POP! Rides – The Invisible Jet with Wonder Woman

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Rides

Year: 2016

THE BACKGROUND

Plenty of superheroes get around in vehicles, but few of them ever attain the iconic status of something like the Batmobile. But carving out its own little niche of campy success over the years has been Wonder Woman’s Invisible Plane.

Though Wonder Woman can fly, how well/how long/how high has been pretty loosely defined over the decades. Apparently she could initially ride wind currents, but the plane was still necessary for long-distance travel. Since the mid-1980s (post-Crisis On Infinite Earths) she can now just straight-up fly like Superman, so the Invisible Jet doesn’t get as much exposure in the comics or associated media as it used to. Nonetheless, it’s still a big part of the Wonder Woman mythos; it’s pretty silly in a post-Image Comics world, but it’s also pretty fun.    

This set seems to be based on the Lynda Carter TV series, which makes sense as it got quite a bit of screentime there. The box art uses the same style of font as the TV series title card, though this had also been used on the comic for many years prior. But let’s just roll with that; I’ve been hoping they’d do a Lynda Carter version of the character for a couple of years now.

THE RIDE

The first thing I should note here is this thing’s box is BIG – I’m pretty sure that it’s the biggest Ride box Funko have yet done. Though the vehicle itself isn’t especially large once it’s assembled, you’ll need a bit of space if you plan on keeping it in the box.  

Side note: In a few places on the box, the name has been misspelt as “The Inivisibile Jet”. Whoops.

Though the package it gives off the vibe of being based on the TV show, the Jet’s design is actually more reminiscent of the Super Powers cartoon than the Lynda Carter one. Though both are kind of campy and silly in retrospect, I think the SP one was a good choice; it’s a smoother design and has a few more little details that keep it interesting. And hey, it’s invisible, so who’s to say that didn’t really look like this anyway? The only real downside is that the left wing has a bunch of copyright information moulded into it, which breaks up the smoothness of the look a little.    

THE POP

The Wonder Woman POP itself is worlds better than original WW POP released all those years ago; it’s a totally new sculpt, cast in several different pieces. It’s not radically different at first glance, but it’s been a little slimmed down, and her hair has been lengthened and straightened. The overall design is very reminiscent of the costume that Lynda Carter wore back in Series 1 of the 1970s TV series. And if you’re not fussed on the show, it serves just as well as a comics-based version.

PAINT

Paint is obviously non-existent for the Invisible Jet, but it’s quite good for the POP itself. Virtually everything wrong with the last one has been addressed here – lines are cleanly executed, the stars on her trunks are crisp and neat, and there’s very little bleed or slop. The star on her tiara is a little off, but it’s overall such an improvement that at this point it’s tempting to take the old one and through it into the bin in a rage.    

OVERALL

This is my first foray into the POP! Rides series; I flirted with the Turtle Van, but was never able to convince myself as I knew it would mean going all in on all of the other Turtles POPs that had been released. Cool as they are, I don’t need to collect another series of POPS. On this occasion, I’m really glad I took the plunge; the inherently silly nature of the vehicle lends itself well to the POP style, and it’s a great tribute to an important facet of the character. With Wonder Woman’s greatly increased profile thanks to the recent release of Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, it’s an ideal time for release too.

This POP! Ride has been selling out all over Sydney, so you’ll probably have to order it online as I did. Zing is apparently stocking them, but EB Games only had them as a preorder; I ended up getting mind from Popcultcha, which meant I couldn’t check the paint personally but was better than risking not getting it at all. Well worth the investment if you’re a Wonder Woman fan.