Review – E.killer Resin Toy

Ben Mininberg has created a lot of custom toys, but today we’re taking a look at his first original resin toy, the E.killer that was recently released at his website. Ben was kind enough to ship me a free one — not the first time Ben has hooked me up with a toy (see my Secret Base Honey Bee review) — and after playing with it for a few days I wanted to get my review of the toy online for everyone to enjoy.

2.75-Inches of Shiny Goodness

Check the photo below and notice how shiny the E.killer resin toy is. That’s because Ben painted this guy with Matt Walker’s (blog, Twitter) Monster Kolor paints. And the result is fantastic, with the toy shiny and bulletproof and speckled with little bits of glittery effect (which is almost visible in the pics). And it looks like Ben is well on his way to mastering the airbrush, because the blended colors on his toy make me jealous. It’s a paintwork any kaiju fan would be happy to have in a collection.

A Plant Monster?

Once you get past how shiny the toy is it’s time to scratch your head and try to identify the creature. I think it’s a plant monster, but I’m not sure. And getting the toy in-hand shows me that Ben did something insane with the design, because that mouth undercut had to have been a pain when it came time to create the mold. Whatever Ben did he did an awesome job, because I don’t see any seam lines on the piece. And the sculpt, while unusual, is wonderfully smooth. It looks like Ben sunk quite a bit of time into sanding the piece down; the gloss finish helps, but he had to work at smoothing it to get the toy this clean.

A Single Point of Articulation

Notice the monster’s one arm? It’s a peg/socket design that allows the arm/tentacle to move up and down. It’s simple, but adds just a little bit of poseability to what would otherwise be a one-piece resin toy. And while it’s a weird shape, my favorite part is again the coloring; Ben shaded the piece so that the purple bits work nicely with the purple bits on the main body.

Closing Thoughts

A fun addition to my resin toy collection, the E.killer is a fun example of the sort of toy that can be created by a dedicated artist who dives into learning a new skill. Sculpted, cast, and painted by Ben Mininberg, the E.killer makes me happy because it’s nothing I would have made (my imagination doesn’t work this way), has gorgeous paintwork, and has me trying to figure out just how deep on an undercut I can attempt on my own next toy design.

Those of you who visit battlegrip.com for the mass-market action figure and toy reviews and info may have already stopped reading long before now, but if you’re still with me then please give a resin toy a shot. The next time you see one that interests you — either shown here or any of the other toy sites that cover resin toys — take a risk and order the toy. I think many of you will find yourself impressed with the workmanship once you have a resin toy in-hand and realize that all of the work was done by a single artist in a garage, basement, or tiny shop. It’s DIY at it’s best!

Philip Reed finds it a little tough to review a toy that he was given as a gift by the designer. On the one hand he wants to give everyone a fair review, but on the otherhand he wants to thank the artist for the work. Fortunately, the E.killer is cool enough that Philip can say this is a neat toy that any resin toy fan should seriously consider adding to a collection.