I
think that Firefly
is the greatest television show that’s ever aired.
But
before I saw Firefly,
there was Buffy
the Vampire Slayer,
which I think is the greatest television show that ever aired for
more than one season.
And
then there’s Angel.
In some ways Angel
is better than Buffy,
and in others it’s nowhere near as good, but unto itself it is an
excellent show that’s high up on my list of favorite shows.
These
three shows all have two major things in common – they were created
by Joss Whedon and they all took me a while to get into. But that’s
a
whole other post
that
I already wrote.
Except
for the Angel I had. It’s from the first run of figures based on
Angel
and it has some issues. It doesn’t quite
fit
aesthetically with the Diamond figures, it has a vampire face, and
it’s too short.
The
vampire face was my choice. They did two versions – one with a
human face and one with a vampire face. Back when these figures were
being made I didn’t particularly want to be buying action figures
of just regular human beings. Particularly not of gorgeous dudes. So
I found the vamp face to be a little more acceptable to my collecting
habits.
Over
the years I’ve decided that I’d like to have a regular Angel
since he looked that way most of the time. I found this one for five
bucks and bought it.
Sorry
– I feel like that was sort of an anticlimactic end to the intro.
They can’t all be winners.
First
Glance
I
apologize for the lack of pictures in this review. It turns out you
can’t even photograph action figures of vampires.
Ha-ha!
Just a little vampire humor there.
This
is definitely a better figure than the other one, but it’s wild to
be opening such a primitive modern figure when I’ve been reviewing
Masters of the Universe Classics, Marvel Legends, and other
high-quality, super-articulated figures for so long. Nothing about
this guy looks bad, but the articulation is startlingly simple. And
this thing is only eight years old.
Look
at all of those accessories, though!
It’s
also worth noting that Angel was sculpted/designed/scanned or
whatever by Gentle Giant, the same company that’s working on
Funko’s Legacy lines and Hasbro’s Star Wars Black.
Packaging
I
like the way the plastic bubble is used on the blister card. The logo
is a sticker on a raised but empty portion of the bubble. It looks
cool, draws the eye, and gives a little depth. The picture of David
Boreanaz on the top right is weird because he looks so
much older
than he did on Buffy
and so
much younger
than he does on Bones.
The
bio on the back is split into two parts – one for Angel and one for
Fred, since she was the other figure in this wave. They’re good
bios. As you guys know, I miss stuff like this when it isn’t there.
Also,
lest you think DST were just putting out two figures per wave, the
bottom portion of the cardback features the full range of figures
including variants and exclusives. I’ve got an Illyria, but I’d
still like to pick up a Fred.
Looks
If
there’s one thing that you need to focus on and get right with an
Angel action figure, it’s the hair. And they got it right. The
height, thickness, and fine detail is great. The paint consists of
dark brown with lighter highlights.
The
likeness is very good, but a little blobby, as was the case with many
of these figures. I wouldn’t call it bad, but it’s like somebody
painted over a great face sculpt with really thick paint and some of
the detail was lost. It’s definitely David Boreanaz, though. The
paint is great, right down to the eyebrows being slightly cocked to
correspond with the smirk on the figure’s face.
The
detail on the clothing is nice – buttons, seams, folds. It all
looks very natural and hangs the way real clothing would. This is
the kind of nice but relaxed stuff Angel wore on the show. Mercifully
Angel
predates the ridiculous skinny clothes trend. Every time I see a guy
in a skinny suit I want to tell him that they make clothes in his
size.
Side
Note: Yes, I have donned the skinny jeans from time to time, but
strictly for performance purposes. Never as regular clothing.
The
stripes on my figure’s shirt have a smudge on them that isn’t
great, but that’s post-production and not a flaw with the figure
design. I’m not saying I’m okay with it, but it doesn’t make
the figure bad.
Plus, it’s nowhere near as noticeable in person as it is in the
pictures.
The
trousers are flat black and the shoes are glossy. They’ve got tons
of detail that isn’t quite
as deep as I would like. I am a huge fan of visible treads on shoe
soles, though, so that’s great.
Accessories
Angel
comes with a veritable smorgasbord of items – a Wolfram & Hart
base, a sword, a coffee mug, an insulated liquid container, an
amulet, and a yellow cube.
The
base is nice because it’s a reasonable piece of neutral scenery.
One
thing I love about Diamond’s Buffy line is that every single
accessory – and they made a ton
of them – is a specific prop from the show. There are no generic
swords, axes, or bottles. Everything they made was on screen at some
point. I can’t find a picture of this exact sword, but you can bet
it’s directly from an episode – most likely the one this figure’s
outfit is from. It’s a great-looking sword and it’s made out of a
hard plastic.
The
mug looks great. I’m pretty sure this is the same mug that came
with Spike, just a different color and with “#1 Boss” on it. The
blood has a fun, swirly sculpt and is glossy red. The only problem is
that Angel can’t hold it in his right hand and when the mug is in
his left the print is turned inward.
The
container-that-is-not-a-Thermos is one of the best accessories I’ve
seen with a toy. The sculpt and paint are perfect and the note really
looks like a printout. Sometimes the little things delight me too
much, but they really did a great job here.
The
cube is the Orlon Window, which contains Connor’s memories of being
an annoying little shit. Excuse me – of being a murderer. The
sculpt is great, but the paint on the trim could be a little better.
I
don’t know what the heck this amulet is. It’s identified as
“Talisman” on DST’s website. It has a good sculpt and solid
paint – the gem is nice and shiny. The figure can hold it if you
balance it perfectly and then back slowly – oh, so very slowly –
away.
Fun
This
figure has the weird, mid-2000s articulation where your fancier toy
companies didn’t want to mess up aesthetics with super
articulation, but also recognized that they were marketing figures to
people who liked action figures to be… action-y. At least, that’s
my take on these sorts of figures from DST, Sideshow, NECA, and
others.
Of
course, the result of trying to please everyone is almost never
pleasing. Angel here is one of the least offensive products of this
sort of mindset. His articulation isn’t the best or most useful,
but he does look pretty great just standing there. And he doesn’t
have any joints that are as unsightly as they are useless. His head
is on a ball joint that’s pretty good – there’s a great range
of poseability.
There
are cut joints at the shoulders, biceps, wrists, waist, and hips. Hip
joints are the hardest to get just right because they don’t ever
look good or function exactly right. These angled joints are the
worst, though. Nobody’s legs move like this. And it’s not like
the figure can be posed sitting. It looks ludicrous.
The
elbows and knees are standard pivots. They bend ninety degrees and
look fine.
There’s
just enough to work with here to have a little fun with posing and
the accessories add a ton of play value. This isn’t the most
exciting figure I own, but for what it is it’s pretty good.
Overall
This
is a nice-looking figure that you’re going to open and put on the
shelf with the rest of your Buffy toys. Every once in a while you
might switch out accessories.
If
you’re a fan, this is a good figure to get. It’s worth the
original $14.99 MSRP for sure and absolutely worth the five bucks I
paid for it.
4
out of 5
And
of course I recommend you buy yourself an Angel from Amazon and help
out Needless Things!:
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