Review of Agent Dana Scully - X-Files
Sixth Scale Deluxe Action Figure

Introduction

I don't know about you, but I'm burned out on Star Wars and Marvel sixth scale releases. I've cut way back on the ones I have on pre-order, and even the new characters are doing less to excite me.

Thank God for the companies hitting up the lesser lines. One of those is ThreeZero, and their latest offering is Agent Dana Scully from the X-Files.  They released Mulder awhile back, so this completes the pair.

There's a regular release and a 'deluxe' release of this figure. I'm checking out the deluxe, but the only difference is in the accessories. The regular will run you around $160, while the deluxe will be closer to $180 depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***
Pretty standard stuff. The outer box lacks any character photo, but the design is eye catching, and the holographic deluxe sticker looks good. The plastic trays inside hold the accessories safely, and it's relatively collector friendly, with a piece of tape or two to discard.

Sculpting - ***
This is one of my very favorite ThreeZero portraits to date. It's immediately recognizable, and the shape of the nose, lips, and jaw all look about perfect.

This excellent likeness is supported by terrific detail work in the hair. The style looks great, and the layering and flow add a ton of realism.

The expression is concerned but not mindless, and should work with a wide variety of poses. Even the internal scale is good, with a head size that matches the body. So why not a higher score?

Because there's a completely different scale issue here - external scale.  She's about the right height, coming in at 10 3/4" tall. Mulder was six foot, and his figure is appropriately 12". At 10 3/4", she'd be just shy of 5' 3", the listed height for Scully. Yea, she's wearing heels, but I'll cut them a little slack there, and say they got it pretty accurate.

But she's still very *tiny*. ThreeZero loves slender bodies with long legs and small torsos, and that's exactly what they gave Scully. These extra thin proportions means she takes up very little volume, and seems woefully undersized in hand.

The issue was bad enough at first that I almost went lower with this score. However, the longer I had her and the more I posed her with Mulder, the more forgiving I became. The scale between the two is definitely a thing, but it's less of one than I think I first believed. Part has to do with issues with Mulder - those damn oversized hands that are so prevalent in sixth scale aren't helping here - and part has to do with perceptions of size in this scale. Whatever the reason, I'm docking them about a half star here for the issue.

Paint - ***1/2
This release shows an improvement overall in their production paint quality, although (said in my best Letterkenny voice) 'to be fair', it's been improving over the last several figures.

The hair line is realistic, and the skin tone is lightly spotted with almost imperceptible freckles. This subtle variation is much more lifelike, and supports the improved sculpting. The bright eyes are glassy and sharp, while the eyebrows and lips are clean and neat. Even the makeup around the eyes is well done, and very attractive.

Articulation - ***
The underlying body deserves better, but there are a couple issues that held it back.

The ball jointed neck worked well, and you can get some tilt and lean at the jawline as well as in the torso. Speaking of which, the midsection also turns, leans, and tilts nicely, breaking up straight lines in many poses.

However, the arms are a bit disappointing. The wrists are what you'd expect (and the hands swap easily) as are the shoulders, but the elbows don't collapse as tightly as they should. This is because they have the fake skin covering them - why? It's not likely you'll ever display her with bare arms. If you look back at my review of Mulder, you'll see him doing a pose with the phone right up by his ear. Thanks to the rubber skin on the arms, Scully can't achieve anything near that.

The hips, knees, and ankles all work fine, but the feet tend to fall off quite easily. I suppose that's better than being impossible to pull off (you'll need to remove them to swap between the pants and the skirt), but it can be annoying when you're posing her.

Accessories - ***
There's a fair amount of re-use here of course, but that's not surprising.

She has five additional hands to go with the relaxed set she comes wearing. There's a pair of fists and a pair of tight grips, as well as a gun grip right. These work with the various accessories. There's a couple extra wrist pegs too, just in case.

She has the SIG-Sauer pistol, with the same small holster. It's designed to work with a belt, which she does not wear, and even if she did, there'd be no place to hide it on her body. It's a large gun for her, and I think I may swap it out for the Walther that also came with Mulder. It might not be a perfect match, but the scale will work better.

She has the terrific cel phone with a ton of tiny sculpted and painted detail, as well as the large flashlight. These can be held in the extra gripping hands.

To identify herself, she has her clip-on FBI badge, as well as her FBI wallet badge.  The tiny printing on these is exceptional.  There's an extra clip for the former as well, again just in case.

The regular version finishes up with a pencil skirt.  You can swap between the pants and the skirt by simply removing the feet, but I like the pantsuit look far better and will stick with it for the display.

The deluxe adds one more extra - the trench coat. It's properly cut and scaled to her body, and hides the huge shirt collar (more on that in a minute). If you picked up the deluxe Mulder, you'll want the deluxe Scully so they can wear the coats together. If you didn't, you probably don't need to spend the extra bucks.

Outfit - ***
The main outfit consists of her white shirt, jacket, and pants. There's a pencil skirt you can swap for the pants, and a long outer trench coat.

The quality of the materials and construction are top notch. No complaints on any of the pieces in regards to these areas.

The tailoring on the outfit is great. It fits the slender body perfectly, and that's a blessing. Had it been baggy, it would have looked pretty ridiculous. But the collar on the white shirt is HUGE. It's surprising because the collars on both jackets look good, but the shirt collar is definitely out of proportion. You could take the suit jacket off and put the collar underneath, but the extra layer around the neck can push up the edges a bit.

My other complaint is with the length of the jacket sleeves.  They are just a smidge long, covering the fists almost completely if you go with those hands.

I didn't use the skirt, simply because it's not a look I like. You'll see the obvious ankles too, which are nicely covered by the pants.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
Put these two together, and they can join in with just about any sort of monster or zombie or alien display. How much fun will it be for them to face off against the Mars Attacks Martians, or Freddy and Jason? The possibilities are endless.

Value - ***1/2
ThreeZero is doing a terrific job with these figures at a much lower price point. At about $170, you're getting an excellent value, thanks in part to the improvements they've made in the sculpting and paint.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing.

Overall - ***
This is a figure that was so close on almost every aspect.  The sculpt is one of their best, but the scale issues can't be ignored. The suit is extremely well made...with a big collar and long sleeves. And the articulation could have been great...but they went with skin over the elbow joints for some inexplicable reason.

Still, I'm growing accustomed to her look next to Mulder, and she's about a billion times more realistic and life-like than any Scully we've gotten in this scale before.  She also completes a critical dynamic duo for the collection, something I was worried might not happen.  I don't know if ThreeZero will expand on the line, but at least we have the two critical members, and they aren't another Iron Man or Stormtrooper.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***
Paint - ***1/2
Articulation - ***
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ***
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - ***1/2
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- Entertainment Earth has the regular version for $168 and free shipping.

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
I reviewed the ThreeZero Mulder awhile ago. Before that, Sideshow did a series including John Doggett, Frank Black, the Cigarette Smoking Man, and Scully and Mulder.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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