Welcome to another Double Feature for DC Friday! And after some spotty weeks without new DC content, it feels good to be doing these again! Last week, I knocked out the first half of the DC Multiverse Ares Wave with a look at Diana and Hippolyta. Today I’m going to finish up the four figures needed to build the C&C figure by opening up both Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor!

And here’s Wonder Woman in the box, and I’ll go ahead and point out the obvious by saying this is Diana wearing her black cloak over her costume. It’s a look that she adopted for some very specific sequences in the film and it’s probably not the iconic look that most fans and collectors are looking for. There is a more traditional version (sans coat), but oddly enough that one is a Toys R Us Exclusive and is not necessary to build Ares, but does come with some optional extras. And yes, I will be looking at that figure, as well the other TRU Exclusive of the wave, Menalippe, next week. For now, let’s get Diana out of her box and check her out.

While I don’t own the Multiverse Batman V Superman Wonder Woman, this one looks like this is a re-sculpt of that previous release. She’s been fitted with a soft plastic sleeveless coat, and her arms have been sculpted with sleeves on them to resemble part of the jacket. It looks good, I like the sculpted fur fringe, although it does cover up a lot of the beautiful work they did on her rather iconic outfit underneath. And damn, it is a beautiful outfit, with plenty of detail, and some snappy red, blue and gold paint. I’ll actually save some of that gushing for when I review the TRU Exclusive version.

Diana also sports the shoulder strap, which is sculpted from a separate piece of soft brown plastic and features a loop for her sword and her lasso. The lasso loop works well and pegs into place securely, although the sword loop pits the sword against the cloak, making it a difficult fit. And while I appreciate the ability to store her equipment, I do wish this rig was removable. Alas, it’s permanently attached to the back of the figure. Some deft work with a razor could probably get it off of there, but I think I’ll keep it.

The head sculpt is also unique to this figure, as it features an integrated and non-removable hood. It looks good and allows her to still have working neck articulation, while still convincing me that it’s supposed to be part of the cloak. The overall portrait is OK, but it’s certainly not a great likeness for Gal Gadot. I can see a little of her in there, but it’s fleeting. Also, they seem to have missed the white paint on my figure’s right eye. I’d argue that such lofty goals as good likenesses are too much to expect from a 6-inch mass market line these days, but then I look at some of Hasbro’s MCU figures in Marvel Legends and realize that solid likenesses can be done at this scale and price point. You just have to work harder at it, Mattel.

As for articulation, this wave has been really consistent with the different points, meaning that it’s all the same points we saw last time with Diana and Hippolyta. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, with swivels in the wrists. The legs have rotating hinges in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in both the knees and ankles. There’s a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the neck. On the downside, the sculpted jacket sleeves restrict the range of motion in those shoulders just a bit. I was sort of able to get the Diana figure to cross her bracers, but that ain’t happening here.

As already mentioned, Wonder Woman comes with her sword, The Godkiller, and her Lasso of Truth. The lasso is more or less the same accessory we got with Diana. The sword is similar a similar sculpt to the one bundled with Diana, but features several notable distinctions, including the pommel crossguard and blade. She can hold either accessory in either hand.

And so this wave continues to give me hope for the DC Multiverse line, where previously I had none. As I’m sure I said before, there’s still room for improvement, but compared to some of the garbage this line has churned out in past waves, figures like this one are definitely steps in the right direction. Mattel obviously invested some effort into the sculpt and paintwork, and if you want a figure of Diana that is very specific to her first solo movie, than this cloaked version definitely fits that bill. Coming up next… Steve Trevor!

As promised, I’m back to dish out an extra helping of content on this beautiful Post-Thanksgiving, DC Friday evening. It’ll help make up for taking yesterday off, and also start to balance the scales against all those damn Marvel Monday Double Features. I so desperately want to give DC Comics action figures some love, they just have to give me something to work with. So… continuing on through the DC Multiverse Ares Wave, let’s check out The Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta!

This is one of those figures that I may not have bothered with if I weren’t hunting all the C&C parts in the wave. Shhh… don’t tell Hasbro and Mattel, but this strategy to get me to buy an entire wave usually works. The package is identical to what we saw earlier today, only with photos of Hippolyta on the front and side panel. It’s also branded for the Wonder Woman film at the top J-hook flap. Everything is collector friendly, and these look pretty good lined up on the shelf with the character photos showing.

But forget about pretty good, because this figure turned out surprisingly great. I mean, just look at this lady! For a figure of a relatively minor character, Mattel invested a crazy amount of work into this one. And nowhere is that more evident than in her beautiful armor. The sculpted layers, the tiny etchings, the eagle motif on her chest, I’m quite beside myself. This is so far removed from what I’m used to seeing in the Multiverse line. Even the skirt has a lovely snakeskin like texturing to it. The gold and copper deco looks luxurious and the whole ensemble gives off this wonderful Art Deco vibe.

Hippolyta also sports sculpted armor pieces up near her shoulders, and bracers with sculpted straps. Over her armor, she dons a sleeveless cloak on  with a sculpted fur lined collar. It looks great, but it’s also easy to take off if you want to give her a little more range of motion.

The facial features on the head sculpt are a bit soft, but certainly not bad. At the right angle I can see a little resemblance to the actress in there, but not a whole lot. The sculpting on display in the crown, however, is superb, as is the detail in her hair.

