Wonder Woman Premium Format Figure EX – Sideshow Collectibles
Designed by Kris Anka, Zane Yarbrough and Frank Pepito.
Sculpted by Steven Schumacher.
Painted by Kat Sapene.
Stands at approximately 25.5” high.
Limited edition size: EX 3500, Regular 6000.
RRP: $399.99 USD
Intro.
Wonder Woman has had a huge rise popularity recently. She’s been one of the few, consistently great comics from the New 52 initiative and Gal Gadot has recently been cast to play her for the first time in a live action movie. Not to mention, she’s one third of the DC Trinity. With all this fan interest, it’s inevitable that Sideshow would add her to the DC line.
Easily one of the most recognisable icons in pop culture, Wonder Woman has had a long history, representation female strength and leading the charge in the rise of feminist comics. With so much history and relevance behind her, Sideshow had a huge task to incorporate such an iconic hero into a single, defining statue.
Sculpt. 8.0.
The scultpwork is quite extravagant on this one. It is, however, well done. The armour looks great and her face looks fierce. I have had friends mention her face is rather masculine, but I haven’t really noticed that.
Her hair is also wonderfully detailed. It looks great flowing out with the wind. However, the downside to the flowing is that the hair is quite fragile and prone to breakage. Be careful when assembling it!
The base is also detailed nicely, looking light a real battlefield. The base design seems a bit odd though – more on that in the “Design” section.
Paint and Mixed Media. 7.0.
Being a fully sculpted, it’s important the paintwork is up to scratch. The work is here is mostly good. Flesh tones are nice and even, and her hair looks great.
The colours of her armour are quite muted. They seem rather dark when I think it would have benefitted from more vibrant tone.
Her eyes look spectacular though. They’re a really nice, piercing blue. (And they came out straight!)
Design. 6.0
Ultimately I think there were some odd choices made with her design. Initially, I really liked the pose and spear. Now it just seems like big statue for the sake of being big.
The base design is also quite extravagant, again, for the sake of being extravagant. I understand they needed to raise her up to make her in line with Batman and Superman, but then she’s in a mid-battle pose that it would seem weird posing the three of them together. It also looks like a Greek-pillar, which makes sense given Wonder Woman’s origins, but it does look odd that there’s all this sand/dirt or whatever on top of a pillar. The more I stare, the more I realise it really is a terribly ugly base.
All in all, I think it could have benefited from a museum-styled pose like Superman.
Production and Build Quality. 5.0
Perhaps one of the more controversial Sideshow pieces of late, Wonder Woman seems to have issues left right and centre. Ranging from chips and broken hair to paint smudges and pieces not fitting flush into each other. (Just check out the Wonder Woman thread in the Sideshow section if you don’t believe me!)
My piece is mostly problem free. Mostly. The axe-wielding arm doesn’t fit completely into her body, so there’s a small black gap between her arm and gauntlet. There’s also paint glob in her underarm and a chip in her arm holding the shield. Most of these aren’t too noticeable, but if you’re a collector who is very picky with what they get, you might want to stay away from this piece.
Another issue with this piece is the pegs. I’ve always felt magnets worked better when fitting pieces together. Wonder Woman is all pegs though – 5 pieces all up at a time. This may not seem like a big deal, but none of the pieces feel very secure in their place.
Ultimately, however, the statue does feel quite cheap. The base is very light, and the various parts of this statue are quite flimsy and feel like they’re going to snap at any moment.
Overall. 6.5.
What was once an incredibly anticipated piece has somehow lost its appeal. The sculptwork is quite impressive – she does have quite a big presence – but there are some design and structural flaws that keep this from being the defining Wonder Woman statue that it should have been.
I can’t speak to how she displays with Superman and Batman since I own neither of them, but she is powerful enough that she will look good on her own.
