DST Season 7 Xander/Pylean Princess Cordelia review

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Michael Crawford

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Well, they aren't 12" tall, but they are Whedonville...

Tonight is one of those early reviews, of a product *not* quite out yet, but hitting any day. This time it's the new Season 7 Xander and Pylean Princess Cordelia from the latest wave of Diamond Select Buffy/Angel figures. There's actually five versions of Xander, and 3 of Cordelia in this wave, and I'll be covering a couple more next week.

You can find all the reviews at the usual:

https://www.mwctoys.com

Have a great weekend, and try to keep cool!

Michael
MWC
 
Great review as usual.

Im not getting that xander now lol,I will what chosen xanders like.

As for her,I will see whats shes like in hand as I would like her and wish one,But if shes horrid in hand then its just wish for me.

Your welcome the best one???I thought that was the ugly one.....

The gift is my fav.
 
In hand, You're Welcome looks much better than the prototypes. Then again, I think the whole wave actually looks better in person than the prototypes did.
 
An interesting review as always.

The Cordy seems...okay, but I agree with your remarks about the the body.


I have to be honest here and say that the Xander is hideous! No way does that look like the character I followed all those years on Buffy. I showed this pic to a load of Buffy fans on live journal and all of them said it looked more like some bloke off the street that had all his front teeth removed.

I have to agree, there's something very strange going on in the 'mouth dept' with him. Xander always did have a strangely turned mouth, but he never looked toothless like he does here.


Unless I can get him dirt cheap on eBay I think I'll be giving him a miss.
 
Well, then, you're definitely not going to like the second Xander I review. I went with the better Xander and worse Cordy for the first review, with the better Cordy and worse Xander paired up for the second.
 
Oh dear god don't say that. I've seen photo's of all the Xanders and the new Giles and I have to say what struck me first was the appauling likenesses, not just a bit out, but waaaaaay out.


I know 'beauties in the eye of the beholder' and all that, but these are some seriously weird looking figures. It's a great shame becuase I love the bodies and bases, but once again it goes to show that certain toy companies are lost without good scans of the actors to work from.
 
Well they should be ashamed of themseleves then.

The DST Spike series was created using a scan, and looked how beautifully accurate they looked, so what happened with this lot?

I work in an industry where good portait sculptors are hard to find, but are there if you look hard enough and pay them well enough. My friend is a senior portait sculptor for madame Tusssauds in London for example and he is very good at this sort of thing.

I don't know if the lack of really good sculptors for these type of toys is caused by DST not attracting the right kind of sculptors due to low pay or something, but whatever it is it's certainly ruining their current line in my opinion judging by these latest images.
 
sueworld said:
Well they should be ashamed of themseleves then.

The DST Spike series was created using a scan, and looked how beautifully accurate they looked, so what happened with this lot?

I work in an industry where good portait sculptors are hard to find, but are there if you look hard enough and pay them well enough. My friend is a senior portait sculptor for madame Tusssauds in London for example and he is very good at this sort of thing.

I don't know if the lack of really good sculptors for these type of toys is caused by DST not attracting the right kind of sculptors due to low pay or something, but whatever it is it's certainly ruining their current line in my opinion judging by these latest images.

Scans do not, on their own, produce good realistic likenesses. They produce good mannequinn-like likenesses. Yes, they do look like the person, but they are never dynamic or lifelike. Gentle Giant is the expert in scanning, so there's no problem there.

The issue is that the scans have to be fixed up by a sculptor - someone has to step in and give them life, make them dynamic, and add the 'character'. Scanning saves money, because it gets the basic proportions and features down much more quickly and accurately than a sculptor can. But if it's the end, you get a dull, uninteresting zombie like appearance - it can be accurate, but without much life.
 
Oh I'm already aware of that love. But a scan can be turned into a really good peice of work in the right sculptors hands. Gentle giant obvioulsy aren't the right one then...sadly.
 
Oh lord, you can say that again.

Trouble is it's partIally DST's fault for passing the prototype in the first place. They should have got it altered in the early stages, and maybe we wouldn't have ended up with this.
 
Oh god thats the best xander:rolleyes:

I thought chosen or vamp was better.
Is chosen worse?or vamp?

I only want chosen.

Have you seen wish cordy,is she ok?
 
Hmmm - don't think I've seen a production Wish Cordy yet, but I'm not much of a fan of her in a dress.

Vamp Xander doesn't count for me - the vamp versions are always better than the unvamped.
 
I really like the wish cordy as its a simple cordy from series 3 that can go in my library playset.

Is chosen xander better than this ugly xander as he's the one I want.

I like princess cordys head and dress,its her body and arms I h8.
 
Boy, these two figures are a painful reminder as to why I just don't collect the DST Buffy/Angel lines. BLEECH!!! :monkey4 :monkey4 :monkey4

The only figures that I've been tempted with was the Destiny Angel and Spike pair... probably, like you said Michael, because they are vamp faced. :rolleyes:
 
Scanning will never take the place of a good human sculpt by talented hands. Plain and simple. You wouldn't expect a computer to write a string quartet better than Beethoven, would you? :cool:
 
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