Review – Nuked! Resin Toys
oOMoSOo (blog, Flickr, Etsy, Twitter) released this series of small resin mini-figures early this year and I, like the loser I am, am only now getting around to actually opening the package and carefully examining the toys. Why did it take me so long? Because I’m worthless and you guys really should just rush off and find somewhere else to visit if you want anything even close to “timely” toy reviews.
Packaging
The ‘ol “bag and header” trick at work again, this time with artwork by oOMoSOo and, nicely enough, actually personalized and addressed to me. Nice touch! And with only a little effort I managed to remove the clear plastic bags from the header card so I can maybe display the card along with the little resin toys. I love when artists personalize stuff just a little.
The Toys!
Now that we have the packaging out of the way we can dive right in and take a look at these tiny resin toys. oOMoSOo sculpted and cast each one so they’re all hand-crafted fun, and anyone who has seen my earlier reviews of his work —
- oOMoSOo’s Snot Beasts
- “Skeletor†Snot Beast
- Snot Beast v2
- “Trap Jaw†Snot Beast
- FOEZ Skekiltor, the Mace of Hades
— can already tell that I’m a fan of his sculpting style. Rough, adorable, and simply fun are all the words I would use to describe his designs, and each time I stop to look at what’s new I find that oOMoSOo continues to craft designs that almost look like he’s making things just for me. Such very fun designs.
Single Piece, Single Color
Like many small mini-figures coming together these days, the Nuked! toys are one-piece designs cast in a single color. There’s a very M.U.S.C.L.E./Monster in My Pocket feel to these sorts of toys and I’m willing to bet that those eighties/nineties toy designers never would have thought that their work would inspire so many artists today.
The sculpts are wickedly brutal, with lots of details and thick, blobby edges and surfaces that make these look quite organic and alive. There are some toys out there that are perfectly smooth and look machined to perfection, and then there are the toys like the Nuked! line that are clearly the products of someone’s hands. I do enjoy both styles of toys, but on days like today it’s the rough edges and life of sculpts like the Nuked! series that makes me happy. And the fact that one of the designs has a giant claw is not bad at all.
Closing Thoughts
oOMoSOo (blog, Flickr, Etsy, Twitter) isn’t exactly a popular or well-known toy artist, but if you’re anything like me then you’ll be happy to get your hands on a set of these Nuked! mini-figures. That’s gonna be really tough since the toys were released in January and are long gone, but maybe if enough people express an interest then oOMoSOo can find a way to release a new color of these toys for everyone who missed out.
And, even if he doesn’t, I suspect that oOMoSOo has more toy designs in the works. I’m anxious to see what he creates next.
Philip Reed still wants to design his own robotic series of one-piece toys. He needs more hours in the day.
