Back in Season 2 of The Walking Dead (Episode 4: Cherokee Rose) a bloated portly zombie is discovered in the well on Herschel Greene’s farm. Looking to save the drinking water before it is tainted beyond use, the survivors send Glenn down into the well to get a rope around the walker in hopes of pulling the zombie out of the well. Of course we know it doesn’t end well for the walker . . . or the water in the well.
The talented artisans over at Gentle Giant Ltd. have created an amazingly detailed Well Walker Mini-Bust in tribute to this scene. Priced around $75.00 these limited edition Walking Dead collectibles aren’t unreasonably priced, but they also aren’t exactly cheap for the average fan’s budget. So we decided to order one up and give our thoughts and worthless opinion on the Well Walker mini bust from Gentle Giant.
Specifications:
- The Well Walker mini bust was released in September of 2013.
- The edition size for this 1:6 scale statue is reported at 850 pieces.
- Approximate height: around 6.5″ tall.
- Cast in high quality polystone
- Hand Painted Details
- Hand numbered base and certificate of authenticity
Photos:
Here’s a product photo used for product illustration and demonstration on Gentle Giant’s website.
The following photos are our photos taken of the actual product we received. Click any of the images below to open a bigger view.
So how does the product we thought we were ordering based on product listing photos compare to what we actually received? Close enough!
The photo of the mini bust on Gentle Giant’s site is painted with a greater level of detail but these are hand painted and we understand not all of them are identical. It’s only natural for a site to highlight their best work and feature a high level of detail on the piece they photograph for product catalogs and similar uses.
Two other difference from the product photos on the Gentle Giant site involve the base and joint seams. The Gentle Giant site photos don’t show the amc The Walking Dead logo on the base. Their site does feature an embedded YouTube product video showing a mini-bust with the Walking Dead logo on the base. That logo is black in color while our product featured a white TWD logo. We actually prefer the white logo we received so we’re just making an observation and not complaining.
The other difference we noted in our product is the absence of seams in the arm and neck areas. If you study the product photos closely on the Gentle Giant site, it appears the well walker bust may have a rather ugly large black seam in the left shoulder area where the arm meets the torso. This gives the impression that at least the initial prototype or sample piece for Gentle Giant may have been two pieces with the arm being separate. We’re happy to report there is no arm joint seam on our retail piece.
Let’s take a look at the ordering process, packaging etc.
Shipping and Packing:
Our mini-bust arrived in perfect condition. We ordered around the busy holiday season and it took about a week for us to receive the product we ordered. Everything was properly packed and labeled as fragile. There were no issues with the shipping or packaging in our case.
The product itself is packed in a plastic bag within a large fitted Styrofoam insert. They even include desiccant bags to help ensure there’s no moisture or humidity damage.
The Mini-Bust:
Isn’t he amazing? We love this guy! The size is just right. He measured just under 6.5″ tall for us which makes it big enough to provide high detail without being so large that it commands too much precious shelf space.
Not that he looks light in the first place, our bloated zombie friend has a near perfect weight. He’s not overly heavy (he’s just “big boned”) but there’s enough heft there to let you know this really is high quality polystone that isn’t going to break unless you do something foolish like drop it.
The hand painted details might not be quite up to par with the product photos shown on the Gentle Giant website, but they are still amazing. The gross mottled and sickly looking zombie skin looks just like a walker that’s been in the water too long. . . not that we know from experience or anything.
The edition size for his collectible is 850 and our piece was numbered at 282. Gentle Giant goes a bit crazy with the numbering which is fine with us. Our piece was numbered on the outer cardboard box, the inside Styrofoam insert, and of course on the certificate of authenticity and the mini-bust itself. We like the numbering on the outside of the box. If you’re one of those collectors that doesn’t like to actually open things, you could determine what number you received by looking at the bottom of the box itself. All of our numbers matched which is always a good thing. The certificate of authenticity itself is more like a well-walker baseball card than a certificate and we really like it. (Side Note: After some debate we’re pretty sure Well Walker would be a DH more than a position player if he did play baseball.)
As you can see in the photo above, the mini bust is numbered on the bottom, which features four rubber pads to prevent marring the statue or surfaces when it is displayed.
That’s enough rambling. Let’s get down to the nitty gritty and breakdown what we loved about our Well Walker mini bust and what we were less than thrilled about.
What’s Great:
Awesome Packaging: Looks great while protecting your purchase. The numbering on the packaging itself is a nice touch.
Amazing hand painted details
The price: Our price was $0.00. Yep. Free. No not because we’re awesome and Gentle Giant donated the product to us, but FREE because we took advantage of a pretty amazing deal GG was running back in November. We purchased The Walking Dead bookends and received the Well Walker Mini Bust free! We also took advantage of a promo offering a 20% discount off of $100+ purchases. We’re smart like that. So we added a set of The Walking Dead Zombie Army men and ended up scoring all this Walking Dead loot for around $94.00 including our cost for shipping via UPS. Crazy! Gentle Giant doesn’t offer great deals like that very often which is why we told you about it in our free ZombieGift.com email newsletter.
Size: These mini busts really are the ideal size. Around 6″ means they aren’t too big but they’re still big enough to look great on display.
Meh. (What’s Not So Great)
Price: I know what you’re thinking, “I thought you said the price was great?” It was for us because we scored on a rare Gentle Giant promotion to get a great deal. If you’re not lucky enough to find one on sale, it will set you back about $85.00. That’s a lot of money for something that sits on a shelf.
The Base: One of the few details we have to complain about on this piece is the bottom of the base. It looks like the Walking Dead logo was smeared on the underside of the base. While that’s nothing major, it is slightly disappointing. We’re also not happy some of the painting details on the base but they’re minor complaints.
The Final Verdict:
Overall we love this Walking Dead Well Walker mini bust from Gentle Giant Ltd. We gave it a 4.5 out of 5.
Where to Buy:
Here are some buying options if you’re looking to add the Well Walker mini bust to your collection.
Order direct from GentleGiantLtd.com.
Order from our friends at EntertainmentEarth.com
Nice review and a great min bust. Do you have any idea what it weighs?
Not sure on an exact weight but it’s solid polystone so it has some heft. It feels like it weighs somewhere between 1-2 pounds easy. If I can remember I’ll grab a postal scale and weight him in the next day or so.