Official solicit:

DC Universe Classics Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman began life as a child sculpted from clay by the Amazon Queen Hippolyta. She was known as Princess Diana and raised by the Warrior Sisterhood. In a contest to choose an Ambassador to the world of man (”Patriarch’s World”) she bested all of her sisters and was awarded the mantle of Wonder Woman. Now she carries the Amazons’ message of peacer, armed with a magical golden lasso and bulletproof bracelets.

DC Universe Buy all 5 figures to build your COLLECT & CONNECT Despero figure!

SEPTEMBER 2008
MSRP 10.99USD

How do I start this review off, should I profess my constant and undying love for Wonder Woman? Well I don’t really have any, as I’ve never much cared for the character. Should I talk about her proud past and all she has done as a character for women IN and for comics in general? Well, I couldn’t do that either, because I sorta don’t really believe she has done much good, at least certainly not in the last 25+ years. Or should I just talk about how cool the toy looks? Yeah, lets just stick to doing that, that way I won’t get any angry fangirl emails.

As has been mentioned in past reviews around here, I’m a bit of a fan of these DC Classics figures. The sculpts, by the Four Horsemen Studios, are all pretty amazing and varied. After all, they’d have to be in order for me to not only buy a figure of a character I don’t really like, but also have it end up being one of the better looking female action figures I’ve ever seen before period.

So when I saw the prototype pictures of Wonder Woman showing up online about 6 months ago, I was so amazed, I decided it was time to tear down the walls of my own personal sexism, and finally get myself a lady superhero for my toyshelf. Not lets see how that’s working out for me, yeah?

Packaging for Wonder Woman is pretty standard for the DC figures, differences being the back of the card (which shows all the other figures in this Wave) and the inside card promo art (which has art from different comics featuring each figure in the line), as well as which Collect & Connect piece is included. This Wave comes with the Despero pieces, which I could care less for. He’s no Solomon Grundy don’tcha know.

Off card, Wonder Woman comes equipped with a shield and battle axe, and of course a Despero leg piece too.

Out of bubble, Wonder Woman is pretty impressive. While her axe is made from the same cheap, flimsy rubber all the DC figures accessories are made, her shield is made from a more rigid plastic and actually has weight to it. With both of her fists being sculpted in the shape to hold the axe, Princess Diana can be an ambidextrous man-hater (uh oh!) if she needs to be, and as her shield has a clip on it that attaches to her forearm, she can put that anywhere too.

She is a really fun figure to pose, and maintains a good balance of her Ambassadorial poise, but also has a bit of a fierceness to her too. Just look at that above middle picture - that’s one tough cookie!

And while Diana comes with her lasso, it’s unfortunately only a prop accessory molded into the figure, and doesn’t actually come off or is usable at all. Boo.

Poseability with all the DC U figures is great, with Wonder Woman having something like 19 points of articulation, giving her a huge range of movement. She can achieve just about any sort of realistic pose you can muster thanks to all the ball and cut joints on her.

What’s even more impressive for me are the proportions on Wonder Woman. She clearly has a feminine physique, but she also has some muscle on her, all without looking too cartoony or ridiculous too. The sculpt by them Four Horsemen people is maybe one of the best female action figures I’ve ever seen. Except for one thing - her little teeny weeny feet.

Sure, they’re adjustable at the ankle, and yes I know women generally have smaller feet, but Diana is an Amazon - who would have bigger clogs than one of them? As such, Diana is apt to tipping over a bit because her little feet can’t compensate for all her upper weight, especially when in any sort of bent poses. In fact, she has taken a few nosedives right off the shelf she’s standing on since I’ve gotten her, without being touched or prompted, just suicide dives I guess.

Thankfully, Mattel does make stands for their figures for relatively cheap, and they’re clear too so they aren’t a total eyesore to look at either. Still, it’d be nice if she didn’t need them at all.

Aside from the feet issue, my only other complaint comes from a total nerdy artist perspective (and might even drive away some regular readers because, well… yeah.), and it has to do with Wonder Woman’s… assets.

For as great a sculpt and proportioned all the muscles and parts are, they really dropped the ball with her booty I think. I mean, just look at that thing, it’s flat as a board. And considering how much muscle mass she has in her legs, and how big her chest is, you’d think Diana’d have some meat back there. We’ve all watched the Olympics, and you see how muscular and round the female track athletes bottoms are, Wonder Woman should have at least the same, right? RIGHT??

I mean it is a minor and weird gripe, but she just really looks… weird from a profile view is all. Baby should have back, yeah? I’m never gonna live down this review am I?

Aside from those few gripes, the sculpt and accessories actually make up for the downfalls of the figure. Her facial sculpt is equally feminine and cartoony, without looking ridiculous. And her hair also looks really cool too, which is a compliment as we all know how bad hair on female figures tends to look - from stringy spaghetti to just plain mush.

Paint apps are fine, if not a little sloppy in places - but no major complaints given what one would expect from any other 10 dollar mass release figure.

Assuming it really was mass release that is. As with all the other Mattel DC U figures, I, and many other would-be customers have had an insane time finding these on shelves in stores. If not for being able to order them from online outlets (in my case, impulsecreations.net, a GREAT source for your hard to get figures - I highly recommend them in a pinch!) because of how far Mattel has fallen as a toy company in the last year and a half. In fact, I’d say flat out that Mattel will probably not exist in it’s current model this time next year (although I’m thinking that change will happen in the next six months, you heard it here first kids!), and for good reason. Short of the shelfwarming Dark Knight 5 inch figures, Mattel has been shockingly absent from the the boys toy section, not to mention the hit in popularity Barbie has taken in the last few years. Oh Mattel, how far you have fallen, thanks entirely to your own horrible decisions and management. Good job.

Wonder Woman is a great figure though, from a horrible company who has done everything they can to keep you from buying it. If you can actually get your hands on one though, OR the variant remold Artemis figure (who has a different head sculpt AND different accessories too!!) I’d totally tell you to buy it. But I’m willing to bet you’ll probably not see them anywhere short of ebay, so why bother.

Blech.