Horizon's Thing model kit

When I was a kid, I went through a phase where I built a number of models - mostly vehicles...and one time the USS Enterprise. I think it was something that my dad got me into, perhaps because he thought I needed a hobby. I usually managed to complete everything that I started, but it was always frustrating because there were often a number of tiny parts and decals that would never end up exactly right. And I would usually overpaint.

Those days, though, have come and gone, and I don't know that I'd have the patience for models anymore, at least in relation to the quality of the product that I'd end up with. That's a lazy answer, I guess, but it's true. I think I'd rather spend my time doing other tedious tasks, such as write on this blog. Wait, that's not true. I love this blog. I do.

Horizon released a Thing model in the early '90s, and in recent years I've been able to pick up both versions. As far as I can tell, there's nothing different about what comes inside, but there are two different boxes, probably from different releases. There's one that has a picture of the finished product on front...

...and another with some artwork on the front instead. I'm not sure when one came first, but like I said, I think the insides are the same. It's almost hard to classify this as a model, as the pieces snap together and there are only a total of, like, six pieces to the entire thing. Most of the work comes from painting the model, which was the part (along with decals) I was the worst at when trying to build my own.

Well, thank goodness for eBay, which lets me totally cheat the system by buying a model that someone else spent long hours putting together and painting. There are always a number of these up for auction, but one recently showed up at a steep discount, so I snatched it up and it arrived recently. Here are a few pictures of it, and also my cat, who was interested it.

The model ended up being bigger than I expected, and heavier, too. It's a real solid piece. It's nearly a foot tall and the detail work is better than I thought it would be. To top it all off, the paint job is great. I like how the painter went with a classic black waistband as opposed to the white '80s/'90s version.

There are two Thing models from around the same time (that I know of - the other one was made by ToyBiz). This is probably the nicer of the two. I'm happy to finally get a version that was built without having to do all of that painstaking work of *building it myself*.

Also, I recently got one of the limited Pepsi Perfect bottles. What will I do with this? Who knows. But dangit, I got one.