Buffy's stake - poor quality?

[michaelcrawford]

I'm putting together a review for tonight on the Factory X Buffy Stake. Gotta say I'm not impressed, but I also suspect that the one I received had been opened and handled, causing some of the issues, but not all.

So to discern what issues are specific to my example, and what general issues there were, what are other people's experiences? I found the quality of the box was much weaker than I expected, with some wrinkles in the inside box lid cloth, and the cloth not glued down well. Also, the nameplate on the top of mine was crooked, which looks like it had been reglued by the dealer. Are the screws holding this in place too short? that's what appeared to be the case when I took it apart to correct it. Also, the exterior of the box seems to knick and ding very easily, with a very thin veneer.

If I'd paid $80 for this, I would have been sorely upset. I got it much cheaper than that, but what has been others experience?

[xtinaslayer]

i LOVE mine..well only cos it was my first replica n its somethin buffy always use. i always dreamt of puting it in my bag n go patrolling at night...think i'm too fanatic.
i do think that the price we pay is for the box. the box cover is NICE, the velvety thingy is ok but the one thing i don like is the font is kinda un-seen n it catches dust easily.
my frens saw the stake n box and they all agree the price went to the box and NOT the stake.
but i'm pleased. though i hope it was mr pointy replica instead

[BillyBudd]

Nameplate - no problems
Black exterior - few light marks; not noticeable except under close inspection
Black cloth - couple edges aren't glued perfectly; not noticeable except under close inspection
Red cloth - couple small kinks; kind of annoying
Stake - paint job seems OK, but nothing special

I thought the quality of the red cloth was the most disappointing part of the prop. It should have been made of a heavier material. Overall, I'm satisfied, but this prop isn't what I would consider a good value.

[philnjill]

There are no problems with my stake - except maybe some minor glue imperfections in the cloth. There is also nothing exceptional in my stake. I will probably sell it. It doesn't "grab" me.

[madvicks]

I actually had two as I sent one back to FPI for a replacement and then sent the replacement back.

On one the outer black box was scratched badly along the edges on the outer and inner on the box and yes, the name plate was crooked.

Inside, the velvet was unstuck along one edge and the top and fraying on one with loads of glue slopped around and on the other just had loads of glue on show all around the edges.

Both stakes had chunks out of them and I felt for £75 (GBP£ not $) the wood of the stake was very poor quality, I had the impression of reformed wood, you know the stuff made from comperessed bits of paper and wood like plywood. Even balsalm wood would have given a better finish and still be cheap. The stain on the stake was poorly applied too, with missed patches and where it was well it looked flat and dull. IMO it needed another 2 or 3 coats of stain and then a clear varnish to finish it off, give it a nice sheen and protect it.

Also, you know the supposed gold imprint in the lid about the Chosen One info, well my 2 were an unreadable yucky brown and not gold.

After all the hype I was very disappointed and in truth, a few years back I bought a $10 stake off eBay, its not stained and was only made by someone at home with no skill and it is much better quality, shape and representation to the ones Buffy used.

I was also terribly disappointed that the cloth colour was changed the purple was so much better than the yucky red as I term it.

To say something positive, well, the cardboard wrap was nice.

[buffyville]

This bothers me, Why are some of the prop replicas THROWN together cheaply?

Yet the prices are high? Do they think we are not smart enough to catch these issues, Do they want to keep our future business?

Im not getting the stake now. I was thrilled the the Orb Lid would not fit on the box WITH the ball (Orb) in it. Can you say... Poor Design??

-Val

[sergeiesenin]

buffyville said:

This bothers me, Why are some of the prop replicas THROWN together cheaply?

Yet the prices are high? Do they think we are not smart enough to catch these issues, Do they want to keep our future business?

Im not getting the stake now. I was thrilled the the Orb Lid would not fit on the box WITH the ball (Orb) in it. Can you say... Poor Design??

I have some of FactoryX's older non-Buffy prop replicas, and they're high quality, beautiful pieces. FactoryX used to have a good reputation for good replicas at great prices. But starting at least as far back as some of the first Sleepy Hollow pieces, designs became less accurate to the real props with less design effort and QC invested. The purchase by Palisades didn't help, and apparenty budgets and quality seem to have gotten worse. All of the Buffy props have been disappointing, even though I've bought many for lack of better versions. The Sword of Angelus looks less screen-accurate than a commonly available $50 Tizona del Cid sword; the issues with the Vampyr book, stake, and orb are well-known; and the Scythe is beautiful but flawed, with parts which should be chrome-y but aren't, a poorly applied leatherette grip, and my own has a tiny bubble in the shiny blade which could cause flaking and the rubber wrap around the red upper grip has already come loose.

We've been grateful that anyone has been doing Buffy props, and bought them eagerly. We've been satisfied with their positive aspects and largely overlooked their flaws. But the truth is FactoryX has been putting out very cheap, flawed, and/or inaccurate items for a long while.