DIMIC

Who doesn’t know Don Bluth? You may not know him by name but you probably know quite a lot of his work. He made some of my favorite non-Disney animation movies (like Anastasia, A Troll in Central Park, The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, …) as well as some games that I still adore. One of those games is the arcade classic: Dragon’s Lair.

A while ago, I talked about a, to me, new company called Electric Tiki Design. I even did an interview with the owner of said company. It’s about seven months ago that I previewed the Animation’s Leading Ladies: Princess Daphne statue and I finally have her!

If you don’t know who Princess Daphne is, or what Dragon’s Lair is, shame on you! Dragon’s Lair is one of the most known arcade classic of all time. In the game, you played Dirk the Daring and had to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe. The thing that made this game so remarkable, next to the awesome gameplay, were the graphics. They didn’t use the sprites that were so typical for that era but instead hoped over to the use of laserdisc which increased their storage ability but limited their actual gameplay. How you ask? Well, in Dragon’s Lair, you don’t control the hero but you control his reflexes. See the small video I included if you want to know more.
Fun fact: due to the fact that they were on a tight budget, the animators used their own voices for all the characters. The voice of Princess Daphne was portrayed by Vera Lanpher who was head of the Clean-up Department at the time.

Princess Daphne is my first Electric Tiki Design statue and I must say that I’m quite pleased with her. There are a few points that I don’t like but overall, I’m very happy to have her.
Let’s get over the stuff I don’t really like. First the nasty, then the goody.

As you can see on some of the pictures (like on n°11 & 15), she suffers from some sloppy paint applications. She’s also somewhat roughly finished as you can see with her crown and her fingers. But those doesn’t really matter that much since it’s okay from a normal viewing distance. But there’s one thing that kind of bothers me a lot namely the way her eyes are painted. They look okay when directly viewed with the Dragon’s Lair logo in front but as soon as you turn just a little bit, she looks cross-eyed. And that’s something I really don’t like.

But in spite of those flaws, I really like this statue. I just love the way they used the dress to keep her upright instead of just her legs. It really adds something to this statue. Also the sculpt and paint itself are very good. The colors chosen are just perfect and I love that glittering dress. It’s just like in the game.
Also the base is something I really like. The design of it is so original! And I love those little designs on the base.

Did I already mention that there are two editions of this statue? Well, they don’t differ a lot. You got an Artist Proof edition which has an edition size of 50 and includes a signed certificate. Yeah, signed! And guess by whom! The other, regular, edition  is limited to 325 pieces worldwide and doesn’t come with that certificate. Lucky me that I got one since only US residents could order it. Thank you so much kind sir.

Conclusion:
Even though this statue has some flaws, I’m willing to overlook them because the statue itself rocks. This is Princess Daphne. Can’t get around that. And I’m so glad that somebody, finally, decided to do something so not commercial by releasing a statue of this kind. I know that there are more DL fans around but it’s so old and frankly, I never thought I’d see something made from it. So happy. Sniff. I can’t wait until I can give her a place in our cabinets!
If you are a Dragon’s Lair or Don Bluth fan, you really can’t go wrong with this one! And don’t forget, Kimberly of Space Ace is also coming. Just imagine how these two will look next to each other!

Oh, and by the way, if you ever want to play Dragon’s Lair, don’t ever, EVER, play the NES version! It’s crap. That’s it. Bye.

Pictures

Movie
Here’s the last scene from Dragon’s Lair in which Dirk the Daring rescues Princess Daphne.

Item reviewed: Dragon’s Lair – Princess Daphne
Type: resin
Manufacturer: Electric Tiki Design
Variations: regular edition (without the certificate)
Rarity: The regular edition is still for sale. The Artist Proof edition (with certificate) is sold out. 50 (ex/artist proofs) and 325 (reg) made worldwide