The KAWS Dissected Companion is a vinyl figure series by Brian Donnelly that strips away the iconic Companion's cartoon exterior to reveal a clinical cross-section of muscle tissue, skeleton, and internal organs. First released in 2007 through Medicom Toy, Dissected pieces are widely regarded as KAWS's most conceptually loaded designer-toy works and command persistent demand across the documented secondary market.
At Gauntlet Gallery, we have catalogued this category through our 160,000+ comparable sales database, tracking every major Dissected colorway, size variant, and the Flayed Companion sub-series. This deep-dive explains what the Dissected Companion is, why collectors prize it, how the variants and sizes break down, and what authentication checks separate real Medicom pieces from the high volume of counterfeits flooding open marketplaces.
What Is the KAWS Dissected Companion?
KAWS (Brian Donnelly, born 1974 in Jersey City, New Jersey) introduced the Companion character in 1999 as a Mickey-Mouse-adjacent figure with X'd-out eyes and gloved hands. The Dissected Companion, debuting in 2007, takes that same silhouette and slices it open vertically — one half remains the smooth cartoon shell, the other half exposes anatomically rendered muscle striations, a skeletal hand, ribs, lungs, and viscera.
It is, in effect, a memento mori dressed up as a designer toy. The Companion is no longer just a character; it is a body. Manufactured by Medicom Toy under licensing through OriginalFake (KAWS's Tokyo storefront, open 2006–2013) and later directly with KAWS One, every Dissected release carries the formal Medicom production stamps and stickered tamper-evident packaging that define the legitimate secondary market.
Why "Dissected" Matters Conceptually
KAWS spent the early part of his career subverting advertising imagery — bus stops, billboards, magazine ads — by overlaying his cartoon vocabulary onto consumer-facing surfaces. Dissected extends that critique into three dimensions. The premise is direct: peel back the friendly exterior of the consumer object, and what you find is biological mortality. Collectors who treat KAWS as a contemporary artist rather than a toymaker tend to gravitate toward Dissected for exactly this reason. It is the piece that signals you bought the idea, not just the silhouette.
Sizes, Variants, and the Flayed Companion
Dissected Companion has shipped in multiple scale tiers. The two most commonly traded are the 4-inch keychain/mini scale and the 11-inch standard vinyl. Larger formats — including the oversized Dissected Companion exhibited at gallery events — surface less frequently and trade primarily through auction-house and private-sale channels.
| Variant | Scale | Year | Edition Profile | Secondary Market Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dissected Companion (Brown) | 11 in. | 2006–2007 | OriginalFake / Medicom | Foundational release; benchmark for the series |
| Dissected Companion (Grey) | 11 in. | 2006–2007 | OriginalFake / Medicom | Cooler-palette counterpart to brown release |
| Dissected Companion (Black) | 11 in. | 2006–2007 | OriginalFake / Medicom | Most graphically stark of the original trio |
| Dissected Companion (4") | 4 in. | Various | Medicom Toy keychain scale | Entry-tier; most counterfeited size |
| Flayed Companion | 11 in. | 2016 | KAWS One / Medicom | Full-body skinless variant; closest cousin to Dissected |
| Resting Place (Dissected pose) | Multi-scale | 2013 | Limited release | Dissected motif extended into a reclining sculpture |
Flayed Companion: Dissected's Direct Descendant
Released in 2016, the Flayed Companion is the logical extension of the Dissected concept — rather than a vertical cross-section, the entire outer skin is removed, leaving exposed musculature across the full figure. Flayed is typically traded as part of any serious Dissected collection because the two pieces are conceptually inseparable. Buyers building a thematic display generally pair Brown Dissected with one Flayed colorway as the cornerstone set.
Why Collectors Prize Dissected
Three structural reasons explain Dissected's persistent demand in the documented secondary market:
- Conceptual weight. Dissected is the KAWS vinyl that art-world buyers point to when defending the work as fine art rather than merchandise. That dual-audience appeal (toy collectors plus contemporary-art collectors) creates depth in the bid book.
- Closed-era production. Original 2007 Dissected releases were produced under OriginalFake licensing. OriginalFake closed in 2013, permanently capping the supply of first-run pieces. Every transacted piece reduces the float.
