New sofubi: Decapitated Head by Velocitron

One thing we've learned about Ricky Wilson (Velocitron) over the years is he's not afraid to take chances. He makes the toys he wants to see made, sometimes overcoming huge technical and design challenges in the process.

Once again, Ricky steps up with his new figure: A more or less life-sized head that looks like it's ready to join the zombie of the month club. Ricky's knowledge of the sculpting, waxing, mold making, and vinyl pulling process is so deep that he was able to pull this off as a two-part figure.

Making a vinyl toy is not as easy as sculpting something and sending it off for the silicon and copper mold treatment. There are important technical considerations: Will that part bubble up at one stage of the process? Is that part going to break every time the vinyl is pulled? If I use that number of parts, is it physically possible to have the molds made to that configuration?

These are the kinds of questions Ricky deals with every day as he does production work for sofubi toy makers from around the world. Personally I find the design and production side of things fascinating and will be writing more about it. For now, let's take a closer look at Ricky's latest creation:

Here's a clear look at the second part of the figure - the skull cap. Having the joint here opens the figure up to lots of fun possibilities. You could have the cap clear, revealing an internal maggot feast. Or maybe give it a ponytail and make it a zombie hippy...just typing out loud...

 More after the jump:

A good look at the clawed out eye socket

 Some close-ups:

So here's what I mean about the technical feat. Look at all the recesses, angles, and undulations. It takes expert knowledge to know how far you can push the boundaries with widths, curves, and gaps.

Now we'll have to wait and see what treatments Ricky has in mind for this decapitated, decomposing, bottom jawless, clawed-out eye of a cute, cuddly fiend he has birthed.