As I write this, the world awaits the theatrical release of The Flash movie, which basically will erase the DCEU as we know it. Established properties will return to the depths from which they came.. so it seems kind of ironic that Hot Toys is only now getting around to releasing the titular character from the Wonder Woman 1984 movie, which came out at the start of COVID.
I actually had originally passed on this figure, having purchased the Golden Armour version with its superior sculpt and rooted hair. Then some first look photos of the final release showed there to be some improvements made to the face and an absolutely gorgeous finish on the costume parts. Plus I was curious about the new silicone body and so, here we area.
Compared to the previous releases of this character, this one is by far the one that comes with the least accessories - I think the JL Deluxe version takes the prize for the most:
- 1 x Main Figure
- 1 x Tiara
- 8 x Griping/Posing Hands
- 1 x Coiled Lasso of Truth
- 1 x Lasso of Truth Effect
- 3 x Bullet Ricochet Effects
- 1 x Base/Stand
If this figure looks very familiar, well congratulations, you're not imagining things - the most obvious change is the head. Everything else is a bit more subtle..
If you compare this head with what the prototype photos showed, you can appreciate that while this isn't exactly Gadot, it's certainly a lot closer than it was to begin with. The facial features are a bit wonky, with the biggest issue, as usual, being the brow line and the shape of the eyes. It's also certainly a lot more stylized as compared to the Golden Armour version. Unlike most of the Black Widows, however, I don't have an issue with the expression or the general gaze of the head.
Having the option to display her without the Tiara on her forehead is a nice touch, though I don't foresee too many collectors doing that. The vast majority of the WW die hards are likely going to take the head from the Golden Armour version and put it on this body, applying the Tiara to that head.
The last thing to discuss is of course the hair. Having stared at it for a good period of time, I can understand the appeal of it. If you're not really a poser and just want your figure to stand there, eyes forward, then sculpted hair is a great option as you literally have to do nothing and things will just look right. Having said that, particularly on long hair, posing the figure with a turned head just doesn't look right. Furthermore, in this instance, the hair isn't even sculpted right. Wonder Woman is sporting an asymmetric hairstyle in the movie, something that even my Figuarts got right, yet somehow is absent here.
There's also proportionality issues here int hat the head is too small for this body. Further making this issue worse is the fact that the head sits really high on the neck, resulting in Wonder Woman looking like a giraffe.
The other major change, the body, ties into my discussion of articulation. The short version of this discussion is basically nothing has changed. I believe the change to Silicone was due to the original rubber easily being damaged/worn down, even with very conservative use. Silicone also looks more natural and if you're a tactile person, offers a much more pleasant figure handling experience as compared to the rubber. Furthermore, I'm guess they changed it from rubber because the rubber was so stiff that I've heard stories of joints snapping within the body due to stresses placed on them.
While I'm not sure whether or not joints have been enhanced, but I can say that in general, there's no change to the internal skeleton of this body. So you get some pretty average range of motion, which is unfortunate for people like me who were looking forward to Phicen like powers. This means that for the thrdr time, Wonder Woman will not be able to truly cross her arms for her trademark bracer pose. Lower body articulation would have been OK except for the fact that her belt actually stops the thigs from reaching 90 degrees, so even sitting down properly on a chair isn't possible, though its more appropriate to blame this on outfit design rather than the engineering of the body. That same costume is the thing that completely locks in her torso.
You can get a few decent walking/running poses in, but ultimately you're going to be sticking
The good news, however, is that the Silicone does seem like it has helped make manipulation of the limbs easier.
So you're stuck with the same articulation as before, but this time then only thing I have to display in action being a rope, which isn't really thick enough to feature a wire that would allow it to hold its shape. Furthermore, as I purchased mine from a local Canadian dealer, this figure didn't come with the First Edition Lasso part with the spinning head. So I just didn't bother doing any photos like that.
It's too bad Hot Toys didn't take this opportunity to truly improve on this body with an improved skeleton, addition of musculature, and a more accurate bust line, but that would require Hot Toys to actually do more work and have to actually redesign the outfit rather than recycle it. At this rate, I'm not entirely certain that the She Hulk body will be anything to write home about, which is unfortunate seeing how muscles and posing are two of things that the character requires the most.
Paint work on this figure is what truly makes it shine compared to other versions. It's not so much what Hot Toys did, but rather what they were required to do. This task was recreating the much brighter outfit Wonder Woman wore in the movie. As a result pretty much all the colours are brighter, with the reds glowing from I'm guessing a base coat of gold or something like that . Copper metallics are beautifully done and make this figure pop. Other paint work is phenomenal as well and is not less exquisite - it's just not as eye catching.
Build Quality is, for the most part, very solid. The Silicone has certainly held up to my handling without any permanent injuries to show for it. The rest of the body is also ruggedly built, which never was a problem before either. Having said that, I did notice a few things. Firstly, my skirt features some sort of assembly issue where the right thigh is more covered than the left thigh. I remember this being a pretty big issues and I'm waiting for my dealer to get back to me.
The second thing I noticed was the tolerances on the hands are not equal. I'm pretty sure that the hole on the figures left open palm is much smaller than it should be, because I cannot remove that hand without taking half the wrist peg with it. I think this is a more isolated incident.
So, in the end I think it's fair to say that while this figure turned out better than I thought it would, there are some attributes that bring this back down to "typical Hot Toys" level. It really depends on what you hope to get out of the figure, and hopefully that goal isn't a decent action pose. But in a static, face forward pose, Wonder Woman isn't bad and can actually be quite photogenic, so long as you can ignore the giraffe neck and typically issues with the likeness.
There is one more Gadot based Wonder Woman expected, the Warner Brothers 100th Anniversary edition. A major pain to get, I was fortunate enough to get one on Sideshow. I suspect I already know how things will play out, but it will be interesting to see the Wool hair in hand, as well as figuring out just how much waist articulation the pliable outfit will allow for.
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