Review: Trader Sam’s Shrunken Zombie Head 4th Ed. (DLR)

Today, I wanted to check out a new piece from a collection I have not shared a lot of on here (and I regret that). For a few years now, I have been getting into collecting tiki mug-themed glassware. Composed of mainly Disney Parks pieces, I have also gotten stuff from Geeki Tikis (mainly Marvel and Star Wars). While some pieces I really want keep on eluding me, I slowly grow the collection when I can.

Recently, I came across this piece on the secondary market. Even though Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar in the Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland is not opened right now, it looks as though somehow people are still getting a few of the collectible mug designs, as places like Mercari seem to have a lot of them for sale as of recent. In any case, here is the most recent edition of the West Coast Shrunken Zombie Head.

 

I say “West Coast”, because this is one of a few of the Trader Sam tiki pieces that the design is used in both locations, the other one being Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto in Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort at Walt Disney World. With each new run at either location, or “edition”, the color-way (or look, color, and finish) of the piece is changed, and is marked different on the underside of the piece. For this 4th Edition from Disneyland, it’s an off-white/grey matte finish with dark red highlights.

It really is a beautiful piece. The matte finish allows the details of the sculpting to come through very nicely. I have another version of this mug from Grog Grotto, but it has a glossy finish that hides a lot of the detail. This look is much preferred.

 

 

I decided to display this Shrunken Head Zombie mug with some of my other tiki ware, pairing him next to Trader Grim, a fan-designed Funko Pop! Vinyl whose name is derived from Trader Sam, a Disney Parks character who appears on The Jungle Cruise ride. Trader Grim was a Funko Shop exclusive, but unfortunately no longer available for sale unless it’s on the secondary market.