"Graduation Day" Faith

Continuing our reviews of the super-articulated Buffy the Vampire Slayer figures by Diamond Select Toys, today we have the normal Faith figure, "Graduation Day" Faith. Also read my review of "Graduation Day" Buffy here! All of the Buffy and Faith figures come in a nice if a little plain clamshell with a picture of Buffy/Faith on one half, figure displayed proudly in plastic on the other. The back displays all of the super-articulated figures in the line as well as a little description of the two characters. Inside, the backing opens up as a brochure with details about other Buffy figures and minibusts. Overall, it's nice enough for the MOC collector but not as nice as the earlier carded Buffy figures, but with plenty of protection in the clamshell. Faith's sculpt isn't quite as spectacular as Buffy's, particularly in likeness, in which Faith is well off. From specific angles her face doesn't look too bad, but directly her face is much too fat, her eyes too big and high on her face, and head too long. Her hair too looks odd, particularly without her jacket, in which it floats in mid air without the jacket to hang on to. Notice also that the light shade of lipstick on this Faith doesn't look nearly as good as the darker tone seen on the "Bad Girls" variant. Faith's body sculpt is the same as Buffy's, which is not quite accurate - Faith was (thankfully) never as skinny as the often dangerously thin Sarah Michelle Gellar. But the fashion is right, with a great replica of Faith's top and also the tattoo on her right upper arm. Although the arm articulation is as blatant on Faith as it is on Buffy, it doesn't look as bad on her. There's a bit of paint overspray on her top, but otherwise paint apps are well done. This major drawback is her facial sculpt, which could have been much better across the line. The articulation remains constant across this line, and it's really good. Like Buffy, Faith has a balljointed neck, shoulders (without coat) and legs, then jointed torso, upper-arms, upper-legs, knees, elbows, wrist, feet and mid-shoe. The shoulder articulation is once again a trade off, as she has balljointed shoulders without the jacket, but only swivel-joints with. My preferance is without, as she looks more like Faith without the big jacket and she's better to kick ass. Accessories are where the "Graduation Day" Faith earns her keep, with the better allotment of the two. Aside from having no stakes, which does make sense to the Faith-vampire-stakingless episode, she's armed up with several weapons, all of which make perfect sense and make for some good play value. First up, she has her special bladed knife, a gift from the late Mayor Wilkins III, covered in blood after it was twisted into her by Buffy. She can hold it nicely, as can Buffy, and it looks great - those who would prefer it bloodless can easily repaint the blade a single color of silver. Secondly, she has the bow and arrow that she fired at Angel to give him the vampire-killing disease; it's nicely decorated despite the fact that the arrow is hilariously oversized, and looks great in her hands; the arrow fits easily onto the bow, but doesn't fire. Finally, she features a metal pipe, a suitable weapon for her misguided deeds. As with Buffy, she includes the same interchangeable arms and jacket attire, although her bare right arm includes that nifty tattoo, a very nice detail. This isn't the best Faith figure we've seen, sadly, only because of the poor face sculpt, which should have been fixed before these figures were mass-produced. After the excellent job they did on all of the Buffy figures, there's no reason to have done a poor job on all the Faiths, all who feature the same head sculpts. It's a shame, too, because the accessories are great and the articulation is superb, making it the best articulated Faith we've seen. Ultimately, I only recommend this figure if you don't mind the head sculpt, or want to touch it up with a customise - otherwise, it's not to the same high standard as set by the Buffys. -- 10/16/10

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