HARD TIME FOR SIDEHSOW... WONDERFEST

Even though Sideshow takes a share of every Prime 1 statue sold, when the two are offering (almost) the same characters, looks like Prime 1 wins by more than one neck the preference of the audience, what may put SS pieces in peril. Prime 1 revealed at WonderFest their Swamp Thing 1/3 and Dog Alien (1/3 maybe) and they put Sideshow’s Swamp Thing and Alien Queen to shame according with the opinions from people from the very Sideshow Facebook group in two recent posts I did comparing the statues. This could mean Sideshow will need to rethink its strategies for their pieces, like edition sizes and even prices. For the grace of Sideshow clientele. I’m not certain about that, it’s mere speculation I must add. But the reception of Prime 1 pieces were so overwhelming that one cannot avoid to wonder. And I wonder that when the RSVP for both Prime 1 pieces go online, the number will far surpass Sideshow’s offerings, giving clear sign that Sideshow have two problems on their hands and that are more to come when the new similar licenses from Prime 1 appear, like Predator and Marvel. It will be hard for Sideshow to justify a $ 1,150, 27 inch Jungle Predator Maquette against a 1/3 perfectly recreated Predator from Prime 1. Times are changing for Sideshow. The share they receive for each Prime 1 figure sold will not cover the loss of not selling their own. I don’t know if it will really happen. It’s just an indication from the answers to the questions I’ve posted regarding the four statues. Sideshow will need to review their market plans or only the more artsy guys, like me, will get their Swamp Thing, which I believe are a minority group in collector’s universe.

Swamp Thing went in two completely different directions in his characterization by the two companies. Sideshow dared to design an out of the box piece, with a bold and creative art direction that changes all about Swamp Thing but the essential for him to look like the character. Prime 1 stuck to the norm and made a very traditional ST statue (that will certainly please the purists) and added a ton of detail and attachments to it. Of course, the crowd, more conservative and amazed by the sheer amount of detail of the piece, preferred Prime 1 version over Sideshow’s. And, to be honest, the piece is fabulous, the small foliage and other plant parts compounding the figure are put in so much detail that are nothing short of magnificent. The only problem is that it carries no expressiveness whatsoever. It’s extremely well done but has zero personality. In one word, looks lifeless. In addition, it is too big for my room. The pose is uninspired and the expression looks dull. Looks like a computer thing generated to look perfect but looks much more like a doll than Sideshow’s statue.

Sideshow Swamp Thing lacks the detail and the fidelity but oozes personality through every vine. And has that vibe of a hand sculpted piece which I’m almost certain it is. For all of this – and for being 1/4 instead of 1/3 – I will go against the flock once more and opt for Sideshow. As I said in one reply, my mind says one thing regarding these statues and my heart tells another. I tend to follow my heart. This if I can afford Sideshow Swamp Thing, I mean.

About Alien Queen Maquette (Sideshow) and Dog Alien (Prime 1), figure alone, Dog Alien draws more attention and looks more detailed and well painted, even bigger than Alien Queen. Counting with the base Alien Queen surpasses greatly Prime 1, presenting an amazing highly detailed and rich display. Furthermore, Sideshow have the Queen, a pivotal character of the series. Much more than Dog Alien is. It’s a tougher match but those who didn't choose Prime 1 alone said would stay with both, none chose Sideshow only on the post. So, in the end, Prime 1 is still in advantage over Sideshow on this one too. The only differential Sideshow will have from now on is the price since an Alien fan or a Swamp Thing fan probably will not bother to have one 1/3 scale of their favorite character in their collections being the statues so amazing. If Sideshow keep prices on the rise, they may end up losing this game on the long run. Even getting a percentage of Prime 1 revenues, Sideshow may wind-up having lots of statues stuck in their stock and being forced to appeal to promotions to move pieces Prime 1 did better than them (in the majority of collectors’ eyes, I mean). Sure, in terms of RSVP, Sideshow began with a head-start since their pieces came out first and both were very praised on SDCC. But let’s see how many of these will convert into actual sales now that Prime 1 put its cards on the table. More chapters to come as Prime 1 starts to release all the others new licenses it now detains.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Sideshow fan. The only Prime one piece that I would have would be Batman Beyond Golden Version (but, then again, not enough room or money and SS Swamp Thing and new Red Sonja come first). However, it will be a fierce battle against Prime 1 from now on. Imagine a Prime 1 1/3 Wolverine Jim Lee style? I can imagine eBay flooded with Wolverine Legendary Scale statues…

On the 1/4 front they go almost head to head. Almost. I think Sideshow has the advantage as much as I disliked the new Wolverine and the new Magneto but these two pieces does not overshadows all Sideshow history of creative, expressive pieces. In the 1/4 realm, I believe XM is closer to Sideshow than Prime 1… for now. I find P1 pieces to be without personality whatsoever, just oozes detail and a nice finishing. It’s all bells and whistles and not much more. Additionally, I just happen to hate the “translucent resin” they use for skin, it only reminds me those sex dolls. Lol. But this is a personal taste. Or lack of it. Lol. Then again, Sideshow still have the advantage of price, but with its market strategy of increasing the prices of the figures at every new launch, soon it won’t be a factor anymore.

