Cassidy

The first series of NECA's Preacher toys will feature two characters - Jesse Custer and Cassidy. Since we already reviewed one, it can't be too surprising that we're now reviewing the other. He may be a vampire, but Cassidy prefers beer to human blood, and the company of his drinking buddies to that of his fellow members of the undead. He'll stand by his friends though thick and thin, even unto death... and then some. Last time, we told you that while Jesse Custer was sold by himself, DC Direct had a full sub-series of Preacher toys to go along with him. It's easy to say that it was Jesse's popularity that led to the enpanded assortment, but toys take a long time to get made. DCD Series 2 came out September 1, 1999, and the Preacher series came out May 10, 2000; there's absolutely no way a company could react to sales figures and get a physical product into stores in just eight months. So while the general popularity of the figures may have convinced them to expand the line and do themed series, it wasn't a direct reaction to Jesse. Not that it matters, as long as we got the toys. It's impressive how much of a leap the quality of the sculpt took in just those few short months. Cassidy's face is still rather soft, since we're talking about an action figure released fully 17 years ago, but there are small wrinkles on his cheeks to match his grin and the detailing in his hair is much better. His glasses are a permanent part of the sculpt, since it wasn't until near the end of the book that we finally saw him without them on. Cassidy is wearing his usual outfit: a T-shirt, blue jeans, heavy boots, and a vest. Plus sunglasses, of course. Ths shirt is tucked into his jeans, and has decently realistic wrinkles where it bunches around the waist. The wrinkles perhaps go a bit overboard on the small of his back, but we've certainly seen worse. We've seen worse at the time, and we've seen worse since. This is fine. Weirdly, though his pants are sculpted with a fly, he's got no pockets at all. Well, he has a pair on his vest, but no pockets at all on his jeans. Strange, right? His stance is more natural than Jesse's, too. He's got one foot in front of the other, as though he's just taken a small step forward. It's not the wildest thing in the world, but at least he's not standing with a hunch, right? The toy has a swivel neck, swivel shoulders, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, T-crotch, and hinged knees, which is about hwat you'd expect from DCD at the time. If there's one thing about the figure that's weird, it's his left hand: it's molded in a big, unnatural C shape. But there's a reason for that. Cassiday has no variants and no action features, but he does have an accessory: since he's a vampire, he comes with a big glass of blood. It's molded from translucent plastic, and fits right into that big, open hand of his, creating a perfect look. Definitely beats molding the piece in there, right? In the comics, Cassidy is the kind of outgoing guy who can become your best friend in a minute - but he's also an abusive asshole who ruins the lives of everyone around him. He was turned into a vampire before he'd ever heard of Dracula, so his idea of what a vampire is supposed to be is just about him, not anything else. He's a complex character, and for the time, this was a really good figure of him. -- 04/27/17

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