Liz Sherman appeared in both Hellboy movies, but it was Hellboy 2 in 2008 that saw her Action Figure added to Mezco's 7" releases.
Liz comes packed in a standard clam-shell packaging. The front panel is decorated in a bronze/gold colour with the HB2 logo and the cog's that symbolise the Golden Army. The backing card includes a blown up view of Hellboy himself, and the reverse includes a plot outline for the movie as opposed to a bio of Liz's character. The rest of the back is dedicated to images of the other figures from the range.
Out of the packaging and Liz comes packed with a two alternative hands. The alternative right hand is sculpted holding her BPRD revolver, whilst the alternative left hand is sculpted with a blue flame effect.
Considering this figure is now 7 years old, the sculpt holds up really well. The head is a close likeness to Selma Blair and the hair is style is sculpted and layered nicely around the head. The leather jacket contains a tonne of detail, from the "Cantona" collars to the pockets and buttons, which are all sculpted into the design. Beneath the jacket, and Liz has her crucifix on a choker around her neck. The arms follow a similar sculpt of folds and ruffles and stop just after the elbow joint. It is a this point that the lower arm and hands pop off to be replaced with whatever combination you wish to use on display. Liz has a belt that is a separate piece to the figure, although not removable. The belt contains a selection of pouches and a larger over-sized belt buckle which is emblazoned with the BPRD fist holding a sword hilt symbol. If there is any criticism of the top half of Liz it is that she is a little comic in proportions with a ridiculously tiny waist which then isn't helped by the oversize belt.
The lower half suffers a little with the hips where looks have been sacrificed for articulation, it gives Liz a little bit of an odd look where her thighs seem to be much wider and away from her waist. Like the top the textile of the cloth for the trousers is well executed and the legs finish in some suitably Gothic looking biker boots with three fastening buckles and a chunky sole.
Paint is pretty well executed throughout. The head is neatly done with eyes and lips picked out really well. There is a tad too much "blusher" on her cheeks which do look like Liz has just come in from the cold. The crucifix is picked out in a plain black, and this is a tad messy as the skin tone has bled into the necklace in places. All the clothing is well detailed with bronze and silver used to pick out the buttons and buckles. There is some subtle dry brushing on the black outfit as well that brings out the folds of the cloth. The only downside is that the whole outfit looks like one jumpsuit rather than the leather jacket and black jeans as used in the movie. The paint effect used is great for the jacket and works really well but I would have liked them to do a darker flatter black for the trousers to break up the figure and match the movie costume a little better.
Articulation is pretty decent, but no where near as good as what we would expect nowadays. The head is on a ball joint and rotates fully round as well as looking up and down. Liz can also cock her head to the side. The shoulders are on ball joints so can straight out to the side or above her head, this allows you to pose Liz in a firing pose with her gun or a charging pose with her flame effect. Elbows are a basic bend and there is no swivel at the elbow or upper arm. By the nature of the swap-able element for the fore arms these rotate in their peg socket and are easy enough to swap over. By being designed to slot in at the sleeve of the jacket the joint is also well hidden. The swap-able parts work, and you must assume this was a cost saving decision considering other figures of the era come with separate weapons that can be slotted into the molded hands.
Zero movement at the waist and there is no torso joint either so Liz is pretty fixed in her upper body position. The hips, as discussed, have a good range of movement with articulation chosen here over looks. Sadly the hips are quite loose, even on a new figure directly out of the packaging and I would guess Liz will eventually become difficult to stand in time. There is a well hidden knee joint to allow Liz to kneel if needed or assume a seated position. There is then an ankle rocker, which works really well to ensure Liz is stood flat to the floor when posed.
It is always hard scoring a figure of this age as you just can't judge it against the standards of say NECA's new releases. For a 7 year old figure, Liz stands up really well in terms of sculpt and her articulation is still reasonably comparable to say what we are getting from Diamond. My gripes are around the over-sized belt which looks ridiculous, the lack of paint variation between jacket and trousers, and those horrible hips and thighs which just look plain odd. Put on the positives, the swap-able arms do work and Liz looks awesome posed up with Hellboy and other figures from the range - and in fact doesn't look overly out of place with other 7" figures in my collection (she has aged well). I am going to give Liz a 3 out of 5, a solid result just not as good as other figures from the same movie.