Monday, November 17, 2014

Severe Balance Issues Are All That Brings Down The Wonder Woman Amazons And Adversaries Artemis Figure!


The Good: Decently detailed sculpt, Great accessories, Good coloring
The Bad: Cannot stand!
The Basics: I finally get my hands on the Amazons And Adversaries Artemis figure and find it to be unfortunately wanting in a key aspect.


This year I have been very fortunate to manage to flesh out several of my collections. Foremost of those has been my DC Direct action figure collection. In addition to several of the lingering Blackest Night figures that I have managed to pick up, I finally found an affordable collection of the Wonder Woman Amazons And Adversaries action figures. The first one I have cracked open is the Artemis figure, which I was pretty psyched about as a fan of Wonder Woman.

For those unfamiliar with Artemis, she is an Amazon from Themyscira who was frequently jealous of Diana. Motivated frequently by anger and jealousy, Artemis fought Diana in The Contest (reviewed here!) to take the role of Wonder Woman from her. A skilled archer, like her namesake, Artemis has long hair and an athletic build and is ready to kick ass.

Artemis is lightly armored and looks like she could run, jump and shoot her bow and looks like Artemis from the Wonder Woman comic book. DC Direct has only released the one iteration of Artemis so far.

Basics

Artemis figure is very basically-detailed, which makes sense given how she is not detail-rich in the comic books from the late 1980s. This version of Artemis is wearing a bodysuit and shin armor. She has a severe face and big hair and in those elements, DC Direct got the detailing right. The Amazonian challenger stands 7" tall as an action figure. Her costume is simply black and green with silver shin armor, which make her look perfectly like the character rendered in the pages of the DC Comic books. Artemis is an action figure exclusively from DC Direct (Mattel did Artemis as Wonder Woman in their toy line).

This toy is a completely accurate sculpt, especially for a character that has only had two-dimensional references, Artemis looks good in all three dimensions. DC Direct did not make the character insanely busty, which is reassuring and she comes with both her hands open enough to hold each of her accessories. The armor looks functional and Artemis has her quiver on her left thigh.

What is most impressive, arguably, about the Artemis figure is the sculpting work on her face and hair and the coloring of them. Artemis has the sharp cheekbones and pursed lips of the character and eyes that are angry-looking. Rightfully, Artemis’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. What is cool is how well-detailed the red hair on Artemis is. The hair is orange with black highlights and it accents both her main ponytail and the descending braid that goes over her left shoulder.

Accessories

Artemis, powerful Themysciran who is ready to take Diana’s place, comes with only two accessories. She has her bow and her Themysciran sword. The bow is two shades of green, 6 9/16” tall, and has a fishwire string on it that makes it look like an actual bow. The bow may be held in either of Artemis’s hands.

Artemis also comes with the cool sword that was featured with the character in the books. The 4 1/4” long plastic sword is silver-gray with a spiky green hilt. The sword fits perfectly in Artemis’s left hand and it matches perfectly the rest of the figure.

Playability

The DC Direct figures were designed more for display than play. Unfortunately, Artemis is poor on both fronts. She has fair articulation and absolutely terrible balance! Flatfooted, this is absolutely unable to stand. Artemis comes with only eight points of articulation, most of which are simple swivel joints. Artemis has joints at the waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists and head. The elbows are both hinge joints; all the rest are simple swivel joints, which does limit the figure’s articulation and poseability. No figure I have yet encountered from DC Direct would have benefitted more from a stand than this one, but alas, it does not come with one.

Collectibility

Artemis is part of the DC Direct “Wonder Woman” Amazons And Adversaries line which was only distributed through comic book shops and specialty toy stores. The Artemis figure was a wonderfully sculpted figure and given how few Artemis figures there are, it seems like it is generally maintaining its value; at least it is not losing value. Given the hope Wonder Woman fans might have for an Artemis figure that actually remains standing, hopefully someday this figure will be replaced by DC Direct with a more articulate and better balanced version. When that happens, I would suspect that this figure will become virtually worthless.

Overview

Artemis is a cool character, indispensable in the Wonder Woman mythos and she deserves a better figure than one that falls over constantly.

For other Wonder Woman toy reviews, please check out my takes on:
Wonder Woman Series 1 Donna Troy As Wonder Woman
1999 Wonder Woman DC Direct figure
The New 52 Wonder Woman

6/10

For other comic book toy reviews, please check out my Comic Book Action Figure Review Index Page!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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