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JLA Wonder Woman

By Hervé St-Louis
December 4, 2003 - 11:16

 

Why would the action figure of a beautiful woman like the JLA Wonder Woman need blush on her eye lids is beyond me? Many diehard Wonder Woman fans and other action figure collectors have been waiting for this figure for a long time. It was supposed to be the ultimate apology version of the character. The first one from 1999 is ugly. The others, represent other eras of the character's history.


This is the modern Wonder Woman, complete with the flabby boots popularized by Adam Hughes and decried by others. They are cool with me. The character's face, however, exhibits a long time problem with Wonder Woman. Is she a cheeky bone Linda Carter/Superfriends 30 something, a twenty-year-old baby face, cheesecake girl or a though Xena-like warrior woman? Seems like she's a high cheek bones girl.


There are problems with the figure's proportions. Her torso is very short, compared to her large and long flabby, J-Lo-shy ass. Second, her hips are not wide enough. I don't believe she could possibly carry a child within. Compared with her torso, her Thighs are too long. Her abs show through her belt. That should not happen. Her belt is not skin tight. Finally, her curly Greek-type hairs have been replaced by wavy ones.


The paint job is poor. There are red paint drops on the reviewed figure's skin, as if she had scratched it! The white in the stars' pattern and her eyes is too thin and looks pale blue instead. While the gold paint is brighter, it is not thick enough to hide the colours underneath. The biggest mistake with this figure was not using a skin tone for the base plastic. It looks cheap. Did I mention the blue makeup on her eyelids?


Wonder Woman is a tall woman! She's taller than Starfire who's a huge girl herself. Next to her, the Bird of Prey Black Canary looks like a dwarf or a sidekick. She's taller than the Silver Age Batman. This figure is as tall and imposing as a female body builder, minus the muscles. She's taller than the JLA Aquaman, JLA Superman and the JLA Flash. Although she is bulkier, Powergirl is also shorter.


Wonder Woman's feet are too short to counter balance her height and weight. Some of you may experience stability problems. Her low heels don't help. Fortunately, you can use the action figure stand that came with the set. It provides good stability.


There are nine points of articulations at the neck, the shoulders, the elbows, the hips, the knees and the neck. Of note, DCDirect changed the neck articulation from a neck cut into a pop on head which removes the problem of the neck scar. There should have been articulations at the wrists. A major problem is that the paint jammed the articulations. Lots of pressure had to be applied but it removed some paint chips.


Again, DCDirect is using the new cheaper plastic they've switched to since February. On thinner figures like Wonder Woman, this does not cause much problems as in top heavy male figures. However, the figures are not as durable as they used to be in the past. The only advantage is that they collect less dust. However, even on action figure stands, they fall and twist in warmer months.


The figure comes with an attached lasso which presumably would fit in the figure's right hand, if the gap in her thumb and her index wasn't filled with paint. A spear, a sword or a hatchet would have made good props. The action figure stand comes with but one peg bar. This is really cheap. Multiple figures cannot share the stand. God knows how many of them should be on stand because of severe stability problems.


For once, DCDirect gave single-carded action figures a decent card that collectors can be proud of. Usually, DCDirect's single cards have amateur Photoshop jobs that look like an intern still at school did them. The main improvement here is the comic book art of the JLA on the top of the card. It seems like Paul Neary drawing. On the back of the card, there's a picture of the Earth and the figures.


This figure is over priced. DCDirect has no suggested prices for retailers that means that many like to gauge fans. Prices vary and some even go as high as $24.95 per figures. There has to be a large market for such a quality Wonder Woman figure. No matter how hard this review is, this figure is way better than most Wonder Woman action figures, except the 1984 SuperPowers version. DCDirect doesn't see that.


This figure should be available in all specialty shops. However, I've noticed that several retailers curtail their DCDirect selections or bypass them entirely. The first reason is the high price these figures command. The second, is the classic vanilla pose. They are opposite much of the industry but appreciated by a core fans. If you held to the 1999 DCDirect action figure, ditch it and replace it with the JLA version.

Last Updated: July 21, 2024 - 13:40