Packaging - ***
It's the same packaging we've been treated to for the rest of the
line. The front of the card isn't anything to write home about, but
the back has a great shot of Marsters, along with pictures of the other
figures, current and planned.
Accessories - ****
Spike comes with seven, yes SEVEN accessories, all of them quite
lethal. Well, if your a vamp anyway. Coolest of the set is the
gold crucifix with cloth wrapped around it to protect Spike's own
hand. There are also various pointy weapons, including a fire place
poker.
Spike also comes with a terrific base. It looks great, and it's
really the only way to display the figure.
Sculpt - ***
Wow. Of the entire Buffy line, this sculpt is the best.
They've capture Spike dead on, and even the slouched body sculpt works
with the character. So why not four stars? Because of the hand
sculpts. Sure, the hands look great - but neither can hold a single
weapon. Why give us seven accessories, and make everyone of them
useless with this figure? I consider that a MAJOR flaw, and a real
disappointment. If they had made at least one of the hands capable
of holding something, I would have given this figure four stars for
sculpting. Paint - **1/2
The face paint looks pretty sweet on these, and they've captured the
vampire pallor well. The eyes are a little dicey on some of these,
so you have to be picky. Unfortunately the paint on the jacket is
not so good. The black is uneven and splotchy, and looked poor on
several figures I inspected. I'm also not thrilled with the worn
look on the paints, but at least it's done well. Articulation - ***
This is a tough call. There's plenty of articulation - neck,
shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, thighs, and knees. But most of
the articulation in the legs is worthless. The arm articulation is
good, and allows a lot of poses. But the feet are sculpted such that
the only way to stand Spike is on the base, in a single walking
stance. If you're going to force us to display him in only one pose
for his legs, you might as well just sculpted them that way in the first
place.
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