In 2020, the baton for collector focused DC action figures in the 6-7 inch scale moved from Mattel and over to the team at McFarlane. The DC Multiverse line from McFarlane would bring us DC figures from across the DC Multiverse including Comics, TV and of course, Movies! The first (and only) movie figures of the first year were from Wonder Woman 1984 with two figures of the Diana from the movie. Sadly the movie itself was heavily delayed and pushed back due to Covid 19.
The McFarlane DC Multiverse packaging uses a squared window box with a top hanging tab that enables the figures to be merchandised at stores on both shelf and peg. Like Marvel Legends the immediate issue for boxed collectors is that top flap which is very prone to be bent and damaged either on shelf or in transit.
The base colour of the packaging is a gloss black with silver trim and with a general DC Multiverse logo just under the figure window. Even when the figure is from a specific movie that holds its own logo, McFarlane are badging everything under the same banner.
The character name on this is listed simply as Wonder Woman, the exact same as the other figure in the more traditional WW outfit.
The character name is repeated on each side spine, with a larger version on the left hand (as we look at the box) and here we have the sub title of "Golden Armor" that seemed to be missing from the front. Neither side spine carries any art as has been quite common on other figure lines of this scale.
The back of the box uses an image from the movie for Diana, in her Golden Armour, and under this is a checklist of other releases - shown as images. There is no background text or movie synopsis details on the packaging.
The figure is set against a very nice blue hue backdrop that includes comic panels and images from across the DC Multiverse. This would make a very nice backdrop to a loose figure if you didn't have to destroy it to get at the wings, stand and art card which are glued to the packaging.
3.0
McFarlane always deliver a great sculpt and the likeness on this to Gal Gadot is pretty impressive in that layered golden helmet. McFarlane don't seem to be on with face print tech as yet, which makes the paint decor more impressive in terms of the detail in the eyes and the shading around the face.
The body is a little out of proportion with very long legs that are way out of scale with the torso. The armour of the body is cast entirely in gold with the only paint apps the silver bracers on her forearms. The arms and legs carry a lot of sculptural and textural detail with a chainmail base and then armoured panels overlaid on top. The shoulder, chest and waist armour is actually softer plastic "overcoats" over a base body and this does lead to some warping of these parts when posing. My lower torso armour was pushed out of shape straight out of the box and needed some heat and time to straighten and still sits marginally offset to the centre of the body.
The hands look a little ugly vs the rest of the figure, out of place in terms of their leather wrapped paint decor but also thanks to the joint design which makes the wrist look rounded and out of line with the forearm.
4.0
So remember that lovely backing card? Well while the wings can be popped out of the plastic tray, the art card and stand section are behind the plastic and the plastic is glued to the card. There is therefore no realistic way of saving the card and retrieving these parts.
The art card is being heavily noted as a selling point for the DC Multiverse figues. It is the size of a standard collectors card and features the same image of Wonder Woman as used on the back of the box. On the other side is a "Data File" which gives you the source material for the figure, real name, height (?) and a short piece of background text. For me this should have all really been on the box.
The stand arrives in two parts, a circular base complete with foot peg and a slot for the second upright arm and waist clip. Diana is extremely difficult to get stood on her own, a common issue with McFarlane figures, and the stand is crucial. The foot peg slots into the hole on either foot and once engaged work brilliantly. The stand itself is a clear plastic and has a circular DC logo on the front segment in an opaque white.
While not accessories as such, the wings do arrive detached and need to be plugged into two holes on the rear of the figure. The plug on the wings is not shaped particularly well and I struggled for some time to try and engage the wings. In the end each wing had to be heated before they plugged into place. I suspect they will now be all but impossible to remove.
With Diana in her winged Golden Armour it makes sense that you would also want the option of flying poses, so McFarlane have catered for this with the upright arm of the stand. This slides neatly into the slot on the base of the circular stand and clicks into place.
There is no articulation on the arm to adjust height or pitch, so the positioning of the stand is non negotiable. There is a substantial waist clip that is hinged and this goes round the waist of the figure - negotiating under the bottom of the wings as we go.
