Living The 1/6-World: Headsculpts (New works from HeadPlay)
What is it about the 1/6-hobby that entrails us? The miniature clothing? The fantastic micro-weapons? The ability to hold a plastic-man's "toy-life" in the palm of your hands? Regardless the reasons and motivation, one thing seems extremely important in this age (beyond the hobbyists and perhaps grabbing at non-traditional hobbyists, and
[This particular headsculpt rocked my celluloid-luving world!]
C'mon, we've collected our fair share of charming duds and celebrity-sculpts (which were most times slightly "off" the likeness - which I suspect were due to "legal-loopholes") through the years, and actually lauded them. I know I did. But within the past couple of years, we see a license-boom, with Hot Toys (formerly with plenty of unlicensed headsculpts bearing personality likenesses) and Enterbay producing immaculately and hauntingly replicas of their life-sized counterparts! Medicom Toy has always represented through the years, as have Sideshow Toys, and myriad other unlicensed likenesses we've happily kept in our collective possessions.
Funnily enough, you do not see much likenesses of music stars from the West happening. You'd get your assed sued by recording companies! LOL
[An actor and a singer from Hong Kong/ Updated with their looks, no less = impressed am I!]
One aspect of this boom, as well saw the utter proliferation of bootlegged headsculpts, coming from brands that do not have public websites to thrall through, or for folks to bang on the doors with a Cease-and-Desist documentation innit? Bearing the likeness of personalities from both Hollywood movies, Asian movies and Eastern music celebrities, the list is exhaustive, if only limiting. And the "beauty" of it all? You can JUST get the head without paying top-dollar for a boxed set, and be able to kitbash your own interpretation of the character, to your toy-lurving hearts' content!
Through the years, admittedly, there were absolute bombs of slack-sculpts. Dragon Models was prime suspect (but I heart them all muahahaha) and other mostly Hong Kong brands followed suit. "Supply and Demand", I always insist. But these days? Manufacturers begin to recognize "quality", and that folks WILL attempt to pay top-dollar for headsculpts, and bootleggers blaze the way! It's not that I am supportive of bootleggery - far from it - but the reality is, there are awesome artists and sculptors out there, who do what they do to feed themselves, while established practitioners cry foul. It is NOT about how many bootleggers are out there plying their wares, it is about the standard of quality that exists out there, especially from bootleggers! LOL
Sculpts of women are always the hardest to reflect their likeness. And without any distinguishing looks, tis pretty easy to miss the mark Do you recognize the sculpt above? I couldn't at first look…aaah but the one below? We recognize it straight away! But do we need another one? Does it matter if we do or not? LOL
Regardless of my ramblings and opinions, shown here in this post are "new" and current headsculpts from the brand "HEADPLAY", and frankly, they are amazing, truth be told. Do you recognize the artists/actors they have portrayed here?
You see? THAT's why they were done. Instant recognizability from previous mediums, and less effort needed to "sell" or promo them. Expect to pay under US$30 per head sans shipping (Ebay-clicking). In the past, HeadPlay has released sculpts of Beat Takashi, Danny Trejo, Joseph Stalin, John Travolta, Sylvester Stallone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chow Yun Fatt, Vin Diesel, Johnny Depp, and the list goes on! Check out Sideshow Freaks for snaps-galore!
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