Stryker2011 wrote:From everything I’ve read about Cleopatra, who was indeed Greek (Macedonian specifically), she was quite the fashionista, who’s mode of dress changed from day to day (often depending on who she was dealing with); everything from the topless look depicted in the carvings to the more traditional Roman garb. The look on this figure seems more Hollywood/comic book, but perhaps not too far off a possibility.
I am sure she would have worn plenty of different dresses, although I doubt they would have been very widely different from each other in basic design. But what you see on the figure is completely fantastical (even for Egyptians, never mind Greeks) and she would not have worn it even for bed or for Halloween, so to speak. If on some exceptional occasion she did don Egyptian clothing (and that is a pretty big if), she would have been wearing a lot more. There are images of scantily clad Egyptian dancing girls (below) from much earlier times (they only wear a collar and a belt), but that is different, and the queen of Egypt (and perhaps especially the Greek queen of Hellenistic Egypt) would not have been caught dead wearing something like this. Perhaps it is based on yet another comic book appearance (I note the ARH logo on the label), but even so it seems to be the product of an uninformed and lecherous modern imagination, of which the best that could possibly be said is that it might be shaped by the Roman slander campaign against a woman who seemed to seduce or bewitch one great Roman after another. Also, as BAD WOLF pointed out, she is far too pale (is this a "Vampire Cleopatra"?); moreover, the "eye of Horus" make up (on one eye!) is an Egyptian symbol, but never shown as make up on an actual human, least of all a queen; she might also have been given sandals, of course a dress, and all the Egyptian-inspired elements could have been made like real Egyptian elements without much trouble.
To me this represents a huge missed opportunity, and while the set is visually pleasing in some way, it is an offense to the informed and a disservice to the uninformed. This would have been ok if sold as a fantasy Egyptian cosplay figure, and I am sure plenty of the pieces would be useful for kitbashing other fantasy figures. By the way, the only pieces (that I see on the photos) that are perhaps really accurate are the crook and flail scepters that she is not shown holding in her hands; maybe also the sphinx, though not enough of it is visible to make sure.