What I know is that a cold war has begun. Between allies. It is a very interesting moment to be part of this hobby. Who wins? The collectors with more options to choose, of course. Or loses if they choose to get the statues from both companies. Lol.

On a final note, I might be delusional and at the end there won’t be cannibalization of the SS market by Prime 1. Let’s wait and see. It will be fun to watch.  

RUN. FLEX PAYMENT STARTS IN AUGUST.

Sideshow Homepage

TOP 10 SIDESHOW FIGURES FROM SDCC

All top tens are highly subjective. This one is no exception. Fell free do disagree, as I’m sure everyone who reads this will. I didn't count 1/6 action figures on this list. And only SS pieces, no Iron Studios or Prime 1.

10 – Suicide Squad Joker. I was in doubt between him and Batwoman but I ended up with him because of two major factors: it’s the first time that Sideshow does a real-life character that really resembles the source and by the outstanding mixed media clothing of the piece. Easiest one of the best efforts from SS Cut & Sew team I’ve ever seen. The figure just stands out from the crowd for its colorful outfit and, as I said, the fidelity to the source is unmatched regarding Sideshow. Batwoman comes close with her fabulous black white and red contrast and altogether beautiful sculpt but Joker just oozes personality and is a movie character I really feel like having and I’m not into movie characters.

9 – Deadpool Life-Size Bust. How do you do a realistic caricature? Simply you do a Deadpool life-size bust. Mixing the right amount of funny and detail, this is certainly one of the best busts ever done by Sideshow. The expression of Deadpool is priceless and he comes equipped with all the grenades and swords to be ready for a fight for your attention in every display. The paintjob is top notch and is another of those pieces full of personality and humor without being (too) ridiculous. I think Sideshow found a very special balance here that is so hard to achieve.

    

8 – Batman – Gotham City Nightmare. How to reinvent a character so overly done? The answer is to search in the realm of dreams or, better saying, nightmares. Highly detailed and expertly painted this terrifying take on Batman wowed me by the bold art direction. Not even the gargoyle was immune to the nightmare and seems to gain life as another scary figure, a companion to the man-bat figure over it. With an extra-head that bears more resemblance with Batman as we know it, this is a winner piece and proof that Sideshow is indeed the most creative company in the industry.

7 – Malavestros PF. From so many Court of the Dead excellent pieces was hard to choose one that stood out but on his second year on the Comic Con floor he’s still a sight to behold. Besides not being so monstrous as other characters of the line, the skinny jester is beautifully sculpted and detailed and his base is the best PF base sideshow had to offer this year. Full of details like books, coins, candles and even skulls. The scroll is a psychedelic sculpture by itself, depicting a fight between a little angel and a tiny devil and encompassing all the colors from blue to yellow. The paintjob of the piece is outstanding and make it stood out from the rest which is no easy task given the quality of the line where it belongs. Odium is a sight to behold with his gargantuan presence but the tiny Malavestros is still the best Court of the Dead has to offer as a whole (base + statue). If the first version of the devilish siren were still available, it would be harder to choose as that was a magnificent and creative piece as well but in her absence, the crown goes to the jester.

6 – Red Sonja PF. What can I say of this figure? It is simply the best female sculpture ever done by Sideshow. What is no small thing to say. Sideshow has been increasing year after year their capacity of doing astonishingly beautiful female characters, but this year they surpassed themselves by a mile with the most beautiful face and most feminine body ever. The pose, powerful yet relaxed and contemplative (and still sexy) of one who just experienced victory is unmatched. Even though the base is quite forgettable. From the not so red tip of the hair to the bloody tip of her boots, the new Red Sonja PF won my heart and if I have the opportunity to order only one piece next year she will be it. Obs.: I’m not really sure if this is a Sideshow statue since it didn’t appear on the Marvel recap video SS did and on the bottom of her preview picture there was the Dynamite name, so one just wonder… but I’ll take it as if it is.

5 – Swamp Thing Maquette. First things first: Swamp Thing is my all-time favorite character and when I heard Sideshow would be doing a statue of him, I stayed in awe. I confess I’m on the fence about this figure because I’m probably overly conservative about my beloved character. However, I cannot deny the bold and creative art direction of this piece and the magnificent result. With complex texture that mixture plant with an alien-esque feel, Swamp Thing is imposing and claims for the attention of the viewer. I didn’t see him in person but it seems to be taller than your average 1/4 scale, as Swamp Thing really should be since he’s a big character on the comics. Even though not following with the fidelity I desired the comics one can easily identify that is Swamp Thing there. Even with a different color pallet. Even with the floating vines. Even if glossy. Apart all of this, Swamp Thing Maquette is an extremely well crafted sculpture and looks like it has been hand sculpted (what I like). It’s full of details and varied textures that really grabs one’s eye. Very artistic and conceptual. I have to admire it even though it’s not the Swamp Thing I dreamt of.  

