While my focus is generally on Import figures, occasionally a Domestic figure catches my interest (I mean, they're technically ALL imports, but I digress). One such figure was the McFarlane Collector Edition: DC Multiverse Wonder Woman. I have the Golden Armour figure, which was one of the figures at the inception of the line. It was OK, given the price, with some pretty spiffy metallic paint, but I'd been burned on Mattel figures before so I just watched from afar, avoid the standard '84 figure and all the other comic variants. I was looking for a good Comic style figure, and almost purchased a Mezco in a moment of weakness, only to snap out of it when shipping would have put it well over the $100 CAD mark for a figure with some play wear.
Then one day, I saw a preview for this figure. It was a recognizable Comic style deco, had the more buff body of the better sculpted McFarlane releases, and had lots of shiny metallic paint. So I threw down a preorder on Amazon figuring I'd get one shortly after mass release. Well that was the theory, but it appears that mass release never happened here, and while my backorder mysteriously fulfilled, the ad on Amazon never went back to "in stock". A few Gamestop locations I visited were actively asking distribution why these things were so late.
Here she is, in box. Pretty standard packaging for McFarlane, with some nice looking art on the back. Of course, the finished figure doesn't exactly match up to this art piece, but nobody is surprised I would think. There was also a Platinum Edition which is a chase I guess, and had the colours reflect more the earlier costume colours while maintaining this actual look.
So I have no idea what actual MSRP is on this, but I do know that Amazon charged me $50 CAD. As one would expect, this higher than normal price (and the prestige of Collector Edition) means you get a slightly fancier package. You get the figure of course, six total hands, an Axe, Sword, and Shield (all repaints IIRC), a Lasso of Truth, a Collectors Card and holder, along with a Base. Is it worth double the price of your run of the mill figure? I don't think the increase in price directly resulted in a proportionate increase in value.
Standing at 7 in. tall, out of the box you can't help but be impressed with the physique they gave this figure. Nice curves but at the same time you can tell there's some muscle behind it all. Nicely proportioned upper body. Appropriately sized head. I mean, by this point McFarlane has had many opportunities to get it right and thank goodness they took proper notes. The joints are what they are - considering price point and all the usual criteria, for me it's more important that they function properly without warping or breaking, and I'm willing to overlook pretty much all of the aesthetic issues caused by them. Pinless joints were used, which "helps" to hide them... I guess.
For all the good work put into the sculpting of the body, the head takes a bit of a hit, though looking at. its looking more like an unfortunate choice of eye deco. The sculpting of the hair and Tiara are pretty good, and if there was no paint the face itself would be acceptable as well. The issue is that due to the eye makeup, I'm not sure if Diana is sleep deprived, or has seasonal allergies.
So when it comes to hands, there are fists, open palm, and accessory holding hands. One of the jokes people make about Marvel Legends is that no matter the figure, they all seem to come with a pair of trigger hands. I don't know the logic here, but the accessory holding hands are also trigger hands, and as you know Wonder Woman doesn't fire guns.
So when it comes to Articulation, comparisons are made to the recently released Power Princess on the Marvel Legends side. I mean I get it - the two characters are basically the equivalent on each side of the industry, so naturally you'd compare their figures. So in comparing the two, the McFarlane is effectively trades off chest level articulation for waist and back arch and also loses thigh swivel. I don't losing the chest level joint, but thigh swivel would have been nice. There is a very minute amount of swivel you can get from the joint embedded into the waist, but it's not a whole lot, and you're definitely not doing any crossing leg poses.. The shoulders are provide with an extended double ended ball joint that acts as a Butterfly joint. Standard ankles and a more robust wrist joint (hands aren't on a peg, which is nice) are complemented by double jointed elbows and knees. There is some neck articulation or more accurately there is some extra articulation at the base of the head, but like so many things on this figure, bulk gets in the way of maximum range of motion. The waist is made of a softer rubber which helps with maximizing range of leg motion.
Having said all that, you can still do some pretty neat poses with this figure.
Paint Application wise, all things considered it's pretty good. Not expecting Import quality of course. The areas of paint are the white stripe on the boots. the metallic colours, and the facial makeup. If you look closely, you'll notice the Gold on the waist is a bit rougher looking that the application on the chest, and this is undoubtedly due to the softer plastic used for that area, as the paint right above it looks pretty solid, and I wish they had painted the boots in that exact red rather than leaving it bare. The face, as mentioned, isn't bad so much as I don't think they went in the right direction for a figure of this size. I think the Bracers are painted in silver, and only the Gold parts on the gear are painted. Everything else is just top coating, if even that.
Like with most of the figure, Build Quality is overall not bad given what we're working with. The sculpt is nice and the finishing on the parts are acceptable. The joints aren't made of the softer plastic that plagued Hasbro releases years ago, plus they're generally thicker due to the larger figure and generally more robust body proportions. The shoulder joints are a WEE BIT too loose - it's not like they're gonna fall out or anything but it feels like my figure is on lower end of acceptable tolerances for that socket. The accessories though... those are pretty crap. The weapons and shield are made of a pretty soft plastic, partially for costs I'm sure (OK, MOSTLY) but another part might have to do with safety laws. At least this softness still allows for some detailing on the weapon itself. But that Lasso of Truth is.. well I guess you can say bad or good. It's bad because clearly it's just some coil of shiny stuff but at the same time it's not the figure comes with the hands to hold it anyway. I guess used as a display piece for the hip it's better than molded piece of plastic, but you figure they'd at least make a better holder.
Pretty much all of the reviews of this figure have been favourable, and I have to agree. It's an incredibly solid figure, but is admittedly got the short end of the articulation stick compared to the Marvel Legends figure, but there's no real argument that this figure LOOKS better thanks in part to the larger size, but more importantly, nicer overall body sculpt. What you can do with the figure will satisfy most collectors, which is what matters the most. Having said all that, getting one of these seems to be the challenge, which is really weird to me as I don't generally associate Domestic releases with hard to get, at least not the non chase versions.
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