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Diamond Select Serenity PVC's

 

"The following is a guest review.  The review and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the guest author."

We have a new guest reviewer tonight, Mark, who is an admin at Yodasnews.com, GentleGiantCollectors.com and SerenityCollectors.com. Take it away, Mark!

Let me start off with the disclaimer that I don't usually write reviews. I take a lot of pictures and I own thousands of collectibles, but I normally leave the reviews up to my staff at the various sites I run. This time, I will take a shot, so bear with me if it reads a little odd to you. 






Lets start with some the basics: the three-pack features Jayne (4" tall), Mal (3.9" tall), and River (3.45" tall). This set comes packaged in a deluxe, full-color window box with a nice, large graphic on the back (images at the end of this review). The set is scheduled to retail for $17.99 and is due the middle of August 2007. 

One of the first things you will notice is the base. A black base with blue additions was show in early photos, but the final product has one of most unique bases I have seen, which for me, at least, makes this PVC stand out and sells the whole set. 

The base sports the now famous logo of Serenity. Nicely set off by the way it is textured and the use of a glossy final paint application, it is really outstanding.

Mal's stance is great and the details on something this size speak volumes with all three pieces. Mal's shirt, pants, holster, and boots are all accurate. The gun looks good, as well, and it is not as movie accurate as some may like, but considering the gun is 1.3 cm long, they did a great job.

The face is also a good likeness of Mal. If you look close, you can see that little smirk that we have seen all too many times. I was not looking for a dead on human sculpt on something so small, but I did want to see "Mal" from it, and you do with the nose, smirk, and lips. You need to take into account that the head is smaller than a United States dime.

Jayne is my favorite of the three, the stance, the details, all of it I just loved. The eyes on Jayne really captured the actor in such a small scale, and the beard and hair compliment the rest of the face nicely. The shirt is bright and bold with great markings, and the detail on all three guns is great, right down to the handle of the gun in his holster.

The paint application on the pants really gives you a weathered look, and you can even see the attention to detail with his tan, where the front of his arms are darker than the back. It's a small detail, but a very welcome one.

River is also very well done. I love the pose they picked (I like the pose on all three of them, actually). They again captured the feel of River here as she appeared at the end of the movie. My only complaint with it is that I would have liked to see some blood on her boots and weapons. I do realize the target audience is not just collectors, but also fans that might be younger, so I can see why it wasn't added. It's an easy add on for those who like to customize these figures.

River's dress has a nice "two-tone" look to it, and the movement on this is very well done. The emotions of River really pop out at you. The paint apps are crisp, clean, and neat.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this set a 9.4. I don't think the promo images shown to solicit sales do this set justice. They are so much better looking in person. I tried to take nice close ups for this review to show collectors how nice this set really is, but it looks even better in person. 

For $17.99, I think this set is a no-brainer for any Serenity or FireFly fan. You get three very well done figures with great details in a collector-friendly window box (if you choose not to open them, but they really need to be set free), and the bases are very cool. 

They are not done "cheaply", as I have seen people comment on around boards and chat rooms. Each and every one can stand alone. I think they could have sold this set for $24.99, and it would still be a deal.

Overall - ***1/2

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Figure from the collection of Mark.

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