Angel

Even though both Angel and Buffy have been off the air for quite some time (and replaced in some ways for the viewing public by the exceptional Veronica Mars), their fanbase seems as lively as ever. It is astounding the amount of product based on these two licenses that is still coming out and selling well.

The latest release from Diamond Select Toys in their line of action figures is Angel and Spike in Hawaiin garb. Technically, this isn’t released quite yet - this is an early review. You should see these hitting in July, just ahead of SDCC. This pair is a Previews Exclusive, so most comic shops and online stores will be carrying it. As always, I have some recommendations for where to pick it up at the end of the review.

Now, you might be asking “When the Hell did those two bastions of man-candy ever wear something as goofy as a Hawaiin shirt?” You’d wouldn’t be offending all those fine folks that actually like wearing Hawaiin shirts, because they know they are goofy. And while you might guess that they wore these shirts in the same episode, since that would seem reasonable, you’d be dead wrong.

Angel wore this outfit in the season 1 Angel episode “Sense and Sensitivity”, in which he was using it in an undercover mode. Spike wore his shirt in “Doomed”, in which poor Spike is living in Xander’s basement, and borrows some clothes.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael’s Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

“Hawaiin Shirt Deluxe Angel and Spike”

Somebody had to really be paying attention to come up with this set. Since the two were never on screen in these shirts together - or even on the same show at the time - and since they were in them for about 2 minutes each, it’s pretty surprising that the idea surfaced. It does show however, just how big of fans the folks at DST are, and their willingness to do the...uh...unique.

These are also both part of the “deluxe” series. That means they have all that extra articulation, giving them much more posablity and seriously funky looking hips.

Package - ***

If you’ve picked up past releases, you’ll get more of the same here. The clamshell is extremely sturdy, but will require lethal force to open. There’s always an down to every upside, and in the case of clamshells, it seems like a fair tradeoff to me.

The paper insert shows a photo of both Angel and Spike, and also the logos for both shows. The fact that this is a Previews Exclusive is highlighted on the bubble with a sticker. Nothing super exciting here, but it shows off the figures fine and keeps them nice and safe til you get the opportunity to rip it open.

Sculpting - ***

Gentle Giant did the work here, and it’s good if not outstanding. The issues that exist are fairly minor, but there’s enough of them to add up to a slightly above average score.

Spike’s head sculpt is the winner of the two. The Vamp Spike version in the deluxe series was excellent, but they did a fine job with the human look as well. If you have both figures, you can easily pop this head off and pop it onto the vamp body, giving you a nice looking normal Spike as well.

Spike’s flaws are in the body, not the head. The legs are the same ones we’ve gotten with the other deluxe Spikes, but in blue. That’s not episode accurate, since he was wearing some awful shorts along with the shirt in the scene, but it’s cost effective. EDIT: One thing about hard core Buffy fans - they remember costuming. I was reminded that he does actually wear blue jeans later in the episode, while still wearing this shirt. Ah ha!

The shirt and shirt sleeves are a separate rubbery piece, probably added over the Spike torso from the other figures. Unfortunately, the fact that his is separate, and Angel’s is not, means that he is much pudgier appearing. Considering all the discussion that’s been had over the fact that both action figures are the same height, this fat look isn’t going to be a big selling point. You can’t remove the shirt without cutting it apart though, but if you decide to risk it, it appears as though you’ll end up with a Spike in a white tank top. There’s certainly a white shirt of some sort underneath the Hawaiin shirt.

Angel’s head sculpt isn’t quite as good as Spike’s, although it did grow on me as I worked with the figure for the photos. In the package, I wasn’t impressed, but once I had it out and looked at it from multiple angles, it was much better.

Still, it is a little long, and the poofy hair, while accurate, adds to the horsey appearance. But it’s a solid Boreanaz overall, effected negatively more by the paint ops than the hand of the sculptor.

Angel’s body is based on the same torso as the Destiny version, simply painted to match the episode. That’s not terrible choice, but the arms are a little weird. They went with the Spike short sleeve arms here, from the Destiny Spike, which are designed for the thinner appearing character. They look a little too small on the beefier torso of Angel, and they have the same issue they did with Spike - they pop off extremely easily. We’re seeing the mixing and matching of body parts that you’d expect with this line, just not in the ways you might expect them.

The hand sculpts work with a couple of the accessories, but most will require rubber bands to stay in place. In fact, there are several rubber bands already in use when you open up the package, and I’d recommend using these in your own display to keep the goodies in their paws.

Paint - **1/2

The paint ops on both figures don’t do justice to either head sculpt. Both sport that same extreme pasty appearance, and while these guys were vampires, they were never quite this white. It is closer for Spike, but it’s much too white for Angel.

The paint is also applied a tad heavy handed, so that areas like the eyebrows end up lacking in detail. Both look like they have caterpillars glued to their forehead. Both also have lip issues, although Spike’s are definitely worse than Angel’s. The color is off, and look more like lipstick than actual lips. Spike also appears to be wearing a little more rouge than usual, usual being none at all. And while I’m complaining about Angel’s eyebrows, they are much better than the ‘worried’ looking ones we saw with the prototype.

The paint work on the shirts is fairly close to the episode, or at least what I can tell from screen caps. There’s a little more red in Spike’s than on the show, and the red in Angel’s is a tad sloppy, but they capture the feel of ridiculousness well, even if they aren’t perfectly accurate.