Once clipped in the waist clip can pivot on the stand to allow a bit of flex in posing. It holds the substantial weight of Wonder Woman in an upright pose without issue.
The issues do come if you want to reverse any of these steps. Once in place the ill fitting wings wont come back out easily as discussed, and the clip on upright is very difficult to budge out of the base stand if you wish to revert the figure to a standing pose using the peg foot.
I did manage to remove it after a few tries and increasing levels of force, and when it did move the stand also made a very worrying cracking noise and left some stress marks on the clear plastic around this slot in section. More ease of execution is needed here from McFarlane or provide two stands in the pack to cover both bases.
3.0
Wonder Woman has a total articulation count of 20 points and on paper should be a breeze to pose and display coupled with that display stand.
Head : ball joint neck
Body : ball joint torso, hinged wing connection
Arms : ball joint shoulder, bicep swivel, double jointed elbows, wrist peg & rotation
Legs : ball joint hips, double jointed knees, ankle pivot swivel, toe joint
The upper body works fine, the head moving around well enough until the hair meets armour. The torso poses a bit of an issue in terms of how it warps the softer armour around it more than anything but the joint itself work fine. The arms have full motion, with the shoulder armour above being soft enough to move as the arms are raised.
The only issue with the arms is the odd wrist joint which is a sort of round socket on a peg on one side that connects to a similar socket on the arm. The movement side is good as the wrist both rotates and pivots as it is rotated so its not restricted to bending to the side or up and down only. The issue comes as you bend it as the hands tend to pop off to easily and the joint has to be re-engaged.
It is as you pose Diana that you realise the hands are an odd choice as they are open gripping hands on a figure that has nothing to hold and carry. In flight, you'd expect the hands to be clenched. This looks to be a simple case of re-use to cut costs as the hands look to be the same as the ones on the standard Wonder Woman released at the same time. On this figure they will hold her lasso of truth, on this figure they are a little redundant.
On the reverse of the figure the wings are jointed where they plug into the body allowing rotation and some pivot backwards to allow for some posing variations in the wings and to fold them back against each other for a slimmer profile on display.
The long legs work OK with a good level of movement at the hips and a double joint knee combination. What is missing is a thigh swivel in between so the legs cant orientate themselves until a joint at the ankle which allows both rotation and pivot. This leaves the legs quite fixed when the hips are used and also weaknes the ankles more than I'd like them to be considering the figures weight with two movement types in one joint without any obvious ratchetting.
Toe articulation finishes off the figure, a joint that will only really be useful in a crouching or kneeling pose - which the figure can do, but struggles to remain stable due to the weight of the upper body and the inability to rotate the legs further up at the thigh.
3.5
I have bought and reviewed quite a few of the new McFarlane figures now from Stranger Things to Star Trek, Harry Potter to Game of Thrones. This DC Multiverse figure fits a very similar theme to all of these with a great looking figure, let down in places with the execution of parts and accessories. Wonder Woman looks great, with the exception of the exaggerated long legs, with good sculpting, decor and facial likeness.
The DC figures are definitely a step on in articulation however, and the quantity of the joints is not in question. The quality is where the wrists keep popping off or the wings wont engage into the socket and this needs some tweaking and a few joints moving round to take the figure up a notch. If you could also swap the toe joints for thigh swivels on this figure and tighten the ankles and we wouldn't be far off top marks
I am not a huge fan of the packaging for these figures. With so much graphical content available for DC figures the box could do with some livening up with these types of images as a side art panel or similar. And where we are given some nice artwork as a figure backdrop, don't make us destroy it to get out parts. The idea behind window boxes over blisters is to provide options for collectors to reseal their figures if they want - having to rip open parts inside goes very much against that.
Wonder Woman is my first DC Multiverse figure and has certainly impressed me in areas, and met my lowered expectations in others. Like Marvel I am likely to stick to movie figues in this line and it will be interesting to see what Todd and the team put out next from this rich part of the DC Multiverse.
I score Wonder Woman in her Golden Armour from Wonder Woman 1984 a total of 3.5
About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
action figures, reviews, review, articulation, McFarlane, DC, Multiverse, Wonder Woman, 1984
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