But you'll notice I said 'two'. Yes, there is one - Angel. David Boreanaz (who's new series, BONES, looks interesting as well) brought to life the character of Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer before getting his own show. And spinoff history was made.

Now, about three seconds after getting my first email pointing out that Rhoda was a better show than the Mary Tyler Moore show and how could I possible forget that, I'll start getting the deluge of angry BTVS emails, asking me if I need to double up on my medication. Okay, maybe Angel was good, maybe it was even as good as Buffy, but BETTER? Just shoot me now.

Ah, but it's all a matter of taste, now isn't it? I loved BTVS, and couldn't understand how other adults would poo-poo it as a teeny bopper show, without ever watching, yet can sit down and watch utter crap like the O.C. (Oooo - a third reason to get angry emails - I'm going for a record!) But Angel has a darker tone, and with story lines that I generally found more appealing. So for me, yes it was better, and yes, it's the only spinoff I can think of that ever managed that.

That's all a long winded intro into tonight's review. Diamond Select is releasing not one but five new Angel action figures - Season 5 Angel (regular release), Vamp Angel (Tower Records exclusive), The Ring Angel (Action Figure Express exclusive), Pylean Beast Angel (Time and Space Toys exclusive), and Graduation Day Angel (Suncoast exclusive) - in the next couple weeks, and I have an early review for you tonight. As I often do with so many figures, I've split this into two reviews, sharing it with my other site. I have Vamp Angel and Season 5 up for review here, and Pylean Demon, The Ring, and Graduation Day up for review at MROTW. Also in this series are three versions of Fred - Season 3 Fred, Shells Illyria and regular Illyria. I have a review of two of those up this week at MROTW as well.

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!

"DST Series 4 Angels - Vamp, Season 5, "

When Diamond took over the Angel and Buffy lines from Moore Action Collectibles, they went with a new business plan to keep the lines profitable - put out as many of a single figure, through reuse/redeco/repaint, as possible each wave. This series follows that pattern with five versions of Angel.

The Season 5 version is in his basic untucked striped shirt, with a normal headsculpt. The Vamp Angel is wearing the long coat, and has the vamped face. These are both fairly iconic looks for the character, and there's no suprise we got them both.

Packaging - ***
The Angel packaging has some great coloring, and a reasonable use of graphics. However, the text is identical for every Angel, and the only difference between the variants is the sticker on the bubble. A list of the accessories at least would be nice.

The packaging is sturdy, and holds up well to shelf time. It's a tough store though for MOCers, since the bubbles are fairly large to hold the accessories.

Sculpting - Vamp Angel ***1/2; Season 5 Angel ***
David Boreanaz is a little easier to capture than some of the female members of the cast, and it shows on these figures. The toughest aspect to capture is usually his hair, but they've done an admirable job across the whole set.

The Vamp version isn't quite a full on vamp, but something almost there. It looks like the source material, and actually makes the sculpt even more realistic. The regular version of Angel isn't bad, but there is a slightly odd pinched look to the head. It's not terribly noticable though, and this is as good or better than the Angel work done by MAC, and fits in nicely with the rest of the line.

It's also worth noting that out of 5 Angels, there are actually four different head sculpts. The only reuse on this head is between the Ring Angel, and the Season 5 Angel. The legs are actually used for all five, and the shirt gets spread out across three.

Both figures (actually four of the five Angels) do get dinged though on the hand sculpts. Not for their shape, since they can actually handle a number of the accessories, but for their size. He suffers from itty bitty hand syndrome.

The sculpted stance is a little pigeon toed, and lacks a lot of excitement, but it works in a maquette sort of way.

Paint - ***1/2
Both of these figures have very nice paint ops, although there's not a ton of small detail work. The hair has appropriate highlights, and the eyes are clean and straight. The stripes on regular Angel's shirt work well, and actually follow the sculpted wrinkles like they should.