Articulation - ***1/2

These figures sport the improved articulation, making them very poseable. If you prefer cleaner body sculpts over articulation, you’ll want to check out Diamonds normal line.

Both Spike and Angel come with ball jointed necks, and both work pretty well. Spike’s head tends to sit too low on his neck, and Angel too high, but you can adjust them a little. The heads also pop off easily enough so that swapping these head sculpts with other figures in the line is simple enough.

Angel had ball jointed shoulders, but it’s tough to be sure what kind of shoulders Spike has. They are probably ball jointed, but the one piece rubber shirt makes much movement up and out impossible. They both have double jointed elbows and knees, ball jointed hips, waist, cut wrists, pin ankles, and pin joints at the half foot. While Spike’s ball jointed shoulders aren’t super useful, he does have a cut joint up inside the sleeve - or the ball is jointed on both sides. Either way, his arm can turn inside the sleeve.

While that sounds like a lot of articulation, some is less useful than others. For example, Spike’s shirt makes his chest joint pretty useless (although to be fair, it isn’t super useful in any case), the ankle joints are fairly restricted by the pants on both figures, and the half foot joint on Angel is practically immobile.

Don’t get me wrong though - there are plenty of posing possibilities. Some folks make not be big fans of the odd looking ball jointed hips, but they do work well, and at least on Spike, they are hidden by the shirt. With characters that fight, having all this extra articulation is a huge bonus. Hey, I don’t need it on Cordelia, but having these deluxe versions of Spike and Angel to go with the deluxe versions of Buffy and Faith is mighty nice.

Accessories - ***

Diamond is pretty good about including nifty episode specific accessories, and we get some interesting goodies this time around.

Spike has a stake, a flask, and a pizza box, all quite appropriate to the character. The pizza box does not open, but looks great nonetheless. He can hold the stake in his sculpted left hand, but you’ll need the rubber bands to put anything in his right.

Angel comes with the hat from his outfit in the episode, binoculars, and the club, also right out of the episode in question. The hat is sculpted to fit on his high doo, but has to sit on the back of his head to work. He didn’t wear it like that on the show, and it looks more than a tad goofy. Angel is so damn cool, that even the shirt can’t effect that. But this hat sure can. Mine is now in the big box of never again used accessories.

Fun Factor - ***1/2

These guys are dressed for fun! And the added articulation and sturdy quality make them great for kids young and old. Now Angel can take on deluxe Faith, Marvel Legends Blade, or even Street Fighters Blanka, and hold his own with no problem.

Value - **1/2

This is going to be highly variable, because comic shop pricing tends to be all over the place. I’m guessing these at $25 on average, and you can adjust this score up and down from there.

You are getting two figures in a line where a single usually costs around $12. Of course, there’s some heavy re-use here, but the accessories are episode specific. While there are probably more of these than any of the site specific exclusives, the run is still likely to be pretty short. In the end, the good and bad end up evening out the price around that $25 mark - get them closer to $20, and you’ll be getting a heck of a deal, spend around $30 and you’ll feel seriously abused.

Overall - ***

These figures are cute - but they aren’t really necessary to the average fan. Oh, the hardcore will want them, and they won’t be disappointed. The head sculpts are solid, and I love the episode specific accessories. Better paint ops would have gone a long way to making these a more solid *** (as it is, they are borderline **1/2), but I’ll happily add the pair to my Buffy/Angel display.

Another reason you might want to pick these up: you can do some great swapping around with the Destiny pair. If you’d like to put human heads on those two, this is the quickest way to do it. Below is a photo of this Angel head sculpt with the Destiny Angel body and arms, but the long Destiny Spike coat. You might have to mix and match to get your ultimate version, but it is possible.

Where to buy - There are plenty of online options. Remember, this pair isn’t quite out at retail yet. Here are stores that I deal with regularly:

 if it’s Buffy or Angel related, I always start with Time and Space Toys. The set is $28 there, but if you’re a Buffy Collectors Club member (TST runs the club), it’s closer to $23. One of the big benefits is that they usually carry all products, even exclusives to other sites and shows.

 Amazing Toyz has them listed at $23 for pre-order.

 CornerStoreComics has these guys on pre-order for $23.

 Alter Ego Comics has it listed at $25.48.

Related Links - I’ve reviewed an awful lot of Buffy merchandise over the years, but here’s some of it:

 in the Sideshow line, I’ve reviewed Vamp Darla, Vamp Buffy, Willow, the original Buffy and Angel, Faith, and the Gentlemen.

 there’s also plenty of this 6″ line from DST and MAC, including the deluxe Destiny Spike and Angel, the latest regular Buffy and Dawn figures, deluxe Buffy and Faith, Drusilla and the Gentlemen, Buffy, Giles and Oz, the recent Angel wave, more of the Angel wave, Fred and Illyria, Wesley, Willow and Tara, and the very first series of Angel figures from MAC.

 there’s been plenty of busts, like the Ubervamp, the four monsters from DST, the Becoming Buffy, human Spike, and Buffy vs. Dracula.

 and then there’s the Palz, like the Gentlemen, the Halloween set, and series 1.

 there’s also the oddball stuff, like the Buffy and Angel Christmas ornaments, the Dark Witch Willow statue, the Welcome Faith statue, or the Johnny Lightening cars.