Buffy The Vampire Slayer

It’s Christmas, so what better review than some Christmas ornaments? Tonight I have a look at five new ornaments from Diamond Select - Angel, Illyria, Spike and Fred from the show Angel, and Buffy from the Buffy show.

I wasn’t going to do a review tonight, being Christmas and all, and I figure even I need a day off once in awhile. But after putting together a Playmobil Castle, two Pyrates ships, a Pyrates island fortress, a Playmobil Fairy castle, and a big activity table, I was just about Christmased out. Doing a review seemed like the break!

Designed more like little mini-busts than standard ornaments, the five can be had at most comic shops and some specialty market stores. I also have some suggestions at the end of the review for finding them online.

Packaging - *** The packages aren’t highly decorted, just done in the stand colors of the show. They also have the show logos, and photos of each of the ornaments on the back. They are also collector friendly, or more accurately in this case, Christmas friendly, since you can put the ornaments back in the boxes quite easily for next year.

Sculpt - Buffy, Illyria ***; Angel, Spike, Fred **1/2 These are fairly small - they are ornaments to hang on a tree after all. The sculpted heads are actually smaller than the 6" action figure line, but just a smidge.

None of the sculpts is outstanding, and none really rival the plastic versions. These are definitely made out of resin however, as I found out the hard way after I dropped Illyria on a concrete floor. She’ll never quite be the same.

Buffy and Illyria look the closest to the real people, although the paint work doesn’t do much to help out. Angel, Fred and Spike aren’t as good as their action figure counterparts, which is unfortunate.

Paint - **1/2 The sculpts and paint are both adequate but not exciting. The work on the torsos, including the shirts, buttons and tampos, is very good, but around the face and hair, you see more slop. Areas like Illyria’s hair line, Buffy’s eyes, and Angel’s eyebrows all are good examples of the sloppy small detail work.

The names on the front of the stands aren’t painted on, but are tampos. You can tell right away, because several have been applied crooked.

Design - *** These are done in a very standard mini-bust style. All the bases match up, and a string hanger is attached to the top ring.

Value - *** While the quality isn’t perfect, the price isn’t bad - for ornaments. Ever look at the price Carlton and Hallmark are charging these days? At $13 each, these are cheaper than most of those, and just as nice.

Things to watch out for - Since you can see these ornaments in the package, be sure to pick out the best paint ops possible.

Overall - **1/2 The sculpts and paint aren’t perfect, but they aren’t awful either. The sculpts could actually be a little better than I’m giving them credit for, but I suspect the paint work is hurting them.

If you’re a huge fan of either show though, these will look good on your tree, and will allow you to let your freak flag fly, even during the holidays.

SCORE RECAP: Packaging - *** Sculpt - *** Paint - **1/2 Design - *** Value - *** Overall - **1/2

Where to Buy - Your online options include:

 Amazing Toyz has them for $13 each, along with some upcoming characters as well.

Click on the link :

http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_122505a.htm