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August 09, 2007

River Triumphant

In the midst of cosmic carnage, one tough woman manages to maintain her serenity
River Triumphant
By Diamond Select
MSRP: $99
By Sean Huxter
One of the most exciting and promising science fiction series in recent history suffered a short life and a quick death on TV, yet it has survived through and because of its fans. This show was Firefly, which re-imagined the concept "Wagon Train to the stars" (which Gene Roddenberry used to sell Star Trek to network executives). Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) quite literally imagined a human-inhabited solar system that has reverted to an Old-West-style economy, but with spaceships and energy weapons.
The statue is well painted, with fresh blood on the green and gold dress.
 
The anti-heroes of the tale are shady characters who crew a ship called Serenity, captained by Mal Reynolds, who at times take on passengers to make ends meet. One such passenger is Dr. Simon Tam, who brings aboard a crate that we soon find out contains his sister, River, whom he's rescued from some mysterious governmental organization.

The series ended before we discovered just exactly why she needed rescuing, or just what the government did to her while they had her. The series was so popular that a grass-roots organization of fans would not let it die, nor would Joss Whedon. He wrote and produced a film called Serenity, which ties up many of the loose ends left by the aborted series. Serenity spent more time focusing on who River Tam is and why she's so eagerly sought by the government from which her brother retrieved her.

Diamond Select, which has produced several 6-inch action figures from the Firefly universe, has now created a 6-inch statue of River Tam in the aftermath of the film's climactic battle.

Of course, describing the statue may spoil some key points of the film, but by now, if you're interested in this statue, or if you've been a living science fiction fan for the past several years, you've likely seen the film.

The statue depicts River standing in a pile of dead bodies. The base measures about 11 inches around, and River stands about 6 inches tall, to scale with Diamond Select's action figures.

The statue comes packed in Styrofoam forms in a colorful box with detailed photos of the statue and base, and is limited to 1,000 pieces. Each box, base and certificate of authenticity is hand-numbered.

A cool River
Sculpted by Michael Norman, the bust is a good likeness of River with a detached, emotionless expression (one might say of serenity) during a triumphant moment, which fully explains just what the government was using River for.

When the Serenity is being chased by Reavers (human berserkers who stalk the outer edges of the star system in ships decorated with corpses and blood and who brutally and mercilessly ravage their human victims if they can catch them), the crew take refuge in an underground complex. At a pivotal point of this battle, when the hordes of savage Reavers are about to burst in on our small, poorly armed band of scrappy antiheroes, River runs toward the invading hordes and seals herself behind a door, with no hope of help from the crew.

A few brief moments later, after the sound of a horrific, brutal slaying, the doors open and we see River, dressed in a dainty green dress, standing calmly amid a pile of Reaver bodies, a ragged sword in one hand and an ax in another.

The statue is well painted, with fresh blood on the green and gold dress.

Each Reaver is individually sculpted, with armor pieces stuck here and there, stained in blood and rust. The skin of the Reavers reveals their rumored nature—that they remove the skin of their victims and use it on their own bodies. They look like zombies.

One interesting feature of this statue, which differs from many I've seen, is that River does not connect to her base with posts and holes. This statue employs small but powerful magnets in River's heels and on the floor, which allow her to attach very firmly to her base. This might prevent broken legs or foot posts if the statue is dropped.

For fans of Firefly, this statue would make a nice display, and it can be used with some of Diamond Select's action figures for better effect.

This is an interesting bust, to say the least. The detail is good, the subject matter certainly gruesome, and fans of Serenity may delight in seeing time and time again that triumphant scene in which the surely doomed River emerges unscathed after slaughtering dozens of vicious subhuman Reavers. —Sean