One day I woke up feeling that my writing desk was looking a little empty and decided that some sort of DC-themed statue, bust, sculpture or model diorama would help 'liven things up' a bit (or at least make my office more visually interesting). So, I decided to immerse myself into the wild, wacky world of hunting down and purchasing a statue/bust that I could be proud of. The only problem was that I knew NOTHING about materials (ex: resin vs cold-cast vs vinyl), so I had some research to do.
If you only have room for one statue/bust/sculpture on your desk, you better make sure it's a character you REALLY like and has some sort of impact (aka: no Waverider for me). I decided that Darkseid, the gravel-faced Lord of Apokolips, would be the perfect character to give my office space some gravitas while striking fear into my enemies' hearts.
My requirements for a sculpture/bust consisted of:
- Can't be any shorter than 4"
- Can't be taller than 8"
- Ideally would have a thick enough base
- Not so fragile that it would break if you looked at it the wrong way
- Reasonable price point
After a lot of hunting (i.e., comparing prices & checking different seller platforms), I stumbled upon this:
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| Image courtesy of www.culturefly.com |
This sculpt really piqued my interest because it appeared to be modelled after the Jack Kirby/Super Powers Collection Darkseid I grew up reading about, and not the JLU Animated series or New 52 Darkseid designs.
Okay, so I knew I liked this sculpt, but what were the dimensions and how much did it weigh? This was a bit trickier to uncover since no online retailer really gave this information out. So, I just bit the bullet and bought it regardless. As you can see, it arrived in a really sturdy box that kept it from rattling around:
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| Sorry for the clarity of the photo, folks. Lots of glare on that plastic window. |
The fact that the box said 'AGE 4+' kind of made me immediately re-think this purchase. Good for 4 year old kids and anyone older? If it's good enough for a 4 year old, is it good enough for me? I was hoping for something a little more... sophisticated. How cheap was this thing going to be? Also, the box was incredibly light.
Measuring about 13cm wide x 13cm deep x 14cm high, this bust weighed a measly 140 grams. Despite being a hollow vinyl sculpt, it was actually heavy enough to be used as a book-end (for a row of paperback novels) or even as a paper-weight (for a very light stack of papers).
One BIG positive thing I will say about this bust is that it IS durable -- no wonder it's safe for a 4 year old. The vinyl figure is all one piece of durable plastic, and I'm sure it can survive being dropped on the floor a few times. (No, I'm not going to try it.)
Normally, I'd re-box this and try to re-sell it to get my money back, but this vinyl sculpture kind of grew on me. The musculature and dimensions of Darkseid are proportional to the Darkseid I grew reading about, and he kind of has that "Come and get me!" pose made famous by Marvel's Thanos from Infinity Gauntlet:
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| Portion of cover from Marvel's Infinity Gauntlet #4 (1991). Illustrated by George Perez |
Also, I kind of feel like I lucked out finding one of these at an affordable price (after much hunting). You see, this vinyl bust was part of a CultureFly 'mystery box' from Spring 2020 that you needed to subscribe to. Needless to say, this mystery box has been discontinued, so it's pretty rare to find. The mystery box also contained other items that I really had no interest in (ex: socks, a t-shirt, a notebook, pins, decals, stickers, etc...), so I feel like I got the best of this deal.
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| The contents of CultureFly 'Heroes & Villains' box released in Spring 2020. Image courtesy of www.culturefly.com |
So far, my favorite thing to do with this vinyl bust is to use it as a 'figure study' to practice my drawing:
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| Faces are hard. So sue me. |
Overall, I am pleased with this purchase and imagine you would be too if Darkseid is your jam.
-Justin
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