Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Gorilla Biscuits Vinyl Toy review

There's been some buzz lately about the Gorilla Biscuits x Super 7 vinyl toy collaboration. Gorilla Biscuits were one of the first hardcore bands I got into, and it was really what sparked my interest to dig deeper. When I heard about the toy, I was kind of on the fence. I know a lot of people were put off by the $50 price tag, but being a fan of vinyl toys I knew that was about the going rate. Honestly I think they could have charged more since the quality is pretty good, and a bit more involved than some of their other toys. I made sure to order it as soon as I could since I knew it would sell out fast (It wound up selling out in like 5 hours).
A lot of the toy blogs were bashing the sculpt, and I somewhat agree. The gorilla looks similar to the classic record cover, but lacks some of the attitude in the pose. It looks like the knees should have a little bend to them in the original, and the feet should be a lot bigger. I had read somewhere that Civ worked with them on this, so if it's got Civ's blessing then it's ok with me. The blue paint job was made to reference the first pressing blue of the GB 7" cover. I'm not sure how I feel about a gray gorilla, since I imagined it being more tan colored from my old "Hold Your Ground" shirt. They also did a solid black and solid clear vinyl versions, both with no paint. I'm sure the banana yellow vinyl (2nd press) won't be far behind. The back of the header card has a background taken from the B-side label, proving this was a labor of love.
The minimalist packaging should appeal to environmentalists, as well as people who don't like saving packaging. I've got a box full of empty Dunny boxes in my room for some reason, so the bag and header card is much more simple. I should also note that I also ordered a Ghost Land figure and magazine w/ my order, and wound up getting 6 Ghost Land figures (they were apparently giving them away as promos w/ the GB figures), and 3 magazines. Super 7 gets a big thumbs up in my book. If they decide to do a Minor Threat toy or a Bad Religion (actually a "Suffer" boy toy would be fucking incredible) or any of my favorite punk rock heroes, I'd buy it!

*In case any record collector nerds were wondering, that GB 7" in the picture is from the 3rd pressing*

6 comments:

krakit said...

Great review!

I'm totally ignorant of who
Gorilla Biscuits are, but I'm
a fan of toys and I saw what
you posted on October Toys so
I wanted to check it out.
I liked your thoughts on
why you thought the gorilla
was going to be tan. Makes
sense to me, but if Civ
(the leader of the band?)
gave it a thumbs up, then
who are we to second guess?

idlechimp said...

Great review! I feel like the sculpt should have been way better, but like you said, if Civ gives it an OK then I have to too!

Sandwich Champion! said...

This interview we did should answer your questions on the sculpt. Its more complicated than it seems.
thanks
Alex Super7

http://doublecrosswebzine.blogspot.com/2009/02/super-7-on-gorilla-biscuits-toy.html

krakit said...

Thanks, Alex, for the URL to
the interview you guys had
with DOUBLE CROSS.

Great interview! And Brian's
explanation about the changes
from the 2D artwork made a lot
of sense.

Antonio Esteves said...

Thanks for the mention! tony (angry penguin)

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