Review – All Cover Resin Toy

I first mentioned this All Cover resin toy back in May (mentioned here), and at the time I thought this was going to be a cool toy. Unfortunately, one serious problem with the description left me seriously disappointed in the toy after I got the box open. And while I hate doing this, I’m gonna have to say that all of you should skip this toy . . . and any other resin toys by this designer. At least until he prices his stuff appropriately and learns to use a ruler.

$40, No Paint and Only 2.25-Inches Tall

In the description the toy was described as “Stands almost 4″ tall.” I could tell by the photos that the toy was cast plastic and without any paint, but about 4-inches of resin toy for $40 — when the resin toy looked as cool as it did in the pics — seemed like an okay deal and I was willing to give the toy a shot. Imagine my shock when I opened the box and got a toy almost half the size I was expecting. Damn, that’s such a serious error in measuring that I can only think that something was drastically wrong in the translation.

Two Other Problems

And besides the size problem, All Cover has two other serious issues that make the $40 unreasonable and leave me recommending that toy lovers skip and future releases by this designer.

1. The hand is not connected. It’s a lose bit that just hangs there, and it’s up to me to glue the hand in place. I think that for $40 the toy could have come assembled.
   
2. The seam lines are nasty. If you look at the side shots of the toy you can see the lines running down the figure. For $40 these should have been sanded down and the figure presented as a smooth work of art. After all, I bought a resin toy and not a resin kit.

It’s Not All Bad

Now that the flaws are out of the way I’m ready to say a couple of nice things about the toy. For one thing, the sculpt looks great. This little hooded fellow has some real detail in his sculpt — especially when you remember that he’s only 2.25-inches tall — and the detail work in the hand and robes is great. Just check out the fingernails and the folds on the sleeve of the outstretched arm to see what I’m talking about.

And a second nice thing about the toy is that it comes with a tiny head charm that’s intended to be worn as a necklace (and there’s even string included with the toy). The head’s also a great work of sculpting and casting, and unlike the toy itself I didn’t see any mold line issues. I don’t actually plan to wear this as a necklace, but the head fits nicely in the toy’s outstretched hand and makes the entire package just a little more fearsome.

Was I Expecting Too Much?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a toy to be close to its stated size. Especially a resin toy that was created by an artist. And if this had been advertised for $40 with its true size listed I think I would have skipped the toy completely; I’m sorry, but $40 is just way too much to spend for a resin toy that’s barely over 2-inches tall, has no articulation, and has no paint at all. I can respect the work that went into sculpting and casting this piece, but I feel it should be been priced at $20 or $25 for its size.

I’m keeping the All Cover resin toy, and will display it with the other resin toys in my collection, but every time that I look at the toy I will be reminded that I need to be more careful when ordering resin toys from artists I have no personal experience with. Artists, when you create a new resin toy please post pics of your toys with known objects so that we can all see the size for ourselves. I know I’ve learned a lesson from this experience. And I hope my negative experience can benefit all of you.

Philip Reed hates to say anything bad about an artist’s work — especially an artist who sells his work directly to fans and stores — but he had to let everyone know just how unhappy he was with this toy. Writing negative reviews is not any fun at all, but sometimes it’s necessary to warn others of problems. Now it’s time to review something very cool so that Philip can feel better about toy collecting.