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Packaging - ***
Each of these come in an identical box. You know I love
boxes, and these leave very little waste, will store easily for the
MIBer, and they're even completely collector friendly. Pop
'em out, pop 'im in, no problem.
The back has some basic
background info, but you'll want to hit the site if you really want the
details.
Sculpting -
***
I've talked about it before, quite a bit in fact, but too many people
assume that cartoon figures are simple to sculpt, because the designs
they are based on are less detailed than real characters. In fact,
animated characters can be some of the toughest to capture in 3D,
because they can vary frame to frame in their own cartoon, and
something that looks right in two dimensions can look very different in
three.
The sculptor here is Yawn Ding.
No, I'm not making that up. Dr. Tran lends himself to the bobble head
style, because he has a huge head to begin with. Even as a bobble head,
his proportions are pretty much dead on with the cartoon.
There had to be some concessions
though, like the inclusion of a neck (which he does not normally have),
and the sculpt itself is a little bit coarse and rough around the
edges. But for the big Dr. Tran fan, these issues are pretty minor.
He stands about 6 1/2" with the
base, which is designed like a Dr. Tran peanut butter square.
That's a great choice, and works well with the character.
The bobble heads are polyresin,
not plastic, and they are VERY solid. The base and figure are so heavy,
that they could easily be used as a deadly weapon in a fit of passion.
In fact, I think they're considering them for an upcoming episode of
Dexter.
Paint - ***
The paint is generally clean and well applied, with sharp cut lines and
fairly consistent colors. I did have a few issues around the
hair line, and on one of the two heads, there were some thin spots of
black where the underlying color could be seen. These were
minor issues, but enough to keep the score down a bit in this category.
Bobble Action - ***1/2
You expect a bobble head to bobble, and these bobble well. The neck is
very sturdy, as is the spring. These should hold up well, as
long as you don't rap the head against the body too hard or too regular.
Value -
****
I was surprised twice by these bobble heads. First, when I
pulled them out of the larger packing box, I was amazed at how heavy
they were. There's a TON of polyresin here. Then I checked
the price, and saw the ten dollar tag. I seriously couldn't
believe that these were ten bucks each. There's more polyresin than you
get in most mini-busts that cost 5 times as much. Add to that the small
edition size and the size of the company producing them, and you'll be
pretty surprised as well.
Things To Watch Out For
-
Obviously, you don't want to be banging the head up against the body
too much, and be mindful of that weight whenever you go to pick them
up. These boys hit the ground, and they're going to take something out
with them.
Overall - ***
Things have been tight this year for a lot of large companies. Rising
prices are the norm, and the market is shrinking. And yet a small
company like Symbiote Studios is producing unique and interesting items
at reasonable prices.
If you're a fan of the cartoon,
you'll love these. Even if you aren't, this is a good indication of the
kind of work that Symbiote will be able to do with other licenses.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***
Paint - ***
Bobble Action - ***1/2
Value - ****
Overall - ***
Where to Buy -
As I said earlier, your best bet is right from Symbiote Studios.
You can also search ebay with the sponsor MyAuctionLinks.
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