4 – Alien Queen Maquette. Simply amazing. Maybe is not as dynamic as the Alien King composition with his horde of xenomorphs going out of the holes and following him but the Alien Queen is certainly full of movement as she menacingly runs into attack. The base is also incredibly detailed and complex with all those eggs rooted on the ship floor and the xenomorphs. All in all is an incredible piece that Aliens fans will certainly rejoice. I found it amazing even not being a movie character collector myself. One of the most detailed – if not the most detailed – piece presented by Sideshow this year. Most certainly, it has to do with Legacy Effects participation on the project. Kudos to them and Sideshow.

3 – Iron Man Mark III Maquette. Opposed to Swamp Thing I guess this is the Iron Man everyone dreamt of. Looks like Sideshow captured the platonic vision of Iron Man that inhabits our minds and transformed into a statue. The pose is perfect. It is so imposing that the statue seems bigger than it really is. The base is also very cool as well as the paint app. Everything in this Maquette is flawless. I think this Iron Man will be very tough to beat (note that I said Iron Man not Hulkbuster…). If I ever go for a movie character or a non-classic Iron Man this will be it.

  

2 – Hulk Life-Size Bust. I know this is quite polemic, there is a lot of hating about this piece. About all regarding it, the painting, the expression, the face altogether, the weight and blah, blah, blah. However, I find it to be the best bust in the history of Sideshow. I think it is perfect, the ultimate combination of comics feel with hyper-realism. And I love the painting. It’s so complex and full of textures, hues and details. It beats my former favorite one, Joker LSB. It beats almost every other offering from Sideshow this year on SDCC. It made me spend $980 in a piece, a thing I’ve never imagined I would do in my life. And will certainly be the last time I spend such an humongous amount in one single piece. This will be the central piece of my collection, my personal grail, my most beloved statue. Besides all criticism, I think this is really a work of art. Of pop art. But art nevertheless.  

1 – Thanos on Throne Maquette. It would be heresy not to put this one in first. It’s a perfect piece that is praised but just about everyone. I cannot see anything to complain about it. In an era when everyone puts everything on thrones, Thanos does not feel forced sitting on his. It’s completely pertinent with the character. The head sculpt on both heads is spot on; he is as massive as he should be. The outfit is cool and creative while not detracting from the original source material. The pose is astounding, the throne is immensely detailed and the gems still light up. In one word: flawless. A grail as we know it.

Did you notice a pattern here? Apart from the bust, the top five is all composed by Maquettes, what maybe mean that this is the new “excellence” line of Sideshow. The best among the best. Or maybe it’s just coincidence. I don’t know. Want to hear thoughts. What would you take and replace from this top ten? Someone just yelled to take out the ridiculous Hulk LSB from the list? I don’t mind. This is just my opinion. I’ll listen/read and respect yours.

Oh, and be sure to check our newest interview with Imaginarium Art owner! :)

INTERVIEW WITH IMAGINARIUM ART OWNER DANNY LIM

He is a very approachable guy with no restrictions whatsoever. He owns one of the beloved studios from Singapore, Imaginarium Art, and his line of Iron Man figures are praised by many, even though it’s hard to North American people get his pieces.

1 – What do you think sets Imaginarium Arts apart from the fierce competition of the collectibles market nowadays?

Danny Lim: Every statue company has their own touch, be it licensed or customs, every designer gives their greatest effort to ensure acceptance from the community.  In fact, we greatly respect their work.  At the same time, IA sets ourselves apart by producing statues that changes posture by switching limbs and torsos to ensure fresh look on display shelves as and when our fans like.  On color, it is a challenging task to keep up with what fans want, to counter fierce competition to be as accurate as we can.

2 – Why so many Iron-Mans? Could you explain that to us? What else do you have under your sleeve? I see you’re focusing on Transformers as well. Do you have a special taste for robots?

DL: I am a fan of Robots, as Iron Man falls into the same category. I decided this is what we would love to do. In our first 1:2 scale Iron Patriot, our expectation for it was high, we could not imagine we pull it off so well with color application, and hence our factory became one of the best Iron Man producer in China.

As a Death Metal fan, I had always wanted to do something under Horror category, let’s see how we can twist this out in the future.

Yes, Personally, I am a Japanese Anime Robot Fan, I collect Bandai’s Soul of Chogokin from GX-01 Mazinger till now, so robots are my forte.  They capture me with their excellent shiny paintwork while on display.

3 – What’s the differentials seek when developing a new piece?

DL: Though it’s a statue we produce, we seek playability aspect of it too, for example, a pose change statue can be another avenue of playability.  The face sculpt is also an important factor which we always seek good painters to work on color application on production.

4 – You seem to work only with big-sized figures from 1/1 to 1/4. Why this choice?

DL: Personally, I like bigger display in my house, as the details can be seen from afar, and catches more attention at home for me. Also, licensing concern, there are a huge pool of licensees holding many years of smaller scale categories.  Well, we do with what we can have, and work towards success.

5 – Do you believe that characters on throne sells well? Because you made Aquaman on throne and Sideshow launched Thanos on throne and there’s XM famous Magneto on throne. Is this a trend you intend to follow?

