Tuesday, January 20, 2009

C.G.B. Spender from The X-Files

Although uttering only four audible words in the entire 1st season of the show, C.G.B. Spender(nobody knows what C.G.B. stands for) a.k.a. Cigarette Smoking Man or Cancer Man eventually developed into the series' primary antagonist. Spender's silent presence in Skinner's office early on was always a warning that the shadowy government attempting to discredit Mulder is again keeping an eye on the nonconformist agent. The Smoking Man oversaw Scully's initial briefing on her assignment to the X-Files to debunk the work of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder, as well as her debriefing. The Smoking Man also stole the evidence obtained by Mulder and Scully during the show's pilot episode, and moved it to a secret, underground storage room at the Pentagon. The character is most commonly referred to Cigarette Smoking Man because he is almost always seen chain-smoking Morley cigarettes. [source: wiki]

Along with Sideshow's release of a 1/6 scale 12-inch FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder (reviewed here), Sideshow also released a 1/6 scale 12-inch C.G.B. Spender a.k.a. Cigarette Smoking Man.


Cigarette Smoking Man or C.G.B. Spender comes dressed in a two-piece navy blue suit, white shirt and red tie. The suit is a tad small and tight and looks rather ill-fitting on him.

The head sculpt, however, is EXCELLENT!! The figure looks very much like the actor who plays him, William B. Davis. The deep wrinkles, facial features are spot on. The sculpt is amazingly good. Why can't they have used the same sculptor for Mulder? SIGH!

He has three accessories (I don’t include any figure stand as an accessory because they aren't very useful - I prefer my figures to stand on their own two feet if possible, as they look more real) and they are: one loose cigarette, one pack of “Morley” cigarettes and...

One of the coolest accessory ever - a high-powered sniper rifle which could be mounted on a tripod. This thing is NICE!! More on it in the next post.

Cigarette Smoking Man would have had a problem in Singapore, given the new rules prohibiting smoking anywhere at all. Ken has done a FINE (pun intended) coverage here.


They even sculpted in a patch on the side of his neck. Not sure if it's meant to be a nicotine patch. Even if it is, it sure isn't working for him.

Scrawny fella, isn't he?

Now, where can I get a cab? or a plane, for that matter. I have to get out of this country (Singapore) in order to smoke. First they ban chewing gum, now they're almost banning smoking; not that it's such a bad thing - the air is cleaner now.

Smoke-free or die trying?

Full review of Sideshow Collectibles 1/6 scale 12" Fox Mulder HERE

Full review of Sideshow Collectibles 1/6 scale 12-inch Dana Scully HERE

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That so called nicotine patch on his neck was how he appeared in an episode of the X-files in season 4 together with the sniper rifle and the tripod stand. I'm an X-FIles fanatic!!! Where did you manage to get your hands on this Cigarette Smoking Man figure?

alex teo said...

hey imranbecks, i was looking out for this figure for a while but wasn't willing to pay the original asking price so when I found a good offer at S$35, i had to grab it! You can try Simply Toys at Raffles X-change if you are local, otherwise e-bay OR EVIL bay. Good Luck!

Anonymous said...

Thanks to your poisonous photos of the figure and your tip, I managed to find it at Simply Toys Raffles earlier today after searching through their shelves of Sideshow figures! It was the last one right in the corner hidden. Looks really good! Being a member, I got it for S$65.. How did you get yours for S$35?? Did you get yours from Simply Toys as well?

alex teo said...

Hi imranbecks, so glad you managed to snag him (i hear that he's quite rare) and am also glad that my post "helped" you with your decision. It's always good to know what we are getting inside the box :) I got mine at the end of last year when Simply Toys were having some clearance sale. S$65 is still pretty good considering how much figures are priced at these days. Enjoy your figure and remember "Trust No One" ;p

Anonymous said...

Damn.. Lucky you! I missed their clearance sale last year. Such a waste.. Did you also get the Sideshow 'green' suited Mulder from the clearance sale as well? I've always wanted that figure of Mulder..

alex teo said...

Hi imranbecks, I was fortunate lah, happen to be there - ha! ha! Check out my 'green' suited Mulder entry here. Didn't get him from clearance though, had to pay the full price.