When I wasn’t actually old enough to watch this film, my dad introduced me to it anyway, and honestly, I didn’t appreciate it or even understand most of it except for the parts about Star Wars, but as I grew older I went back to watching this film at around 12 years old and I fell in love with it, from it’s quirky characters to the simplicity of its design, Clerks became one of my all-time favourite films, and Kevin Smith became one of my favourite directors of all time. Now, many years on, I have watched all of Kevin Smiths’ films countless times, and have gained an ever lasting friendship because of the shared love me and my best friend Holly have for Smith and his catalog of media from films to podcasts, to live shows and more. So of course when the Diamond Select figures celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Clerks came out, I had to get them.
First up for review is the man himself, Kevin Smith, or as he’s known in his films, Silent Bob. The lovable character who has to put up with all of the stupid shit that his hetero-life mate, Jay, does, whether it’s getting in trouble with the police, stealing a monkey, or traveling to Hollywood to stop a movie being made about the comic book characters, Bluntman & Chronic, to who Jay and Silent Bob were the basis for. Oh, and they traveled to Hollywood to stop those movies, twice!
Appearance
So moving on to the actual review, this figure looks pretty good, being easily recognizable as the character that it is supposed to be. There would be no mistaking Silent Bob for some other character if you saw this in a box or on a shelf somewhere out of the packaging. The gray scale palette brings back those good old Clerks vibe, especially with the outfit and of course the signature look of having a cigarette in his hand.
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, 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.
Speaking of clothing, this figure is dressed in Silent Bob’s signature trench coat, but whilst the appearance of it is done fairly well, with just a few mistakes I’ve noticed, the material of the coat is not. The plastic they’ve used for the coat makes it feel more like the leather trench coat from Mallrats, whereas in the film Clerks, Silent Bob wears his signature green trench coat which we know isn’t leather, so I would have enjoyed it more if they used a material for it that wasn’t plastic and leathery. However, I wouldn’t say it’s actually a problem, just something I noticed. I love the figure either way and I know Diamond Select don’t really do the material type clothing on these types of figures.
My one nitpicking issue with this figure is the face sculpting. Silent Bob has been sculpted with a raised eyebrow and one eye wider than the other as an expression that he often uses when Jay starts talking, but I would have preferred if they gave him a more blank expression like they have with Jays figure so that you could put him in a photo where he won’t look confused/disturbed by something. That’s just my thoughts though, from a Toy Photographer’s point of view. If you were buying these for display purposes then it’s absolutely fine the way it is.
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 Silent Bob’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 an almost 90-degree angle, but nothing more. The final articulation found along the arms is his hands, which can only twist 360 degrees, but cannot be angled in any way.
Moving down the body, we have articulation in the waist allowing his hip to swivel a full 360 degrees. 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 body and trench coat.
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. Silent Bob’s figure in the Clerks 20th Anniversary set, comes with one half of the ‘RST Video Store’ diorama, as well as being given a boombox stereo as an accessory, which, if you know the film, makes a lot of sense.
The diorama piece, which includes a plastic stand made to look like the sidewalk, along with the cardboard printout of the RST Video 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 videos on a shelving unit for 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, bring back the memories. 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 Randall. Sadly I am missing Dante due to a shipping error but I’ll get him one day and then the set will be complete.
Media Mallrat 
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