Small detail work is solid, especially the buttons and accessories. As I said, there's not a ton of small details, but what's here is fairly clean and neat. If I had one issue, it would be some glopping around the hands, but even that isn't too bad.

Articulation - ***
I'm being a little generous here, but hey, they have great ball jointed necks. They also have cut shoulders, cut biceps, pin elbows, cut wrists, waist, a V crotch, pin knees and ankles (although the articulation is very limited).

If any figure screams for the deluxe treatment though, it's Angel. And Spike of course. While these figures work for a straight up stance (and both stand great on their own), I'm looking forward to a more articulated version for better posing.

Accessories - ****
I love these episode specific items, and the addition of Conner is just too cool for words. Both figures come nicely outfitted, and the accessories look great with the other figures in the series as well.

Season 5 Angel has his sword, his thermos, his #1 Boss coffee mug (filled with very red blood of course), the thingamajiggy he uses to stop time (right out of season 5), the Oorlon Window Box (also right out of season 5), and the display base with the Wolfram and Hart logo. The logo is sculpted, not simply a sticker.

Vamp Angel comes with Conner, wrapped in a swaddling blanket, who can actually sit lower on his arm than I had him. Of course, you have to use the rubber band to keep him in place, but that's not particularly surprising. The inclusion of Conner with Vamp Angel also makes perfect sense, since Angel found that wearing the vamp face calmed Conner when he was crying. He also has the baby bottle, an axe, a pad of paper with the prophecy "The father will kill the son" written on it by Wesley, and a display background with an section of the hotel hallway. Rather than just a sticker, the sconce light and picture frame are sculpted details.

DST is putting a lot of thought into the accessories, which I consider to be a huge plus, especially once you get the figures together in a large display.

Fun Factor - ***
Without the super deluxe articulation, you can only have so much fun with Angel. Still, the accessories are great, and the display bases are much better (although fairly basic) than I had expected.

Value - ***
You can get these for around $12 at many locations, and that's a very solid price for licensed figures in a specialty market with so many unique accessories.

Overall - Vamp Angel ***1/2; Season 5 Angel ***
I'm very happy with both of these, but the basic Angel still had enough issues to not quite get above three stars. The small hands throw off the proportions of the sculpt, and while the blocky body works much better here than with some of the other figures, the lack of super useful articulation (other than the ball jointed neck), hurts them both slightly. The Vamp version has the better head sculpt though, and with the inclusion of the baby Conner, he manages to pull ahead.

These are the best Angel figures in this scale so far, and the accessories are excellent. I waffled around awhile between *** and ***1/2, and depending on how heavily you weight each of the areas yourself, you might find yourself giving these a slightly higher overall score.

Where to Buy -
These aren't quite out yet, as this was an 'early bird' review. However, that means you can still get in on pre-order pricing at online stores. They should show up at some specialty stores, like Media Play or Sam Goody, in the next 2 - 3 weeks. Online options include:

- if you're a big fan, you should join the Buffy Collector's Club. You get some decent discounts on all the merchandise as well. They have the Ring, Pylean and Vamp Angel figures for just $12 each, or $36 for a set of the three.

- Circle Red has the regular Angel with Fred available for $24.

- CornerStoreComics has the regular Angel for $12, or the variants for $13 - $14 each.

-Amazing Toyz has the regular Angel for $12, and the variants for $13 - $15 each.

- Time and Space Toys has the regular Angel available with the regular Fred for $28, the individual Ring, Pylean or Vamp Angels for $15, or a set of the three for $45.

- Yikes Comics has the Angel/Fred set for $25.

Related Links -
I have billions and billions of Buffy and Angel reviews -they've been very popular licenses for both action figures and other collectibles. Here's some of the most relevent though:

- of course, there's the other three Angel figures that are part of this set.

- then there is the Fred and Illyria figures that ship with this wave as well.

- and the previoius wave contained several Wesleys, to add to your Angel collection.