Figure Review: Amy Pond

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Doctor Who

Amy Pond

5 Inch Scale

By: Character Options

$13.99

So a little while back I did a figure review and apparently it garnered rave reviews of its own, so I figured I would keep it up by doing a few more toy reviews now and then, to intersperse between my DVD reviews. With that shaky premise out of the way, on to the review!

Packaging

Fans of the new Doctor Who series are very familiar with Amy Pond. She is the 11th Doctor’s first companion, and a good deal of the drama of the last season revolved around her life. It’s funny how in the classic series the companion’s own lives never seemed to be so front and center to the stories, while the new seasons all seem to spend a good deal of time tied to how significant the lives the companions are leaving behind are. Oh well, best save that for the DVD reviews, and on to the figures.Amy comes in the same box the new Who figures come in. As I said in my review of the 11th Doctor, I’m not a huge fan of these new boxes. For one thing, they, like the new Daleks, are very squatty and wide looking. I have a shelf of all the single card Doctors in boxes, and the 11th Doctor’s box just looks odd next to the more streamlined boxes the rest come in.

Amy’s box does have a nice, clear window you can see her through. The back shows images of the other figures to collect, without any bio or background.

Also, when you look at the available figures for this first run I have to say it’s a bit disappointing. The last season featured a number of really interesting characters, and this run seems to have focused on only a very scant and odd assortment of them. Why no Rory, or River Song? Or Queen Liz? Were children everywhere clamoring for a Professor Bracewell figure? Hey look kids, he comes with extra wistfulness. But I digress.

Amy is held in with a few twists on her arms and legs, but nothing excessive. And since she has no accessories to speak of, there is no tape to be seen.

Sculpt :

The sculpt on Amy is actually pretty good. Her hair looks as good as any of the other females I have seen done in these lines, and her face is very close the real Karen Gillan. They eyes look a bit vacant, but not in a way that is distracting.

I will say that, I’m not sure if it is the paint or the expression, but Amy does look a little too severe in her expression. I have the follow up figure of Amy in the Police Costume, and for some reasons the face on that figure seems softer somehow. I think they did the eye paint differently on it, which gives her expression more of the vulnerability that Amy has in the series. Regardless, it’s a nice sculpt, just a bit off in the eyes.

Since this is a CO figure, it’s also full of the little details that are so neat. The skirt and belt have texture to them, and all the little ridges and bumps are raised and painted. Her boots look almost like real leather, and have some very nice texture work done on them. Her jacket and shirt are also nicely done. Even her jewelry is raised and painted, including the face on her watch. All in all this is a very nice sculpt with almost no visible paint slop, and very nice detail.

Articulation :

This is the category where this figure loses some points. What’s funny is that, after saying how nice the sculpt was, it is actually the sculpt itself that cost this figure points.

We’ll start with the good. Amy’s arms rotate at the shoulders, her elbows bend, and swivel at the upper arm. Her hands rotate, but not at the wrists. Instead, her hands turn at the point where her arms come out of her jacket. Amy’s waist also turns, although with the way her torso is sculpted she does look a little odd twisted to the side.

Now the bad. Amy’s head can turn a tiny bit, but with the way her hair is sculpted it is impossible to turn it very much at all. I suppose if I really forced it I could get it to turn, but I don’t want to scratch up the paint just to get her to look to the left.

Then there are the legs. Amy has all the standard leg joints of these Who figures, with joints at the knees, swivel at the thigh, and Who crotch hips, but the problem is her skirt. Because it is made of molded rubber (I think) it has a little flex, but because it is so tight it is very hard to move her legs in any real way. Amy cannot sit, or run. She can just kick one leg back and kind of look like she is quickly strolling. Her legs also can’t really do any of the Who crotch bends, and that, coupled with how bad the knee joints actually look, makes me wonder why they just didn’t sculpt solid legs and forget about the articulation.

Value :

The best price I found for this figure was from Entertainment Earth, who wanted about 13 bucks +shipping. Amazon wants 24, which is way too much. Even at 13 this figure is a little pricey.

Still, as a piece to just sit around and look nice this is not a bad figure. It goes well with my 11th Doctor on a shelf over my desk. I just don’t have many posing options because of the skirt.

Score Recap :

Packaging: 8/10

Sculpt: 9/10

Articulation: 6/10

Price: 8/10

Value: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

If you can get this on the cheap, I recommend it. But if you want a figure you can actually pose and move around I recommend waiting until they do a later Amy release in pants. For now this is something to look nice on a shelf, but not much beyond that.