Packaging - ***
The graphics and text are decent this time, if a little under whelming.
The images from the show that are interspersed are a nice touch, and the box
sports the usual Sideshow Exclusive sticker on the front.
Unlike some other recent releases though, Cordy is back to being tied down
like Paris Hilton on a Saturday night. And they've gone with the widest
variety of restraints, using regular twisties, 'dental floss' ties, and even
the wider clear plastic band around the legs.
Sculpting - ***
If I were merely grading this sculpt on it's accuracy from the neck up to the
character, she would have gotten another half star easily. It IS a very
good likeness to Charisma Carpenter, and more importantly to her in the role
of Cordelia in this particular episode.
It's all very close, including the tough eyebrows (it always seems so tough to
get the eyebrows right), size of the eyes, shape of the nose, size and shape
of the lips, and even the shape of the head, another tough area. The sculpted
hair looks excellent, with the right amount of detail and an excellent match
(or at least as good as you can get) to the style in that episode.
The big issue is one we've seen from Sideshow for a very long time now,
particularly with female figures - she looks like a bobble head.
Okay, it's not *quite* that bad, and in person, since the figure is small,
it doesn't look quite as bad as it does in any photos. But it's still apparent,
and it's due to a number of factors.
First, it's the sculpted hair. Cordy's hair was very poofy in this
episode, and did at times reach out as wide as the figure here. But it's
real hair - you can see through it, it's airy, and it's always moving.
On a static figure like this, the hair is obviously not moving, and it's a
solid, thick hunk of plastic. That makes the whole head appear even more
substantial than its real life counterpart.
Then there's the neck. Real humans don't have post necks with heads
that plop down on top. The necks are wider in relation to the overall
head, because it's a smooth flow along the side of the neck up to the side of
the skull by the ear.
And finally, there's the height of the head. We tend to focus on the
width when talking about oversized heads, but I think it's really the height
that are eyes are recognizing as being so far off. I think the action
figure Cordy has a head about thirty percent taller than it should be as
compared to photos of the real thing. I'm using the distance from the
chin to the top of the head in relation to the distance from the chin down to
a line through the center of her breasts. Compare that to the photo of the
real thing, and you'll see that she has a much 'taller' head as well.
Sideshow has got to get the head to body proportion right. It's an
issue that continues to plague them, and really holds back the figures from
the complete accolades they're looking for.
This issue isn't the fault of the sculptor either, and I bet it drives them
batty to see their work turn out so disproportionate to the body.
Paint - ***
The paint is in a similar situation with the sculpt. It's a great job
damaged by one flaw.
The skin tone is excellent, and the makeup around the eyes is just right,
not to much, and very realistically applied. The lips look terrific, and
there's a nice use of gloss versus matte on the lips and eyes. Perhaps the
most important paint feature here is the eyebrows, and they are dead on.
Too bad she once again suffers a bit from lazy eye. Once again, it's
the left eye that seems to find something interesting over your right
shoulder. This one isn't as bad as the PF Buffy was, largely due to the
scale being smaller. It's still there though, and is another factor that
Sideshow has got to reiterate with their production facilities.
Articulation - ***1/2
It appears as though Sideshow may be making subtle improvements in the bodies
as they can, as this version of the female form seems to work better.
All the joints were nice and tight, although I did have some issues with
her tiny feet keeping her upright. It looks like the wrists joints have
changed slightly as well, and I didn't have any trouble swapping the hands
back and forth. The proportions on this body are very good, although the
super tight thighs and huge bells on the pants make the legs appear too
skinny. I think that dressed in more accurate pants, her legs would have
looked fine.
You may find that you want to pad the hip joints a little with toilet
paper, similar to other past figures, to give the pants a little something
more to hang on to. But don't go nuts - Charisma doesn't do all that
exercising just for you to go and fatten her up.
Accessories - ***1/2
Cordy comes with several nifty accessories, and the sword is the
highlight.
Her sword has a very detailed hilt and grip, approximating the look of
leather wrapping quite well. It's scaled extremely well, and most
importantly, it's made of a nice stiff plastic, so it's not floppy or bent out
of the package.
The sword fits nicely in the scabbard, which has a diamond pattern and red
ribbon. The look great together, and match up well with the weapon in
the episode.
She also has her framed Sunndale High School diploma, which is really a
stick on the frame of course. It looks quite a bit like a framed and
matted paper though, more so than the usual picture sticker.
there are also two additional hands that you ca swap out. Neither of
these hands are wearing the rings that the standard hands are. They swap
on and off easily enough, but don't fall off like some past releases. Thank
you!
Finally, there's the usual display stand, emblazoned with the Angel
logo. Fortunately though, if you're like me, you won't have to use
it. I much prefer to pick the figures up once in awhile than having the
silly looking stands on the shelf.
Outfit - ***
The outfit consists of four pieces - the shirt, pants, undershirt and wrist
band. Her shoes aren't getting counted as part of the outfit, because
they are her molded feet. I'm not a big fan of that choice, and would
much rather see shoes over regular feet, especially considering how tiny these
feet turned out.
The shirt is the best part of the outfit, matching the episode extremely
well. In fact, hard core fans will be able to pick out which episode this
Cordy is from without any other visual clue. The shirt fits well, the
stripes are scaled properly, and the snaps are small enough not to be
obtrusive.
Under this shirt is a black half shirt. It's well done too, and even
has two little spaghetti straps that go up over the shoulders.
Then there's the pants. As is often the style these days (thank God),
these pants are very low cut, just like the hip huggers of yesteryear.
While that's nice to look at on a real woman, it's a little annoying here,
because the top of the pants tends to get caught down inside the actual hip
joint. That's how low cut they are! From the knees up, these pants
seem pretty episode accurate, but the huge bells at the ankle aren't. If
you check out this photo, you'll see
exactly what I mean.
Finally, there's the leather band on her left wrist. Again, this is
straight out of the episode, and matches extremely well. It's also quite
tight on her arm, and won't float up and down the forearm too much.
Fun Factor -***
The articulation is solid and feels like it could handle regular play, so if
you have kids that like the show, they'll enjoy putting Cordelia into danger,
only to have her slash her way out again. Of course, the sword is a bit
too stiff to be handing over to a small child, and the figure really is
designed to be more of an adult collectible. But thankfully they didn't
forget that these figures are rooted in the history of the sixth scale action
figure that was a toy first.
Value - **1/2
At $45, you're paying the usual for this type of Sideshow figure, and getting
about what you should for your money. The oversized head will be most
folks biggest complaint, but fans of the show will be glad to have a decent
12" Cordelia.
Things to Watch Out For -
Nada. Everything worked smoothly, and I didn't find any gotchas.
Overall - ***
I'm happy I picked up Cordelia, and she's not the awful figure some are making
her out to be. Yes, I do wish the head was about 25 - 30% smaller, but
this isn't a Willow. The head sculpt does look like Cordy, and the
outfit and accessories are great. She'll look great on the shelf with
Angel and Spike as well, and while this might not be the best of the Angel
figures so far, it's a nice addition.
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