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Hey Sulley! This retahd thinks Hahvahd Yahd's a fookin' PAHKIN' laht!
Faith is the rogue Slayer. Called after Drusilla had killed
Kendra, she is unconventional and emotionally scarred: a combination destined to create disaster. Hungry from the "thrill of the hunt," she is quite sure that being a Slayer makes her better than everybody else and believes herself to be immune to laws and rules. Upon leaving Sunnydale, she arrives in Los Angeles only to be hired by Wolfram & Hart for the sole purpose of ridding them of their worst threat, Angel. After she tries to convince Angel to take her life, she is denied and subsequently comes under his care until she turns herself into the police where she reportedly still resides.
Season 2 of Buffy came a long way from its predecessor, but it wasn't until Season 3 that the show really seemed to grow into itself, to find its voice. An impressively menacing threat, the payoff of two seasons' worth of foreshadowing, and a cast that finally, truly, gelled. For the first time, the show was consistently firing on all cylinders. Part of that energy was the dark Slayer, Faith.
MAC's toys just keep getting better: ornate bases,
wonderful sculpts, tons of accessories, and functional articulation all add up to killer offerings. They've had the Buffy license since the beginning, and now they're running wild with her spin-off, Angel. Faith here is part of Angel Series 1, along with figures of Angel and Cordelia. Angel is a gritty series, and the toys reflect that - the display bases are all sections of grungy sidewalk. Faith, appropriately enough, is backed into a corner; there's an overturned trashcan spilling its contents (including a tattered rag doll - oooh, symbolism!) on the ground, a really quite detailed aerosol can, and a rat running for cover.
Played by Bahstan native Eliza Dushku, Faith was strong and brave,
but still had an underlying vulnerability. In fact, it was her envy of Buffy's normal life that eventually led her to turn to the dark side. RealScan has given us a nearly passable likeness of Ms. Dushku, but not quite as good as one may hope; there are other figures in Moore's Buffy lines that look more like the actors who portray them: for now, high technology has nothing on a man with lump of clay. Of course, maybe my expectations are a bit higher, since we're talking about such a hottie here.
Faith is by no means the girly-girl that Buffy is,
but she does have her own sense of femininity; rather than the capris and spaghetti straps that fill young Ms. Summers' closet, Faith is wearing thick-soled Docs, lowrider jeans, and a belly shirt. The normal figure is wearing a white top (why is it never raining when you want it to!) and black pants - online retailer Action Figure Xpress had an exclusive variant, as well, featuring Faith in a black top, burgundy pants and a leather jacket. In order to accommodate the added bulk of the jacket, Faith's hair has been slightly resculpted, raising it up slightly.
Even the Slayers' body language speaks of their differences - while Buffy's usually given a fairly demure pose, Faith's feet are set wide to provide a stable base for an ass-kicking. It also keeps her from standing a full 6" tall. She's got a swivel neck (blocked by her hair), swivel shoulders and biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, swivel waist, V-crotch, swivel thighs, hinged knees and ankles. Not perfect, but really darn good, and she deserves it. And check out the crisp paint on her barbed tattoo!
To help kick all that butt, Faith comes with a fine selection of weaponry: a high-tech crossbow, a bloody stake (perhaps freshly pulled from the deputy mayor?), a compound bow, and an excellent recreation of the knife that the Mayor gave Faith for her birthday - also covered in blood, most likely Faith's own.
Faith never had a last name on Buffy, but apparently Joss Whedon has decreed that it's Lehane - appropriately Bahstonian, after all. Faith Lehane. Better that than "Faith Wahlberg" or "Faith Affleck," right? Whatever you want her "real" name to be, this is probably the best Faith toy we'll ever get.
-- 09/2002
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