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Wonder Woman

DC Bombshells
by yo go re

This is ground zero.

When DC Direct had the idea for the Bombshells line of statues, Wonder Woman was their starting point. She embodies everything the line represents: strength, power, beauty, and even an origin in World War II.

Given her era of origin, Diana's story in the Bombshells universe is not that different from the normal universe: she grew up on Themyscria, but left her home to journey to Man's World after meeting Allied pilot Steve Trevor. Of course, in this story, Steve wasn't a sole victim of a plane crash, he was involved in a full battle against German pilots above Paradise Island, and was the sole survivor (the Amazons, pissed that the bombs and bullets would fall mindlessly onto their island, decimated the forces on both sides). Suffering from shell shock, he was imprisoned and sentenced to die, but Diana fell for him and wanted to end the war, so with the help of her ex-girlfriend Mera she helped the man escape his sentence and head back into the world.

The first pass at a Wonder Woman design was, like Harley's, pretty terrible, best described as "rockabilly flapper." You can't get the '40s by combining the '30s and the '50s, guys. Thankfully, the second version of her was much better, and led directly to what we get now. Inspired in part by Sensation Comics #4, Ant Lucia's art shows Diana shattering a chain in a very strong, rock-solid pose. She keeps the usual Wonder Woman colorscheme, thanks to her red shirt and high-waisted blue hot pants. Technically, this pinuppy Wonder Woman is showing less skin than the normal Wonder Woman!

Paul Harding's sculpt of Diana's face will show you a smile that's wide and open and joyful, and the most beautiful thing ever. The kind of "glass of ice water in the middle of the desert" expression that makes men think it's okay to tell a woman to smile. (Protip: don't do that, dudes.) It's effortless and real, and shows the pleasure Diana would feel at being able to use her powers freely. She laughs at your pathetic efforts to chain her!

Suiting the pin-up style, Wonder Woman's physique is more than human. She's almost as busty as Power Girl, and her legs are inhumanly long. Her feet are slightly too small, which is a result of the stylization, and the illusion is done no favors by the folded-over slouch boots she wears. Her blue shorts have six white stars aligned on her hips, and rather than a golden girdle, she wears a large eagle-winged belt buckle. Similarly, she's traded her tiara for a yellow bandana. She does retain the W's on her chest, though they're just a stitched pattern on her shirt, not a piece of armor. If you look closely at her silver bracelets, you'll see a swirling star pattern, not just plain metal.

Though she still has her lasso, it's just a single loop permanently attached to her belt. Her real accessories are a large wrench (tying into the whole "Rosie the Riveter" thing she has going on) and a... thing. It's not something with a simple, specific name, as it appears to be a cinder block connected via a very large chain to a heavy steel ball. What would that have even been before being repurposed as a weapon? Most of the chain links are separate, but the three in the center are solid. Why? Because the chain breaks in half in the middle, because Wonder Woman is strong. The figure has six hands: two fists, two open wide, and two open narrowly.

The articulation on these figures is everything you'd want. Diana has swivel/hinge joints at the ankles, wrists and shoulders; double-hinged elbows and knees; swivel thighs and biceps; a hinged waist; and balljointed hips, chest and head. There's also an extra hinge in the hips that allows them to drop down ⅛", to help with pin-up poses. All four figures in this series fit different female archetypes: sporty, sexy, quirky, and now strong. If you have trouble coming up with poses for her, there's a wealth of reference material out there.

The four Bombshells figures released so far are all really great. The statues were lovely, but who has the money to collect those? There are plenty more figures on the way, and as this Wonder Woman proves, they're probably going to be excellent!

-- 07/20/17


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