgirl's lovely hair! It's a nice, natural red colour, and falls to mid-back, with a slight side-swept bang. As you can see, her mask is also removable, and without it we can get a better look at her face. These dolls all have very pretty faces, with very simple screening. Batgirl has full brows and no eye makeup on her green eyes, and soft pink lips. The screening is very matte, and the facial mold doesn't have a lot of details around the eyes, but it is still quite nice. There's not as much personality as you find in Monster High dolls for example, but I still think they're really cute, and it works!

The mask is styled like glasses, comes with a rubber band around the arms holding it on, but even without that, it stays on well. I thinks this is a pretty great design for these, and when the first images of the dolls were released, I was concerned the mask would be molded or painted on, so I'm very glad that isn't the case!

And now, let's look at that awesome articulation I was talking about! Batgirl is articulated at the neck, shoulders, wrists, hips, knees AND under the bust. These joints are very sturdy and hold poses well, even the torso joint. My singular complaint about this body is that the knees only have hinged motion, no rotation. It's definitely not the end of the world, but it is a limitation.

And just look at the shape of the body! Mattel said they were inspired by female gymnasts when designing these dolls, and I think that definitely comes through. Batgirl has strong, broad shoulders and obvious muscles in her arms and legs.

Check out those guns! I love the details of the muscles in her biceps and thighs, and even her forearms! And look at those calves! This girl could definitely kick your butt! I do think it's odd that they don't have flat feet, even though they're all wearing flat shoes. I wonder if there's a reason for that? Remember how I mentioned that Harley stands better than Batgirl? Well, Batgirl has a tendency to tip forward, and once I realized they had fashion feet inside their flat shoes, I can't help but wonder if that's part of the reason!

There are even obvious muscles on her back, which is just a crazy amount of attention to detail, I think.

Here Batgirl is in comparison to some other similar sized fashion dolls. As you can see, she's taller than all of them, Barbie included. For some reason, I didn't include an Ever After High doll in this line up, and I should have, because Batgirl's body shape is actually closest to them. She's larger all around, but the torso proportions are basically spot-on.

This sturdy articulation, combined with her big boots, does make it possible for her to stand in a lot of positions, even if they can take a little finagling.

I do love when a doll can stand on their own!

I borrowed some accessories from my many other Batgirl action figures and had some fun with her poseability!

I do love the backpack she comes with, but this makes me wish she'd come with some she could hold, especially since one of her hands is molded to hold things. She can borrow this batarang though, the other Batgirls won't mind!

 And that's it for Batgirl, for now! Overall, I am just so happy to have her, and that this doll even exists, that the small issues don't bother me at all. She's such a cool doll, and she's even cooler because she's not alone! Let's check out Harley Quinn!

Harley's box is exactly like Batgirl's, except obviously with her own art on it. I forgot to take a picture of Harley's student card on its own, but you can see it in the group shot above!

I love the art on these so much! How cute do they look together like this? So cute!

And here Harley is, in all her glory! I like the direction they went with Harley in this. Like I said, Ben has a pretty large collection of Harley Quinn figures, and she's had a lot of different looks over the years. This design take inspiration from a lot of different eras of Harley and combines them into a perfectly adorable teenage look, that really feels like Harley.

She's wearing a top with puffy tulle sleeves and a large ruffled collar. The main part of the top is white with a red and black harlequin pattern on it, and printed buttons down the centre. It kind of looks like it's meant to be a vest buttoned over a tulle undershirt, but it's obviously all one piece. She's also wearing a black studded belt over the top. On the bottom she's wearing blue denim-ish shorts, and her legs are painted to resemble black and red leggings. I'm not really all that mad at the painted legs since I don't plan to redress Harley, and I feel like these dolls walk the line between action figure and doll, but I totally get why people would prefer her to be wearing actual leggings. I think it might have made her outfit a bit bulky if they still included the shorts though, and might have limited her mobility a bit, so I like her just as she is. Plus, it really shows off the molding of her legs, which I love!

She's wearing one large black cuff bracelet with studs on it, which matches her belt.

On her feet, she's wearing super cute blue platform creeper style shoes, with attached molded socks. The socks even have little hearts, diamonds, spaces and clubs on them! I love these shoes, so cute and so Harley!

Her face, like Batgirl's, is simple but very cute. She's wearing bright red lipstick and has blue eyes, but otherwise the screening is pretty similar.

Of course, Harley has a big molded smile, and it just wouldn't be her without it!

Her mallet is pretty substantial, but lightweight enough that she can hold it without it pulling her arms down.

She can even hold it without the assistance of rubber bands, thanks to her two gripping hands!

This is such a super fun accessory, both for play and for photography!

She's so photogenic honestly, with all these bright colours and graphic prints, and of course, that big grin!

Together they're even more fun! Their colours contrast so nicely with one another, I really had a blast!

I just can't wait until I have more than two, honestly. I'm definitely going to have to make another trip over the border, because July is way too far away!

 Finally, let's have a quick look at the Poison Ivy action figure! The box is basically a scaled down version of the doll boxes, with most of the same text and art. Ivy's art is so incredibly beautiful! I love the design they've created for Ivy. In the comics, Ivy is generally portrayed as very sexy, wearing not exactly a lot, and I think they've done a good job coming up with a version of her that makes sense both to the character, but also as a teenager. She's also played a little differently than she often is in the comics, more shy and restrained, which is an interesting take.

Her face is pretty well painted for something so small, and I think her expression is quite lovely. Her neck and chest are a little odd though, since the piece is made out of green plastic and painted over in flesh tone. There's still a slight green hue to her skin which makes it look a bit sickly, though thinking about it now...maybe Poison Ivy WOULD be a bit green, right?

It would probably be easier to see on the doll than on the figure, but I really like Ivy's outfit. It consists of a long, flowy, light green tunic top over darker green leggings, and it's very earthy and kind of hippie-ish, in a way I love. On her feet she has simple green flats, and vines wrapping around her lower legs and waist.

Each action figure comes with one small accessory, and Ivy comes with vines that wrap around her arm. They're very, very soft plastic, and fall off super easily because they're so soft. They're still fun to play with though, and this ended up being my favourite way to use them. She's not quite as versatile in terms of posing as the dolls, but she's still super fun, and again, she can stand on her own!

 So, that's my first impressions and review of the new DC Super Hero Girls line of toys! Overall, I am really impressed with the quality and design of these dolls (and action figures) and I'm just so happy the line exists at all. Based on what I'm seeing in various places online, even though the dolls are currently only available in one place (Target) they're selling very well, with the whole section frequently being wiped clean. This is a pretty good sign, I think, that we'll be seeing a lot more of these super girls, and I can't wait! July still seems like a pretty long ways away, but I think these dolls are worth the wait, so if you're not in the US, hang in there! I know I'll definitely be adding Wonder Woman, Bumblebee, Supergirl and Poison Ivy (in doll form) to my collection as soon as I can, and I can't wait to see what new characters they add to the line in the future!

Will you be getting your cape on and saving the world from crime with the DC Super Hero Girls? I know I will be!