Action League: Wonder Woman and another Superman

I've been collecting superhero figures in this scale and style since Hasbro began making Superhero Squad figures. I don't even know how many of these I have now between Marvel, DC, and even the Dark Horse Hellboy 2 figures (God, I love those little guys). I've really been enjoying the new DC figures, though there's been a major hole in my collection... until now.

I collect a lot of comics characters, but when push comes to shove, I feel like I'm missing something when I have any of the big three without owning all of them. If you're new to comics, by "big three" I mean the Trinity: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. At any given time, there may be characters more popular, but on some level it always comes back to these guys. When superheroes dried up in the fifties, three series never stopped coming out: this is the backbone of DC Comics, and debatably comics in general.

In addition to not releasing Wonder Woman until now, this is actually the first and only female character Mattel's released in the Action League line. I understand the logic: these are first and foremost kids' (boys') toys, and little boys think any female toy is a doll.

Too bad that logic's BS.

Here's the problem. Kids aren't buying these. Seriously. Mattel needs to figure out what Hasbro learned years ago - that these are being bought by collectors, like me. And, for that matter, like my wife. DC Comics has always had a relatively older, gender neutral fan base, and toys like these really appeal to us. We want female characters, as well as the male ones. We want Batgirl, Supergirl, Black Canary, and Zatanna. AND WE WANT THEM IN THIS SCALE AND STYLE.

While I'm thrilled to add Wonder Woman to my collection, I'm not as thrilled with having her packed with the first repeated figure in the line (yeah, there was also another Hal Jordan in wave three, but at least that's a repaint).

Also, she has some balance issues and could really use a stand like Superman's. At what these are going for, I'm sure Mattel could have afforded to include a second one.

The sculpt on Wonder Woman is absolutely fantastic, though the paint's a little weak. She came out nice in the photos, but in person she looks a little plasticy. She has articulated shoulders, as well as head joint. The head joint doesn't work too well because of her hair, but the arms are fine. I'd have liked a waist joint, as well, and was disappointed it wasn't included.

The Superman's a great figure. If you want my full thoughts on him - along with the rest of wave 1 - you can find a review here.

Despite my grumbling, I've been looking everywhere for this pack and am really excited to have found it. Like I said, having the Trinity completed brings a great big smile to my face. And, while I've already got one Superman, I've got a great place for the extra on my desk at work.

I've heard people have had luck finding these at Walmart, an option not available to those of us in New York City. I haven't seen them at Toys R Us yet, but they'll likely show up eventually. I found my set at a toy store in Queens, which was charging $12. I grabbed the Wonder Woman set in a heartbeat, but couldn't bring myself to get the others. There's a great looking Batman/Deathstroke set, but I'm all set on Batmen in this scale. The rest of the wave revolves around Green Lantern and includes an awesome Kilowog that killed me to skip. But I couldn't stand the thought of dropping twenty-five bucks after tax on these. I love GL, but for the time being I'm satisfied keeping my Action League collection relatively focused. If these ever go on sale, you can bet that will change.

By the way, The Super Duper Toy Box has reviews and some excellent photos of the rest of the wave - I highly recommend you check those out.