DL: Not Exactly, it really depends on the character, to be exact, all kings sit on thrones, for Aquaman, in Chinese, it called King of the sea translated, oh well, then he need a throne.  Our upcoming  Coronation Starscream is on throne as well, he wears a crown and likely to fit in a throne, would be suitable.

The success of other brands with characters on throne, IA congratulates them on their success.

6 – What licenses Imaginarium Art have and for which markets?

DL: We currently hold Hasbro’s Generation 1 license in Asia + North America.  There will be more to come.

7 – Which piece is the biggest IA success up until now?

DL: There are different successes in every release we have, namely, 1:2 scale Mark 42, Mark 17, our 1:1 Helmets, Hulk Busters, they truly brought up the name of company.

8 – What character do you want IA to make that wasn’t done or is not possible to be done just yet?

DL: I would love to make a Transforming Japanese Anime Robot Voltes V in diecast material.

9 – Who do you say it’s your direct competitor in the market today? What do you offer that the said concurrent doesn’t offer and what is the same?

DL: Basically, it’s the paint work, sculpt details, and product accuracy. There are more companies that produce accuracy too. It’s really not up to us to say who is better.  In the end, it’s always the fan that chooses which brand they want to buy from.  If it’s us that they choose, we are most grateful and will keep working hard to fulfill all the requests of our customers.

10 – What is you wildest dream for IA?

DL: My wildest dream for IA is to have me retired and start sunbathing in Hawaii with 2 bikini girls!

11 – Who is you favorite all-time character? Do you have a license for it?

DL: My all-time favorite character would be God of War’s Kratos. Oh well, we don’t have the license but I prefer to buy just 1 for keep sake in the market.  Gaming Heads made a good one on throne.

12 – Is you who decides what pieces/characters/poses will be produced or the development team has some input in the decisions about a new release?

DL: I would think of a draft concept, what the characters should be, poses as well, and we table out all the possibilities in a team to explore production, paint work, and packaging.  It’s a team effort.

13 – Do you consider yourself very centralizer regarding the way you run your company? Do you have some problem to delegate some decisions to other members of the team?

DL: For collectibles industry, it is important to have people with good knowledge, skills at what they do best and enthusiasm with good energy.

14 – Speaking of team, how many work at Imaginarium Art? What are the departments of the company? Is there someone or a team to manage quality control of the pieces in the factories? Because I never saw nobody complaining about IA having any production problems.

DL: Occasionally, there are support issues needed for our products. Electronic problems bound to happen sometimes but very minimal.

We have Design & Art team, Admin & Customer Support, Factory coordinator (Me!), Quality Control Managers, Logistics team, these are the basics as every company needs.

15 – Name three IA pieces you’re really proud of.

DL: Iron Man Hulkbuster, Iron Man Mark 42, Transformers Soundwave

16 – Name three pieces from other companies that you see as great accomplishments.

DL: Sideshow’s Thanos on Throne; Prime One’s Transformers Movie version, all of them;

First 4 Figures’ Zelda

17 – Three favorite bands or singers/composers etc.

DL: Whispered (Finland), Dimmu Borgir (Norway), Nightwish (Finland)

18 – Do you still use hand sculpt on IA or is all digital as it is the new reality of our hobby?

DL: Most of our sculpt are digitally sculpted as it gives the freedom to amend and resize within a short time.  It does not mean manual sculpt is but it takes a longer time, as we all know licensing time frame keeps the clock ticking.  As well as, it takes a very good hand sculptor to produce what we need.  Unless it’s a custom, where time is not a concern, hand sculpt can be considered.

19 – What’s the average time of development of a Imaginarium Art piece, from the first idea to the boxed product ready to go to the buyer?

DL: Depending on the model itself, mechanical projects takes a longer time to cast due to multiple parts and it could go up to hundreds of little parts.  Organic Projects like Batman, takes a shorter time.

Form an idea till a ready product, it takes about 6 - 9 months to complete 1 project.

20 – How do you decide the edition sizes (ES) of each piece? What was the biggest and the smallest ES from IA?

DL: We decide the ES based on the popularity of the character, at times, based on our distributor’s estimation.  The Biggest is our Transformers G1 Soundwave and lowest is our Guardians of the Galaxy Milano.

21 – What do you think about the quick raise of prices of certain collectible companies? Do you think this is a movement of all industry? What do you think are the factors that lead to this immense raise of the prices?

DL: The quick raise of pricing currently is a concern, we agree China labor cost and standard has raised, standard of living too.  It’s an expensive hobby now, we have fans that have to save for months just to buy our Soundwave, as for this, considering factory owners producing statues are driving BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz and even Porsche. They know the market too, so jacking up the price is somehow normal regarding this.

We are looking into ways of producing products in a more affordable way with no compromise on quality, working hard on this.

22 – Three favorite games.

DL: Crash Bandicoot, Starcraft, Uno card game

23 – Three favorite movies.

DL: Saving Private Ryan, The Lady Killers, Pacific Rim

27 – What would astonish you the most: to see a ghost or to see an alien?

