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Preview: Pickman’s Vinyls Thaws Out A Collection Of Cool Resin Minfigures That Pay Homage To John Carpenter’s “The Thing”

Sunday, March 10, 2019 | Sunday, Bloody, Funday

Texas is home to Pickman’s Vinyls (Joshua Allen Hibbard a.k.a. Professor Pickman and Mike Alvarez), known for creative custom resin figures. They recently launched THE THING RESIN MINIFIGURES SERIES, which will run from January to June. The series kicked off 2019 with its January release of The Spiderhead figure, which comes in a bag with a snazzy a comic book styled custom card header featuring a release number and the words “The Thing” in eye-catching font. The resin minifigure words run across the bottom of the header, the word ‘Horror’ runs top to bottom on the left hand side of the header, with a tiny logo for Pickman’s Vinyls finishing up the front of the card in the top right-hand corner.

The back side of the header reveals an illustrated picture of the “Dog Thing” ripping its way into existence. Once again, another logo for Pickman’s Vinyls is included at the top, to the left of this is an 18+ years warning. The release date and name of the figure are included to the middle right of the header and there is a little animated picture in the bottom right in a yellow triangle that says 1 Bloodtest Pt. with a little animated petri dish (more on this later). The header also credits artists Mike Alvarez and Ruth Mendez, and sculpt and cast by Pickman.

Now on to the miniatures themselves. Out so far are The Spiderhead, R.J MaCready, and Dog-Thing. Each figure comes in different sizes and colours, but all of them also possess an extremely engaging look and feel, they are great for displaying and showing off much love for John Carpenter’s classic film. 

January 2019 The Spiderhead
The version I received is sturdy resin so there are no worries about snapping this figure apart at all, just keep it away from animals that like to chew. The major thing that stands out is the fact that it yields so much detail in such a tiny creation. It’s very easy to make out all the facial details such as eyes, teeth and even nostrils on the tiny human-looking face, which acts as the body of the Spiderhead. There’s no articulation at all on these figures, but who needs that when they just look so ultra-cool. Currently, these are sold out, but I have heard from a reliable source that there will be a blind bag series of figures coming up including different versions of the Spiderhead and other Thing minifigures. 

February 2019 R.J MaCready
It’s tough to capture the cult of coolness that Kurt Russell exudes on film, especially when he’s worked with iconic director John Carpenter. Pickman Vinyls does more than an admirable job in its miniature of the flame throwing, beard-sporting R.J MaCready. The solid blue version I received shows off all the detail of the figure including the flame thrower canisters on its back, to the whiskers of the beard. I think it was a great choice to use different solid colours on each release as it gives each character great definition and its own personality. Once again, this figure is currently sold out, but keep looking for different versions to come out in blind bag releases.

March 2019 Dog-Thing
From one of the more iconic practical effects in the movie comes Pickmans Vinyl’s take on the Dog-Thing creature. This month there’s something a little different, there is a standard release figure, which includes the miniature with the dog head and tentacles and a Deluxe Version, which includes another tentacle wrapped add-on (with separate bag and header). This extra figure can be placed at the front of the standard edition figure to create one extra-large Dog-Thing in all its glory. The standard edition (which I received) and deluxe edition are both solid red, with a high degree of detail, especially on the head of the dog. This again is based off another classic scene from the movie to make a spectacular miniature.

                                                       A  Painted version by Paint master  @themendezruth

                                                       Unpainted resin model kit (the one buyers will receive)

Along with these figures and upcoming releases for April, May, June and July, Pickman’s Vinyls is also releasing an ‘unpainted’ 1:1 scale BLOOD SAMPLE RESIN MODEL KIT. This 7-piece kit contains a main body, left and right arms, upper and lower teeth, tongue and Petri dish. The arms peg in, the teeth and tongue have slots that they fit perfectly into, but require glue or adhesive. $70 USD each plus shipping. Limited to 10 preorders (for the first run). 

Following is a peek at few illustrated images of the upcoming The Thing miniatures that will be released in standard and deluxe editions. Keep an eye open for spotlights on all these figures and more, coming from Pickman’s Vinyls.

                                                                                               Childs                                

                                                                                         Bennings-Thing

                                                                                                Blair
Finally, Pickman’s Vinyls is also doing a very cool promotion in its ‘Get a Free Mystery ‘The Thing’ resin minifigure, with the purchase of any three ‘The Thing ‘resin minifigures. Buyers have the choice of one or two team members to “test” and then receive a mystery resin minifigure of your choice!
This is how it works, you will be sent a slip that you must choose a team member from the provided (the slip I received has the choices Clark and Copper).


Once the buyer has picked their selection, then they must photograph the provided slip along with 3 ‘blood test points’, that can be found on the back of the purchased figure’s package header. Then the buyer must email all the above information to Pickmansvinyls@gmail.com, along with sending $4.99 USD (to Pickman’s Vinyls via PayPal) to cover shipping and handling of the free figure(s).
Buyers will receive one of two mystery packs based on your selection (Minifigures are “not” Clark and Copper)
*This offer is valid from April 1-August 31 2019, Maximum of 2 entries per person*

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Chris Hammond
The Curator of the Creepy collectibles. I've been an avid horror fan for over 3 decades. Meeting and writing about some of the finest artists from all over the world is a pure joy. I've written for multiple websites on the art and collectible front. The horror bug that lives inside me is well cared for and has been going strong since I watched my first introduction to horror through a grainy VHS copy of John Carpenter's 1978 classic film Halloween.