Review – Dustin Wallace’s Robotagami

Last weekend I posted a few photos of Dustin Wallace’s Robotagami statue. I’ll be the first to admit that this steel sculpture is not a toy, but it’s such an awesome piece that I decided Robotagami needed to be seen by everyone visiting battlegrip.com.

Note: Since posting the photos over the weekend, Dustin Wallace has started using my photos in the descriptions of the two Robotagami designs. When he e-mailed me to ask permission to use my photos I immediately said yes. I’m such a geek; the idea that he liked my photos enough to use them to show off his artwork really made my day. Thank you, Dustin.

Dustin Wallace (visit his blog and Etsy Shop) has created some amazing pieces of art out of metal, including a few different robot designs that are way too expensive for me to collect. Fortunately, Wallace knew that he needed to create some low-price robots so he designed Robotagami, a 8.5-inch tall steel robot that looks absolutely amazing and is priced at a very low $30 (for the Battle Worn Copper Edition that I picked up; there’s also a $20 version).

Robotagami, as a statue designed to sit on a shelf, obviously has no articulation at all, but that’s really not all that different from several vinyl and resin toys on the market. When there’s no articulation at all, what makes one item a toy and another item a statue? Is the decision made by the designer/artist or is the decision made by the customer? I’ve no idea, but Robotagami is no less a toy than pieces like the Argus 3000 (reviewed here) or Miss Thing (reviewed here). And if those are toys then this can be called a toy.

Robotagami is made out of a piece of steel that’s cut and then folded into shape. The photo below shows one of the shoulders; notice where the metal is folded over to create a semi-3d appearance on the body. When I bought my Robotagami I was given the option of receiving him flat or folded, so folding can’t be too difficult a process. Me? I chose the pre-folded option, since I don’t quite trust myself when it comes to bending metal.

This is a great piece of art, heavy and semi-flexible — I bent his legs a little to help with balance — and perfect for anyone who loves robots. Sure it’s not a toy, but it would look perfect nestled in any robot lover’s robot toy collection.

Closing Thoughts . . . and a promise

If you collect designer toys then you need one of these in your collection. This is just as much a toy as a lot of designer toys on the market, and it’s actually available at a lower price than many vinyl pieces of an equal height. And, as a hand-crafted sculpture, this is a semi-unique piece of art that may become unavailable at any moment.

I wish there was an articulated version of this guy, but I can understand why articulation would seriously increase Robotagami’s cost. Still, even for simple arm and head articulation I’d be willing to buy a second one of these at twice the price.

I promise I won’t make it a habit to review art pieces here, but whenever I find something this cool I may very well pop it up on the site. I hope you understand why. And I hope you enjoy the occasional look at interesting artwork.

Philip Reed admits that this isn’t a toy, but it’s close enough to a toy — and at a low enough price that anyone who collects designer toys can afford this — that he thinks it was worth a short review. Actually, now that he thinks about it, Philip also has to admit that this isn’t much of a review. Hey, Phil’s not an art critic or anything. He’s just a geek who loves to ramble.