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With several of the Ame-Comi figures there are hints that there might be a semi-unique storyline behind them - not necessarily one that's been worked out, but one that could be, as a kind of DC alternate universe; hopefully it wouldn't suck as hard as everything else they've done with their multiverse lately. But while in many cases it'd be interesting to see the familiar characters reimagined with not just the visual style but also the storytelling tropes of anime and manga, Donna Troy is the only one who'd be really desperate for it to happen. That's how badly the regular universe treats her.
The magical double of her Amazonian sister Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) sparkles with power in all her cosmic glory!
Donna's been many things in her time and travels - most of them bad ideas, the majority retconned out or just plain ignored subsequently (cough*Challengers*cough) - but the one that nowadays tends to stick is "wearer of starry costumes", sometimes part of some status as multiversal guardian, other times just because that's what she liked out of the wardrobe this morning. Ame-Comi grabs the starry togs idea and runs with it, portraying Donna as a kind of sci-fantasy demigoddess with tech, the sort you generally find in cosmic adventure cartoons re-enacting ancient mythology with quantum superpowers and exploding planets. Actually, since she's already got the name for it, she could be central to a starfaring version of the Iliad (like a prequel to the French classic Ulysses 31)... although if she's representing the city itself, that brings to mind some unfortunate scenarios involving a few dozen Greeks and a large horse. No matter - DC has done worse to her.
I have to say, it's a good look (the costume, not the horse thing) - the starfield bodysuit is central to the design, avoiding Batgirl's
problem of being redesigned so heavily she stopped looking like Batgirl, but it also works seamlessly with the anime'd aesthetic. Besides the pale blue deco, and the finer red edging on her boob window and collar (echoed on the tech), the bodysuit has all manner of sculpted seams making it look like some ultra-sophisticated power suit, rather than just a spandex body stocking. The starfield is applied more thoroughly than was the case on the Infinite Crisis figure, with a speckling of large "stars" in gold and silver and a heavier dusting of finer points, which glitter all sorts of colours as they reflect the light. End result, her costume twinkles like the night sky, and the very heavy gloss finish applied to it gives it a real sense of depth. The only drawback to the whole thing - and it only matters if you turn her around - is that one of the brighter/larger "stars" wound up right up in her butt crack, so she really does have the sun (a sun, at least) shining out of her... yeah.
The techy bits aren't quite so elaborate, being basically just chunky sci-fi armour painted gold. Black and gold is a good look, of course, and the finer detail of the paintwork merges the elements even more, with blue and red edges, and more glossy starfields on the knee and elbow plates, as well as inside the cut-out sections. Compared to the art, there's one small paint app missing, the gold on the stud of her collar, leaving it plain black on the figure.
Her face is pleasingly close to her artwork,
though not spot on - it's better than the earlier efforts in this line, but while the essential form of her face is good (and appropriately similar to Wonder Woman), the eyes are still painted generically, not matching the way the art has them narrowed and looking off to the right. The dramatic, stylized sweep of her hair is intact, though, and that makes up for a lot, giving her a nice poised, posed look - you can just imagine the lens flare in the background. Her hair has the same paintwork as her costume, with the glossy finish and the starfield, which helps the overall cosmic look.
There's no articulation, of course, and she's got the same base as everyone else (hence the same photo as everyone else),
customized for Donna with a pair of pegs built into triangular blocks that fit between her toes and high heels. She's well balanced on her front foot, so she shouldn't suffer from any slow leaning problems (I've had to rebalance Ame-Comi Power Girl a bit because of that, to keep her ankles from slowly bending forwards), but as has often been the case, the disc base itself is slightly warped, so it doesn't sit perfectly flat. It's not a functional problem, but if your shelf is a light colour, you may notice one side of the base isn't flat to the ground.
As I write this, the Ame-Comi versions of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy have just turned up, and with currency exchange rates nowhere near as favourable as they were a year ago, these statues are starting to be uncomfortably pricey. Donna's a good reminder not to dismiss them, though - I'm not sure I'd say she's my favourite overall, since that involves who the character is as well as what Ame-Comi's done with her, but I think only Ivy so far really matches Donna for taking flawlessly to her Japanese-inspired style.
-- 06/07/09
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