The Good: Great sculpt, Good balance, Great accessories, Decent balance
The Bad: Very limited niche for the figure/fluctuating collector’s value
The Basics: One of the best Wonder Woman figures that DC Direct produced, the Donna Troy As Wonder Woman action figure capitalizes on a cool character in the Wonder Woman storyline!
My wife has gotten me so many awesome toys this year! One of the many that she picked up for me and gave me for our last major anniversary was the Donna Troy As Wonder Woman. As a fan of Wonder Woman (the character and the book), I have a pretty decent collection of Wonder Woman toys. Every now and then, I find a figure of Donna Troy I like, like the Infinite Crisis Donna Troy figure (reviewed here!). The other major Donna Troy figure I really wanted was the Donna Troy As Wonder Woman figure for good reason; the action figure is distinctive and captures the character perfectly from her brief tenure as Wonder Woman.
For those unfamiliar with Donna Troy As Wonder Woman, this is not a surprise at all. During the brief time that Princess Diana was on hiatus from being a super hero, as part of a self-imposed exile, in Who Is Wonder Woman? (reviewed here!), Donna Troy took over in the role of Wonder Woman. Armored and ready for battle, Donna Troy looks tough in this figure incarnation.
Basics
Donna Troy As Wonder Woman figure is exceptionally well-detailed, though she comes from a comic book. This version of Wonder Woman has armor with exceptional detailing on the shoulders, elbows, and knees and that is more sophisticated than many of the superhero costumes; DC Direct got the detailing expertly. The stand-in superheroine stands 6 3/4" tall as an action figure. Her costume is appropriately bronze and brown with silver highlights on the wrists and waist, which make her look perfectly like the character rendered in the pages of the DC Comic books where she had this persona. Donna Troy As Wonder Woman is an action figure exclusively from DC Direct.
This toy is a fairly impressive sculpt; for a character that has only had two-dimensional references, Donna Troy As Wonder Woman looks good in all three dimensions. DC Direct did not make the character insanely busty, which is reassuring and she comes with her left hand closed in a fist and with a beltloop that is molded on, where the lasso she has is held. The armor features what looks like a leather strip skirt and that is made of flexible, rubbery plastic that does not inhibit leg movement for the figure at all. Donna Troy As Wonder Woman does not have fingernails molded on or colored red (as the comic book character possessed).
What is most impressive, arguably, about the Donna Troy As Wonder Woman figure is the sculpting work on her face. Donna Troy As Wonder Woman has the sharp cheekbones and full lips of the character and with her hair back, she looks just like she leapt out of the pages of the comic book onto one's shelf! Under her hair on her forehead is Wonder Woman’s iconic tiara. Rightfully, Donna Troy’s face has minimal coloring details to it, though her lips are realistically dark red. Because the comic books this character comes from are not photorealistic, there is not a realistic expectation that the figure would have more realism in its coloring.
Accessories
Donna Troy As Wonder Woman, efficient Themysciran who is picking up Diana’s slack, comes with only two accessories. She has her stand and her Themysciran sword. The stand is a red disk with the “Wonder Woman” logo and name on it. It is 3 3/4" in diameter and 1/8” tall and it has a single peg which plugs into the hole in Donna Troy As Wonder Woman's right foot. She is very stable on her base.
Donna Troy As Wonder Woman also comes with the cool sword that was featured with the character in the books. The 3 5/8” long plastic sword is silver-gray with a bronze and black hilt. The sword fits perfectly in Donna Troy’s right hand and it matches perfectly the rest of the figure.
Playability
The DC Direct figures were designed more for display than play. Still, Donna Troy As Wonder Woman is quite good for play terms. She has incredibly good articulation as well as decent balance! Flatfooted, this is a very balanced toy, though her height does make it easy to tip her over when she is off her stand. As well, Donna Troy As Wonder Woman comes with eleven points of articulation, only four of which are simple swivel joints. Donna Troy As Wonder Woman has joints at the knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, wrists and head. The shoulders are proper ball and socket joints, while the elbows and knees are both hinge joints. The head is on a ball joint, which allows the heroine to nod up and down as well as look left to right, at least in a limited fashion! If her hair was as flexible as the skirt and cape, the head would have even more articulation!
For whatever improbable poses one might find where she will not remain standing, there is the stand and while it is stable, the fact that only one foot may be plugged into it makes the balance a little less stable for outlandish poses.
Collectibility
Donna Troy As Wonder Woman is part of the DC Direct “Wonder Woman” Series 1 line which was exceptionally rare and usually only distributed through comic book shops. The Donna Troy figure was a wonderfully sculpted figure and given how few Donna Troy figures there are, it seems like it will retain some value. Unfortunately, Donna Troy was only Wonder Woman for a very short time. I’ve watched this figure plummet in value over the past two years from a peak of $50 down to $25 (occasionally on sale for less!). Hopefully, the value has bottomed out and it will rebound for investors. Given how low-priority Wonder Woman is for toy lines, I suspect that the value will grow again soon.
Overview
Donna Troy As Wonder Woman is damn near perfect. Just shy of being perfectly detailed and perfectly balanced, the figure is esoteric but pretty wonderful!
For other Wonder Woman toy reviews, please check out my takes on:
1999 Wonder Woman DC Direct figure
Series 1 Diana Prince
Series 1 Circe
The New 52 Wonder Woman
9/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my Toy Review Index Page!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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