Review – uhoh Toys’ GID Brucine
Last week I named uhoh Toys’ Bullhorn resin toy (review here) the best resin toy of 2009. Well, it felt only fitting that I get the newest uhoh Toys design — Brucine — up on the site and figure out if this guy’s a contender. Follow along as I put the tiny Brucine through his paces and see how he stacks up against the fantastic Bullhorn.
Aren’t you a little short for a . . .
Where Bullhorn is a bulky, heavy piece with (limited) articulation, Brucine is short — about two-inches tall — and without any articulation at all. And what’s really cool is that Brucine was built on a discarded paint bottle — I swear there’s a Tamiya paint bottle in this guy’s family tree — with his arms, teeth, hair, and the skull on the top of his head obviously sculpted directly onto a paint bottle. It’s a great idea, and a neat way to reuse something that would have most likely found its way to the trash.
Glued On Eyes
Brucine’s eyes are tiny doll eyes that have been glued onto the finished toy. (Most likely after the painting was completed.) The eyes, combined with the wacky teeth, combine to give the toy a hell of a lot of character; uhoh Toys can be proud of this design since it’s simple but still cute and fun. And the icing on the design, the hair that looks like it’s dripping from around the edges of the paint lid, is a nice addition that works well with the rest of the toy’s design.
Not a Very Bright Glow
Yes, Brucine does glow in the dark, but the pink glow is very faint, even after charging the toy under light for several moments. It’s a little disappointing that he doesn’t have as strong of a glow as I’ve seen on other toys, but since I don’t actually sit around and play with these in the dark the weak glow is a minor disappointment and not a catastrophic failure.
There’s Really Not a Lot to Say
Brucine is cute, tiny, doesn’t move, and is a well-executed resin toy design priced pretty right at $10. And with so few pieces made (the uhoh Toys webstore offered a total of eight of these when the toy was released) it’s one of those screwy resin toy collectibles that have become so popular over the last couple of years.
Brucine isn’t the best resin toy in my collection, but he’s a cute addition and worth grabbing if you’re a hardcore resin toy fan with a love for mini-figures.
Philip Reed just realized that he actually has a few resin toy reviews scheduled for the next couple of weeks. Philip hopes that so many oddball toys at once won’t scare you off and he promises to get some mainstream action figure reviews up on the site before the end of January.
I read your stupid review and bought one of the clear with pink and glitter ones, happy? 😛
I was super impressed when Aaron posted these over on Skullbrain… I think mine will be living alongside his Tamiya paint-jar kin, or maybe he’ll be the paint-pot task-master! Brucine is such a cute and simple little bauble, but looks full of character.
I’m still not sure how I feel about the idea of calling something like this a toy… I’m always torn on this kind thing. To me, a toy should DO something, or at the very least be a posable action figure… this is closer to a figurine or statue, but still not to those levels, so I don’t know what to classify it as. Bauble seems to dismissive, but still feels more accurate than toy.
How bout “cool, artsy, toy-like thingee?” Hee Hee!
Too many words, but in the right vein.
Phil, one thing I was thinking about in the conclusion of your review… I’d almost consider Brucine to be something of a more accessible intro resin figure than something for the hard-cores. It has no moving parts to break, and is dirt cheap, but still manages to display all the wildness and hand-sculpted-ey-ness of a resin figure that could get people to check out something more complex like a Bullhorn, or something even bigger.