Gorewad Monsters: More wads of gore! (sets 2 & 3)

All nine Gorewads released so far

There were a lot of outstanding custom mini figures released in 2012. So many that it's hard to pick a favorite, but if somebody held my collection of Neclos Fortress figures over a fire pit and forced me to, I'd probably go with Gorewad Monsters. I first wrote about the Gorewads months ago, when the initial set of three figures was released as a collaboration between Jimmy Rommel (who sculpted them) and Eric Nilla (who handled the molding/casting). Well, thankfully Jimmy and Eric haven't wasted much time in cranking out more of these gross little guys; the second and third Gorewad sets are out now. That's six more miniature gobs of gore to join the gang.

Gorewads with Garbage Pail Kids Cheap Toys

Before I talk about the new figures themselves, I have to say I've been a bit surprised that Gorewads seem to be kind of underrated. I consider them some of the raddest mini figures in my collection, but from what I have seen most people seem to be more into Jimmy and Eric's other collaboration, Universe of Violence (which I think also looks pretty awesome, but I can't afford to collect both and Gorewads appeal to me a bit more). I just think everything about the Gorewads is really cool, from how mini they are (around 1") to the fun gross-out humor of the sculpts to the superball-ish rubbery material they're made of. I also love the variety of colors they're being cast in; waiting to see which colors will arrive in the mail makes them even more fun to collect.

OK, onto the new figures...

Set two

Set two consists of a hamster eating a finger, a monster that looks like it's tearing its own face off and warrior monster with a spike for a hand (which I think is a "mini me" version of one of the Universe of Violence figures). Uh, did I mention there was a hamster eating a finger!? I love it! (although it kind of brings back crazy memories because I used to have a hamster that would try to bite my fingers off whenever I put my hand into his cage--seriously...the thing was evil). I really like the sculpts of the other two guys, too, although spike-hand marks the first Gorewad that's not particularly gory; it seems to break away a bit from the original intention of the line, but I personally don't mind the added variety. He's monstrous enough that he doesn't seem out of place. My set two arrived in M.U.S.C.L.E.-esque pink (face-tearing guy and finger-gnawing hamster) and creamy white (Universe of Violence guy). I especially like how well the pink shows off the impressive details that have been sculpted into these very mini figures.

Set three

Gorewad glowing in the dark

Of the two new sets, I think set three is my favorite. As with the blood-thirsty hamster in set two, set three has one figure that stands out as the goriest--a demented, hat-wearing severed head. But not just any demented, hat-wearing severed head--one that has a tiny creature crawling out of it! As with the face on the back of "Diet Hell Turtle's" shell in set one of the Gorewads, it's a detail that kind of catches you by surprise--another thing that makes me such a fan of this line. I don't know if he has an official name, but I call him "Dread Head." And mine came in bright red, which I think is the perfect color for this sculpt. The other two characters in the group, like set two's spike-hand dude, veer away from the goriness. Instead they're just cool-looking little creatures. One of them, a little mollusk-alien dude (which I got in blue), is one of my favorite Gorewads so far. He's actually kind of, uh...cute (seems strange to say that about something called a Gorewad Monster, but come on, you've got to admit...). The final guy looks like some sort of owl warrior monster; I really like the bumpy texture of this sculpt, and what makes it even cooler is that mine came cast in two-tone, glow-in-the-dark rubber. Awesome.

The only small criticism I can think of about the six new figures is that the general feel of some of the sculpts seem a bit removed from those of the first three figures. While the three set one figures all had a sort of globby, wad-ish quality (haha, "wad-ish") which really connected strongly to the name of the line, some of the new sculpts start to move away from that (most noticeably the spike-hand and owl monster warriors). I can't say this really takes away from my overall enjoyment of the line--it's just an observation I had when looking at all of the figures together.

I hope Jimmy and Eric continue to produce many more waves of Gorewad Monsters. They're definitely some of my favorites and I'd love to amass as big an army of them as possible. Plus, they help keep other toys on the shelf in check...

Gorewad Monsters ganging up on a custom Critter keshi

You can pick up all sets of the Gorewads at Eric Nilla's online store.