Brad Hill's (tiny, adorable) Thing Peek

So Facebook is undeniably a trash heap these days, any I often find myself wondering if I should just pull the plug and delete it. I would probably live a happier life if I did, but one reason I can't quite bring myself to do it is that I get updates toward the end of every month about Brad Hill's newest Peek releases. Last month, apparently at 3:33pm, I opened up the app and found this staring me in the face:

Brad Hill, also known as "SirCreate", is an artist and sculptor whose work appears regularly in Gallery1988 showings. Every month, Hill sculpts, molds and paints two very limited figures from various pop culture franchises. He calls these "Peeks" because he places the figures in a small wooden box with a window in the center of one panel...where you can peek in at the figures. I first became aware of him and his work when I saw and missed out on buying his "Weird Al" Yankovic Peek, which I'll never forgive myself for. At the time, I didn't realize how popular these items were, as they would regularly sell out within seconds of release. Still, despite my ever-lasting shame of missing the Weird Al Peek, I quickly developed a love for these little things.

We're all pretty aware of my obsession with the Fantastic Four's Ben Grimm, so when I saw that the Thing was up next on the Peek docket, I did my best to try and get one.

And then I missed that one, too, but I was able to get, and subsequently trade, the other offering for the month: Alexander Hamilton as portrayed by friend-of-Weird-Al Lin-Manuel Miranda. Was Hamilton the more desirable of the two? Possibly in 2020, but never for me, and I happily made the trade for the FF's resident orange rock monster.

It just arrived in the mail a few days ago, so let's take a look at it. First, you might be wondering just how big these figures are. Well, here's some perspective:

Contrary to popular opinion (right?), I do not have "Andre the Giant grabbing a can of beer" sized hands, so you can see how tiny these things really are. Each figure, this included, is right around ONE INCH in height. The level of detail for something so small is incredible. In this picture, you can just see the infinitesimal "4" on the Thing's waistband.

He even has blue eyes!

Here's a shot of the whole package, with the box branded with Hill's initials.

And here we can see that this - and every - production run was limited to just 18 figures.

From Hill's website, we can see a picture of the Thing without the cover, which (as the image states) is not removable.

This is one of my favorite new figures of 2020, and I'm so glad that I was able to get one. I've managed to get two others in the course of the last few years: Star Trek's Worf and Howard the Duck. And maybe one day lightning will strike and someone will sell their Weird Al Peek and I can jump for joy.

The Christmas haul, 2015

Is it weird that I post pictures of some of the stuff I got for Christmas? Maybe. But here's what I got for Christmas. I like it.

I got some great comics this year. The Gaiman/Williams Sandman prequel was collected just in time for Christmas. I'm now caught up on the Hellboy library editions. I'm very excited to read the comic adaptation of Don Quixote. And WOOOOOAH, I got the Complete Calvin and Hobbes hardcover edition, which must weigh about 50 pounds. It's really impressive.

Your pal (and mine) Larry got me some great Thing items. First up are these two figures. The first one is from Japan, and the second is part of a kid's memory game. Both are awesome (and both come apart!).

Larry also went above and beyond when he found these two gems from the 2005 Fantastic Four movie. Thing hands and Thing feet!

Check out this sticker on the Thing feet box. Was it necessary? You can see the feet in the box, and it says "THING FEET" just inches away, in big, capital letters, at the bottom of the box. The artwork doesn't fit the rest of the packaging, either. But how cool! Somewhere out there, there's a roll of these "Thing feet" stickers.

While everyone else is moving away from DVDs to digital downloads and streaming services, I am apparently doubling down on discs with bizarre additions to my collection like the Dr. Katz complete series.

I got a WiiU a few months ago, and now I have a few more games to play, plus my first Amiibo. What's an Amiibo? Why, it's a huge racket that forces you to buy toys to go along with your games. And here I am, falling for it! I think I'll get the Pac Man Amiibo next.

My Steelers sideline shirt from 2004 is nearing the end of its life. So here's my new gameday shirt, which maybe I'll wear for another 10 years or so. Let's get a picture now while it's still black.

And then there's my haul from the yearly Gallery 1988 sale. These aren't technically Christmas presents (since I bought 'em for myself), but they came in December and they are great. So we're listing them. These two Weird Al prints are from separate shows, but they obviously follow a theme. I buy a few each year in hopes that the many Weird Al prints don't sell out before I have a chance to buy them all.

This one is freaky but great.

Merry Christmas!