PRINCESS BUTTERCUP — WEDDING DRESS

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

As we make our way through the rest of the second assortment of McFarlane’s Princess Bride line, we’re entirely dealing with the variants that make up the majority of the assortment.  Yesterday, I looked at one half of the story’s central pair of lovers, and today, I’m taking a look at the other.  The last Buttercup figure focused on the “Princess” half of the title, while this release focusses on the “Bride” half, depicting her from her wedding to Prince Humperdink at the film’s climax.  Seems like a sensible enough excuse for another variant of the character.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Buttercup (Wedding Dress) is part of Series 2 of The Princess Bride line.  She’s one of two figures based on the film’s climax in the second assortment, though the two don’t, like, go together or anything, since there’s no Humperdink to go with her at this time.  Still, it’s a prominent look, and the one she’s wearing during their escape at the end, so even without the Humperdink to go with her, it makes a degree of sense.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and she has 35 points of articulation.  The sculpt on this figure has a number of parts in common with the Series 1 version of the character, though not really many of the visible parts.  The head is the same (though not the hair; that’s been modified to add the crown), as are the hands, and the legs and pelvis.  The head remains a respectable take on Robin Wright, and the new crown piece sits nicely on it.  The new upper torso captures most of the features of the dress from the movie, though some of the details seem a little bit iffy on exact accuracy.  The new feet are more or less the same as the prior versions, but with extra detailing at the top of the foot; not entirely sure that’s accurate, but it at least looks a bit different.  Like the last figure, the skirt piece is cloth; the pattern appears to be the same; it’s a solid fabric, and kind of stiff, making it rather far off from the dress in the movie.  But, I guess it gets the general idea across?  The color work on this figure is okay, with the paint on the face being pretty clean in particular.  She’s still got a bit of side-eye going on, but it’s a little more reserved this time, and not matched by the squinting, so it looks a little better.  The dress seems a little too blue to my eyes, but that might just be a lighting thing.  The paint work is at least pretty cleanly handled.  Buttercup is packed with only a display stand.  While there’s a shortage of things to pack with the standard Buttercup, the fact that this one doesn’t include the dagger from the scene after the wedding seems like a silly omission, especially given that she’s still got that gripping hand.  What’s its purpose otherwise?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was iffy on needing this figure initially, but wound up getting the whole series, and she came along with it.  It’s at least a fairly unique design, and, issues of accuracy aside, I do think she still makes for an alright figure.  The eyes being less ridiculous this time around certainly helps her, but it’s a shame she doesn’t really match up with the rest of the cast that we’ve gotten so far.  Still, on her own, she’s quite nice.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.