DL: Neither, I would be very astonish to see Jabba the hutt drinking an Ice Cold Beer with me.

28 – Live a phrase, a bombastic revelation or a quote to our fellow readers.

DL: Be true to yourself, and keep going in what you do if you think is right, obstacles will happen along the way, stay focus and believe in yourself.

29 – Many people think Imaginarium Art is gone. What can you tell to those people?

Imaginarium Art is not gone at all, in fact, we have grown into a better company, rumors are rumors, and rumors are powerful in social media platforms.  People use perks and money to engage parties to create rumors.  That’s life, it’s either we fall into this trap or keep up.  Anyway, it’s of not of a concern to us.

The fact is we have new warehouses, new team, new offices, better IA Warriors, new manufacturing partners to keep ourselves up to this game.  How can we be gone or bought over if we are still posting and producing new sculpts to show our fans for production? 

Not the time yet to go Hawaii with 2 bikini girls yet for me.  Still got statues to produce…..hahahaha

Thank you for your time and patience. I’m sure the readers will really enjoy this interview, especially Imaginarium Art fans.

TO SEE A LIST OF LINKS TO ALL 

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS FROM CCF

CLICK HERE.

IMPRESSIONS ON SDCC

I will only write about the figures that marked me in some way. For better or worst. I will only talk about statues since I don’t collect 1/6 articulated figures. I will separate this post into two topics, disappointments and impressive. Let’s begin with disappointments.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Terrible paint app! Yuck!

1 – The lame production painting of Killer Croc. I found the face painting of the production piece of Killer Croc to be lousy and lazy. I feel like I was fooled by the astonishing prototype painting and buy a pig in a poke. Airbrushing the black on the teeth the way they did was lazy to say the least. Very disappointed and had so high expectations about this piece. I think I will going to sell it without even open the box. (Update: I cancelled my pre-order...)

2 – I think I’m not alone on this one: Magneto. I have to admit there were maybe too much anticipation and too high expectations about this piece but the finished revealed piece was nothing better than regular. Among the huge amount of versions of Magneto available both licensed and custom and with the magnificent white Magneto coming from XM, Sideshow fell short to stand out from the crowd. The base is okay, the mixed media cape was a terrible choice, the uniform was okay, best part of the figure. The pose was very uninspired, very “me too”, but I guess this is a recurring problem with Magneto, everybody wants to see him levitating looking like he’s using his hands to manipulate metal, so it’s an issue of the character more than of Sideshow. What was a big letdown for me was the face sculpt. I found it to be just plain ugly. Such a big nose. Hope the unmasked version, if this will be the ex, does a better job portraying him. I don’t care much for Magneto at all, so I wouldn’t order it even if it turned out to be an incredible figure, but I can sense the disappointment of the fans who eagerly waited for SS awesomeness on this figure. The base was okay though, even if yet again using a sentinel, I liked the way the head seemed twisted and kneaded by Magneto’s power.

3 – Wolverine. I think this piece would belong better on XM’s catalog than on Sideshow’s. The textured outfit and the bad head sculpt, not to mention the uninspired pose all check. The feeling it’s a smaller scale figure I get so much when looking at XM pieces is present too. I think this to be a great waste of time and a very boring statue overall. Wolverine deserved better. I liked how detailed the base is though. As a companion piece to Magneto, it had to be a sentinel part, and the most iconic part of the character besides his head is his hand so it was a no-brainer. Well, Magneto deserved an opponent at his (low) height and he got one. I guess I’m more disappointed with Wolverine than with Magneto. Maybe because I already saw early efforts from Sideshow regarding the character that oozed personality which this piece completely lacks. But then again, I couldn’t care less about Wolverine as I have the statue of him I want.

4 – The most expected piece of my collector’s life, the Swamp Thing Maquette, turned out to be a huge letdown. Well not that huge since I liked the original take they put on the texture of the character body, even though it looked more alien than plant-like, but it looked cool nevertheless. I let pass the color scheme, much brighter and more yellowish than Swamp thing original palette. I’m cool with that too since it looked great. The strange glossy finishing also didn’t bothered me much, one can imagine he just emerged from the waters of the swamp and is wet, since plants are not often that glossy. What really bothered me was the “creative” take on my all-time favorite character’s head. The floating vines could not help but remind me of that tentacle-faced character of Pirates of the Caribbean. That was unforgivable. And I found the face to be less detailed than the overall piece. My only hope is that they do an alternate “classic” head as the exclusive item for this figure. However, I think this isn’t going to happen as it seems that the figure is “whole” there’s no detachable parts (apart from some of the horrendous floating vines). The final blow will be probably the price as I imagine that this “Maquette” thing is a designation Sideshow created to sell overpriced pieces. I admit I got a little depressed because of this piece, since I know I won’t get another Sideshow Swamp Thing statue in my life. The only bright side is that I will save a whole lot of money by not ordering it. As a last hope I know Prime 1 is making a New 52 version of Swamp Thing. Although by the render I saw it doesn’t resembles the Moore/Totleben ST at all, it seemed much more wooden-made that plant-made, but a lot can change and they can actually put an acceptable vision of my most beloved character (which I doubt). Why you did this Sideshow? Why? I was complaining that Wolverine and Magneto had zero artistic creativity and you decided to put all your creative vision on the character I’m more conservative about. This seems ironic, to be honest. I like creative takes of my characters but not that creative. Not Pirates of the Caribbean creative. I think Sideshow crossed the line here and turned an otherwise magnificent piece into an aberration. I know Swamp Thing is an aberration, what turns it all the more ironic.
(Update: I'm more on the fence now, the more I look the more I grow used to it but need to see Prime 1 Swamp Thing hopefully in WonderFest on July 29th to draw my conclusions. One that I reached is that I need a Swamp Thing 1/4 in my collection regardless if I love it or just like it. I won't have another shot. Which one will be is the big question...)  

