Deluxe Spike/Angel review

[michaelcrawford]

Tonight is one of those nifty early reviews, where I get lucky enough to cover a product that's not quite out yet. This time around it's the new Deluxe (i.e. more articulated) Spike and Angel from Diamond Select! There are actually quite a few variants in this wave, just as you'd expect, but tonight I'm just covering the main two guys, Destiny Spike and Angel. I love the extra articulation, but I had a couple minor quibbles, particularly with Angel.

You can find all the reviews at the usual:

www.mwctoys.com

Thanks for reading!

Michael
MWC

[FM]

Thanks. Nice review. I cant wait for the figures...I'm less excited now about the chases. I still want them, but it seems silly to shell out that kind of money for repainted heads. Maybe I'll just buy the chases when they first come out and hope for some really good deals on the regular figures.

[Girl Power]

I really like the vamp Spike head I think it's my favorite of all the vamp Spike heads. I also want the vamp Spike for his jacket and cross. I'm just going to buy one Angel so I can get the little table that holds the Cup of Perpetual torment.

However, I'm really psyched for the other Deluxe figures, especially the Hawaiian shirt Spike. He has such a great likeness. I love the head on the 50's Angel too.

[hitnrun017]

Thanks Michael! These look great! Although I will probably just get these two so I can save money.

[buffyfannumerouno]

Thanks for the review, they look amazing. The packaging, the sculpts, the paint jobs, everything about the figures I like. I can't wait to get these next month, they will be here before you know it. One question though, is the Spike picture and the Angel picture on the package a sticker, like it was with Buffy and Faith??

[michaelcrawford]

Nope, not a sticker. The photos are printed on the inserts.

[Haephestus]

Thanks for the review.

They both look good, though I still cannot understand DST's reasoning behind the non-ball jointed jacket arms given how well SOTA did with the jacket arms on their Lara Croft figure.

Also, Spike's short sleeves look too long. They come down to his elbow and are flared as opposed to coming to mid-bicep and being fitted. I guess its due to re-use from the Hawaiian arms, but it looks odd and distracting.

Looking forward to the reviews of the other deluxe figures as well.

Cheers,
Haeph.

[The Second Evil]

WOW! I'm really impressed by them. Especially Spike, who has the best vampire head sculpt we've ever seen. Angel is alright, but I guess you can't have one without having the other I'm curious to see how the other deluxes turned out. However, I'm fuming that they are being released in such short succession to Buffy/Dawn.

[Haephestus]

Question for Michael:

The review indicates that the Angel figure doesn't have a mid-foot hinge, but the pics kinda look like the figure might. Could you confirm if it has one or not?

Cheers,
Haeph.

[Alyrenee]

Nice review..helpful as always. I dig that spike...especially the last pic with the hunk of wood....

[michaelcrawford]

haephestus said:

Question for Michael:

The review indicates that the Angel figure doesn't have a mid-foot hinge, but the pics kinda look like the figure might. Could you confirm if it has one or not?

Cheers,
Haeph.

No, he doesn't have the mid foot.

[Deadpool]

Thanks for the review........i want them both.....Angel isn't so good but will still get him....but what ever happened to the inter changable heads? wasn't there human destiny deluxes or was i dreaming that?

[stakey]

I cant wait to get spike.

I really wanna give him a head swap with school hard spike, so I can have a SH vamp spike and display him in the library playset!
Also, these accessories are great but Im not too keen on angel. I doubt I will buy him and the same goes for the bloody variants.
The normal vamp spike will do me fine.

[ajmets]

Michael,

In the picture where Spike and Angel are next to eachother it appears that Spike is taller than Angel (at the very least, the same height). Is that just the picture or is that reality? Spike in real life is quite a bit shorter than Angel.

[Girl Power]

ajmets said:

Michael,

In the picture where Spike and Angel are next to eachother it appears that Spike is taller than Angel (at the very least, the same height). Is that just the picture or is that reality? Spike in real life is quite a bit shorter than Angel.

At Wiz World LA someone from DST told me that they are making all the parts from the Deluxe line uniform in size, so they will be interchangeable. That way they will increase their library of parts. Because of that, Spike and Angel will be the same size.

[ajmets]

Thank you Girl Power. I can see Diamond just refuses to be accurate. That's really cheaping out.

[JBHpet]

This has always been the format of the deluxe figures. Faith and Buffy used the same bodies, so do Spike and Angel. It is just a little more noticiable with the vampires, since Spike is quite a bit shorter than Angel.

I think the Angel figures looks great!

[stakey]

I'm really not bothered about the heights in the slightest.

I think they look great and the deluxe figures are more about poseablity and playing with than ornament style accuracy.

Plus its much cheaper for DST and therefore for us I guess.

[michaelcrawford]

ajmets said:

Michael,

In the picture where Spike and Angel are next to eachother it appears that Spike is taller than Angel (at the very least, the same height). Is that just the picture or is that reality? Spike in real life is quite a bit shorter than Angel.

In reality - or published reality - Spike is only 2" shorter than Angel. In twelveth scale, that translates to only a 1/6" of an inch difference in their height, something that would be close to unnoticeable. And yes, the figures are pretty much the same height.

However, their arms, legs and torsos are not the same size. Angel is bulkier all around.

[michaelcrawford]

joehill said:

This has always been the format of the deluxe figures. Faith and Buffy used the same bodies, so do Spike and Angel. It is just a little more noticiable with the vampires, since Spike is quite a bit shorter than Angel.

I think the Angel figures looks great!

Let me reiterate - these are not the same bodies. Spike is thinner in the arms, legs and torso. You should be able to see this in the photo where they stand next to each other. Now, the pelvis might be the same, but I'm not even going there.