Review – Cuppa Carbonite

This resin toy by DMS-One (website, Twitter) takes the Lunartik toy design and smashes it ass-first into Star Wars to create a great little display item that’s an example of just what can be done with resin. Even though this is now sold out I wanted to get it online, because there’s a chance that this will return. And even if it doesn’t it’s too cute not to share with you guys.

A Four-Inch Block of Resinite

At 4-inches tall, this resin toy is admittedly just a slab of solid plastic with paint. But it’s the design of the slab that makes it fun. We’ve seen the “stick it in carbonite” idea used before (see Pheydenite at the Glyos Transmission Web Log), but that doesn’t mean that Star Wars fans who also collect designer toys will ever get tired of the concept. It’s a classic design and one that I know I almost always enjoy.

Paint

The only flaw I’ve found with the Cuppa Carbonite resin toy is that the paint is slightly tacky. Not completely dry, holding the toy for more than a moment results in a stickiness that I’m worried will eventually damage the toy. No paint has come off, but what I’m most worried about is dust and hair slowly sticking to the toy and turning its smooth finish into a fuzzy mess. My fingers are crossed in hope that I’m wrong, but the still-sticky paint damages what would otherwise be a perfect work of art.

Sculpt

As you can see, the toy looks great. But as a blending of concepts I’m not sure if any part of the toy is an original sculpt or if its all pieces married together. (For all I know this is an existing Star Wars toy that was hacked into and combined with the Lunartik toy; I don’t own every carbonite block ever produced so this may be something already out there.) But regardless of how it was created it’s still a neat design.

Closing Thoughts

It really does look cool on the shelf, and the included plastic stand was a really classy touch that unfortunately cannot offset the sticky paint problem. I’m hoping that this is rereleased at some point in the future, because if it is — and if the paint problem is fixed — I’d be happy to buy a replacement piece. Looking up from where I sit now the Cuppa Carbonite looks great with other resin toys like the DMS-One Dusters (review here) and I hope that my fuzz fear remains unrealized.

A cool toy with one flaw that may or may not prove to be fatal.

Philip Reed counts himself lucky that he managed to get one of these when he did, and he is surprised that he scored such a low number. That must be what happens when you get lucky and catch a tweet when a resin toy is released.