5 – Not that I ever considered buying such a gigantic piece, don’t have the space in my room (or wallet) but I found Batman Legendary Scale to be an anatomical disaster. The legs are way too short and thin compared to the rest of the body and the muscles of the abdomen are way too many. It would be much better if they did a life-size bust because the head is the only thing that’s cool about this piece. The belt in bright yellow is discrepant with the dark tone of the figure. 
A total mess in my opinion. (Oh my, how is easy to criticize, I’m impressed by that. I’m not that used to do so much bashing at once and am amazed how easy it comes out.)

6 – Iron Studios pieces overall didn’t impress me at all, especially Marvel’s, but that’s no major failure either. Just don’t like the style. The only really impressive piece from the company was the Batman Black Version 1/3 statue. For me, among the truckload of Batamans available, was the best one and this says a lot. Batman vs Bane comes in second as my preferred pieces from the Brazilian company.

7 – It’s not really a disappointment, it’s exactly what was expected to be but Lady Deadpool (as Heat-Seeker) is a complete overload mess. If they only had put both legs stretched, it would be more feminine and more akin to a real-life fighting pose. On the other hand, the add-ons will be the coolest I’ve seen in a while from Sideshow. An alternate unmasked head and Headpool are no small offerings.

Well, that’s enough with criticizing. Now with I found impressive. Remembering this is a one-man opinion, you’re more than welcome to differ and share your own point of view.

 IMPRESSIVE

1 – I have to begin with Red Sonja. I give you that it has a pretty uninspired base, just a bunch of rocks with a bloody head, and her hair does not appear really red, but everything else about the statue is perfect. The anatomy of the body not to muscular, the confident yet relaxed pose and the brilliant head sculpt makes this the best female character ever did by Sideshow in my opinion. I hope I’m fortunate enough to have her in my collection since I love pretty female characters and don’t have any Red Sonja yet. It’s not a character I really care about but this one I like very much. Just wonder what Dynamite stands for…

2 – I’m not into movie collectibles but the Alien Queen Maquette really grabbed my attention. Besides being very detailed and menacing, like it is galloping to attack, the base is so detailed and full of elements, it is a sight to behold. One of the best pieces displayed on the show hands down.

3 – Freddy Kruger was other that got me wowed. The character depiction is perfect, the painting of the head is top-notch and the base with it’s infinity depth mirror trick really adds to the piece. A winner. Must cost a small fortune though. Oh, and ECC's Jason has a incredible base as well, though Jason as a character, with his hockey mask is not a astonishing sculpt as Freddy.

4 – When I believed I was through with Iron Man Sideshow comes to prove me wrong. Their Iron Man Mark III Maquette is the one Iron Man to have. The pose is perfect, very imposing and heroic, the painting is extremely well done (let’s see the production pieces, though) and the base is cool enough for me. It seem big and bold. Outstanding piece.

5 – The Megatron with T-Rex hand impressed me. I’m not a Transformers fan let alone this Beast variant, but the sheer details of the T-Rex hand alone won me. The pose is very dynamic for a 1/3 piece (I guess is 1/3) and lights adds the bells and whistles to the piece. Sweet. Even though regarding Transformers - and everything else - this was a very weak Prime one show compared to last year.

6 – Hulk LSB. I have to mention it otherwise I’ll be betraying myself. I think this is the best LSB Sideshow ever done, supplanting even the phenomenal Joker bust of yesteryears. I even happen to like the color scheme! Lol. I think Sideshow achieved the right balance of comics style with hyper-realism in this piece. It may be light but I’ll not be moving it from the entrance of my room where I can scare some newcomer and always watch this masterpiece every time I enter my room. I know the majority of the collectors hates this piece but I just happen to deeply love it. The most expensive statue I’ve ever bought and I hope it continues this way.

Give an everlasting flavor of Halloween to your house!

 7 – Court of the Dead offerings. It was extremely impressive the sheer amount of pieces from this line Sideshow brought to the table this year. It just shows how dearly Sideshow holds their own IP. Overall very impressive statues and some oddities like the real-life line. Who the heck will want a life-size Supreme Death in one’s home? Or the ornaments? I really don’t know, I just want to see the price of Supreme Death once it’s out for PO. If the 1/4 figures are already expensive let alone this monstrosity (in every way).

