Anybody who knows me can attest that I’m a huge fan of all things Buffy. I also love when non-animated properties get the animated treatment, as with Gentle Giant’s Star Wars Animaquettes. So it stands to reason that I have much love for Electric Tiki’s line of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tooned Up Television Maquettes. The newest piece released in this line is Willow, and here’s my review.
The Willow animated statue is in scale with the previously released Buffy one, standing around 11″ tall. Willow comes in two pieces in the box: the main figure and the separate display base. The first striking thing I noticed after opening this collectible was the way the figure attaches to the base. Most statues stand on their pedestal with some sort of peg and hole mechanism. Not so with this one. Instead of plugging directly into the base, Willow “levitates” by simply standing on the magic tendrils that rise from the base. The tendrils are formed in such a way that you can slip her feet into them in a manner that supports the figure without using any unsightly supports or metal pins. I’ve been a bit wary about this method of support, but it really does look fantastic, and so far it’s proven to be very stable.
Willow is depicted here in her outfit from the season five episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in which she faces the immortal hell goddess Glory. Her famous line from that scene, “You owe me pain!”, is emblazoned on the otherwise gorgeous statue box. The only thing missing to complete the scene is Willow’s floating bag of knives that she hurls at Glory. A Glory maquette is on the way from Electric Tiki next year, so I definitely forsee a diorama of sorts forming in my Buffy collection.
Just as the Buffy maquette doesn’t look like Sarah Michelle Gellar, the Willow one doesn’t really look like Alyson Hannigan at all. With these animated style pieces, though, the likeness is secondary to the overall stylistic coolness. Tracy Mark Lee has done a fabulous job of bringing his trademark style to the Buffy universe, and having these collectibles makes me almost okay with not getting to see the prematurely canceled Buffy animated TV show. From the sculpts to the paints to the general poses and engineering, these are high quality pieces that are well worth the investment.
As with the previous Buffy maquette, my only complaint about the Willow one concerns the packaging. The inner styrofoam insert that holds the statue in place does not interlock to close; it’s just two pieces of styrofoam hollowed out in the right areas and slapped together. I’d really prefer a more form fitting foam insert like most collectible statues ship with these days. The packaging design for Willow is very nice, providing an attractive box bearing both photos of the Willow statue and snippets of concept art of Willow in various poses in the animated style. The “You owe me pain!” line is printed in bright purple on the front and back of the box, and I’m not too crazy about how that looks. Otherwise, this is a perfect piece that should be welcome in any Buffy collection.
( Buffy the Vampire Slayer Animated Willow Statue Photos )
