Friday, April 28, 2017

Action Figure Review: Diana of Themyscira from DC Comics Multiverse: Wonder Woman by Mattel

   Care to spend your Friday with Wonder Woman? Yep, I'm back with another review of a figure from Mattel's Wonder Woman inspired DC Comics Multiverse line and this time it's Diana of Themyscira, AKA a pre-Wonder Woman version of Princess of Diana. Diana is the third figure in the series of four (along with a Toys R Us exclusive standard Wonder Woman and an Amazon exclusive Menalippe that just went on pre-order this week) and the second Wonder Woman variant available in the 6 inch line. I'm digging her outfit and this new headsculpt, and it seems like a lot of other folks are, too. I think Mattel definitely made some improvements with this line, especially in regards to the headsculpts, but they still have a ways to go to make Multiverse feel like it's in the same league as other comparable retail lines such as Hasbro's Marvel Legends and Star Wars: The Black series or even Mattel's own WWE Elite Series. Fortunately for Mattel, I'm a pretty serious DC collector and I'm more willing to give these a shot than others might be. Let's take a closer look at the mighty Princess Diana of Themyscira and see how she stacks up to other figures in this line!



 The Facts:

Height: 6 3/8ths inches

Articulation: Hinged ankles, hinged knees, swivel thighs, H-hinged hips, swivel waist, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel wrists, and a balljointed head.

Accessories: Sword, lasso of truth, and build-a-figure Ares' waist.

Non-Scalper Price: $20 dollars
 The Positives:

* Mattel really has stepped up the game on the headsculpts for this line. Considering this is a 6-inch mass market action figure, Diana is really quite lovely with clean paint and well defined features. This is really a pretty good likeness of Gal Gadot that captures some of her unique features while still blending them together into an attractive sculpt at this size (sometimes capturing specific features on a smaller headsculpt makes a sculpt look overly caricatured, something Mattel has avoided here).



* Overall this is a nice looking figure in a cool costume that I'm pretty sure has never had an equivalent in any 6-7 inch DC line. This is (I'm assuming, since the movie hasn't been released yet) Diana in her regular outfit that she wears on Themyscira. The design aesthetic is a blend of classical Greek design with a fantasy touch to make it pop. The paintwork is neat and clean, too, and very subdued.  I like the gold trim and highlights, though; it adds something to the appearance while still not making this a figure that's as flashy as the classic Wonder Woman getup.

* Diana's sword is a unique sculpt. While the cloaked Wonder Woman, BvS Wonder Woman, and Queen Hippolyta all come with swords, the designs on each one are completely unique. This one has a lot of design on the blade, possibly even runes or characters (it doesn't appear to be Greek, though), and a smaller hilt with a decorated pommel. I like this accessory as it's really well done, neither too brittle nor too rubbery, and looks great in the figure's hand.

* Diana of Themyscira also comes with the Lasso of Truth. Again, like with the cloaked Wonder Woman figure, this is a simple piece, but it's nice to have. It feels like far too many Wonder Woman figures in the past have neglected it by making it a non-removable part of the figure.

 * I'm going to review Ares on his own next week, but I still gotta point out that he's a pretty decent sized build-a-figure (well, "Collect & Connect as Matty calls them) and you really only need to buy four figures to piece him together. Diana comes with his waist which is nicely armored and reminds me of some armored warrior from Toy Biz's Lord of the Rings line.
 The Negatives:

* If there is one thing that Mattel really needs to work on, it's their articulation scheme. They can do articulation well, as their WWE Elite series is excellent. Heck, I thought a great deal of DC Universe Classics releases also has solid movement. Why, then does Mattel's articulation seem to be getting worse? The legs and ankles are stiff, the hips are virtually useless, and the head barely can wobble.


* I gotta point out this big seam on Wonder Woman's neck and shoulders. I know it's tough to create a nice looking figure who is wearing an outfit that shows more of the characters body, but this seam is just atrocious. That's a real eyesore, isn't it?
 * Take a look at these cool boots Diana is wearing. Notice anything missing? How about toes. Yeah, instead this figure just has solid lumps of flesh tucked down into her leather footwear. There is literally no definition at all to the sculpt there, which is a shame as someone definitely spent some time working on the details on Diana's boots. What gives? At first I honestly though this as a paint mistake and that these were supposed to be some sort of boots, but nope. This is just some poor sculpting.
 
   Sadly, like Steve Trevor, Diana of Themyscira is another figure that overall looks nice, but that largely feels flawed thanks to non-functioning articulation and some poor design decisions. At first I thought this was going to be the figure to get in this wave as I loved the headsculpt and really dig the costume. A closer inspection leads to some real problems, though, and thus warrants Diana of Themyscira the not at all wonderful grade of Eh and a 1/2. I'll give credit to Mattel for using mostly new sculpts for their movie and TV based Multiverse figures, but maybe they need to throw some comic inspired figures into those lines to help spread out costs so they can produce better quality articulation on their unique sculpts.




If you're looking for more Wonder Woman stuff I have reviewed a few other Wonder Woman products including the cloaked Mattel movie Wonder Woman, Kotobukiya Bishoujo Armored Wonder Woman, the New 52 Wonder Woman versus Katana 2-pack, the Gal Gadot inspired Wonder Woman from Mattel's DC Comics Multiverse: BvS line, the Bombshells action figure Wonder Woman, the Lil Bombshells Wonder Woman, and a set of Batgirl and Wonder Woman Magnetic Salt & Pepper Shakers.

If you're looking for more DC Comics Multiverse figures, check out the following:

DC Comics Multiverse (6 inches) by Mattel (2016)
Armored Batman (The Dark Knight Returns)
The Arrow
Batman from Zero Year
Earth 23 Superman
The Joker from Batman: Endgame
Justice Buster 
Mutant Leader (The Dark Knight Returns)
Reverse Flash (The Flash TV Series)
Robin (The Dark Knight Returns)

DC Comics Multiverse: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Mattel (2016)
Batman
Son of Batman

DC Comics Multiverse: Batman v. Superman by Mattel (2016)
Aquaman
Armored Batman
Bat Creature
Batman
Batman's Grapnel Blaster (Collect & Connect accessory) 
Batman Unmasked
Knightmare Batman
Lex Luthor
Superman 
Wonder Woman

DC Comics Multiverse: Suicide Squad by Mattel (2016)
Batman
Boomerang
Croc (Build-a-Figure)
Deadshot
Diablo 
Harley Quinn (6 inch) 
Harley Quinn (12 inch)
Harley Quinn (Gold Dress)
Harley Quinn (Toys R Us Exclusive)
The Joker 
The Joker (Toys R Us Exclusive)
Katana
Rick Flag 

DC Comics Multiverse: Wonder Woman by Mattel (2017)
Wonder Woman

1 comment:

  1. This is a nice looking figure. Not a huge WW collector, but I can appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete

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