Drawing from a story arc where Diana retired and her sis, Donna took over the golden lasso as Wonder Woman we get a really cool new take on the Wonder Woman outfit. Donna is wearing a full set of Amazon armor, which is absolutely striking and still manages to show off some skin. Unlike her sis’ more colorful outfit, Donna’s is gold, brown and silver, with some antiqued coppery pieces thrown in. Her gold plated boots reach up to just below her knees, where she has a pair of sculpted knee plates. Her thighs are bare but she has a sort of skirt made up of soft plastic faux-leather strips similar to what is often depicted on gladiator armor. She has a one-piece very similar in sculpt to her sister’s, but it is most definitely not a reuse of parts as besides the gold and silver paint apps, its got subtle unique differences. She has two silver bracers, two black bands around her bicepts, elbow guards to match her knee guards, and a pair of ornately sculpted pauldrons on her shoulders. She has a molded, soft plastic cape down her back, red on the outside and with a white lining. Also noteworthy, the knee and elbow guards are separate pieces that clip into the hinges of her joints and thus are designed to be removable. She also has a hook to hold her lasso. Suffice it to say, the sculpting on the armor is amazing and the mix of metallic gold and silver against the antiqued pieces really make for a great looking figure.

The head sculpt here is a knock out. Its decidedly different then her sister’s, but still drop dead gorgeous. The immaculate paint apps on her eyebrows, eyes and lips are stunning and her molded black hair is a little shorter than her sisters, allowing for better neck articulation.

And speaking of articulation, Donna has the exact same 11 points as her sister. That’s a rotating neck, ball joints in the shoulders with only limited lateral movement, hinged elbows and knees, legs that move up and down at the pelvis, and swivel cut wrists. Donna benefits from being sculpted with absolutely no preposing, so her points of articulation are far more useful then the two Diana figures, and her cape is small and flexible enough so as not to get in the way.

Donna comes with three accessories: A sword, a gilded cord lasso and the same round stand that came with the two Dianas. Her sword is straight edge broadsword with a sculpted eagle crossguard and a big spherical pommel. It can be held in her right hand hand and her left hand is sculpted into a fist. The lasso is the same that came with Wonder Woman. Donna can also hold her coiled lasso in her useful hand, but there’s nowhere to hang her sword on her person.

Next up is the evil sorceress Circe. This figure is a great contrast to the bright and shiny colors of the previous three figures. She’s dark and nasty looking, but no less beautiful. Circe is wearing a nearly all black outfit that includes boots and leggings, which appear to be one piece, and a bustier with antiqued sculpted breast plates. She’s also got arm-length black gloves and a long flowing purple cape that is molded as if blowing off to her left side. While no doubt darker, Circe’s outfit has some excellent sculpting and even makes use of both matte and shiny black finishes to make her outfit a bit more dynamic. The only thing I don’t like is the blotchy mess on her front. I think its supposed to be an ornamental belt buckle, but it honest to god looks like either someone threw up on her, or she dumped her omelette into her lap while eating breakfast this morning.

Her face sculpt is pretty, but her expression and pupiless eyes clearly show her to be evil. So, I guess that makes her pretty evil… zing! Once again the paint apps to her face are applied with laser like effectiveness. Her long red hair is sculpted blowing to the side in line with her cape, which some people will no doubt take issue of.

Circe has the same articulation as Donna, but in this case, a good deal of it is pretty useless. Her cape interferes with some of her leg articulation, and the fact that is sculped blowing off to the side, it really limits what you can do with her in terms of convincing stances. Her arm articulation, however, is still appreciated and interestingly enough, she does have more lateral movement at the shoulders than all the other figures. Its just the sculpted hair and cape that make this figure seem more like a statue than the other ladies.

Circe comes with the same stand as the other three figures in the series, which really must piss her off, what with having to stand on something that advertises her mortal enemy. She also comes with a little sickle-type knife that fits snugly into her left hand.

And that wraps up the DC Direct Wonder Woman line. At some corners of the net, these figures still go for a pretty penny, but hunt enough, and you can also find them at amazing deals. If you are buying them ala carte, Wonder Woman tends to command the most at around $15-20. The other three can easily be had for under ten. Try to get them in a complete set like I did, and you’ll probably be averaging $10-13 per figure when you factor in shipping. Whichever way you decide to go, you really can’t go wrong with these lovely ladies in plastic.

