Background
Ice-Bat lives in an ice cave inside an icebox. Anything he touches turns to ice…yet he warms your heart! Awww? Yeah well did you know the very first Ice-Bats, hand sewn by Sun-Min, had toes? Way back in 2002, Giant Robot sold the very first batch of Ice-Bats which at the time had 5 teeth and toes! Now you too can relive the glory days when the days were long, the Earth was warmer, and ice was COOL!
The Uglydoll folks recently released a small run of the special 2002 Ice-Bat (Giant Robot Long Time Ago Version) at a March 6th, 2010 event. The David and Sun-Min GR2 signing was accompanied by 300 Ice-Bats…the way the character was originally designed.
The Facts
Ice-Bat (Giant Robot Long Time Ago Version)
Series: Uglydolls
Manufacturer: Pretty Ugly
Artist: David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim
Material: Plush
Dimensions: 13” tall
Edition Size: 300 pieces
Tag
The Ice-Bat tag is similar to other Uglydoll tags - a green tag with two illustrated drawings of the character and a background story (reprinted above). This version also has a separate tag advertising the line of Uglydoll books.
Our Opinion
So, the two big differences between the Long Time Ago and Regular Versions of Ice-Bat are the teeth (Regular: 4 in a 1, 2, 1 pattern; Long Time Ago: 5 next to each other) and feet (Regular: full foot; Long Time Ago: 2 toes). They’re fairly minute differences. I probably would have noticed the feet, but definitely not the teeth.
Ice-Bat is one of my favorite Uglydoll characters. It was the first Ugly I purchased…a long time ago. And the character is obviously popular with other collectors, hence the entire glow-in-the-dark mini vinyl toy series based on various color versions of the bat. I’m actually surprised that the entire run of 300 pieces hasn’t sold out yet. I’m sure that will change soon, since it’s a fairly small number for an Uglydoll.
Of course, the quality is that of your normal Uglydoll. The stitching is nearly perfect and without any random strings poking out. It’s firmly stuffed, but not too much. (He’s still pretty soft)
The lone recommendation I have is to buy this guy…before you have to pay Ebay prices.
You can pick one up at the following:
Giant Robot: $30
Ice-Bat Long Time Ago Version Grades
Plush Quality: 9/10
Stitching: 9/10
Material: 9/10
Softness: 8/10
Packaging/Tag: 7/10
Cuteness: 9/10
Fun Factor: 8/10
Value: 9/10
Overall: 9.3/10
