Back in May I received my Kickstarter pledge from the extremely popular Jim Henson's Labyrinth & Dark Crystal Collectable Models campaign. Straight away I reviewed the Ludo bust (which you can find here). Now I've decided it's about time I gave the Hoggle bust the same treatment. Especially as more and more pledges are arriving at their new homes.
Traditionally sculpted by Joaquin Palacios who has a reputation for creating high quality sculpted miniatures.
They've really gone to town on the presentation for the whole range. Each range having a different general pattern. As you can see, Labyrinth has the, well... labyrinth as a background.
Simple slip covering which they've done in a way that you can peel open and reseal (or carefully slide off like I did).
The magnetic, double doored, black boxes with the embossed logos are not the sort you just toss in the bin after. I reckon quite a few will find themselves repurposed in some way.
Inside the box
Minimal packaging inside but enough to keep everything in place and protected.
Yes... that is a proof of a genuine article card inside. Something BrokenToad take seriously.
Few more bits than found with Ludo. Two zip lock bags and the plinth (which I made comments about in the Ludo review so won't repeat myself in this review).
Pretty standard stuff when buying busts... though rarely do you get a plinth to display your bust too so obvious bonus points there.
Just four parts. Body, two parts for the faerie killing sprayer, and one of his many, multiple trinkets.
Nothing jumping out to say "highlight me, I'm going to be an issue" which is always a good start.
Up close
The original puppet/ costume of this lying, backstabbing, two faced, huggable, loveable character is packed with textures and details; and Joaquin hasn't held back at all.
All those cloth folds and creases are insanely good. As is the sculpted waistcoat and all the stitching and lacing in different areas.
And that face with it's huge bulbous nose and big ears could not be mistaken for any other character in movie history.
Looking around from top to bottom, it took me a while to find where the mould had been cut. As is usual from BrokenToad casting it is kept away from fine details as much as possible. Something that always helps when trying to do the best quality preparation work you can.
One single pour hold which was easy to trim down with clippers before sanding the last of it away. Plus the mould line running from one side to the other along the rear part of the cut off.
No bubbles to deal with and the resin (as expected) clips, trims, scrapes, and sand well.
If you look closely you can find the rest of the mould line running up the sleeves. Just about.
This is also where I found the only flaw on this copy... and I only noticed because I was comparing it to photos of the original sculpt, after I had been looking at photos of the original film to see how ridiculously close this sculpt is.
That flaw... a tiny part of the rope hanging over the right sleeve is missing. Like I said; if I hadn't been looking at different photos because I knew I would be reviewing, I wouldn't have even noticed. And it doesn't impact the bust at all.
Hoggle's hands and faerie spray comes in two sections. Both with parts needing removing. Just like anything like this though, don't clip close to the piece. Clip them down, trim or scrape the small amount left, and finish with a smooth sanding.
There is a slight dip in the canister to help you attach it in place and I highly recommend adding a pin for extra strength.
These parts do marry up well with the sockets in the main body but expect to have to do some slight trimming and test fitting to really get a perfect join. These aren't the super clean key and socket connections being found on many digital sculpts, and they're not Joaquin's best either unfortunately. But it's worth taking that bit of time to really get the best fit you can.
That last and final part... which is nowhere near this big. It's tiny in fact. A tiny hanging trinket from his belt.
Little careful cleaning along the side before cutting the long part down. However; DON'T CUT THE THIN PART CLOSE TO THE HAND! There's a tiny hole to match it up to so just cut off the thicker pour part and carefully shape to fit nicely in to place.
360 video
No bells or whistles here. Just a simple, basic 360 degree view of what you
can expect and zero talking.
Final thoughts
Frankly, I love Labyrinth. Have done ever since I saw it as a kid in the 80's. Finally getting high quality miniatures of some of the characters/ scenes for me is frankly like giving me part of my childhood back. This Hoggle bust, in my opinion, is one of the best miniatures in the range. And that's me being really picky and critical.
Yes, the connections between parts could've been a bit cleaner but we've been spoilt by digital sculpts and cuts recently. But when it comes to capturing a character for all it's flaws that made it more real.. Joaquin has really aced that. And that is what seriously count's. You can give me all the perfect joins and cuts but characterisation on this level takes a different skill and massively takes a sculpt from being excellent to being absolutely fantastic.
Frankly if you love Labyrinth and enjoy bust painting this will really be a great addition to your collection.
Where to buy?
Well... they're still going through the fulfilment stage so you would've had to have backed the Kickstarter.
However; I do recommend though is to follow BrokenToad and/ or Black Sun Miniatures on their social media for updates on when these will be available to buy:
There is a BrokenToad YouTube channel with multiple videos showing the different miniatures from the Kickstarter and how to assemble them. You can find it at BrokenToadPaintings.
If you managed to miss the Kickstarter though and fancy a look at what the future range may offer, this is the page to drool over:
I reckon I've now taken up more than enough of your valuable time (you could've been painting after all), so thank you. Until next time, stay safe and take care.
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