The Good: Good sculpt, Decent accessory, Generally good coloring
The Bad: Could use just a little more articulation, Poor balance, Oddly poor collectible value, Not as robust coloring as other Blackest Night figures, Lantern handle detaches very easily.
The Basics: On her stand, the Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure is a good display piece, even if it isn’t the most poseable or interesting action figure ever!
I’m on my second Star Sapphire Wonder Woman action figure. There’s nothing salacious about that; the first one I purchased on an incredible sale turned out to be too good to be true, as far as deals go, because the right elbow joint was actually fused. This means that when I went to try to bend it, the thin arm tore, as opposed to bent. This might not have been traumatic, but it was disturbing. Armed as I am now with my new Star Sapphire figure, I am getting decent mileage out of it before I have to write that it is a pretty underwhelming figure. As good as it initially looks, it is not one of DC Direct’s best executions and as a result, I keep finding myself wishing it was better in almost every way. In fact, while the sculpt is excellent, the rest of the figure is more on the average side. I expect more than average from DC Direct action figures.
For those unfamiliar with her, the Star Sapphire Wonder Woman is a very impermanent incarnation of Princess Diana as Wonder Woman. Near the very end of Blackest Night (reviewed here!), Wonder Woman is transformed into a hideous Black Lantern. When that happens, she is rescued by Athena, who restores her humanity by letting her love be expressed through a nightmarish vision. Resurrected once again, the Black Lantern ring is cast out by the Star Sapphire and Diana is transformed and reborn as a Star Sapphire, who tries desperately to rescue the rage-filled Mera in Black Lantern Corps Volume 2 (reviewed here!).
It is Wonder Woman in her Star Sapphire costume that is the subject of the DC Direct action figure of the character.
Basics
The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure is a wonderful sculpt and is pretty close to perfect on the sculpt front! She looks good! The loving version of the Amazing Amazon stands 6 3/4" tall to the top of the figure's head. The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure is available from DC Direct, though there is a lesser DC Universe version of the figure now on the market as well. That one features more joints which look incredibly sloppy.
On the sculpt front, this version of Wonder Woman looks essentially like other Wonder Woman sculpts on the head, but completely new on the body. This version of Diana has piercing blue eyes, flowing black hair and the tiara and bracelets one expects from Wonder Woman. But the tiara actually comes down her nose ridge and partially around her eyes to give her a more armored appearance. This is ironic because the rest of the figure’s costume resembles a purple ribbon wrapped around the woman strategically than any sort of combat armor! This outfit has Diana’s midriff showing, her boots rising up to her thighs by becoming little more than wrapped ribbons and the same happening with her gloves on her arms. The outfit is punctuated at the neck by the awful high collar that is characteristic of the Star Sapphires. The facial sculpt looks like some of the best artwork of Diana and this figure looks distinctly like Wonder Woman. Her right hip has a hook upon which rests her lasso. In this incarnation of the figure, the lasso is essentially gold cord.
Star Sapphire Wonder Woman's costume is colored silver-gray for her gauntlets, gold for the accents on her . . . I’m not even sure what to call it, sides of the bottom of the one-piece swimsuit-style costume, and lavender the rest of the figure. This leaves a lot of the character’s skin exposed. While she does not appear to have much in the way of depth and shading for her skin tones, the Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure looks realistic enough, especially considering she comes from comic book source material. The head, face and hair all look great.
But my problem with the figure’s coloring actually goes back to the lavender color. All of the other Blackest Night figures I have encountered or acquired – save the Black Lanterns themselves – have a pearlescent quality to them. They look shiny and there is a richness to them that is almost energetic. The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure is cast with a flat lavender color. She is like the only non-magical figure in an assortment of vibrantly rainbow toys!
Accessories
The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman, sudden diplomat of love in an embattled universe, comes with only two accessories. She has her stand and her Lavender Power Battery. The stand is a sapphire and white disk with the Star Sapphire logo. It is 3 3/4" in diameter and 1/4” tall and it has a single peg which plugs into the hole in Star Sapphire Wonder Woman's right foot. She is completely stable, but only on her base.
Star Sapphire Wonder Woman also comes with a Star Sapphire power battery, which is molded to be in the same scale as the figure. Her four-pointed battery is 1 5/8” tall and 1 1/8” wide and 1 1/8" deep. It looks like a classic lantern with cylindrical ends and is molded bright purple. It matches the figure very well and is, unfortunately, not metallic either. Like the early figures in the Blackest Night toy line, the Star Sapphire Wonder Woman’s lantern handle falls off it easily. Unfortunately, neither hand is molded to actually hold the lantern battery!
Playability
The DC Direct figures were designed more for display than play and this is especially true for this figure. The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman has terrible balance, even when she is flatfooted. Because she lacks a joints at the ankle, the Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure is annoyingly limited in her posing and cannot take on dynamic stances. Off the stand, the Star Sapphire Wonder Woman tips exceptionally easily. On her stand, she is stable, but not very poseable.
The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure comes with only nine points of articulation, which is pretty pathetic for a DC Direct figure. Star Sapphire Wonder Woman has joints at the knees, groin socket, shoulders, elbows, 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 and socket joint, which would allow her to look in virtually any direction, except for the high, ugly collar! Oddly, the groin socket allows very little in the way of range of motion, with absolutely no ability to have the leg raised in front of Wonder Woman, which means she may not be posed as if she were kicking.
The only other real strike against Star Sapphire Wonder Woman on the playability front is that both of her hands are molded as fists. This makes it difficult for Wonder Woman to hold her Star Sapphire power battery and even when one wedges the accessory between the wrist and the loop, it looks pretty ridiculous there.
Collectibility
The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman is part of the DC Direct Blackest Night Series 6 line which was fairly common, though it was usually only distributed through comic book shops and specialty stores like FYE. Star Sapphire Wonder Woman is one of the many heroes in the Blackest Night line, but she seems to be one of the ones most fans were unenthusiastic about. The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure is unique to this series and has not appreciated at all in value. In fact, the fact that I could find one for only $12 pretty well indicates how Princess Diana in this incarnation has fallen from popular favor!
Overview
The Star Sapphire Wonder Woman is a mediocre-at-best action figure that has a wonderful face, but little else going for it.
For other Blackest Night figures, please check out my reviews of:
Wave 7 Arkillo
Wave 6 Blue Lantern The Flash
Wave 5 Nekron
Wave 1 Saint Walker
4/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |
No comments:
Post a Comment