This page will be a discussion about Wonder Woman dolls and my personal story. I provide links for more information. Also, please be sure to check out this page on comic book writer and artist Trina Robbins who was nice enough to send me a picture of her Wonder Woman figures and some of her general doll collection, along with a short interview for ohmydolls.com!

From the time Wonder Woman was first introduced in 1941, she became a favorite of many comic book readers, but there weren't many Wonder Woman toys or dolls during the first 20+ years of her life. For a detailed article on the history of WW toys and dolls, click the link below. It even has a great photo of the son of William Moulton Marston, (William Moulton Marston was the creator of Wonder Woman: A psychologist who also invented the lie detector test). Marston's son has a very impressive doll collection dedicated to Wonder Woman.

http://www.toycollectormagazine.com/index.php?Itemid=62&catid=34:features&id=193:wonder-woman&option=com_content&view=article

Like so many little girls who grew up in the 1970's, Wonder Woman was probably the most recognizable and mainstream of all the female superheroes and by that time, she'd been around and established for over 30 years.

She was first female given her own ongoing comic series in 1942. There were other attempts at female heroines but none had Wonder Woman's staying power. It was a quarterly book at first, then it eventually became bimonthly. Up until issue #178 in October of 1968, Wonder Woman appeared more or less unchanged from her original look. She went from having a "late 1930's" look to a more 1950's look over time, but over all, she was more or less the same. Her bottoms changed from a short skirt, to more practical shorts, but they were shorts and not briefs, all the way up to about issue #177. Then in the next issue, #178, The cover reveals the all new MOD and groovy "Diana Prince: Wonder Woman". She is no longer wearing her old "outdated" costume, but instead looks like a member of Mod Squad on the cover of this Oct. 1968 issue. It was an attempt to make her more modern, and I would love to lay my hands on that issue and others that followed, just as a matter of interest.

We do not see the official WW costume on the cover again until the Jan/Feb 1973 issue (#204), though it is apparently her mother Hippolyta in the outfit facing off against Nubia, the newly introduced villain, (Mego did eventually release Nubia dolls). The top of the cover reads, "New Adventures of the Original Wonder Woman".

Later, in issue #212, July 1974, she appears on the cover with the "flip" hairstyle and is looking very much like the Wonder Woman I grew up with. Now wearing full cut briefs and a slightly different eagle on top, this would be the way I thought of Wonder Woman. Its how I came to know her with issue #219, my first WW comic. Its also more or less how she appeared in the Super Friends cartoon on Saturday mornings, and more or less how Lynda Carter would look in the TV series.

A Colorforms playset I had as a child. As I said, Wonder Woman looked like this more or less during my childhood. Love the "flip" hairstyle!

These were meant to be a child's toy, not a real collectible. The use of all one color to save money is one thing, but did the drawings need to be THAT bad? Still, its a toy that has fond memories for me.

Before Lynda Carter, we had a live action show, "ISIS" on TV starring JoAnna Cameron, and she even had a short lived comic book (8 issues in total), and there was Supergirl in the comics and Batgirl on the reruns of the Adam West Batman show, but truthfully, nobody got as much over all exposure as Wonder Woman. None of the other heroines would ever really be able to compete with Wonder Woman's popularity back then. But what about now? Well, this isn't scientific, but I found this poll online and from what it says, both male and females view Wonder Woman as the top female superhero, even today.

The first comic book I ever owned was Superman Family #174 featuring Supergirl. The second comic I ever owned was Wonder Woman #219. The ISIS comics came out in 1976 and I had most of the 8 issues.

I never did get a Mego ISIS doll (she's now worth a good bit of change on ebay). Mego also released a Supergirl and Wonder Woman doll, which I did have, but today, I only have the Supergirl (seen on this website under the Supergirl link). The Wonder Woman doll I had is long gone. These Mego dolls were put on bodies that were basically strung together with rubber-bands inside. Some of these dolls fell apart. I have one Star Trek doll on this body that my parents fixed by stringing back together with elastic. Even a doll who is in pieces can be fixed. The Wonder Woman isn't worth as much as ISIS, but she can easily go for over $100 if she's clean and in reasonably good condition. The ISIS doll is much more rare. I'd love to have one someday but that's a high ticket item for me.

When the Lynda Carter live action TV series came out in 1976, Mego introduced a 12" doll that resembles Lynda Carter. That doll is a favorite with collectors today. Where the other Mego doll with the "elastic held parts" was more of a child's toy, the doll based on the TV series was about as much of a collectible doll as you could get in those days. She had a lasso, tiara, bracelets and fairly authentic looking costume. She was on the same body as the Cher and Farrah dolls, so she was able to share clothes with them. Like the other dolls on that body, the arms often lose the ability to hold a bend, and the hair "fries" to brillo. Here is an unrestored doll. I am thinking about giving her a make-over with an actual fabric top and a real belt and tiara. I will post the "after" photos if I do the project.

Note, that my doll is the first edition with the painted on top. The second and third editions of this doll wore a knit tank top with the eagle design on it. Those can be seen on the doll page here: http://www.wonderwomancollectors.com/categories.html

Since the 1970s, there have been a fair number of Wonder Woman dolls and action figures. There have also been statues and painted resin models. Mattel has done a number of different versions of Wonder Woman. The "Barbie as Wonder Woman" produced in 1999 is a nice doll. I don't have one, but I've seen her in person. However, in 2003, Mattel put out a very sad version of Wonder Woman. She was wearing a cheap looking Halloween costume and came with a little lunch box. I'm sure the doll reflected the cartoon on at the time, but if you didn't know that, you'd think this was "Barbie Trick'or'Treats as Wonder Woman". Judge for yourself. this image is from a friend who has the doll available for sale.

A more recent version done by Mattel is quite good. Titled, "The Barbie Famous Friends: DC Wonder Woman", this doll is fairly authentic and very pretty. All of the Mattel dolls, good or bad, tend to sell for anywhere from $50 to $80 on average.



The picture below is the back of the box for this Mattel 2009 Wonder Woman.

The action figures of the late 1960's and early 1970's generally left a lot to be desired. They've gotten better as time went on. Not that there aren't some real turkeys still to be found, but since the mid-80's, there have been quite a few really nice figures. They can also be seen on this website under "figures". http://www.wonderwomancollectors.com/categories.html

If you ask me, the best dolls out there for Wonder Woman (and other DC stars), would absolutely be the dolls by Robert Tonner. Pictured below is my doll, which is the basic WW costumed doll. Tonner also has/had several other special versions which you can find on the doll page at: http://www.wonderwomancollectors.com/categories.html and be sure to visit the Tonner website to see all his other incredible creations. Some of them are featured on this site here: http://www.ohmydolls.com/tonnervisit202009/index.htm

I do have some very little, minor complaints about the my doll. One is that the briefs snap in the back and are therefore lumpy. I think printed spandex sewn to fit would have been my preference. Also, the belt does not rest in the right place on her hip, so you see the bottom of her shirt sticking out under the belt. My last complaint is that the bracelets were very hard to get on. I needed my husband's help to squeeze them shut once they were on. If they aren't squeezed shut, they dangle around her hand. Also, they should have been a silver tone, not gold, even though I actually prefer the look of the gold. Anyway, those are just "knit picking" type complaints. On a scale of 1 - 10, I'd give this doll a solid 9.8 as far as being well made, beautifully sculpted and a fantastic image of the Amazon goddess.

Join us for all doll talk on the Oh My Dolls yahoo group. Our group is 100% SPAM free and on-topic. Its a quiet group in general, but you can set it to receive all or none of our posts. Post pictures of your dolls and post doll shows and events! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oh_my_dolls