REVIEW: DC Superhero Girls Signature Cheetah

Wow. I honestly don't think I've ever seen two such different representations of the same character in the same line unless they were aiming for that.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The signature version of Cheetah, last year's SDCC exclusive new character, has finally hit US stores after being international for awhile. In theory anyway. I know someone found her in Target one time, but she's nowhere within a couple hundred miles of me. So I was thrilled when I checked my Amazon listings and saw her not only on sale via Prime, but for only $15.99! Some crazy 3rd party seller had her below retail. Who am I to pass on such a deal? I bought two. This quickly became known and she sold out repeatedly, only to go up every time they listed more. (Seriously, I saw her at $15.99, $19.99, $24.99 and finally $29.99. She is now totally sold out from that seller.)

I got my dolls today and I had to choose between one that had missing paint on the whites of her eyes AND a placed-too-high left eye and this one in the box here, which has gouges down her face. You can't see them in the photos, except hints of them in the facial close-up shot, but they're there. She's my battle-damaged Cheetah, because I was not sending them both back. No way. Thankfully, the paint is fine.

I honestly cannot get over how different she is.

Signature Cheetah is close to Wonder Woman in skintone.

SDCC Cheetah? Yeah, she's more like Starfire.

The funny thing, if you can call it that, is that neither really looks like the show. She's clearly darker than Wondy there, but she's not orange either. Although if Wondy's doll was as pale as she is in the show, then sig Cheetah would be pretty spot on.

So yes, here they are. Sig and SDCC. I vaguely remember people complaining about them doing a regular release of the SDCC doll again. Well, all that was for nothing, because no one in their right mind is going to confuse these two.

Let's look at the outfit. Same basic idea, but sig Cheetah has a plastic belt, while SDCC's is part of her outfit. SDCC has orange stripes alongside her pink stripes.

Animation accuracy points go to SDCC Cheetah, because she does have the orange on the show and the pink is actually the waistband of her pants (it has a little orange tie on it in the cartoon) so the lower placement resembles that outfit more. Although it should be 2-piece and neither of them did that.

From the back, sig Cheetah is totally pink, while SDCC Cheetah now looks more like a top and pants.

SDCC wins the accuracy points again, because Cheetah's pants in the show are black with the stripes down the side.

I honestly don't mind either version though. If they're not going to do a 2-piece outfit, then either of these is fine with me. Sig Cheetah's looks more like a proper 1-piece while SDCC's is just mimicking the 2-piece it should be.

From the side. I forgot to do a full side-shot, but it's apparent from this one alone how different their leg spots are.

Both have their hair pulled back on one side.

Speaking of hair, Sig Cheetah's is far shorter than SDCC's.

Although neither of them has hair as long as it should be.

Sig's shoes are more orange. SDCC's have the white, which is show accurate.

I hate this shoe mold, because it's lumpy, unattractive and they don't even stand well.

The sig jacket on the left is actually far more show accurate. She doesn't have black sleeves. The SDCC jacket is made better and has the thicker orange cuffs and waist though. Meld the two and you've got it right.

Facially, I like both these girls. The sig looks more in tune with the show and the other dolls, while the cartoony SDCC is just plain cute.

She does have a torso joint, if anyone was wondering.

So there you have it. Sig Cheetah and SDCC Cheetah, two incredibly different versions of the same character within one doll line. I honestly prefer the signature doll and her less orange skintone and forward-looking eyes. She's prettier to me, even though the SDCC one has more show accurate elements. I could outfit swap them, but I'm not going to.

So now we've gotten Hawkgirl and Cheetah. (With Cheetah and Beast Boy coming in the action figure line, too.) I wonder if there will be another new character for this year or if that's it? I also wonder if we'll get an SDCC doll. Hmm!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.