8 – Tweeterhead Joker. The first piece of the company that really made my eyes glow. Everything about the piece is top, painting, details, head sculpt, even though is just a 1/6 statue it behaves like a 1/4. Kudos for Tweeterhead for going the extra mile with this piece.

The star of the show.

9 - I almost forgot the most unforgettable piece on the show: Thanos on Throne. Is quite perfect. What more can I say? It's a grail. Will make a lot of collectors extremely happy if the production pieces match the quality of the prototype. Am I mistaken or the stones light up? A plus to a magnificent piece. I won't order it because I'm not into Thanos, barely know the character and the price is a little too salty for me. I preferred to spend my bullets on Hulk LSB. For the ones who are getting him. Happy collecting!

Well, I guess these sums up the things that grabbed my attention for the best or worse on the SDCC. The rest of the pieces were from regular to good, so average in general. Since so little deserved my time I think this was a very warm show this year. I remember making a much more extensive report of the show last year. Maybe because it was the first I followed (through Facebook groups, never went to one) in my life. Or maybe because there were less engaging pieces this year. Or maybe I’m becoming more selective. I don’t know. I know I realized that criticize is far more easier than praise and this is an insight that doesn’t lift my soul one bit. I wish it was the inverse but was not what happened here. Was not what happened with me. But I avoid to criticize people, I think it is unnecessary to hurt anyone’s feelings so I keep the critics to myself if any. I have the tendency to criticize myself a lot. As much as I try to take it more easy on me I can’t avoid but to be punitive with myself. But this is not a subject to be discussed here. I have a blog in Portuguese for this. It’s my therapy. Lol.  

WRAP-UP OF SS ONLINE COMIC CON

(Obs.: I stopped with the updates because is everything online on Facebook and Sideshow page. Next year I'll cover just statues. 1/6 action figures are far too many to keep track and I don't collect them. The only one I have is the b&w Nicholson Joker.)

So far so good. As always a lot of expected appearances came out but, differently from last year, a bunch of very special novelties gives Sideshow’s 2017 offerings a new taste.

To begin with, my most anticipated piece (probably ever, since he is my all-time favorite character) Swamp Thing Maquette got everyone by surprise. Definitely not a mainstream character, but a DC cult classic nevertheless, I have high hopes about this one. I guess sky-high hopes. Lol. For the little was shown, I believe they’ll be making a Sideshow take on Swamp Thing while sticking to the bases of his most famous incarnation, the Alan Moore John Totleben saga. What more could I ask? It just sounds perfect to me. One thing that worries me is that the base seem to be big what may affect the overall price of the piece. I just hope it fits my pocket once it is released (which I wholeheartedly hope occurs after I finish paying my Hulk LSB!). I also hope that the Maquette designation not to be a new name for overpriced statues in Sideshow jargon. That would be a low blow. 

Looks different yet familiar. And he have ears! The base seems big enough to affect the price,
this worries me.

Another surprisingly new addition to Sideshow line up is Danger Girl’s Abbey Case based on J. Scott Campbell art. I never heard of this series but I’m a bit off comics nowadays. Anyway, to those who loves Campbell art style, the statue portrait is looking very accurate and will certainly please the fans. It is a PF, so expect it to have a presence.

Not less surprising, was the announcement of Heavy Metal’s Taarna. A character I also never really heard about but that seems to be a cult favorite is arriving and the preview picture shows a pretty face, horrible hair casting and a sexy outfit. It’s another PF with niche collectors on sight.

Now going mainstream, we had nothing less than three Batmans revealed. It must be some kind of record, even though all versions are very different in shape and size. First there’s the 1/6 Classic Batman, followed by what seems to be a completely new line of Batman characters named Gotham City Nightmare Collection, which sticks to the name and portrays a scary half-bat Batman as its opening piece. The alternate head is a vampire-esque portrait that have nothing to do with Batman as we know it. Very curious indeed. Last but not least, on the contrary, Sideshow revealed the Batman Legendary Scale. I wonder with Sideshow current price frenzy what legendary price this piece will have. The number of Batmans raises to five if we count the just released Iron Studios Batman Black Version 1/3 statue (pretty cool) and Hot Toys Batman Battle Damaged. Just wow. These are a lot of Batmans to be announced in one month! Maybe too many...

Apart from Batman, a new Batgirl was revealed as well as Joker and Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad Movie. All of them PFs. Sideshow was never good in portraying real-life characters (no one beats Hot Toys on that) and Harley Quinn, which is already for PO, does not look like Margot Robbie at all, Joker was smartly displayed from the back so we don’t know his likeliness to Jared Leto. It would be much better if they made some missing villains for their Batman comics line instead.

