You might have noticed I’m a bit of a Hellboy fan. My collection of Hellboy/Mignolaverse figures is fairly comprehensive, but within this collection, Kotobukiya’s soft vinyl Hellboy stands out for a number of reasons. Whenever I show off this fairly large figure, I make my guests guess what it’s made of (yeah, I’m a hoot at parties). I gave it away in the title, but it is always surprising to me that this figure is made out of hollow, flexible vinyl. It looks remarkably similar to my other Polystone figures. It’s light, rubbery, and satisfyingly detailed.

The design is based off the unmistakable style of Katsuya Terada, whose gritty, sexy, bold images suit Hellboy’s showy action sequences. The flow and physicality of the image are perfectly suited to a statue and although liberties have been taken (the whole monster isn’t depicted, and neither are the cool-looking bats), this inexpensive figure shows a unique 3D take on Hellboy. His jacket actually has more texture than in the image that inspired it. The tongue of the beast is also an addition specific to the figure. There’s also a greater contrast to the colours than those depicted in Terada’s drawing.

This isn’t the most detailed, nor most iconic Hellboy figure, but along with some of the art toys, this design manages to stray far enough from Mignola’s high-contrast artwork without losing any of HB’s essence. This figure has been sold-out for some time but routinely appears for a reasonable price on eBay. For fans looking for a noteworthy and unusual Hellboy, this guy makes an excellent choice. The poster artwork is included when purchased new in box.

Click on any of the images to see the high-res photos.

GEEKY SHIT looks at rare, geeky, and (allegedly) awesome items in Evan’s collection.