Toys-Review: Lil Death Santa by Paul Shih
TOY-STORY: New Zealand-based artist/designer Paul Shih has been creating, casting and painting his own resin figurines for a while, with his recent figures made under his Hollow Threat-brand. "Lil' Death" is one the reoccurring character in the HT-lore, most times looming beside or behind Pandora!
This "Lil' Death Santa" was a holiday version of the regular black-n-white Lil' Death, and was released in December 2010, and is limited to only 5-pieces made. Priced at US$55 - I was gifted this item while lying in hospital from Stroke last year, and really brightened up my day, and as well my collection! Thanks, Paul!
PACKAGING: Two packaged set existed of this figure - one was for "Bad Boy/Girls" (which only had the figure itself), while the other set was for "Good Boys/Girls", and I am glad to be considered "Good"! Within the set contained a sticker, a written card and a name card. The figure came bagged with header-card (and a swell glossy header-card print too!)
FIGURE: Lil' Death is hand-sculpted, hand-cast and hand-painted by Paul himself. This resin figurine was surprisingly light in weight, primarily because the figure was hollow within but sturdy. As well the face0markings are hand-painted. The bear-nose-region is a 3D-protusion, while both the eyes and teeth are in relief, and unique mouth design debossed into the figure. Extremely cool this.
As well for this edition, there is the addition of the white-"fur" - stuck very cleanly around the face, as well the bob of furball up top - giving it the holiday-season's feel.
PAINT-APP: What you do not necessarily see, is the uneven paint app for the figure body - not completely all-red, with a hint of black irregular-"spray" (i think) which frankly gives the figure that extra "oomph" of attitude! The paint-lines in the ears region is the only possible giveaway that this is a hand-painted item, as the lines are not super-crispy-clean.
ARTICULATION: There is none at all whatsoever.
WRAP-UP: An independent limited release by an independent artist -what's not to like? The sheer simplicity is form is balanced by the uniqueness of the character and facial-design, that somewhat reminds me of the basic allure of "designer art toys" - and not the elaborate technical execution of a product. In essence, this is what we might dare term "art toy".
And while most might balk at the price-point, know that these are literally hand-made by that one person, and in a quantity so limited, you would be hard pressed not to have a Paul-Shih cutie in your collection, even some one as "evil" as Lil' Death is lol
I am well pleased with owning this figure, and you too would be lucky to own one from Paul, IMHO. Do check out http://www.paul-shih.com to see what new goodies Paul comes up with this year!
