Wonder Woman

Ame-Comi series one, forgettable. Series two, showing potential. Series three, now we're cooking. Armored Amazonian Diana Prince, Princess of Themyscira, is prepared for combat! Like with series two's Power Girl, it could be that Ame-Comi have got their own version of DC history - but I doubt it, so for accuracy's sake, let's all remember that Princess Diana is Wonder Woman, and "Diana Prince" is the (somewhat unimaginative) invented name she uses when she's pretending to be just a regular ol' Department of Metahuman Affairs secret agent. This is probably why James Bond just tells everyone his name's James Bond - sure it means everyone knows he's a spy, but at least they get his name right. Each Ame-Comi series so far has had a theme to it - Girls of Gotham, Girls Who Are Superman's Cousin, and now it's time for the Wonder Woman series. Diana herself is an imposing figure, tall even for this line's scale at just over 9", and like the bio text says, she's geared for war. The anime take on her usual costume is to interpret it as the basis for full-on plate armour - skimpy plate armour, yes, but the comic does the same thing - adding a dash of medieval ornateness along the way. Her bustier has the traditional eagle/WW emblem across her chest, and has grown all sorts of little baroque decorations in gold around her torso, bulking out at the bottom of the bustier to fill in for her usual belt. Since it's a rule of anime that everyone has to be showing more skin than they otherwise would, the bustier is a two-part affair, with a gap between the breastplate and the (very low-plunging) back bridged by straps. Instead of her star-spangled panties she's got a starry loincloth, concealing a typically minimal thong underneath. Her boots are much the same, the regular red knee-length ones tarted up with gold decoration, and silver stars at the top; she's got little wings on the back of them, suggesting that they might be some derivation of the Sandals of Hermes, which she wore at one stage. Her plain silver bracelets are there, but on her left arm she's got a tiered kite shield attached to the bracelet - more gold decoration on it, of course - and a shoulderplate held on by a shoulder holster-style arrangement. Possibly to accommodate the shield without placing pieces too close to one another, the left arm is angled outward from the body - which on the publicity photos made it appear freakishly short, compared to her elongated legs - and though her arched back and firmly planted feet give her a sense of balance, the arm still looks a bit awkward. I've been down on Ame-Comi statues for diluting the character evident in their own packaging artwork before, but Diana mostly escapes that shortcoming. The art gives her an imperious lift to her chin, which is absent, but otherwise her face is fairly distinctive, with a defiant, calculating stare, and a slightly arrogant set to her lips; she's nobility all right. The tiara - expanded with cheek plates - helps greatly to identify her, but the face isn't too lacking in that regard on its own merits. Her hair is a nicely warrioresque mane, largely free to whip about in an apparent breeze, but bundled up into a ponytail a la Diablo II Amazons on top. You wouldn't really want to display her without either of her weapons, although they're removable; the lasso comes pre-fitted into a clip on her hip (held on by a strap sculpted around her waist, rather than just attached to the side of the costume as per usual - of course, in this case there isn't a side of the costume), but since it's PVC the clip can be eased open without breaking it. Her sword's pommel detaches, allowing the weapon to be slipped into her grip from the front; the sword bears a gold eagle design around the base of its blade, and it exaggeratedly wide even for a broadsword. Diana also gets the usual semi-standard Ame-Comi base, same graphics as usual, just with an individualised support system - hers is a pole that attaches in the small of her back, leaving her stable without her weight resting awkwardly on her poised feet.

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