[Figure Review] Randal – Clerks 20th Anniversary

Intro:

When Kevin Smith first wrote Clerks, he knew he had to put himself in the film, as it could have been the only film he ever made, so he wrote the character of Randall for himself, which Smith has said multiple times, is why “Randall has all the best lines in the film”. However, as the script progressed, Smith realized that remembering all those lines would be hard work, and so he wrote himself in as Silent Bob and gave the role of Randall to his friend Jeff Anderson.

Randal is a character similar to Jay, but instead of being an annoying friend of Silent Bob, he’s the annoying friend of Dante Hicks (portrayed in the film by Brian O’Halloran). However, unlike Jay, Randal has a lot of brains that he chooses to use by watching films and talking about fictional characters all day with Dante, or if he wants to change the topic, then the choice is more often than not to do with sex. Randal is the character that probably gets quoted the most from Clerks, as he has some of the most memorable lines such as “This job would be great if it wasn’t for the f***ing customers.”, and “My mom’s been f***ing a dead guy for 30 years. I call him dad.” or for the shorter yet easily memorable quote “Bunch of savages in this town”. Either way, if there’s one thing that can be said for Randal, it’s that he’s the friend you hate to love.

Appearance

So moving on to the review, this figure looks pretty good, being easily recognizable as the character of Randal (if you know the film). The grayscale palette remains the same as the other figures, but with Randal’s shirt, the design is a little less plain, as they have added a check design onto the shirt to match the shirt in the film.

The figure stands at around 7 inches tall making it a fairly standard size for a lot of figures like this, including those from other brands such as DC Direct, McFarlane, etc. I honestly don’t think the figure needs to be any bigger than that, as it makes for good display size and a good size for a photography model.

I personally can’t say that there are any issues with this figure except for the trousers, as it seems they’ve gone for the same bland design on all these figures rather than making any of the trousers seem unique. They’re all the same colour and none of them have any distinct design patterns. Other than that though, there are no issues.

Articulation

This figure has 16 points of articulation, making it a very poseable figure. The first point can be found in the neck, allowing you to turn Randal’s head side to side, with a slight up and down movement, restricted by the design of his hair at the back.

Next, are his shoulders, which are able to move back and forth, as well as up into a T pose, but no higher than his shoulders. They can also turn 360 degrees, in order to pose their arms backward like an anime run. Lower down the arms, the figure has articulation in the elbows, allowing you to bend them into a full 90-degree angle. The final articulation found along the arms is his wrists, which can twist 360 degrees, but cannot be angled inwards or outwards.

Moving down the body, we have articulation in the waist allowing his hip to swivel but with a fair bit of restriction from the body design, meaning it only has a slight twist capability. Below that is his legs which can be moved forwards and backward, as well as an almost full side splits pose, though much of the upper leg articulation is restricted by the shirt.

The knees have two points of articulation each, with allows his lower leg to bend almost back, close to his backside. The double knee joints are common in Diamond Select Figures and make for great pose-ability with the figures, especially for someone like me who has taken up Toy Photography.

Finally, there is some slight articulation in the ankles, though it is restricted by the design of the trousers on the leg, and doesn’t really provide any true purpose for posing.

Accessories

The Diamond Select Figures more often than not, come with a diorama of some sort, or if like this figure, it’s part of a set, it will come with part of the diorama, which can only be fully made up by buying the other figures in the collection. Randal’s figure in the Clerks 20th Anniversary set, comes with one half of the ‘Quick Stop Groceries’ diorama, as well as being given multiple accessories. Whilst the previous two figures came with only one additional accessory, Randal comes with four accessories and a spare hand. The Accessories included are:

  • Hockey Stick
  • Hockey Ball
  • VHS Tape
  • Plate with a slice of Lasagna on

The diorama piece, which includes a plastic stand made to look like the sidewalk, along with the cardboard printout of the Quick Stop Groceries Storefront that slides into the plastic base for stability, looks pretty good for display purposes. the cardboard print is double-sided as well, meaning you have one side that is of the storefront, and the other side which is designed to look like the inside of the store, giving the buyer some variety in display options. The diorama includes some stickers for you to put on the cardboard display such as the store logo and a sticker that’s designed to look like the inside of the store.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, this figure is a great addition to any Kevin Smith fan’s collection. The appearance is done well, the articulation is pretty much spot on and the accessories, provide a variety of choices. I would recommend any Smith fan who enjoys collecting, to buy this figure, especially if you can grab the whole set which includes Jay, Dante, and Silent Bob. Sadly I am missing Dante due to a shipping error but I’ll get him one day and then the set will be complete.

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