Collectibles Reviews

I currently have nine 6-inch figures of Willow Rosenberg from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," including one where she is wearing a Dingos Ate My Baby t-shirt. What we have here is the Vampire Willow from the fun filled season three episodes "The Wish" and "Dopplegangland." There is a similarly dressed figure of Willow decked out in the Vampire Willow's tight leather outfit. The difference between the two is simply the head on top of the figure. Here we have Willow in vamp face, fangs bared in an open mouth with blood dripping down her chin (the other has Willow's human face, mouth closed, no fangs, and no blood).

You can take your pick as to which episode Vampire Willow really represents because Alyson Hannigan wore the same outfit ("Wow. Look at those") in both episodes. Since the non-Vampire Willow in the Vampire Willow outfit is from "Dopplegangland" I tend to think of this out as being from that episode as well. Joss Whedon worte and directed that one (Marti Noxon wrote "The Wish"), which probably explains why "Dopplegangland" is probably my favorite Willow episode. This is entirely due to watching Willow pretend to be Vampire Willow with her clandestine high sign to Oz being one of her all time cutest moments (and the look of love he gives her is pretty good too). But then there is where she mops up the floor with Percy and when she shows up at the library and wants to know who died. Okay, so none of those are Vampire Willow moments, but there are those too, as when she realizes Xander is alive alive, recruits the vampire thugs sent by the Mayor to be her minions, enduring the lecture from Cordelia on stealing boyfriends, and, of course, those priceless moments when she is shot with the tranquilizer gun by Willow and then set back to her own dimension at a really bad time.

Vampire Willow has one of the best vamped out faces we have seen in these "BtVS" and "Angel" figures to date, but the red hair is straighter than what Hannigan was wearing that season, which would be my biggest complaint about this particular figure. The figure has limited articulation: neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. The figure stands on a base with the biggest blood splatter you have seen in some while. There is a hole in the right heel that goes on the blood-covered peg so that the figure stands up right (which is proving to be a problem with the new deluxe action figures of Buffy and Faith). In terms of accessories there is a pair of manacles, a bullwhip, and a box of matches. I was thinking maybe the hands came off so that you could put the manacles on the figure, but that did not prove to be the case. The key thing here is that you have Willow in leather. Besides, you do not have to choose between these two Willows, you can go get them both.

I've kept mine in the box because it looks so nice. It looks better in person than on the picture. I like the fact that it is like a barbie version of an action figure. The arms and the legs are very bendable.

Very please with product. It is much larger than expected. Of course the recipient will not be removing it from the box. It is meant to be a collector item. But it looks well made and very sturdy. Would definitely recommend if you are a barbie fan.

This is a great toy for Barbie fans that are comic book fans , and a good way to introduce girls to the male dominated realm of comic book superheroes . Barbie makes a great fashion doll but a lousy superhero , though . My primary recommendation for this action set is for use in kit-bashing . The Batgirl costume is well made and much higher quality than the figure only Barbie Batgirl . The costume works nicely on a REAL female action figure , Takara's Cool Girls for example . The high point of this toy , however , is the Batcycle ; one of the finest 1/6 scale motorbikes produced at a reasonable price . It has great detail and looks even better with a custom re-paint . Very tough as well , it took me an entire day to tear it apart for the custom repaint . The doll , also , is sturdy and requires a great deal of effort to pop apart . This is a MUST BUY
toy for both Barbie fans, collectors or action figure customizers !