And, as any good conspiracy theorist knows, there's never been a TV show quite like X-FILES. With a mixture of a long, never ending story arc about aliens and our own shadowy government, and one shot episodes that covered the usual and unusual Monster of the Week, X-Files was a rather eclectic mix of spooky. If the monsters in the sewer didn't get you, the G-man did.

I made the mistake once of watching a whole bunch of X-Files episodes in a row, night after night...it only took a little while before I began screaming at Scully "How the hell can you NOT believe after what you've just seen!!!" This was a show that worked best with at least a week between episodes, so your brain got as fuzzy as hers.

There have been plenty of X-files figures so far, and even more failed attempts to produce them. The license has floated around with four or five different companies over the years, but only Sideshow has managed to produce any sixth scale items.

Their first release was Mulder and Scully of course, both released in 2004. In the People's Pick Awards for Best/Worst of 2004, my readers picked Scully as the best 12" figure of the year, and poor Mulder as the worst 12" male figure of the year. Sideshow isn't wrapping up there of course, and have just released the Cigarette Smoking Man, with pre-orders up for Agent Doggett (two versions!) and Frank Black (another two versions!). These three pre-orders are long sold out directly from Sideshow, but I have some suggestions on where else you can pick them up at the end of the review.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"Cigarette Smoking Man"

CSM was named such because he had no real name, at least not in the beginning. The character was shadowy and mysterious, working behind the scenes to help and hurt, always in his own best interest.

Sideshow actually produced two versions of this figure, the regular at an edition size that hasn't yet been set, and the exclusive version, at an edition size of 750. The exclusive contains an additional accessory, a tan trench coat, and is the subject of tonight's review.

Actually, the X-Files license is unique in that every figure currently listed - Mulder, Scully, Black, CSM, and Doggett - are all done in both a regular and a Sideshow exclusive version.

Packaging - ****
The X-Files packaging shows off Sideshow's design talents quite nicely. The front sports excellent graphics, with a large head shot of our very own Spender, along with decent text and graphics around the rest of the box.

There's only one twisty all the way through the plastic and cardboard inserts, and just two more on the wrists. In general, it's very collector friendly, and looks great to boot.

Sculpting - ***1/2
This is a fantastic example of Sideshow sculpting. I maintain a theory that it's much more difficult to capture likenesses that do not have much 'character'. CSM is definitely not a guy who is lacking in character, or the wrinkles and lines that supposedly give men that trait.

The sculpt is very impressive, capturing the look of the actor and character extremely well, right down to a very appropriate expression. Rather than go with a blank zombie appearance, Spender has a wry grin, that shows right up in his eyes, a look that means he's amused, but still may have you killed today.

While I was very happy with Scully, and at least appeased with Mulder, CSM is easily the best of the bunch when it comes to sculpt. Even the hair, which is always tricky, looks fairly natural and appropriate. If I have one nit to pick, it's that the head is *slighty* (and I emphasis the word slightly) small for the body. That's mostly me picking nits though, and I think most folks will be very happy with the appearance of the head.

Paint - ***
The major paint ops are on the face of course, and this figure is a fine example of excellent paint improving on an already excellent sculpt. The colors are consistent and clean, and there is no excessive gloss to the face or hair. The skin has a natural tone and finish, and the detail work on the eyes and mouth is excellent. No silly lipstick here!

I do think that the hair is off slightly, being far more brown than the proper salt and pepper look I'm used to. I'm sure that was hard to pull off, but the more consistent brown just doesn't quite jive with me.

Articulation - ***1/2
If you read my reviews, you know that the Sideshow body is one of my favorites. There's every possible joint here, including their ball jointed neck, and nifty wrist and ankle joints that have such terrific range of motion.

The ball jointed neck doesn't allow him to move his head downward as much as I'd like, but his head does tilt back nicely, so that he can use the rifle more effectively. The shoulders are also the newer design, that allow for the arms to move inward towards the chest. This means he can actually cross his arms across the front of his chest.

Accessories - ***1/2
CSM has three main accessories - his cigarette, pack of smokes, and rifle/tripod. He also has the usual display stand, imprinted with the X-Files logo, but you won't need to use it.

The cigarette is mighty small, but properly scaled. It looks great in his hands, and is such a constant fixture for this character that it was a must. The pack of smokes is smashed, or at least mine was, and also looks great.

The rifle and tripod are the real hits here though. The tripod has metal legs, and folds together. The rifle has no moving parts, at least not that I could find, but does have an excellent sculpt and wonderful detail. The rifle pops on and off the tripod fairly well, and really looks amazing. My only complaint is that the tripod is a tad short, and the legs are expandable. He'll have to bend over to really do much with it.

Outfit - ***1/2
This is one of the coolest plain outfits I've ever seen. And make no mistake, it is fairly plain. He's wearing a blue suit with light blue shirt, red tie, socks, shoes, and in the case of the exclusive, an overcoat. At the end of the day, he's just a guy in a suit.

But this suit shows some very interesting improvements over some other recent outfits. The shirt has full length sleeves, although it's not obvious in the photos. The jacket is so tightly tailored that the sleeves are very hard to keep down around the wrists, but it is doable if you spend some time. The shirt also has an elastic band that fits around the crotch, making sure that it stays tucked in and very tight.

The pants include a snap in back to ensure that they fit the best possible as well, although there's no belt. There is another snap on the front of the pants that the jacket attaches to. This is another new improvement, and means that the jacket halves stay tightly snapped not just to each other, but to the pants as well. These extra new touches make the tailoring even better than usual, and the fit is truly impressive.

Finally, there's the exclusive overcoat. The material used is soft and of very high quality, with great stitching and style. The belt works great, and the fit is stunning in sixth scale. Oh sure, you can still tell it's sixth scale, but the quality is really amazing for something as simply as an overcoat. It's nicer than anything I own!

Be careful with the tie though, as I managed to break the elastic band that holds it around the neck and had to repair it. The tie has both a front and back half, and looks decent, but was the least favorite part of the overall outfit for me. It's a tad long, and at the bottom is oddly wide.

Value - ***
Okay, most of the Sideshow stuff is $40, and most of it is too expensive, at least a little. However, I'm giving this guy a little higher mark in this area than usual, because of the exceptionally cool sniper rifle, and the extra touches and details in the costume.

Things to Watch Out For
There's that tie I mentioned snapping - you don't want to get too wild there - and keep a very close eye on the cigarette. I lost it at least three times in the first 10 minutes.

Overall - ****
I wasn't expecting to like this figure quite this much - here it is, one week into the new year, and I'm already giving something four stars! But the more I played around with Spender the happier I was. He really does fit in nicely with the previous two figures, and it will be great to add Doggett and Black. Now if we can only get a few more of the critical pieces, like Skinner and Krycek.

The Sideshow monsters have had a shelf of their own for a very long time in my collection, but now both the X-Files line and the Planet of the Apes line certainly deserve getting a shelf as well.

Where to Buy -
You can still pick up the regular version through Sideshow, but the other figures are long gone. On-line options include:

- Sideshow has the regular CSM (without the trenchcoat) for $40.

- Fireside Collectibles has these at the great price of $33 each. They also have a ton of other Sideshow product, particularly around the LOTR license.