- Display value. The cross-section detail photographs well, displays well under gallery lighting, and reads instantly even to viewers unfamiliar with the artist. That visual legibility supports both private collecting and institutional acquisition.
KAWS's broader market context reinforces this. His painting The KAWS Album sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2019 for $14.7 million, formally relocating his work from designer-toy circles into the blue-chip contemporary art conversation. That institutional validation flows downstream into vinyl prices — particularly for the conceptually serious pieces like Dissected.
Most Valuable Dissected Colorways
Within the Dissected family, value generally tracks three factors: original release year, colorway scarcity, and condition of the original Medicom packaging. Per the documented secondary market and tracked through the Gauntlet Gallery 160,000+ comparable sales database:
- Original 11-inch trio (Brown / Grey / Black, 2006–2007): These are the foundational pieces and consistently anchor the highest documented Dissected transaction tiers, particularly when accompanied by sealed original packaging.
- Flayed Companion (2016): Trades as a premium piece given the smaller production run and its conceptual continuity with the original Dissected.
- 4-inch Dissected: The most accessible entry point, but also the size most aggressively counterfeited — authentication risk is highest here.
We do not publish point-estimate values for individual figures because the Dissected market moves on packaging condition, provenance documentation, and timing. Buyers serious about acquisition should request a comp pull from our database for the specific variant and condition tier they are considering.
Authentication: Why Dissected Is Harder to Fake
Counterfeit KAWS vinyl is one of the largest forgery categories in the collectibles market. Open marketplaces routinely show fake rates estimated between 40% and 60% on Companion-family figures, with counterfeits surfacing within 72 hours of any major drop. Dissected, however, is structurally harder to counterfeit than a standard Companion — for a specific reason.
The Interior Anatomy Tell
A standard Companion is a smooth-surface figure. Replicating its silhouette requires only an external mold. Dissected requires the counterfeiter to reproduce the interior anatomical cross-section — muscle striations, skeletal articulation, organ shapes — in alignment with the Medicom factory specifications. Most counterfeits fail here in three observable ways:
- Muscle striation depth. Genuine Medicom Dissected figures have crisp, evenly recessed muscle texture. Counterfeits typically show shallow, blurry, or uneven striation.
- Color separation at the cross-section line. The transition between the cartoon exterior paint and the anatomical interior is precision-applied on legitimate figures. Fakes show paint bleed, fuzzy edges, or misaligned color fields.
- Skeletal proportion. Counterfeits frequently get the rib spacing and finger-bone articulation wrong, often because they are reverse-engineered from photographs rather than from a licensed mold.
Standard Authentication Stack
For every Dissected Companion that passes through Gauntlet Gallery, we run our KAWS-category authentication chain: OneCOA-tier certification with NFC verification on qualifying pieces, Medicom production-stamp inspection, original packaging condition grading, and comp-database cross-reference against prior verified transactions. This is the same chain we apply across the entire KAWS and BE@RBRICK category and is one of the reasons we publish category-specific authentication policies rather than relying on a generic certificate.
Where Dissected Fits in a KAWS Collection
For collectors building a structured KAWS holding, Dissected typically anchors the "conceptual core" alongside Companion (original) and one Holiday inflatable. It is rarely a piece traded for short-term flip economics — the buyers are generally long-hold collectors who want the artist's most loaded statement, not the most viral one.
For broader context on building a KAWS holding — spanning Companions, BFFs, Holiday inflatables, prints, and collaborations — see our KAWS Collector Guide.
Sourcing Authenticated Dissected Pieces
Gauntlet Gallery has operated in the contemporary collectibles secondary market since 2012, with a specialty focus on street art, designer vinyl, and the KAWS / BE@RBRICK category. Every Dissected Companion we list ships with our category-specific authentication chain and packaging condition disclosure. If you are looking to acquire a Dissected piece — or sell one out of an existing holding — browse our full inventory or contact the gallery directly for off-market sourcing.
The Dissected Companion is the KAWS piece that rewards a buyer who reads the work as art. Built right, it anchors a collection for decades.