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			Description;  The Greek God of War brought to impressive life. The figure is a weighy 6", dressed in Greek/Roman armor, a billowy cape, and a goregeous, horned Centurion helmet.  The figure is mostly dark blue with light blue and grey accents.  The figure has a decent amount of articulation; hips, knees, shoulders, elbows, et al. The figure comes with a sword and battle-axe, both of which can be held only in the right hand.
Ares-DC Direct Meat and Potatoes; 5.0 Perks; 3.5 Homer Factor; 4.5
Poor Wonder Woman, never quiiiiiiiiiite gets the respect she deserves, as  I mentioned in a review from ages ago of Hasbro's attempt at the Amazon Princess. Not a horrible figure, but certainly not deserving of one of THE comic characters of our time.  Fortunately one of the first figures DC Direct released was a very good version of Princess Diana.  So how do you follow-up?  Well, give her someone to fight, of course!  Ok... now a problem.  Wonder Woman NEVER had much of a rogues gallery.  Even as lame as Supes' got (Hey, the Toy Man SUCKED.  Let's be honest here.)  at least there were a bunch of villains to pick from.  With Wonder Woman you had Cheetah... and... well... ok... YOU HAVE CHEETAH.  Oh boy.  Fortunately, when George Perez revamped the Wonder Woman legend, he latched-on to the Greek mythology angle and created villains worthy of one of the most powerful characters in comics; Circe, a VERY revamped Cheetah, and Ares, God of War.  Granted, until 'Hercules-The Legendary Journeys' came around Ares was just a pain-in-the-butt.  That annoying cousin who ALWAYS caused trouble, and if you smacked him, he would go running to Mommy.  Uh uh, George's Ares isn't a whiner, he is The God of War and Apocalypse.  If there is a face in the middle of mushroom cloud, this is the face you would see.  DC Direct stepped up to the challenge of recreating Ares, and they pulled it out very well. The meat and potatoes of his thing are incredible.  The figure is a VERY hefty 6" of plastic with an incredible sculpt; nice 'chain-mail' chest armor, a large cape that gives a nice billowing effect, grieves and armor the soldiers of Sparta would be proud of, and  demonic mask hiding the War-God's face.  The paint-job is also perfect; although the character is mostly blue and gray, the dark colors match the new version of the god perfectly, and the blood-red eyes almost glow in the figures helmet.  Articulation is just right; elbows, hips, knees, shoulders, and head and waist.  Just right for posing. Perks?  Ok, you can't win them all.   The one problem I have with DC Direct is they tend to skimp on extras.  Granted, we're talking about small production runs to specialty stores, so  you can't exactly piles on LOTS of stuff for the price-point, but maybe a little more?  Ares comes with a large sword and battle-axe.  Both are decently sculpted, but only the right hand can hold weapons.  I would think Ares can manage to wield both.  Oh well.  Also, the cape is permanently attached to the figure.  Granted, it's not essential the cape be removable, but it's a nice touch. Homer factor is high.  After ages and ages of mediocre villains, it was great to see Wonder Woman finally face a villain that would challenge her intellectually AND physically.  Ares is a perfect foil to Wonder Woman. Over-all, this is a good piece of work..  Sure, the perks could be better, but beyond that, this is a nice figure to have on your shelf, especially if you need some threatening villain to go with your multitude of heroes.