The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of… Black Puddle Toys's "The Parasite" resin figure!

Let's start with the good: UK-based Black Puddle Toys's first resin figure release, "The Parasite," has a truly great and appropriate tagline… “Beauty's only skin deep, but ugly will burrow right into you!” Love it! I'm a big fan of belle laide (beautiful/ugly) art and that tagline totally sets me up for a seeing a beautifully ugly piece, but the delivery falls short. Yes, we're moving onto the bad…

Let's look at the actual sculpt for "The Parasite," pictured above is the standard version (limited to 8 pieces for £30, or $50, apiece) and pictured below in the one-off Zombie Edition (for £35, or $58). Standing roughly 2-inches tall, "The Parasite" is, essentially, a rough hewn sculpt of an Andrew Bell "Zlik" figure. Perhaps Ash from Black Puddle Toys is unfamiliar with the "Zlik," but it's a big enough production release that he should've been able to locate it when researching the originality of his figure's design. The sculpt is very rough, though the eyes are piercing and well done, but it overall needed more care given to the overall look. The paint job might've saved the sculpt if it was better executed, more washes and diversity in coloring could've made the sculpt's roughness work for it, as opposed to the rather flat color applications chosen, which tend to make the piece look all the more lifeless.

Available now in the Black Puddle Toys's online shop, "The Parasite" comes signed, numbered, and packaged in a gift box, bundled with a one-off "Mini-Monster From The Black Puddle" that has been hand-sculpted in polymer clay and painted (no examples given). This release is an initial step from a new voice, one he will hopefully learn from and come back all the stronger!