Hippolyta’s articulation is identical to the Diana figure I looked at this morning, so I’ll just refer you back to that review. The cloak obviously inhibits things a bit, particularly with the legs, but if you take it off, it frees her up a lot, thanks to some strategic slits in the skirt.

Queen Hippolyta comes with two weapons: A spear and a sword. The spear is measures a bit longer than the figure itself and features a smooth brown shaft and some nice sculpted detail on the golden tip. She can hold it in one or both hands.

The sword features a rather ornate gold hilt with swirling patterns making up the guard. The stout blade is painted silver and has two fullers running down the center. The grip is extended, so she can wield it in one or both hands, and her articulation allows either option.

Hippolyta was certainly a pleasant surprise. Diana was a solid figure, but I think this one raises the bar quite a bit. I don’t know if it’s because they’re DCEU based figures or if Mattel has been upping their game with this line in general, but I’m happy to have picked up this figure, not to mention finally dug it out and opened it.  Next Friday, I’ll open up Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor and maybe just throw together the Ares Collect & Connect figure too!

Well, I saw Justice League last week, and to my surprise I actually loved it. Yes, I appear to be in the minority, and I’ll grant you that my emotions were probably grading it on a curve, but I don’t care. This was the first time I came out of a DCEU film happy and it felt great. So great, that I bought up all the Multiverse movie figures. Then I realized I needed to get caught up reviewing some of the ones that I had kicking around and unopened, so I made myself a deal. I’d finally go through the figures from the Wonder Woman movie, before I allowed myself to open up any from Justice League. I can be a real strict asshole sometimes, but fair enough. And since it’s been a little while since I’ve had a proper DC Friday, let’s double up and check out a couple of them today, starting with Diana of Themyscira!

Here’s the DC Multiverse packaging and it’s pretty much the same as we saw when I last attempted to review a wave of these. Remember that? I got through a little more then half of the Doomsday Wave before I gave up in disgust because the figures were so awful. Oh, I’m going to finish that wave some day… I promise! As for Wonder Woman… I came away from seeing it the first time liking it, but not loving it. Or to be more precise, I loved the first half and really didn’t like the second half. Nonetheless, I picked up all the DC Multiverse figures back then and it’s going to feel good to finally open them with a renewed confidence in the direction of the DCEU. The package features some lovely photos of Gal Gadot in costume on the front and side panel, and the back shows the rest of the figures in the wave. Surprisingly there are only four figures needed to collect in order to build Ares, although there are two additional figures not pictured, which I think were exclusives. I’ll check them out in a couple of weeks, after I’ve finished with these.

So, this figure depicts Diana donning her native garb, and overall I think it’s a pretty good effort. The dress has a subtle texture and features a metallic copper color up top and a tan skirt, which gradually gets darker toward the bottom. There’s also some darker copper paint on the straps to give the outfit a little added pop. The bracers feature panel lines and sculpted straps holding them in place. They’re neatly painted silver with gold borders on the edges, and she has sculpted brown wraps around her hands. The knee-high sandals are also sculpted and painted, although my figure has a little splotch of brown paint on her right toe.

The skirt is cast in a separate piece of soft plastic and attached at the waist. It’s rather thick, and it isn’t all that flattering from some angles, like there’s a little too much gear in her saddlebags, if ya know what I mean. Again, not bad, but maybe could have been executed a little better and with thinner plastic. There’s a part in the front of the skirt by her right knee, which helps a little with articulation, but I went ahead and razored it all the way to the top to make it a little less restrictive.

The head sculpt isn’t great, especially when you get in close with a camera, but in hand it doesn’t look terrible either. Alas, it also doesn’t look much like Gal Gadot. I do, however, really like the detail in her hair and the way the ponytail is executed. On the downside, they could have done a better job matching the flesh tone between her torso, which is a shade darker, and her head and arms, which are a shade lighter.

The articulation here is actually much better than what I’ve seen in my past run ins with the DC Multiverse. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. Oh look, Hasbro! 6-inch female figures can have bicep swivels! Her legs have rotating hinges in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in both the knees and ankles. There’s a swivel in the waist, no articulation in the torso, and a ball joint in the neck. Again, the biggest issue here is that thick skirt, which really hinders the hip articulation, unless you’re willing to do a little modification.

Diana comes with two accessories, the first of which is her sword. I thought it was supposed to be The Godkiller, but the pommel design doesn’t match what we saw on screen, so I think it’s just a regular sword. The sword is a cool little sculpt, with a gold hilt and a silver painted blade. There are sculpted symbols running down the center of each side of the blade, presumably meant to be Greek lettering. Mine came out of the package rather warped, but I was able to get it to straighten out fairly well. Sadly, there’s no loop on her hip or back to store the sword, but then I’m not sure if I remember her wearing it while she was on the island.

The other accessory is her Lasso of Truth. It’s sculpted in a coil and cast in very soft gold plastic. Like the sword, there’s nowhere on the figure to attach this, so she just has to hold both.

Overall, I find myself liking this figure quite a bit, even though there’s certainly room for improvement. Granted, much like the Justice League movie, I set my expectations pretty low here, based on my past experiences with DC Multiverse, so I’m probably being a lot more forgiving than I should be. The head sculpt and paint are a long way from what Hasbro is doing with their MCU figures in Marvel Legends, although I’d say the rest of the figure holds its own pretty well. My original plan was to look at Queen Hippolyta now too, but I went a little long discussing Diana, so I’ll come back later tonight to check her out.