While I’ve seen some questionable paintwork and sculpts on DC Direct’s figures, that’s certainly not the case here. Nope, these ladies represent some exceptional work. Wonder Woman looks outstanding in her traditional outfit of red and white boots, blue and white starred undies and red and gold , along with her gold bracers and tiara. It’s a wonderful representation of the iconic costume. The colors used for her outfit are really rich and vibrant and her skin tones (and there’s a lot of it to be seen) are clean and even. I particularly like the fact that high gloss was used for the red in her boots, while matte was used for her top. And there isn’t an ounce of slop to be seen on this figure.

The head sculpt is fantastic, featuring a beautiful face and razor sharp paint apps to her eyes and lips. Her black hair is molded so that it flows around her shoulders, blowing just a bit out at the back and with a nice curl looped right in front of her right shoulder. Her hands are sculpted so that one can hold her golden lasso, while the other is just partially open.

Unfortunately, DC Direct isn’t known for their super articulation and that’s reflected in Wonder Woman. With a total of 11 points of articulation, what she has sounds great on paper but in practice doesn’t offer a heck of a lot of posing options. Her neck is jointed, but because of her sculpted hair, you won’t get much movement out of it. She has ball jointed shoulders, but they don’t offer much lateral movement. She has hinged elbows and knees, swivel cuts in her wrists and her legs move up and down at the pelvis. The problem is that she is a bit preposed at her hips, which interferes with the usefulness of her leg articulation. But, I suppose what dampens the articulation the most is the lack of swivel cuts in her biceps and thighs and hinged ankles. Combine that kind of articulation with this great looking figure and DC would have had a grand slam.

Wonder Woman comes with two accessories: Her golden lasso and a stand. The lasso is gilded cord, which was a nice surprise, as I was expecting just a molded coiled plastic lasso instead. The round stand is really big and features “Wonder Woman” printed on it and a single peg for the figure’s right foot.

Agent Diana Troy’s sculpt and paint are every bit as good as her Wonder Woman incarnation, although not as flashy. This is because her outfit is basically just a skin tight silver and blue cat suit. The silver is metalic and somewhat metallic, while the powder blue parts are matte. Its a striking outfit, just not as dynamic as Wonder Woman’s traditional garb, but then again what is? It’s just tough to compete with blue and white starred undies. The outfit does have some detailing, like the seams, as well as a shoulder harness and a utility belt cast in soft plastic that is partially attached and partially hangs loose on her left hip.

Diana’s head sculpt is quite attractive, but a lot more conservative than her Wonder Woman persona. Her hair is pulled back into a tight bun and she’s wearing a pair of tinted glasses that are permanently attached, but still nicely molded as a separate piece. Its hard to make out the details on her eyes behind the lenses, but the paint apps on her lips are very well done, as is the silver on her earrings.

Agent Troy’s articulation is identical to Wonder Woman’s although she’s a bit less preposed and not seductively tossing her hip quite so much. I think this makes this figure’s articulation slightly more useful, but the missing swivel cuts that I mentioned before are still conspicuously absent. This figure’s shorter hair does allow for unsrestricted neck movement and you can still get some good running and action poses, though, especially with the pegged stand to assist.

Agent Troy’s accessories include two power rods and a stand, which is identical to Wonder Woman’s. The rods aren’t terribly exciting as accessories go, but they are appropriate. Unfortunately, she can only hold them in one hand, as her other hand is sculpted into a permanent fist.

As already mentioned, I got these figures as part of the entire wave assortment and paid about $11.50 a figure if you include shipping. It would have been nice if they were more in scale with the DC Universe Classics, as I have yet to track down a DCUC Wonder Woman, but they are two separate and distinct lines. If I doted too much on the articulation, its because everything else about these figures is just so damn fantastic, I wanted them to be perfect and just a few tweaks could have gotten them there. Still, you just don’t often come across sculpts and paint this excellent on figures at this price range and if you are even remotely into Wonder Woman or DC, or just want a couple of sexy ladies to stand amongst your collection, I can’t recommend these two enough. Next time… Donna Troy and Circe.