Unless God is listed as designing these, they are NOT designer toys!

Okay, so that title is a tad of an overstatement, but I am getting tired of pieces like this being called designer toys; high-end collectible or action figure, sure, but it's not an art toy. I realize that there is a designer attached to this "Synthetic Human" 1/6th scale, 12-inch tall action figure, specifically being famous cyberpunk manga artist Tsutomu Nihei, with the pieces being released by his "TOA Heavy Industries" line at 1000Toys, but the finished piece — as gorgeous as it is — is too much of a realistic adaptation of an android. You get glimpses of an artistic soul behind the design, especially with the captivating eye work, but it's just not enough of a non-literal, imaginative creation for me to consider it an art toy.

All of this comes up, of course, as the 2nd run of these "Synthetic Human" figures will be available for pre-order in the 1000Toys online shop from May 26th at 7pm Pacific time until exactly three days later, on May 29th, 2016 at 7pm Pacific time, for $150 apiece. Limited to 3 copies per person, these are expected to ship in September 2016.