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Packaging - **
The good - it's a clamshell. Of course, if you hate clamshells, this
might not be high on your list of 'good' attributes.
The bad - the really dull and uninspired graphics. There's a shot of
the four figures on the back, and the front sports a photo of the actual
actress (or actor). Note to manufacturers: only do this when you are
exceptionally confident in the quality of the sculpt, because it allows the
casual shopper a chance to compare right on the peg.
Sculpting - **
The head sculpt on this figure isn't bad. It won't be sitting on a pedestal
in the Louvre any time soon, but from certain angles, particularly from the
side, it does look enough like Jennifer Garner to get by. If this was
merely graded on the head sculpt, it would be more like a **1/2 or *** score.
But then there's the body. And oh, what a body it is. Now, you
might say "that's exactly what I think every time I see Ms.
Garner!", but that's not what I mean.
The proportions are off for the particular person - for example, the hips
are much wider than the shoulders - and the proportions are also off for a
normal human, with much longer forearms than upper arms, and heads on all four
that are slightly to big for the bodies.
Add in some rather ugly articulation at the hips, and a really unattractive
suit sculpt, and you get a much lower overall score.
I'm not sure why the jacket on Sydney's suit ends so high on her
body. Maybe it's some sort of unique fashion she has going on where the
jacket ends up at the waist, well above the hips, but in a figure like this,
with very obvious hip joints, it looks very odd.
Had the coat come down over the hips, perhaps being made out of the softer
rubbery plastic that Art Asylum used so effectively on the Star Trek figures,
it would have looked much, much better. And considering that this is a
specialty market figure that costs a decent amount of green, that's not too
much to expect.
And while I don't have one to compare, I'm 99% sure this is the same body
we saw on the convention exclusive version from last summer.
The one shining star is the hand sculpts, designed to work pretty well with
the accessories.
Paint - ***
The paint ops aren't bad, although they aren't anything to get excited about
on this particular version. Some of the other figures, especially the
rave outfit, have a lot more color and detail, but here we see a pretty basic
black suit, with the only real detail work in the face.
The skin tone is fairly consistent, as is the black of the suit. The shoes
are a shinier finish to imply a different material, and that works well.
Articulation - ***
In terms of sheer number of points, I almost gave this figure another half
star. She has neck (restricted a bit by the hair sculpt), ball
shoulders, pin elbows, ball hips, double jointed knees, and ankles with a
very, very limited range of movement.
Unfortunately, the sculpting and articulation do not work well together
here, and rather than a marriage made in heaven, we have a marriage that
belongs in divorce court.
Accessories - ***
She comes with three accessories - a gun, a laptop, and a base.
The base is nice enough, but not required fortunately. I did have to
lean her a bit forward in every pose due to the foot sculpt, but I had no
trouble getting her to stand on her own with a little effort. The stand
will make tougher poses possible though.
The computer is acceptable, but lacks paint detail. Something on the
screen - even a sticker - would have really helped it's appearance.
The gun sculpt is good, and it fits easily in either hand.
Fun Factor - **
As a toy for kids, she has lots of articulation but isn't a character than the
average 7 year old boy will be interested in. As a toy (the fun kind)
for adults, the lack of a decent body sculpt hurts her quite a bit.
Value - **
At $12 - $13, this is an average specialty market toy price.
Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to the quality of other specialty market
offerings from SOTA, NECA, Mcfarlane, Mezco or Palisades.
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