When is good just too good?

I don’t want to say that I am not looking for top quality when I go seeking items for my collection. After all, for most of us our dollars are hard earned and we want to make every one count. So now, in today’s high tech world of collectibles we have items to tempt us at every price point we can imagine. Manufacturers making claims that they have the finest, handcrafted, accurate, scale, pieces out in the marketplace. Well of course if we weren’t suspicious of these companies and their hyperbole we would be… suckers!

Anyway, something managed to pop up in my browser window recently that made me stop and double take. Something that I can assure you does not happen all the time. This particular something was namely the Alan ‘Dutch’ Scahaefer 12″ figure from Predator by Hot Toys.

Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer - Predator

As I took my first glimpse at the picture I had the usual reaction of, “pretty cool”. You know, with companies like Sideshow, Gentle Giant, etc. puting out consistently great quality stuff the bar is pretty high these days, especially in the greater than $100 price range.

After a moment or two I looked at some more of the provided images and was just knocked sideways.

Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer - Predator

The face sculpt on the figure was literally perfect. Yes I used the P-word. I mean spot-on.

Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer - Predator

Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer - Predator

Of course so much of what is made today is done with the aid of 3D scanners, etc. But I mean I haven’t seen anything so dead-on as this.

And so to my point, after my intial awe filled reaction, I was, to be honest… a little weirded out! Does this little Arnie come to life in the middle of the night? Did the sculpters steal a piece of his soul? I don’t know. What I do know is that I felt as though some of the essential charm was missing. It is almost like the difference between looking at the Mona Lisa hanging on the wall in the Louvre and looking at a top notch printed copy. They make look exactly the same, but for some reason they just don’t have that little extra something. Likewise, with a toy if it is so perfect it feels as though it was produced in some ultra-sterile dust-free zone manned only by computer controlled robots without ever being handled by a human designer or sculptor.

This leaves the question in my mind, when is good just too good? I think I might be leaning towards the fact that this might be the first piece I have seen that has crossed that line.

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