Hellboy Animated Bust By Hervé St-Louis Jul 8, 2007 - 12:56:36 AM

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Sculpted by Tim Bruckner, this bust inspired by the Hellboy animated films that first aired on Cartoon Network in March 2006. This statue about the demon-like creature found in ruins in 1944 as a toddler. Now, a member of the BUREAU FOR PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND DEFENSE (BPRD), Hellboy fights the super natural. Hellboy is a comic book series by Mike Mignola, first published in 1993 through Darkhorse Comics’ San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2.


Likeness
 
This bust is of course based on the animated version of Hellboy. The shapes are simpler than Mike Mignola’s work and less angular, as the cartoon version. Although still looking very angular, this the rounded shape helps animators move the character. The character’s torso is naked.

Sculpt

This is a good sculpt, presenting an angry Hellboy starring at something unidentified. Yet, his shoulders are resting. To prove to collectors that this is a bust and not a real statue, the back is not completely sculpted. It’s as if large chips were missing from the Hellboy’s back. Therefore, it may not be a good idea to put this bust where people can see it’s back, like in an open space environment, similar to what I have at work.

Paint

The paint job is good but not entirely clean. The black paint on Hellboy’s hair clearly leeks on other surfaces. Also, it seems like the red paint is not thick enough to cover the underlying colour. This is especially apparent in the back of the bust.

Scale

Were it a full statue, this Hellboy could stand at about twelve inches. However, both the bust and the pedestal are about seven inches together. Of course, it is in perfect scale with the Abe Sapien animated bust.

Stability

Sitting on a large and flat pedestal, the bust is secured and will not fall.

Materials

The bust and the base seem to be of a type of porcelain. Both are very heavy. Assembling the set is easy. There is a metal peg to insert into the bottom of the bust. It fits well and doesn’t spin around aimlessly. It stays where you put it.

Diorama

The base has the BPRD logo carved inside a cylinder on both sides of the pedestal. The bust can also rotate on it.

Packaging

The bust and the base are well packaged in a cardboard box containing two halves of a Styrofoam packing. Both were not broken upon arrival although being shipped through FedEx - and hence, thrown all over the place by uncaring shipping crews. The set comes with a Hellboy trading card from the Inkworks series develop to coincide with the animated DVDs. There are also card inserts about other Hellboy mechanise.

Cost

Retail prices set by Darkhorse, are $39.99.

Availability

This is where it gets complicated. According to the inscription at the bottom of the pedestal, there are but 2000 copies of this bust created. However, on the package, it states that there are 1,500 in circulation. It’s not clear which number is right, but each is numbered. Thus this set is for die-hard fans only and will probably become rarer once Darkhorse and retailers sellout. If a bust such as this is something you would like in your collection - and it looks very nice, than don’t wait for stocks to eventually diminish. Get it now.

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