Buffy The Vampire Slayer

“I had very definite plans about my future. I was going to be a fighter pilot. Or possibly a grocer.”

Rupert Giles, third generation member of the Watcher’s Council, was assigned to supervise nascent vampire Slayer, Buffy Summers. A brilliant linguist and occultist, a master swordsman, reformed demon-summoner and seemingly stuffy British librarian, Giles became the brains and guiding hand behind Buffy and her band of demon hunters. Giles and Buffy "Uh, once again I teeter at the precipice of the generation gap."

Reserved and dignified, Giles frequently butted heads with Buffy, the flippant teenager with authority issues. But throughout the seven seasons of the show their relationship became an emotional anchor for Buffy which allowed her to grow as a person and as a Slayer. Giles even sacrificed his place on the Watcher’s Council for Buffy when he refused to carry through with a cruel test every Slayer must pass. He was fired because he had grown to love her as a father, but Buffy refused to listen to the new Watcher assigned by the Council and eventually forced them to reinstate Giles. Anthony Stewart Head

But Rupert wasn’t always the responsible and reserved librarian. Known as “Ripper” in his college days, he fell in with the wrong crowd and got first hand experience with black magic and demon summoning. Although Giles maintains a calm façade, the violent and impulsive Ripper is just below the surface and can arise when prodded by old nemesis Ethan Rayne, or when Giles must do the dirty work he wants to keep from Buffy, such as killing an innocent to prevent greater evil.

Giles continued to be a steadying influence on the Slayer through not only her death but also her poor relationship choices. He even faced off with a world-threatening, dark-magic-wielding Willow to try and save the world. Like the father he had become for her, Giles tried to choose the correct path for Buffy even if it meant leaving her to fend for herself as he did in Season 6. However when she and the gang had to take on their greatest challenge, he was there, sword in hand, to help her save the world….again. “Things involved with a computer fill me with a childlike terror. Now, if it were a nice ogre or some such I’d be more in my element.”

Giles was played by noted theatre actor, Anthony Stewart Head, who previously was best known in America for a series of Tasters Choice coffee commercials. Head is also a singer as Buffy fans know from his scene-stealing performances in the musical Buffy episode “Once More With Feeling.”

He was to star in a Buffy spin-off for the BBC called “Ripper” which would feature Giles dealing with the supernatural in his native Britain, but the series never got past the idea phase. Since “Buffy” finished he’s mainly worked in British stage and television and even played a nasty space vampire on the new “Dr. Who.”

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Rupert Giles - Sideshow Exclusive - Buffy the Vampire Slayer 12-inch Figures

“This is completely unprecedented. I’m quite flummoxed.”

The Sideshow Collectibles 12” Giles is the most recent figure from the “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” line and perhaps the last. The figure sports Giles standard three piece grey suit, a grey shirt, tie, socks and shoes.

The portrait on Giles is one of the better human sculpts in the line. Sculptor Tim Miller has captured Tony Head’s head really well. His expression is neutral, yet still conveys the wisdom and experience so important to Giles’ character. The paint job on mine is clean and consistent, with no overlapping where it’s not supposed to be. The skin tone, which sometimes suffers on Sideshow figures, is just right for Giles.

One thing I was worried about was the eyeglasses, but they have been executed extremely well. Sixth scale spectacles are difficult to pull off, and the prototype pictures of Giles left a lot to be desired. However the production glasses are not only completely in scale and fit his head perfectly, but also are in the exact frameless style used on the show. Sometimes heads designed to use glasses have strange hair or ears that stick out, but not Giles. Even without the glasses he looks completely normal. Rupert Giles 12-inch Figure Rupert Giles 12-inch Figure Rupert Giles 12-inch Figure “That was hardly the worst mistake you’ll ever make... ...that wasn’t quite as comforting as it was meant to be.”

The outfit he’s in is appropriate to the character and is well tailored. The three-piece suit may not be tweed, but the grey color works for Giles. He has tiny buttons on his suit and shirt, a detail that is sometimes forgotten on 1/6 figures in everyday costumes. Also Sideshow has experimented with partial shirts under a jacket, but that isn’t the case here – Giles has a full long sleeve shirt with snaps to hold the cuffs closed. There’s only one problem with the outfit and that is the thread used on the suit. It is lighter than the material, so the stitching becomes much too obvious and detracts from the realism of the figure.

Giles comes with an extra set of hands, a large wooden cross, a sword, the standard “Buffy” stand, and a cute little Grachnar fear demon from the episode “Fear Itself.”

The demon is one of the best accessories we’ve seen in the Buffy line; it’s actually a whole other character. The appearance of the demon was a great punch line to the show and illustrates the theme of the episode – that we always give our fears more significance than they deserve.

Xander (taunting): Who’s the little fear demon? Come on, who’s the little fear demon? Giles: Don’t taunt the fear demon. Xander: Why? Can he hurt me? Giles: No, it’s just... tacky.

The cross is new and looks like one that we see on the show all the time, usually when a character is gathering together a bunch of demon fighting weapons. I believe the sword is also new, and it fits in his sword wielding left hand very tightly. He has a spare left hand shaped to hold a firearm, although we rarely saw Giles with gun. The two right hands included are identical as far as I can tell, and one has to wonder why they’d include the same hand twice. Both right hands are a bit oversized as has been the case with a few of the recent 1/6 figures. “Sorry to barge in. We have a slight apocalypse.”

Ever since Sideshow started their 1/6 “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” line the fans have been demanding that the core group of characters be produced. Giles is not only the last of this core group, but perhaps the last “Buffy” figure we’ll see in the 12 inch line. It’s a bittersweet feeling to finally hold a much wanted figure and know that he could be the swan song for the entire line. It is a tribute to the character and the series that the final figure is a much loved character and is executed so well. Giles is limited to 2000 pieces worldwide and is only available in the US through the Sideshow website. No Buffy display would be complete without him.

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Rupert Giles - Sideshow Exclusive - Buffy the Vampire Slayer 12-inch Figures