A partnership that has being fruitful to Sideshow is the one with Legacy Effects. The team of companies are bringing three pieces to SSDC: Alien Queen Maquette (which I believe will be proportional to Alien King so they can make a happy nice couple) and two life-size busts, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett (which fans found to be neckless). Looks like Sideshow is investing again in this format since with these two there will be four busts available in less than a year (Deadpool and the just released Hulk to be the other two). Speaking of Star Wars, fans cannot complain of being left aside. Besides the busts, they’ll get three new PFs, Stormtrooper, Captain Phasma and K-2SO. The latter will also be portrayed in astonishing life-size scale! I just wonder why, but Sideshow rarely shoots to miss, especially on a so costly piece, so there must be a demand for such monstrous statue. (Update: yet another life-size figure was announced: the Death Trooper. Looks like Star Wars fans have plenty of room in their houses.)

SW fans will also get two new 1/6 figures, Stormtrooper Commander and Grand Moff Tarkin. I guess all the pieces there are still on pre-order state will make an appearance at SDCC as well so there’s plenty of Star Wars to satiate the both light and dark sides of the force.

As I said, monstrous.

Stormtrooper life-size bust

Still on 1/6 front Sideshow will bring Hot Toys Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Thor Gladiator Version from Ragnarok movie. Perfect portraits of the actors is the least we can expect from these announcements.(Update: Hot Toys are also bringing two new characters, Major Valerian and Laureline, from the Valerian franchise, which I admit never heard of)

One last Maquette was revealed from a character who has the most variants of figures in history, Iron Man, now on Mark III suit. It looks cool and all but they look so similar to me… Let's see what the Maquette designation means to this figure. I'm very curious about that.

And less than a year from her last statue, Red Sonja reappeared on a new PF completely different from the previous, not so muscular, not angry but yet sexy, voluptuous and powerful. I found the figure adorable and if wasn’t for Swamp Thing I would definitely get her. I may very well get it in the long run. No one knows. It all depends on launch windows.

With Lady Deadpool, looks like Sideshow is trying hard to get some attention to the piece with two cool add-ons, switchable heads (masked and unmasked) and the option of having her kicking a missile or Headpool. But probably all of this is also to make her look like she worth the same price as Deadpool Heat-Seeker, absurd $700. Also, to heat-seek to attract the ones who bought Daedpool into buying her as a companion piece.

The finished applied Lady Deadpool portrait.

Now the two most expected figures of Sideshow at SDCC: Magneto and Wolverine. By a far margin, Magneto is the most anticipated figure to come from Sideshow and the one that’s been kept in most secrecy. The only thing we got to see so far was the helmet which many regarded as Jim Lee’s style. Wolverine was partially revealed in the snippets below, suggesting his base will be a sentinel’s hand what leads one to think, since it is being considered by many as a companion piece to Magneto, that the latter will have some sentinel-themed base as well. I am not  expecting much of Magneto because he is not a character I particularly care about. I thought by the pictures of Wolverine that he looks more like a XM statue than a Sideshow one but the head sculpt(s) probably will set things apart as Sideshow generally excels in this part.

(Update: both Magneto and Wolverine proved to be huge letdowns - for me at least. See and judge for yourself.)

  

Now, what I was saving for last and astonished me as much as Swamp Thing: Sideshow will be bringing at least eight new Court of the Dead figures at once to SDCC! Apart this, Sideshow revealed a bunch of life-size apparels used by the characters. I guess I have to kneel and thank to the heavens I’m not a collector of this line, otherwise I would be feeling blessed and cursed at the same time. There’s no way I could afford them all. Especially Odium that seems to be the biggest PF statue ever made by Sideshow. It's almost a 1/3 scale statue and very bulky. I wonder if there are fans enough of the series willing to buy the apparels though. Only if they plan to make cosplay of the characters I think. But looks like there are real fans that are pretty engaged in the mythology of the series that maybe would want such pieces as decorative items. I really don't know. The only one I've got so far was Malavestros but am highly interested in Proxxil it seems like a terrifyingly cool companion to Malavestros. Let's wait to see the price of this piece since Court of the Dead is know for being quite salty regarding prices. Even though is a IP own by Sideshow, so no royalties to pay foi image usage. Quite ironic the most expensive line of the company be the one with zero royalties to pay don't you think? (Update: if that wasn't CotD enough for one Con, Sideshow decide to go both big and small with the line, launching a 9 feet tall Death Supreme statue and 9 inch "Prestige Statuettes" of the three faction leaders, Xial, Kier and Gethsemoni)

Totally monstrous. Wow. Who the heck will one of these at home?

There’s one last thing I didn’t get. It was Evil-Lyn Classic Statue announcement. It is said that will be the companion to He-Man and Skeletor though there’s no He-Man and Skeletor Classic Statue in Sideshow line to speak of. This is a big mystery to me. I just wonder what this figure is and where does it fit.

(Update: the mystery is solved it's just a repaint of the Evil-Lyns they got left on stock. Meeeh...)

(Update: Sideshow brought third party partners to the show, revealing several pieces from Prime 1 and Iron Studios, see below.) 

Iron Studios pieces. A hell lot of Wolverines.

Prime 1 pieces

(Update: again Legacy Effects join forces with Sideshow to bring yet another Maquette, now from Baby Groot. So cute it hurts.)

If Sideshow reveal something today I’ll add as an update 

-x-x-x-x-